Sky puts online TV on stand-by

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Sky Television is looking to the Government's $1.5 billion investment in ultrafast broadband to help revive the case for online television after it puts internet download service Sky Online on stand-by.

Sky subscribers who pay a $5 monthly "administration charge" on top of their Sky subscription have been able to download programmes to watch on their computers since May last year. But spokesman Tony O'Brien says Sky Online will be taken off air on August 1.

He would not say how many customers had signed up since the service began. The $5 fee would be waived this month.

Sky Online is likely to be relaunched, but would be "substantially different and more user- friendly", he says. Mr O'Brien blames slow broadband and data caps for holding back internet television.

Sky still intends to let customers download programmes to MySky HDi set-top boxes that viewers could watch on their television, and is talking to internet service providers about how this might work, he says. Viewers would be able to download programmes they had missed, or which were not currently being broadcast.

"We are very keen to look at activating it, but not at this stage."

Sky wants viewers to be able to select programmes that were broadcast by satellite or delivered over the internet without seeing any difference in service quality.

"It all comes down to the broadband issue. We have got to give people a consistent viewing experience. That is why we are very supportive of the Government's initiative to roll out ultrafast broadband."

The Government aims to make ultrafast broadband delivered over fibre-optic cable available to three- quarters of households within 10 years.

Hybrid Television Services, a company that is one-third owned by Television New Zealand, says broadband is better in New Zealand than in Australia and internet television need not wait for the Government to deliver fibre to the home. Hybrid plans to market the TiVo set-top box in New Zealand by Christmas. It will be capable of downloading programmes and accessing services over the internet as well as receiving Freeview broadcasts.

Chief executive Robbee Minicola plays down the broadband issue, saying programmes could be gradually downloaded to set-top boxes for later viewing if they could not be streamed in real time.

TVNZ On Demand, an advertising-funded download service that allowed downloads to computers, had "blitzed the market", she says. Meanwhile, Foxtel - Sky's sister company in Australia - continued to provide a similar service to Sky Online. "Maybe the business model just doesn't stack up for [Sky]."

- © Fairfax NZ News