Sky changes

My answer to the Sky reply.


Mia
Thank you for your reply.
I would like to point out firstly that an identical reply to this one you sent me has been received by fellow football viewers protesting at Sky's lack of coverage of the full A-League match schedule.
The fact is, I and many, many other people are unimpressed with Sky's efforts in this regard.
Your reply in many ways sidestepped the key issue and question put to You...

Does Sky actually care about its local football viewing audience?

The question is a serious one put to yourself Mia, your superiors and all of those Heads of Departments with Sky cc'd in my original email.

If Sky did, then all else would fall into place.

The football content throughout this Sky website would be updated to reflect some respect, knowledge and interest in Football, its NZ supporters and viewers generally and specifically, those of us throughout the country who support the Wellington Phoenix and follow The Hyundai A-League..and pay good money to subscribe to your services.
I am told Sky is only showing 2 of the five games scheduled in the first week of the A-League, according to the latest Sky magazine.

This is not good enough!!

This is not what we were sold, what we upgraded and subscribed for.

Sky has in the past provided good coverage of NZ football ..the NZ All Whites in the Confederations Cup in South Africa a recent example.

By registering our protest we hope that Sky reconsiders its current coverage plan and that adjustments are made to the schedule to ensure all A-League games are broadcast each week.

Thanks.

..
Had to get that done, while I still felt the upset.G'night.
RedGed2009-07-30 02:06:36

nice email red, I doubt it will change, I've had a similar arguments with them before. They simply do not care.

good work everyone who wrote in

Tony P - YOU ARE A LEGEND !!!!!!!!!

you tell those big heads at sky !!!!!!!

I'm not going to bother to sign up. We cancelled sky at the end of last season on the basis that we would save money and would sign back up again once the A league started.

But if this is all we will get for $67 a month...stuff em.

whats the email address everyone is using? I'll send one intonight.

I'm sensing this is a bit of a Sparkles/Snifters moment.

You are probably right UberGunner..the picture you paint is very likely the way it is.
We presume that Sky have reasoned through this whole situation and A-League football subscribers are the ones who affect their bottom line the least...or are least likely to complain!

I may be banging my head on the brick wall about this but I think its worth having a go to change things...while we can, before the season starts.... rather than complacently accepting whats dished out.

If enough of us do make enough noise about it, particularly the likes of Tony P and any other Football leaders we may influence Sky to show at least every game each week, even if its delayed.

I definitely want to see these games. If its delayed thats fine because it can be recorded. But I have lots of interest in some of these kiwi players and other new stars to the League who I would want to check out. Great work TP for standing up for us!!

I emailed SKY back.

Thank You for your response.

But I am still 100% percent sure of your commitment to Football in this country.

As a member of the YellowFever website, we were told by (a reliable source) someone who had talked directly to Head of communications with SKY, Tony O'Brien. And that SKY would be showing...

From mid-August to mid-November
* All Phoenix games live
* At least ONE other game per weekend live
* All other games delayed
* New A-League Review show (ex-Fox Sports in Australia) - 10pm Mondays

But as I, and many other Football fans have flicked through the Scheduling for SKY in August, we found...

Saturday 8th of Aug - North QLDs v Sydney LIVE SS3 730pm
Sunday 9th of Aug - Newcastle Jets V Phoenix LIVE SS1 5pm
Friday 14th of Aug - CCM v Jets - LIVE SS1 10pm
Sunday 16th of Aug - Phoenix v Perth - LIVE SS1 5pm
Sunday 23th of Aug - Brisbane V Phoenix LIVE SS1 5PM
Sunday 30th of Aug - Sydney v Phoenix LIVE SS1 7pm

Now that hardly lives up the promise of All Phoenix matches Live, PLUS at least one other Live match a week.

Also in the first week of Competition staring 6th August, not all games are being shown, not even delayed coverage, which again doesn't live up to what was promised.

Could you please clarify this issue, is the fact that your schedule is currently out of date?
Or some other reason?

Thank you for your Time
Anthony

P.S. Please don't send me the exact same word for word response that you send to others raising this issue, (like you did with your last reply)

Interested to see the response.

Hope this pressure works, (not holding my breath though)

I'm sending Mia this............


Hello Mia

Thank you for your email.

I'm wondering if your contract for the A-League is to show LIVE Phoenix games only, with no rights to show any others? Also, were you able to extend your contract terms to include all games LIVE? and if you, by some miracle, manage a late contract change will Sky play these games where you can? Maybe SKY can play some LIVE and play others either delayed or shown where scheduling allows.

I look forward to your comments which I hope you can forward to your Sports Department and  respective channel managers.

PS. What I may do at some stage when I want to talk to a machine is contact SKY Television Customer Services on 0800 759 759 for further information, or alternatively I may respond via return email and hope for a reply within 24 hours.

With kind regards,

Royal


I am aware all programming is subject to change without notification.  Auto-Response Royal2009-07-30 13:25:43

poor Mia,
Ah well, I geuss having to read all of these (or auto-reply to them) comes with the territory of being a liason officer for a money hungry broadcaster!

I expressed my dissatisfaction via the 'ask a question' section on the sky website.  No idea if it was the right place but if every department in Sky gets inundated with disgruntled Nix fans then I suppose that's a good thing.

what is the email addy for these aholes?

Ya whats Mia's email?

Use this addy

http://skytv.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/skytv.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=216


and click on the email link where it says "here"


and you'll join the heap   that is....Mia's in-tray.
RedGed2009-07-30 17:38:50

There is every chance. 

Likewise I bet the non-Warriors NRL games draw in significantly less than a Warriors game but still more than A-League matches.  The difference is that the NRL has been televised here for upwards of 25 (guess) years so it has built the following, people know the players and the squads because of the saturation coverage.

SKY though are working here to ensure that the A-Leaguye can never get that same following. To do it needs a genuine committment to covergae to help the league become part of the sporting landscape, it needs promotion, and what it doesn't need is a reduction in coverage at the expense of filler.

I struggle to put in to words how this situation makes me feel.  Despite them killing the Kingz I've given them a chance to redeem themselves, despite the fact that they have a vested interest in maintaining the supremacy of the oval ball codes I've given them a chance...

Now ?

Top response there HN, Sums it up pretty much IMHO.

Where to go from here?

Simply because it gets a lot worse but the bigger issues are too hard to talk about.

Banners at the game. Fail proof.

 and some publicity in wider media would be good...

One aspect that I find really disappointing, is that with Smeltz off to GCU and Moss at Melbourne, then there were really good conditions for the A-League to catch on as a wider interest league (a league with particular relevance to help develop the game here).

And Sky seemed intent upon sabotaging the chance of it taking off. Grrrr

Not to mention Brockie at NQ and now McGlinchey at CCM
valeo2009-07-30 23:02:08

Effigies, burn effigies

Kickoi.

I declare a Jihad.

I entered that on their website too so hopefully it goes up 

even when we are all hot under the collar about something, there's always someone whom can lighten the mood with an excellent joke (And smithyz11, your follow up is class!)

Here's my Sky question (the stupid 08/09 Knights FAQ doesn't come up any more so someone's doing something there!):

Hi. I am very concerned about the very limited coverage you are planning to give to the A League this coming season. As far as I can tell, you are only planning to show 2 out of the 5 games on the first weekend!! 

I pay you heaps of money for my subscription and have recently upgraded to MySky and HD ticket all ready to be able to watch my favourite live sport which is FOOTBALL.  As I am an avid fan and season ticket holder for the Wellington Phoenix (an NZ team who play in the Hyundai A League) I am keen to watch other games as well as Phoenix away ones.  This is part of the pleasure of following a football league that your team play in.

Also this season there are a number of NZ players who are now playing for other A League teams and I was looking forward to following their progress too.  This is a massive year for NZ football as we will be trying to qualify for the real World Cup (the football one which is the biggest sports event on the planet!) for only the second time in NZ history. 

Why are you doing this to me and other faithful subscribers who pay good money for what is supposed to be dedicated sports broadcasting!

Good letter Paul.

+1
RedGed2009-07-31 08:01:20

Would love to hear how Tony P gets on when he talks to the big wig at sky

The Second responce i recieved from SKY.

Hello Anthony

We try to schedule LIVE events where ever possible but sometimes the decision has to be made to put games Delayed. The weekend is always a very hectic time for sports scheduling due to so many live events coming through.

I can understand that you are very passionate about your sport and we have the same complaints from other sporting fans who equally enjoy their sport and want every game LIVE. However as mentioned earlier we were only going to bring in the Wellington Phoenix games, fortunately we were able to bring in more A-League match ups.

Any decision we take is never done so lightly but we do have to try and cater to all sporting codes that we have rights to. Despite this we hope you enjoy the A-League season we have to offer and I will pass your feedback onto our Sports Department.

Please feel free to contact SKY Television Customer Services on 0800 759 759 for further information, alternatively please respond via return email and we will endeavour to reply within 24 hours.

With kind regards,

Mia

PROGRAMMING LIAISON | TEL: 0800 759 759 |FROM OVERSEAS +64 9 525 5555 | FAX 09 5258355 I PO BOX 9059, NEWMARKET

Please be aware all programming is subject to change without notification.

Meh. Basically, thank you but f**k off, is what I'm hearing.