Sky postures up to Netflix with Now TV

Feeling the serious threat that Netflix poses to its movie business in the UK, BSKYB is set to launch a new service called Now TV tomorrow, 17th July, offering movies on the PC, Mac and some Android devices.

Day one, the service will offer 600 films and access to 11 movie channels already available to Sky movie package subscribers, with unlimited viewings. All this can be had for £15 (or use a pay per view system between 99p and £3.49 per movie), much cheaper than the lowest priced Sky package which currently costs £37.50. However, this is still more than double the cost of rivals Netflix and Lovefilm, which cost less than £7 each per month for unlimited viewings.

What Now TV does offer though is exclusivity. Currently BSKYB has a monopoly on early viewings.

“The most important thing to look at is what the service is, the quality of what we are delivering, we don't want to replicate what LoveFilm and Netflix have done,” said BSkyB managing director of sales and marketing Stephen van Rooyen (via The Guardian). “We offer around 75% of the top 100 box office movies, and have rights to offer films a year before rivals – the value is in the premium quality we have.”

The availability of the application is expected to  increase rapidly in order to improve the uptake of the service. Look out for Now TV on iPads, iPhones and Xbox 360s soon.

KitGuru: Do you use a movie streaming service like Netflix or LoveFilm? Will you be switching to Now TV?

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