Getting rid of Sky Sport 101

 Info on beIN Sports Connect online subscription service:

http://www.beinsportsconnect.com.au/newCustomers

In Oz it's $AU 17 / month or $AU 170 / one year sub

So $NZ 18 / month sounds right for us in NZ (maybe $NZ 180 for one year).

Football they offer:

http://www.beinsportsconnect.com.au/competitions

Will be a little different for NZ subscribers with added EPL (not available on beIN in Oz)

Hopefully, they'll have the same OZ coverage of Champions League, Europa League, la Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, Scottish Premier, English Championship, Capital One Cup, German Cup, French Cup, Scottish Cup, CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers, European football internationals etc.

That really is an impressive lineup of leagues for only $18 per month.

I'll probably ditch Sky and go with beIN Connect.

A-League and All Whites games I'll watch at my mum's since she has Sky!

Good to see that lots of the Euro 2016 games are live on Prime TV (owned by Sky):

Wales v Northern Ireland, 4 a.m. 26/06/16 Sunday

France v Republic of Ireland , 1 a.m. 27/06/16 Monday

Both games are live on Prime TV for those without Sky.

They had the Spain v Croatia game live at 7am yesterday and the Sweden v Belgium game this morning on Prime.

Was watching Copa America on SkyGo.

Fine until second half, then just getting kicked out every 2 minutes, with the message "concurrent user limit reached".

After about 20 minutes of frustration, it went back to normal. I watched the rest of normal time, and all of extra time, and all of the penalty shoot-out with no interruptions at all, until Silva was literally running in to take the winning penalty kick, and BOOM "concurrent user limit reached".

I mean farken seriously, how livid am I right now. 

Obviously the argument has already been had that Sky having a concurrent user limit smaller than their subscription base on Skygo is absolute bullsh*t. When you pay this much, that should NEVER happen, EVER.

But my additional gripe is, if a user is already logged in and watching, why the f*ck does someone else logging in get priority over me??? 

And also, to whoever did log in to watch the very last peno, I HATE YOU (not as much as Sky, but still a lot of hatred)

im no expert in this area but this error message could be talking about how many current sessions one user is allowed (3 I think?) - have you checked into that?

That problem has happened since the beginning for me with Skygo, even when I had one device on it. 

They manage the 3-device rule by telling you when you attempt to log on from a device that is not one of your designated three. You're allowed to change your designated three once per month. 

Having said that, does anyone else have this concurrent user problem? Would be bloody great if it was confined to me, and I was able to speak to Sky and get it resolved. Happens all the time during the most popular events so I always assumed they just have a pathetically low number of concurrent user licences for their software? 

Was an issue I had back when I had Sky, and given no-one else had my password, and I was the only one who used SkyGo there was definitely not "concurrent user" issue with number of devices I had running. 

Have no idea though, always thought it was a bug with their software thinking my computer was multiple devices, didn't think about it being an error because they have a limited number of licenses...

I don't think your error has to do with the number of devices. If your watching something, and someone else tries to do the same with your account, it won't let them and the error is something like "This account is already streaming". It certainly won't kick you off like you were suggesting in your previous post

I had an excellent SkyGo experience this morning streaming the Iceland England game in the car on the way to work. Android app worked a treat. 

Do you know how much data this used?

yea I've had that issue, were you using chrome?  As I find that happens all the time in Chrome on a PC.  

Has anyone had problems where they have recently MySky'd games that have gone to extra-time and penalties and then when they go to watch the games, the recordings stop part-way through extra-time ie as if the end-time was based on 90 minutes.  I've had it happen to the Oceania Cup final as well as games in Euro 16 and Copa Centario 2016.  I complained to Sky and they denied it was happening.

It's happened a lot. Most notably during the FA Cup final, and it often happens for Champions League games that go to extra time too. For some reason they don't make sure the schedule adjusts for the recording to extend, so the recording just stops at the scheduled end time. To be safe I've taken to manually setting the next hour to record (go to settings, recording setup and manual record to enter the channel and time etc) for anything that could go on longer such as a knockout football match. Hasn't happened for me in the Euro games that have gone to extra time though.

Switzerland v Poland was fine for me.

Most of the time it seems to be games that Sky has got rights from someone else (ie BeIN, ESPN etc) where the broadcast is coming through them, and Sky doesn't update their guide so the programme doesn't keep recording...

Trying to watch game on Skygo this morning. Don't know why I even bother, honestly. 

Just makes me angry, every time.

Had no issues with the Android App this morning. Glad I can watch on Prime on Monday though.

SkyGo predictably crashed for the 7s final this morning, then back on line and operating smoothly as soon as it's finished.

It's so obvious that their infrastructure cannot handle a high user volume, so why are they continuing to cover that up? Why do they lie constantly when asked about things not working? 

Seen all sorts of crap on twitter about their web services not working, and they were seriously responding that there were no issues, and it just must be the user's internet connection.

Even this morning when it predictably went down right before the 7s kick-off, their immediate response?

"We have very tight monitoring of this. The way we know if there's been a fault is if there is a drop off of users, and we haven't seen that," said Sky's Kirsty Way.

Straight after that;

"Apologies, we're experiencing a technical problem with SKY Go, you can see Rio coverage on TV or using our Olympics On SKY app."

Why the lies?

Why don't they just tell us that they cannot handle large user volumes and be honest? That way I wouldn't get p*ssed off EVERY SINGLE TIME because I dared to hope that perhaps they had done something about it...

And also, is monitoring for user drop-off seriously the number one way they can tell if there is an issue??? Amateur hour. Especially when they have a set limit of concurrent users. 

Have to have sky basic( for wife) but can now get the BEIN football channels for another 11.90 something a month with EPL and various other assorted channels for my fix of football

$11.96 per month, went on air today. Two Bein Channels and two pop up EPL channels. Which if it stays like that,I will be buzzing. I too have only Sky Basic.

fudgeing sky.  "You're watching W Football: NZL V FRA LIVE"  No I'm not, you haven't switched across from the Brazil Spain basketball match.

ARGH the one hting I care about in the olympics.

Is it still $12 for the BeIN channels on Sky AND BeIN Connect? Or will I have to pay extra to have both? 

if you pay the $11.96 for the beIN package on SKY then you will get beIN connect for no charge once it's up and running.


Or you can subscribe to beIN connect directly for a yet to be confirmed cost (again once it's up and running)

was watching football on the bein channels last night, older game admittedly but how nice after only rugby, surfing and tennis

Mate, you get Bein 1, Bein 2, Bein pop up 1 & Bein pop up 2 = 4 channels of football for $11.96 per month all inclusive and no need to buy Sky Sports. I am buzzing. The visual quality of the Forest V Burton game was excellent and no longer a stuttering football moving about the screen.

See I think this is great value but wish they could package a league and all whites in it as well as that's the only reason I have sport at the moment

it'd be nice to see nz football wake up and realise Sky is doomed, and offer a streaming service with nzfc, all whites, and  other nz teams content.

A league streaming is available online legally, in other countries. You can use a use a us vpn, to get livesport.tv for around 60usd a season. No guarantee they will have the upcoming season as far as I know, hut there are options.

I'll bite - why is streaming (particularly in NZ) the saviour?

Or to put it another way if we focus on Sport content why do you think SKY is doomed?

Yep and the good ol Warriors

Channelised programming is a dead concept. There is no good reason for it in a situation (post broadband) where there is no limit to the potential for concurrent live broadcasts, and ondemand replays.

Furthermore, sky's business model is built around bundling (basic + hd + Sports + box rental) and filler content, both of which suit Sky, rather than the viewer.

ok, i know where your going with this and there is certainly an ongoing demand for some way to subscribe to a particular sport like PLP did.

But what i think your not thinking about is there is a whole massive chunk of customers who want to watch, All Blacks, NRL, Blackcaps, Breakers plus a few other sports - ie they are a fan of sports rather that one sport - for those customers and i would wager at the moment they are the majority bundling of sports works for them.

So you say there is no good reason - that's your viewpoint based on you and your circle and how you want to consume sport but it's not the total picture.

If SKY did break down the rights for each sport and offered an on demand service for each the cost would be astronomical, especially for offshore based rights because they don't really sell rights to NZ realising the market is so small.  The way it's being sold at the moment is the best way to keep the overall cost down to consumers.

Lets take Premier League for example - reports are that PLP spent 1m a year on rights, now reports are that the rights for Premier League everywhere since the last deal had risen sharply, so it's no surprise that beIN reportedly spent 3m a year - so how do they recover their cost from the market, or how to they actually make money from the rights?

beIN are taking every dollar of the $12 people are paying to SKY so do the math how many subscribers would they need to break even just on costs of the content alone, even if they do $20 per month direct to customers on the beIN connect they are still gonna need a bunch load of customers - I just don't think the market is big enough to support that at a cost to the consumer that is considered reasonable.

Entertainment content is another discussion

The more we get on board, the better. What I have seen this week makes it well worth taking on board. Very pleased.

There are advantages in cost and convenience in getting all your sport from one provider too.

Consider the situation in Australia now where it's suddenly got much more expensive to watch football legally.

To watch the EPL you need to subscribe to Optus. For all other football you need to subscribe to Foxtel and/or beIN Sport.

To subscribe to both Optus and Foxtel (with added beIN) would be $A 1437 per annum !!!!

COST IN AUSSIE:

Optus for EPL: $540 / year (including your mobile phone cost); $420 / year with "Fetch TV" box to stream onto your TV

http://www.optus.com.au/epl?SID=con:tv:EPLPRE:EPLP...

You must be an Optus customer for phone and/or broadband to get the EPL coverage.

Minimum cost for mobile phone and EPL = $540 / year (cheapest eligible plan plus $15 / month for EPL)

(Current special offer this month only = free EPL with $360 / year mobile phone plan)  

Foxtel for A-League, Socceroos, beIN Sports channels etc. = $787 / year for Foxtel basic package plus Sport (not including beIN)

Including beIN Sport (3 channels) = $907 / year  (Both these prices include installation and equipment hire)

http://getbein.beinsports.com/au/subscribe/

https://www.foxtel.com.au/get.html

Foxtel's own sports channels are now very similar to what Sky TV was providing in NZ last season. They only broadcast six EPL club channels for delayed EPL coverage, A-League, Barcelona TV (one Barcelona match a week) and the minimal football available on ESPN such as FA Cup and MLS.

And even if you add the beIN Sports channels (they provide three in Oz) there is no EPL over there - just la Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, Champions League etc. 

So anyone in Australia wanting to watch the EPL plus A-League, European football, Socceroos etc. legally would have to subscribe to both Optus and Foxtel.

Cost for both would be $530 for Optus plus $907 for Foxtel with beIN Sport

TOTAL COST: $A 1437 per year !!!!!

bloody spark and chorus means the Internet has been stuffed up for two days now and won't be fixed until 7pm on Tuesday.

One hour wait to then have a tense conversation with some customer rep (oxymoron) who wouldn't tell me the name of the MD of their company

Bunch of Muppets. I'm going to send them an invoice at $400 an hour

Thank lord football has came home to Sky

Very happy with my football fix from Bein this weekend...god Ive missed it!

What makes you think I'm not thinking about these people? My complaint is Sky's forced bundling of content both on the sports channels which i'm not interested in, and their other content channels, which I am likewise not interested in. It's the lack of an option to remove all this content which is of zero value to me which is my bugbear, and why I no longer have Sky.

I am prepared to pay for content i want to watch, i'm not prepared to pay for filler which is of zero interest to me.

You say that there is good reason, based on your viewpoint; I'm not saying they shouldn't offer it, but that they shouldn't force it.

Think about this another way; all sport is live (by definition), the problem with channelised content delivery is that arbitrary choices by a programming team due to an artificial constraint (satellite bandwidth versus internet) reflect perceived customer demand, not actual customer choice. 

Those who follow a team in the championship, for example, may have no interest in other games in that league, but even if we had a 24/7 channel for that league, there is no way that a programming team can satisfy all customers with the right choice of live games, where there that artifical capacity constraint.

I Just need to win Lotto and retire to TV Football 

The demand just isn't big enough in NZ to be able to provide these options at a price that would be deemed reasonable by the market

If with all the money sky has they cant make a streaming service that is reliable with an app that shows live sport 30 minutes behind when its actually happening, that think when you logout, close and reopen a browser it is trying to be streamed in two locations, and regularly crashes because too many of their customers are trying to use their product, what makes you think Football NZ would be able to pull it off?

I don't disagree with that, that's why i think the trend will first be regional players launching in many markets, and then eventually the rights holders themselves retaining rights, and distributing directly.

Because Sky have made the foolish decision to roll their own, rather than use a pre-existing technology platform. Sky's platform is delivering a pitiful ammount of content compared to some of the global IP video delivery platforns.