Sky Increases Its Digital Lead With Movie Production Plans
Following BSkyB’s contentious advance into the world of football, chief executive, Mark Booth, yesterday revealed the broadcaster’s plans to move into feature film production. Sky said that it has already signed up Trainspotting star Ewan McGregor who will make his directorial debut in the Sky-financed film Tube Tales, a story of two life experiences on the London Underground.
The move further demonstrates Sky’s drive to draw in subscribers to the Sky Digital service which launches on 1 October. The company is planning on producing five feature films over the next two years; some of these will be exclusive to Sky television.
Channeling money into original programming is relatively new ground for Sky: previously, under the management of Sam Chisholm, the emphasis was placed on securing rights to sports and movies in order to attract new subscribers. Mark Booth seems keener to show people that BSkyB is interested in producing new, quality programmes.
The move into original film production also strengthens Sky’s position in the battle with terrestrial broadcaster, ON Digital (see Sky Rolls Out Digital Offerings). ON Digital declined to comment on the Sky’s plans.
A new survey by Continental Research has that awareness of digital television (DTV) reached 83% of UK adults by the end of August; this is true across both terrestrial and cable/satellite homes. Awareness of DTV is now starting to grow quickly, up from 72% in May and, according to CIA MediaLab, 60% in 1997 (see Digital TV Awareness Grows).
The survey, which questioned over 1,800 people each month, also found that 14% of consumers are hoping to install DTV within the next six months. This is a high take-up rate, says Continental. By comparison, in its 1997 research into mobile phone interest, Continental found that only 6% of consumers were likely to purchase a mobile.
Perhaps the most significant thing to come out of the study, though, is that virtually no-one is aware of the existence of ON Digital – the only real option currently available to potential digital subscribers. Sky and the BBC were mentioned by 20% of people in relation to DTV; less than 1% recalled either ON Digital or its parent company British Digital Broadcasting (BDB).
A spokesperson for ON Digital today said that he was “not surprised by the lack of awareness” as there has been no advertising or promotional material yet released. “All would become clear,” he said, when the company unleashes its £40 million marketing campaign and channel line-up at the end of this month. The details of this launch are being kept pretty much under wraps at present.
However it is understood that ON Digital has suffered a blow to its service line-up as discussions between Carlton Communications, which owns 50% of BDB, and Universal Studios has broken down. The partnership between Carlton and Universal was to give ON Digital two of its 15 launch channels – one film- and one crime-focused (see Carlton and Universal To Run Together In Digital Race). The loss of this project could leave ON Digital with a hole in its service just weeks before launch. Carlton Communications were unavailable for comment when contacted by Newsline this afternoon.
ON Digital: 0171 819 8000 BSkyB: 0171 705 3000