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Going underground with Sky

Posted in Media, Digital, Branwell Johnson, Latest reporters' blogs September 4th, 2007 by Branwell Johnson

So Sky wants to launch a stand alone broadband service that does not tie customers to taking up packages for its cable channels? Am I missing something here? What happened to the triple play or quad play strategies that were meant to take the media/telecom companies into brave new worlds of profit?

I thought that the creation of Virgin Media was about offering the customer all their TV, broadband, mobile and fixed line wishes in one package and in one bill, to make life simple (or that seems the marketing message). And isn’t Carphone Warehouse pitching “triple play” as its offering?  It looks like Sky is reversing this trend with its consideration of standalone broadband.

The company’s “See, Speak, Surf” promotion has helped grow its internet access and telephony customer penetration, essentially it’s been a winner and put the fear into what were once pure broadband players, such as Tiscali. Now Sky looks like it wants to make a land grab at the most grassroots level.

Whether customers will take up a Sky broadband offering depends mainly on the price, as the market is now commoditised, but maybe, just maybe, the brand name will count for something. The web is humming with the name Picnic Broadband – suggesting Sky does not its parent brand name too closely attached. That’s a sensible ploy if the venture fails but means the halo effect of the Sky name isn’t being leveraged. What’s the right path to pursue?

To read the related news story go to mad.co.uk