Hands on with Sky TV's Neon, Fanpass

Sky TV's Netflix clone Neon TV finally launched late Saturday.

I've had a quick play with Neon, and also Sky's new Fanpass service for Super Rugby, NRL and Formula One (keep reading).

The short story is that neither service is as attractive as it could be. Neon could have been cheaper, with better video quality, and more (and more timely) TV series and movies if Sky wanted. And Fanpass (which will cost the thick end of $1000 if you subscribe to all three sports for a year) could be a lot cheaper. Sky TV is, simply, not making these new internet-based services too tempting because it doesn't want to cannibalise its traditional business - at least, not too much.

Neon is a little late, by Sky TV's self-imposed deadline (it originally said by the end of last year).

No matter, it's here before March, when Netflix itself is due to launch in NZ (albeit with a crummier line-up than Americans get), which has always been Sky's key point of focus.

I downloaded the Neon TV app to my iPad. The interface is clean and simple and it was minutes from download the app to streaming content to my regular television (via a $149 Apple TV box, also such a useful aid for streaming other services). After a few seconds of buffering the video streamed smoothly. It all worked well, and the standard definition (1.8Mbit/s) video looked fine on my 50-inch TV, if obviously not HD.

Neon's main drawbacks are:

• A focus on catalogue content (like Netflix, and unlike Hulu - where I spend an increasing amount of my time). You can watch Game of Thrones seasons one to three, for example, but not 2014's season four. And Sky TV confirms season five will be exclusive to its satellite subscribers and come to Neon at a later date. It's the same story for other A-list content
• It's iPad only. Sky TV insiders scoff at Quickflix, but it's sure ahead of them (as are all-comers) in this department with its support across smart TVs, Android, PlayStation and Xbox. Sky promises to add more platforms.
• It's standard definition only. Rivals offer high definition (HD) if your broadband connection can take it.
• It costs more than rivals at $20 a month (for all the TV series and movies you can eat; there's a month's free trial). Quickflix costs $13 a month and Lightbox $15 a month. Spark's Lightbox (available to anyone) is also free for 12 months for Spark's 600,000 residential broadband customers. Neon's main promotion is with Vodafone, and narrower. If you sign on to a Vodafone unlimited data broadband plan and home line on a 12 month contract, you get Neon free for six months then $10 a month for the final six months as a $299 break fee hangs over you. Yes, that one does fail the cocktail test.
• There are no options for a different profile for each family member (although there is a parental control PIN number). Again, that's behind rivals.

ABOVE: Neon

All of these limitations are addressable, but Sky TV won't be motivated until streaming video rivals become a greater threat. But it's a dangerous game. Already, some viewers are straying to overseas services.* You can't just think in terms of the NZ market any more. 

Hands on with Fanpass
Fanpass viewers stream Super Rugby, NRL games or Formula One races with an online subscription that costs $19.90 a week, $69 a month or $299 a year per sport.

Whereas Neon builds on the software platform used for Sky Go (with old iSky), Fanpass uses the same NeuLion interface deployed by Lightbox Sports (incorporating the old Coliseum Sports Media). If you've used Lightbox Sports' PremierLeaguePass.com, everything will look familiar. That's quite sensible. There's no reinventing the wheel and everything's user-friendly.

NRL and F1 have not started yet, of course. The first Super Rugby content is now on Fanpass. I haven't tried to stream a game yet, but I did watch some of the Blues vs Chiefs live and the quality was pretty good on my pretty average DSL (copper) home broadband connection. Notably, the video was quite smooth (fast moving sports are always a challenge for video stream). 

However, Sky's record in streaming sports content has been far from 100%, so I'll hold full judgment on Fanpass until I've tried to watch a big game live.

ABOVE: Fanpass

Formula One nuts will like the ability to switch between multiple cameras during races, including pit land and in-car cams (a feature touted by Coliseum as it made its ultimately unsuccessful $6 million bid to steal the next three seasons of F1 from Sky .. a bidding war that no doubt helped kick along Fanpass).

The setup process is a tad confusing. You set up an account on your PC, then download the app from Apple's AppStore or Google Play. Then you have to go back in and effectively register a second time to include your credit card details. However, this is no biggie.

The key drawback is price. Yes, if you watch all 125 Super Rugby games live or on-demand, your $299 works out to just $2.39 per game. But who's going to do that?

Someone who's also into NRL and Formula One is probably going to look hard at the final payment screen as they add up $299 + $299 + $299. Again, that's no accident. It's no skin off Sky's nose if they decide a sub to its traditional service is better value, and there's only a gentle drift toward more viewing via broadband.

Still, it's intriguing that Sky has unbundled sports into online packages. Pricing can be made more attractive in future. And Fanpass will help bring online viewing and subscriptions to individual sports into the mainstream, making it easier for the likes of Lightbox Sports (or Lightbox Sports in partnership with TVNZ or MediaWorks). I'll interesting times in broadcasting just keep getting more interesting.

ckeall@nbr.co.nz

Follow @ChrisKeall