Sky enters on-demand battle with Anytime TV

by Gareth Jones, Marketing 13-Dec-06

Sky is to counter the launch of BT Vision with its own video-on-demand service, which will allow viewers to download TV programmes, movies and sports highlights.

The satellite broadcaster is extending its Sky Anytime download service
beyond the web and mobile phones to the 1.7m UK households with a Sky+
personal video recorder (PVR).

The offering will allow Sky+ subscribers to pay for the option of

downloading exclusive Sky One, Sky Box Office, Sky Movies and Sky Sports

content to their set-top box in a similar way to the service offered by
Homechoice. It is understood that Sky will also use the service to
showcase TV programmes before making them available to the rest of its
8.4m digital satellite viewers.

Sky is in talks with advertisers and agencies about commercial
opportunities; there is potential to target consumers with personalised
ads and branded video-on-demand channels.

The launch of Sky Anytime TV follows the debut of BT Vision, a broadband
TV service. Channel 4 also recently launched 4oD, a web-based TV
download service, and ITV is revamping its website to include
video-on-demand functionality.