UPDATED - Don't have Sky? No Houdini & Doyle for you!
I shouldn't be surprised as people did mention it but...
Last night saw the UK début of Houdini & Doyle. I'm yet to watch it but I have just seen that I won't be able to watch any more than the first episode as all of it apart from last night's part will be screened on ITV Encore which is a channel only available in the UK to subscribers to Sky.
Where is the sense in doing this? Why broadcast one episode free and then put the rest on a pay only channel which you have to commit to Sky to view? They should have kept it all on Sky and just not teased the rest of us. It's a bit like they've given just enough to get you hooked in the hope we'll start paying out for the rest. Very cynical.
Sorry but I'm not signing up to Sky for this. It just suggests that ITV lacks faith in the show if they don't feel brave enough to commit to a regular prime-time slot.
Update: According to the Guardian, in July 2015 Sky had 12 million customer across the UK and Ireland (see here). Now only a proportion of them are going to watch Houdini & Doyle. The UK population is currently something in the order of 65 million. It doesn't take a genius to work out that the advertising revenue would beat the subscription revenue if the same proportion of 65 million people watched the show.....
Last night saw the UK début of Houdini & Doyle. I'm yet to watch it but I have just seen that I won't be able to watch any more than the first episode as all of it apart from last night's part will be screened on ITV Encore which is a channel only available in the UK to subscribers to Sky.
Where is the sense in doing this? Why broadcast one episode free and then put the rest on a pay only channel which you have to commit to Sky to view? They should have kept it all on Sky and just not teased the rest of us. It's a bit like they've given just enough to get you hooked in the hope we'll start paying out for the rest. Very cynical.
Sorry but I'm not signing up to Sky for this. It just suggests that ITV lacks faith in the show if they don't feel brave enough to commit to a regular prime-time slot.
Update: According to the Guardian, in July 2015 Sky had 12 million customer across the UK and Ireland (see here). Now only a proportion of them are going to watch Houdini & Doyle. The UK population is currently something in the order of 65 million. It doesn't take a genius to work out that the advertising revenue would beat the subscription revenue if the same proportion of 65 million people watched the show.....
Written by Alistair Duncan
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May be an advertising trick to generate business for Sky. I think it's the opposite: they feel the show is so good that people will be willing to pay after they've watched the first episode. Want a link for a pirate channel?
ReplyDeleteNaughty. I cannot condone that. As to your other suggestion, I'll let you know once I've watched the first episode.
DeleteJust realised how ambiguous my last comment looks. What I meant was I'll let you know what I think about the idea that people will want to pay to see the other episodes.
DeleteAgree. I think it's an unfair bait and switch to debut this on ITV and then air the rest on ITV Encore/Sky. Sorry for that.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, I liked the first episode.
It's also on now tv
ReplyDeleteWhich also requires paying for does it not? Same problem and complaint.
DeleteThe good news is the full series will hit DVD and LoveFilm on May 23.
ReplyDelete