ScreenScribe

Sky TV giveth and Sky TV taketh away. The satcaster has confirmed it’s been able to launch more HD channels by reducing their bandwidth. It’s understood Sky’s sports channels and its upgraded Action and Classics movie channels are beaming out in 1440x1080i rather than the 1920x1080i standard. “Yes, some of our channels have this compression,” […]

The biggest surprise about Sky TV’s new HD channel wasn’t its premium content but its premium pricing. Instead of bundling SoHo with its Platinum Movies package, Sky plans to charge all subscribers an extra $10 a month to receive the HBO-style channel from December. Talk about making a sow’s ear out of a silk purse! […]

Sky will use its Rugby World Cup coverage to promote the launch of two more HD channels. By Christmas it will have 11 HD channels: eight of its own and three free-to-air networks (TV One, TV2, TV3). On June 1, ESPN will be the next Sky channel to go HD – but not because of […]

Australian media are reporting that the Australasian TiVo service is about to fold. Channel News quotes a US TiVo executive as believing TiVo in Australia “will not continue trading”. And The Register reckons “an asset sale for the video-on-demand platform could be on the cards”. Australian TiVo executives aren’t commenting on speculation about the fate […]

Having brought us “free-to-air HD” coverage of the Commonwealth Games that was restricted to My Sky HDi subscribers, Sky TV again is misleading viewers with the promise of a new “epic HD television event”. That’s how it is promoting a wildlife series that will air in HD globally, Great Migrations. Unfortunately, Sky doesn’t take National […]

Prime TV at last is to start broadcasting in HD — but it may be only for the duration of the 2010 Commonwealth Games. The free-to-air network is one of five channels that its owner, Sky TV, will use to screen more than 1400 hours of live coverage. Sky subscribers won’t have to pay extra […]

A bigger hard drive for MySky HDi and HD movies on demand are “under consideration”, says Sky TV’s communications czar, Tony O’Brien. ScreenScribe.tv invited the satcaster’s public relations boss to state the company’s position after he challenged some of my comments about it in a February 7 interview with Radio NZ National’s Mediawatch presenter Colin […]