Microsoft Talks Sky TV And Subscription Models

11 Aug 2009 at 11:53:54 by Andy Alderson

Microsoft has revealed a few details of the upcoming Sky TV service for Xbox LIVE.

IncGamers recently caught up with Microsoft’s James Holton who talked through the autumn Xbox LIVE dashboard update. He revealed that the intriguing deal the company has struck with Sky TV will bring both live TV and video on demand (VOD) to the Xbox 360 although he was guarded on what kind of subscription model will be implemented.

“With Sky, we haven't made any announcements on exactly what you will need and what packages,” said Holton, “but ultimately there will be a number of scenarios if you are an existing Sky subscriber and a LIVE subscriber who's accessing kind of like VoD content as opposed to live TV, that kind of stuff...”

However, when pressed about the subscription model, Holton implied that we may see something similar to the Sky Player service, which allows those who can’t have a satellite dish (or who don’t want one) to access Sky programming.

“Sky Player is a great alternative because it's this one-month rolling subscription for you to dip in and dip out of that content as and when you want it,” he said.

“Again, it's not about us trying to tell people how they want to view stuff, it's about us offering the choice.”
If you've got Sky at home today, there'll be ways in which you can access their content,” he added.

“If you haven't got Sky at all, then there's also ways of you being able to get the content. More will become clear as we get closer to launch and we're able to firmly nail that information and what that model looks like, but I think people are going to be pretty pleased with it.”

Would you be happy with a one month rolling subscription model, or would you prefer a pay per view system? Let us know in the comments section below.  

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