Monday, August 08, 2005

More power to me

I picked up on a couple of interesting changes in the messages coming out of last Wednesday's presentation from BSkyB - one was an apparent acceptance that the internet is indeed a serious issue to confront (interesting that this came against a background of a mooted bid for Skype by parent NewsCorp), the other was the emphasis placed on the wholesale side of the business, i.e., selling channels to UK cable operators. A cynic (such as me) would view the subtext of this (as I stated in my note to clients) as preparing the investment community for an impending resurgence from cable, backed by VOD and better PVRs than Sky currently has in circulation. Today we get another indication, as NTL follows the lead of European cable players, and leapfrogs DSL in the bandwidth stakes. As an NTL customer, I'm thrilled. I guess NTL had better hope my internet consumption doesn't grow so great that I decide to churn off my ridiculously bloated "family pack" of cable channels. After four days in a tent in Suffolk, I know my kids can actually live without TV...

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