Speaking at the Guardian’s Changing Media Summit in London, Andrew Griffith, Chief Financial Officer at Sky, has revealed that the company’s brand new ‘buy and keep’ film download service is all set to launch “in the coming weeks.”
Earlier this week, BSkyB also announced the most significant shake-up to its electronic programme guide (EPG), to focus on search, catch-up and video on demand making it more easily accessible to subscribers.
The ‘Buy and Keep’ service from BSkyB will complement the existing pay-per-view film rental service. The company is planning to take on DVD and movie sellers and tap into a £1.4 billion market with this new service.
According to the Entertainment Retailers Association’s latest figures, UK revenues for movie downloads, streams and subscriptions were up 40 percent year-on-year with an overall £621 million.
“Having made a strong start in rentals, we think we can go one step further and actually start offering customers the opportunity to purchase movies from us and keep them forever,” Griffith said at the summit.
“We think we are extremely well positioned to enter the market and take share.” He also noted that the new service will feature “the flexibility and the convenience of a digital store,” that will be delivered to the users with instant access through their TV.
Griffith explained “It’s a big market to go after. If you are going to target a big chunk of a £1.4bn [DVD] market place, then we’d expect it to be a material opportunity.”
BSkyB, however, is yet to decide on the pricing for the new service, which is expected to be available through the main Sky+ set top box.
