Sky

U.K. Pay-TV Firm Sky Debuts Digital Music Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 13, 2009 - 12:18pm.

London - U.K. television and ISP service Sky has announced the impending launch of Sky Songs, a digital music service offering over 4 million tracks for download and unlimited streaming. Subscription plans include a monthly fee of $10.25, which includes unlimited streaming and up to 10 included downloads; and $12.73 per month for unlimited streaming and 15 downloads. Additional downloads from the catalog, which includes all four majors along with IODA, The Orchard, Beggars Group and PIAS, will cost about $1.03 per song and $10.25 per album.

tags: TV | Music | Sky | Sky Songs |

Report: U.K. ISP BT in Talks With Labels on Music Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 6, 2009 - 10:42am.

London - The U.K.'s largest ISP, British Telecom (BT), is in talks with the major record labels on offering a digital music subscription service, New Media Age reported. The service would reportedly offer access to subscribers to BT's broadband and IPTV customers. Rival ISPs Sky and Virgin Media are reportedly building their own music services in Britain.

tags: Music | BT | Sky | Virgin Media |

Omnifone Debuts Unlimited MusicStation Next Generation Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 17, 2009 - 1:45pm.

London - Omnifone, a U.K.-based provider of branded digital music services, has announced the launch of a new unlimited music download and streaming service, MusicStation Next Generation, which will offer consumers the ability to bundle the cost with their Internet service provider bill, or pay as they go. The company has deals with all four major labels and "thousands" of independents for the service, which will be available on Mac, PC and set-top box platforms. Omnifone head Rob Lewis told Music Ally the company is in advanced talks with U.K. broadcaster Sky to be the first customer.

NBCU Debuts Two Time-Shifted Channels on Sky, Virgin Media

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 8, 2008 - 11:07am.

London - NBC Universal Global Networks (NYSE: GE) on Friday announced the launch of two time-shifted channels for the U.K.'s Sky and Virgin Media pay-TV services. Hallmark Channel will allow U.K. viewers to watch U.S. NBC TV shows like "House," "Law & Order" and "Damages," while Diva TV will play host to on-demand episodes of "Oprah Winfrey," "Late Show With David Letterman." NBCU already offers the time-shifted channels SCI FI ("Heroes," "Medium," "Flash Gordon" and Movies 24 in the U.K.

U.K. Broadcaster Sky Taps Pluck for Social Media Tools

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 29, 2008 - 11:29am.

London - British Sky Broadcasting said on Tuesday that it will incorporate social media tools from Pluck across its websites, including Sky.com and SkyNews.com. The new functionality will enable multimedia blogs and discussion forums, and cross-site user profiling. Pluck provides similar services to publishers including Gannett, Reuters and WashingtonPost.com.

tags: Social Networking | TV | Pluck | Sky |

Analysis: Freesat Proves Popular Online in the UK

Authored by Robin Goad on May 14, 2008 - 8:06am.

The launch of Freesat, the free satellite TV service provided by the BBC and ITV in the UK, proved popular with online consumers during its launch week. UK Internet traffic to www.freesat.co.uk, the service’s online homepage, increased by 627% between the weeks ending May 3rd and May 10th, while UK Internet searches for the term ‘freesat’ increased by 752% over the same period, making it the fastest moving search term in the UK last week.

tags: Video | TV | UK | iTV | Metrics | BBC | Sky | Freesat |

U.K. Cable TV's Virgin Media Drops Sky Basic Channels

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 1, 2007 - 2:51pm.

London - Richard Branson's Virgin Media U.K. pay-TV service announced on Thursday that it has stopped airing basic channels owned by rival News Corp.'s Sky service, after the companies failed to renegotiate a carriage agreement.