Foxtel Leaves Sky in HD Dust

September 20, 2010 2 Comments

While Sky subscribers continue to fork over $100-plus a month for a handful of HD channels, across the Tasman sister satcaster Foxtel soon will be offering 24 HD channels and a 25th dedicated to 3D.

Compare this with Sky’s paltry movie channels (two) and sports channels (two), along with the non-exclusive TVNZ and TV3 HD channels.

Sky still refuses to comment on when it will launch more HD services, and instead seems more preoccupied with IPTV initiatives and second-rate SD additions like the Travel Channel.

In the meantime, what can you see in HD across the ditch? UKTV HD, National Geographic HD, Discovery HD World, four sports channels, two movie channels, five entertainment channels and dozens of pay-per-view movies.

Foxtel’s new 3D channel will offer movies, sports and documentaries. Also coming soon to Foxtel are two MTV HD channels, BBC Knowledge HD, Nat Geo Wild HD and an HD channel dedicated to motor racing.

Sky can proffer all the excuses in the world about why, more than two years after launching My Sky HDi, it hasn’t added exclusive HD channels, be it market, bandwidth or content limitations.

But the bottom line is time is running out to reward the faith of the early adopters who helped to drive sales of its HD Ticket to where 90% of subscribers now have My Sky HDi installations — and nearly 60% are “potentially” watching HD content.

C’mon, Sky — why not go crazy for HD like a Foxtel, and truly give your HDi subscribers something to smile about?

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2 Responses to “Foxtel Leaves Sky in HD Dust”


  1. Warning: preg_replace(): Unknown modifier '/' in /home/customer/www/screenscribe.net/public_html/wp-content/themes/headlines/includes/theme-comments.php on line 66
     September 21, 2010 at 2:13 pm

    As long as Sky keeps racking in the money they won’t be in any hurry to add more HD channels. They don’t give a hoot currently about what their subs say about this..

  2. September 21, 2010 at 3:44 pm

    How much does that Foxtel package cost?
    Including the upfront for the decoder?

    I make it $1820 for 12 months for the Platinum HD package.

    You want the extra channels in Australia – you better be willing to pay for it.

    @paulw. As long as Aussies are willing to pay for it, Foxtel will add the extra channels and rack in the money. Business is ironic, isnt it?

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