How worried is BSkyB by BT’s plans to start offering mobile alongside TV, broadband and home phone as a “quad play” of services?
BT has only said it plans to launch its own mobile phone service for consumers “before the end of the financial year” in March 2015 but Sky looks like it has been quietly experimenting with its own alternative as part of a tie-up with Vodafone.
Sky is offering a select group of its customers — around 200,000 — the chance to get mobile from Vodafone, and the phone giant is offering Sky TV and broadband to a similar number of its UK mobile subscribers.
Sky chief executive Jeremy Darroch says it is “in a good place to respond” if the “quad play” market develops. For BT, surely that is case of when, not if.
Viacom takes turn in the media buyer spotlight
After YouTube, Vice, Twitter, AOL and other online players hosted rival advertising presentations called “upfronts” for media buyers in London last week, the traditional broadcasters get their turn belatedly to showcase their forthcoming TV shows and online video plans.
Channel 5’s new owner Viacom plans to woo buyers with an upfronts presentation in Glasgow when its MTV channel stages the European Music Awards next month while Channel 4’s event will be in London.
Last year, chef Jamie Oliver starred on stage at C4’s upfronts when he memorably declared that his YouTube channel was now increasingly important as he could reach his fans directly, adding: “If Channel 4 didn’t want to commission my gear, I’d go elsewhere.”
This year, in an illustration of how media power is shifting, Oliver was the star turn at YouTube’s upfronts. Don’t expect to see him at the C4 event.
