Sky launches one-day and one-week passes to its sports channels
For the first time, the pay TV broadcaster offers the chance to access All Blacks and Black Caps games without signing up for a decoder and contract.
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For the first time, Sky TV is offering the chance to access All Blacks and Black Caps games without signing up for a decoder and contract.
Specifically, the pay TV broadcaster has upgraded its Fanpass.co.nz service to include streams of Sky Sport channels 1, 2, 3 and 4 for $14.99 for a day or $19.99 for a week.
That's really crossing the Rubicon. A-list live sport – appointment viewing that's largely immune to piracy – is gold for pay-TV broadcasters. Sky TV's natural urge will be to hold it close. But with online-only cricket sites starting to spring up, and the All Blacks dabbling with high-definition YouTube streams of games*, Sky TV needs to be on the front foot with new media.
Fanpass can be accessed via a smartphone, tablet or PC – or watched on your TV if it has wi-fi or an HDMI cable to your computer.
The new service was launched in February with live-streaming and on-demand content for the NRL, Formula One and Super Rugby. With full-season passes running to $299 — and that's $299 per sport, so nearly $1000 all up — it's not cheap but Fanpass has proved robust (its platform was created by NeuLion, the New York outfit that's also behind NFL Pass, NHL Pass and Lightbox Sports' PremierLeaguePass). So as well as offering non-Sky subscribers a chance to access Sky Sport channels on a day or week pass, it might spark a bit of jealously among users of trouble-prone service Sky Go, the streaming service available free to traditional Sky TV subscribers.
Could Sky Go users get free access to Fanpass if Sky Go falls over during a big game?
"That's a nice idea but they are different systems and authentications so it's not possible right now," Sky TV communications director Kirsty Way says.
Sky refuses to say how many people have subscribed to Fanpass. The company is due to report its full-year earnings August 21.
* One Bledisloe Cup game was streamed live in high definition on YouTube. The transmission was blocked to those in Australia and New Zealand, but VPN services make it easy to mask your location.
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Sky launches one-day and one-week passes to its sports channels
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