Now TV is Sky’s most significant strategic move since broadband

Pay-as-you-go movie service is aimed at the 13m homes reluctant to take on pay-TV

Now TV on the iPad

BT owns Plusnet, British Airways had Go – both suggest the history of big company discount brands is decidedly mixed. Now Sky has Now TV, a pay-as-you-go movie service aimed at the 13m homes reluctant to take on pay-TV. It is Sky’s most significant strategic move since James Murdoch launched broadband, as the broadcaster quietly acknowledges that pay-TV growth has ground to a halt. Sky only added 121,000 television subscribers in the year to March.

Now TV will stream films on demand via the internet, to desktop computers and shortly iPads. In doing so the company has one eye on Netflix, which launched a £4.99 a month, online film rental service recently – but with prices of £3.49 a film and £15 a month – Now looks expensive. Except, Sky’s market power in films on TV means that Now has rights to Hollywood movies from major studios months or even a year before they arrive on Netflix.

However, the bigger question is how Sky will make Premier League football available on Now. Pay-per-view football has been tried before – but this time the technological and economic context is different. People watch television on iPads, the UK economy is in the doldrums and BT will compete in football next year. The era of big pay-TV subscriptions is not over, but a more complex television economy is kicking in.

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jQ(‘a.report-abuse:not(.no-abuse-popup)’).live(‘click’, function(ev) {
ev.preventDefault();

loading_box.dialog({
title: “Abuse report”,
draggable: false,
modal: true,
width: 400,
minHeight: 320,
resizable: false,
beforeclose: function(event, ui) {
var readOnly = jQ(‘.report-abuse-ajax-readonly’).length;
if(readOnly == 1) return true;

var reason = jQ(‘.report-abuse-ajax-form textarea#id_reason’).val();
var thanksPage = jQ(‘.report-form-loading p[data-abuse-report-accepted-for-comment]‘).length;
if (thanksPage == 0) {
thanksPage = jQ(‘.report-form-loading p[data-abuse-report-accepted-for-profile]‘).length;
}
if(thanksPage == 0) {
if(reason == 0) {
return true;
} else {
return confirm(“Closing this window without pressing \”Report\” will result in your words being lost. Are you sure?”);
}
}
else {
return true;
}
},
close: function(ev, ui) { loading_box.remove(); }
});

abuse_report_url = this.href.replace(‘report-abuse’, ‘report-abuse-ajax’);
abuse_report_url = fix_domain_for_careers(abuse_report_url);

jQ.ajax({
url: abuse_report_url,
success: function(data){
loading_box.html(data);
}
});
});

jQ(‘body’).delegate(‘.report-abuse-ajax-form form’, ‘submit’, function(ev) {
ev.preventDefault();
var form = jQ(this);
var url = fix_domain_for_careers(form.attr(‘action’));
jQ.post(url, form.serialize(), function(html) {
form.parents(‘.ui-dialog-content’).html(html);
// Has the abuse report been accepted?
var el = jQ(html);
var comment_id = el.attr(‘data-abuse-report-accepted-for-comment’);
var profile_id = el.attr(‘data-abuse-report-accepted-for-profile’);
if (comment_id) {
jQ(‘ul#comment-’ + comment_id).find(‘li.abuse-report’).remove();
} else if (profile_id) {
jQ(‘p.report-abuse’).remove();
}
var is_successful_submission = (comment_id || profile_id);
if (is_successful_submission) {

if(guardian.r2.omniture.isAvailable()) {
// track with omniture
s.linkTrackVars = ‘events,eVar37′;
s.linkTrackEvents = ‘event37′;
s.eVar37 = ‘Comment:Report Abuse’;
s.events = ‘event37′;
s.tl(true, ‘o’, ‘Comment report abuse’);
}

window.setTimeout(function() {
loading_box.dialog(“close”);
}, 3000);
}
});
});

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jQ(‘#newcommenting-form input[type=submit]‘).removeAttr(‘disabled’);

var newFormURL = window.location.protocol + ‘//’ + window.location.host + window.location.pathname + ‘?#post-area’;
jQ(‘div#login-container form.post-your-comments’).attr(‘action’, newFormURL);

jQ(‘div#signup-container input’).click(function(){
urlStack.clearUrlStack();
urlStack.pushUrlOntoStack(newFormURL);
document.location = ‘http://users.guardian.co.uk/signup/tr/1,,-720,00.html’;
});

jQ(‘.recomended’).show();

jQ(‘#newcommenting-form’).submit(function(){
jQ(‘input[type=submit]‘, this).attr(‘disabled’, ‘disabled’);
});
}); //end jQ ready

function openAbuseBox(commentId) {
jQ(“#abuse-report-comment-id”).val(commentId);
var loading_box = jQ(‘

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loading_box.dialog({
title:”Abuse report”,
draggable: false,
modal:true,
width:400,
minHeight:320,
resizable: false,
beforeclose: function(event, ui) {
var reason = jQ(‘textarea#id_reason’).val();
if (reason != “”) {
return confirm(“Closing this window without pressing \”Report\” will result in your words being lost. Are you sure?”);
} else {
return true;
}
}
});
}

function recommendComment(commentId) {
var guardian_domain_thing = ‘foo’;
var post_url = “http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/handlers/recommendComment”;
post_url = fix_domain_for_careers(post_url);

jQ.post(post_url, { comment_id: commentId }, function(data) {
if (data == “OK”) {
var span = jQ(“#recommended-count-” + commentId);
span.prev(‘a’).contents().unwrap();
span.text(parseInt(span.text(), 10)+1);
}
else {
var span = jQ(“#recommended-count-” + commentId);
span.prev(‘a’).contents().unwrap();
}
});
}