The new Netflix: Now TV set to launch tomorrow
Sky is due to launch Now TV, the internet TV service which will provide access to the company’s entire film collection, tomorrow (17 July).
Now TV, promising “no contract” and “no waiting around”, will initially be available on PCs, Macs and a handful of Android smartphones.
The firm has openly stated that Now TV, fresh from signing up to new connected TV service YouView, will be available on further connected devices such as the iPhone and iPad next month, as well as the Xbox console later this summer.
Stephen van Rooyen, managing director of sales and marketing at Sky said at a launch event earlier today: “The huge success of Sky Go prompted us to think about how we expand the service.
“Now TV gives us the opportunity to extend our reach to the 13 million households that don’t take a pay service. It gives us the opportunity to use a new non-commitment model to deliver our services to those customers.”
What does Now TV provide?
Having been compared to Netflix, the on-demand American internet streaming service, Now TV will initially only offer access to Sky’s film collection, before adding content from channels including Sky Sports, Sky Arts, Sky Atlantic and Sky One to the service later this year.
A monthly subscription will be available to customers priced at £15, while the roster of films, which stands at 600, can be individually accessed on a pay-as-you-go basis for 99p each or £3.49 for the latest releases.
There is, however, no pricing structure yet in place for on-demand TV. Speaking to DTVE, Simon Creasey, Now TV director assured that it would be similar to the “flexible, non-contract approach to NOW TV movies”.
A growing market for TV-on-demand
Interestingly for Sky, a recent report from Nielsen featured in Digital Media Wire has found that an increasing number of Netflix subscribers are beginning to use the service to stream TV shows rather than films.
The latest figures show an increase of 8% in this phenomenon over the past year – currently 19% of Netflix users prefer watching TV to films.
This is a dip of 6% over the past year on the 53% of subscribers that primarily used the provider to stream films back in 2011.
Just the beginning
Having joined the connected TV revolution over at YouView, Now TV is certainly a long-term project, and its rather staggered introduction means that customers may not see the full extent of the service it is due to provide for quite some time.
By the end of the year, expect to see Premier League football become another feather in Now TV’s cap, along with the arrival of other premium Sky content besides sport.
As Ed Barton of Strategy Analytics pointed out, Now TV offers Sky an alternate way to bring its programming to a different audience.
“Now TV is Sky’s vehicle to break out of the constraints of long term subscriptions and satellite distribution.
“Connectable devices which once constituted threats become opportunities, the size of which should not be underestimated: the number of connected TVs, consoles and tablets in the UK will double to over 26 million in 2015 from 13 million at the end of 2011.”
Promising a rapid expansion of Now TV’s remit once it is launched, Creasey added: “Now TV will bring more choice to UK consumers and an easy way to enjoy amazing movies, instantly.
“Following the explosion in internet-connected devices, we know that more and more people are looking for great content to watch over the web, and that’s where Now TV comes in.
“As we move forward, Now TV will get even bigger and better, with more devices and more platforms in the coming months.”
With Netflix having set the bar at 26 million worldwide users, and Now TV targeting 13 million potential customers in the UK, it remains to be seen whether the venture will live up to the expectations and publicity which it has already generated even before tomorrow’s (17 July) launch.