There's no technical reason - it's just the business model. Sky+ has been used to try and keep you subscribing - to reduce their churn. The idea that your PVR is about to stop working when you stop subscribing no doubt panics people. And of course TiVo did the same - £10 a month for listings as well, although in that case they did actually have to provide the listings. With a Sky+ they are already there.
________________________________ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Christopher Woods Sent: 19 October 2007 09:41 To: backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk Subject: RE: [backstage] Thoughts from a previous BBC employee Thinking about Sky's power over us, my housemate told me that if you want to get Freesat (or their £75 one-off offer which gives you six months of knowledge mixes and then after that, just freesat) then you're quite entitled to do so, no problems. But, if you want to get a Sky+ box, you HAVE to pay £10 a month for the timeshifting functionality regardless of whether you're on one of their packages or whether you're just a Freesat customer, and you then get tied into a 12 month contract just for the £10pm charge. Apparently it's a legal thing... But why? If they've dropped (read: absorbed, I suppose) the £10pcm cost for the timeshifting and outwardly don't charge anybody for it, why can't they offer it free (and charge more for the box)? Just thought I'd ask seeming that there's more than a few people on here who have some decent Sky knowledge :)