Posted by Charlie on 22 February 2012
Some business organisations try to fight against technical innovations, fearing that they endanger a current business model. Others do their best to embrace change. It now seems that BSkyB has chosen the latter course, implementing a TV plan that is sure to be of great benefit to mobile phone users in the UK.
Sky has adopted a TV plan that some experts are regarding as akin to the approach Amazon.com has adopted with the Kindle. Instead of trying to establish total control over content or delivery, both companies have decided to focus on the channel through which that content is delivered to the end user. Sky has implemented this approach by establishing a VoD (video on demand) service that is open to anyone who is willing to pay for the content delivered. This differs markedly from a subscription model in which only current paying users of Sky’s pay TV system are eligible to download video on demand for use on their mobile phones.
Industry insiders feel that this approach could make BSkyB a strong contender against such broadband video content providers as Netflix and YouView, as well as LoveFilm. This business model may help BSkyB capture some of the viewing share of the 13 million UK households that have yet to sign up with any sort of pay television service. Many of these individuals have already joined the ‘mobile revolution’ and own handsets – sometimes more than one per person, in fact.