Sky's the limit

A couple of notable news items today around the UK satellite TV provider BSkyB. In the morning, the Guardian ran a story that said Sky was in talks with Microsoft to offer its proposed DTT service over its new PC-based TV platform. The DTT service that Sky hopes to launch, pending approval from regulator Ofcom, will see the provider use MPEG4 technology to put four pay-TV channels into the spectrum currently being used by Sky to offer three free channels over the DTT service, which is sold as Freeview in the UK.

If it happens, it will be an interesting step in the convergence of media in the UK. Although Sky, which is 39.1% owned by News Corp., bought a broadband service provider a couple of years back, it is using this asset in its consumer business primarily as a triple play bundle. Putting its channels on Microsoft's Windows Media Centre will be the first time that the provider actually attempts to offer its services to the PC.

It also builds on the announcement Sky made last week that it would provide its premium channels to Tiscali for its IPTV service.

Presumably both of these moves are being done for Sky to test the broadband waters rather than really hope for big paybacks for the services. Indeed, if reports from moneysupermarket are to be believed, there's such a speed gap between what consumers are being promised and what they are getting that it may be a while because PC/broadband-based television services really take off in this country.

The other Sky story is that this week it launched a counter attack in its ongoing fight with cable provider Virgin Media over whether the latter was right to claim that Sky was really abusing its market position in negotiating over channels (or not negotiating, as the case may be). If the UK courts rule in Sky's favour after all, it will likely have a negative impact on Virgin Media's bargaining position in the future, not just over channels but for the price at which it potentially gets sold.

Interactive TV: 1; Online TV: 0

Went to two conferences this week, FT Mobile Media and Online TV and Video, organised by Informa.

Ironically, one message that came out of the Online TV conference was that, in fact, computers and broadband still don't have a patch on traditional TVs when it comes to viewer numbers for video.

Channel 4, which launched its 4OD on-demand service at the end of 2006, has been running it simultaneously as a digital interactive service with pay-TV providers (Virgin Media, Homechoice and BT Vision), and as a PC-based service accessed via broadband. 4OD is a mixture of catch-up TV with a selection of archived programmes and films.

"4OD is overwhelmingly viewed more on TVs than it is on PCs," said Cosmo Lush, head of product development, told me. "I would say that pay-TV viewers outnumber PC viewers at a ratio of four to one."

He did point out that the PC user base has doubled since Channel 4 added extra free content earlier this year--but that potentially means that only one in eight people were using the PC service before.

One issue might be the hurdle of getting people to download a client onto their computers just to be able to use the service. (Another exec I met a few weeks ago from Channel 4 noted that while more men than women downloaded the client, women tended to use it more regularly-- meaning that among those that bother to download it, some never actually register and use it.)

But Lush at Channel 4 said the PC version of the service "will continue to evolve."

They have good reasons to keep pushing it, even if it's much less popular than the TV version. Since Channel 4 can offer the PC version direct to consumers without the need for partnerships with pay-TV providers, it gives them potentially a much better return on any revenues they make from it (from advertising or subs for premium content).

And it's of course so much easier to promote it and get people to click straight into the service direct from other places online. (Lush pointed out that search advertising, a la Google and Yahoo, has been an excellent investment for them so far.)

That's not to say that there's not room for developments of the TV version of 4OD. Channel 4 has yet to sign up the U.K. pay-TV market leader, BSkyB, to the service.

MySpace moves up the age ladder

Is MySpace getting older and wiser?

Yesterday the News Corp.-owned social networking giant launched their new 'professional content' video service. (This is presumably where the News Corp./NBC Universal video will fit in once it is rolled out this summer.)

Of course most of MySpace's new video partners will be serving the 16-24 user base that makes up the bulk of MySpace members: Kush TV, LX.TV, Ripe TV, Octane TV, Flow, Young Hollywood and VBS.tv will be among the companies supplying content to its new lifestyle and news channels.

But other partners - National Geographic, the New York Times and Reuters - are definitely more synonomous with a distinctly older kind of consumer.

True, one of the sample segments from Reuters will be 'off-beat news stories from around the world' (and won't those be funny!) but there is every possibility that MySpace will tap more of what Reuters is known for--financial data and analysis--as (and if) the partnership develops.

The deal also gives companies like National Geographic and New York Times another way of trying to refresh their own demographic pools, which are of course getting older too.