Sky Television considers more 'flexible' packages

Tuesday, 6 October 2020

Sky’s economic model has been based on a “big bucket” approach to dishing up content.

More changes may be in the wings at Sky Television after it began consulting a panel of customers on what they would like to see from “more flexible” packages.

It has been a common complaint from customers that Sky’s current “big bucket” approach to selling programming means they often feel they need to pay for channels they don’t watch.

However, the flip side of offering greater flexibility has also become more apparent as a result of the growth of streaming TV services.

That is that customers may need to sign up to multiple services to get the content they want at a higher overall cost.

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Sky said it was consulting on a wide range of package and channel options to help it “understand what works best for customers”.

“We are committed to seeking customer feedback on … Sky services to ensure we’re meeting their needs and delivering a great service,” spokeswoman Chris Major said.

“The latest round of research is using ‘choice model’ methodology, where we ask customers about their preferences for different Sky packages, price options and extras like broadband.

“We’re getting excellent engagement from our Sky Nation panel and will spend some time assessing the feedback,” she said.

Sky has asked customers participating in the survey to keep its questions confidential and not to share screenshots of its possible plans.

Similar market research provided the first clue in August that Sky was considering offering satellite TV customers a more modern set-top box that could respond to voice commands and show programming in 4K.

Chief executive Martin Stewart subsequently confirmed it could start offering that device before mid-2022.