BSkyB announced today that it will be launching its digital satellite service to new customers on 1 October. Sky hopes the October launch will make it the first company to fully launch digital television, and it is likely to benefit from the key Christmas selling season.
The company also announced incentives today which might well advantage it in the fight to be top of the digital revolution. Most impressive perhaps is its pledge to give free installation of Sky Digital satellite systems, which will generally save customers about £100. Sky’s first set-top boxes, the essential hardware needed to receive digital TV (see Newsline), are now in production, and are expected to retail at £199.99 for new customers, and £159.99 for existing customers. Deals to make television sets with integrated Sky set-top boxes have been reached with Toshiba, Panasonic, LG, Grundig, Amstrad, Sharp and Samsung.
Of course, these incentives will inevitably be of considerable cost to Sky, but Mark Booth, chief executive, commented: “I am confident that our decision to market aggressively, including the offer for free installation, will ensure that we can establish Sky Digital ahead of the competition and thus derive maximum long term benefit for our shareholders.”
A spokesperson for British Digital Broadcasting (BDB), BSkyB’s major digital competitor, told Newsline today that the fact that a satellite dish will always be needed to receive Sky’s services will always discourage some people, as there are people who simply do not want satellite dishes.
Therefore, despite the integrated TV sets now on the production line, such time-, money- and space-saving technology is of no use to viewers if they do not already possess a satellite dish. The fact that installation is now being offered for free may make satellite dishes less of a disincentive, but as research by BDB claims that terrestrial is five times as popular as satellite, there is cynicism as to how much difference free installation will actually make, said the BDB spokesperson.
BDB’s service is also scheduled to launch this Autumn although there has been speculation that the full roll-out will lag behind Sky’s.
British Sky Broadcasting: 0171 705 3200 British Digital Broadcasting: 0171 819 8000
