When analogue TV was all that was availible, we had five free-to-air channels: BBC1, BBC2, ITV, C4 and C5. All of them showed original content and imported shows. All of them showed the films and sport we wanted to watch. Two of those channels had no adverts.

When Sky came, it ran at a huge loss for the first few years, funded by Rupert Murdoch's other enterprises. It bought out all other satellite services until it had a monopoly. It used its disproportionate funding to buy out movies and sport which were previously carried on the five channels, to make people switch.]

Now, most people pay £45/month ($66) for Sky with Movies and Sports. What do we get for our money?

Well, there are the first five channels. These still show >60% of what most people watch. The other main channels are about five BBC repeat channels, that show old BBC content but with adverts. Almost all other channels either show repeat content from others, are scams (bingo channels, for example) or are special-interest with no content at all.

Another 20% is American shows repeated on Sky One/Two. If Sky didn't exist, these would have been bought by one of the five channels and, in the case of the BBC, shown without adverts.

The other 20% of the new programming people watch is Sky Movies and Sky Sports. Despite paying for Sky, then paying for these channels on top, then often paying even more for individual films/matches, they show adverts. These sport games aren't 'new' - if Sky didn't exist, most of them would be the same but shown on BBC for free with no ads. Same for movies.

So, the existence of Sky means we still watch almost exactly what we would have on the five channels - except we pay around £45/month for the priviledge. In addition, Sky is an effective monopoly (very few homes can get e.g cable and even if they did, Sky has a exclusive contract on most of the sport/movies). It didn't even earn its market position by being better: it just used Rupert Murdoch's unlimited capital to force it to be that way.

How can this situation be allowed to happen?

Then....just use freeview and scrap sky

Get Virgin Media, and I for one think that Sky is awesome. Everything I could ever want to watch. I almost never watch ITV, C4 and C5, because they are mostly crap. Sky One is awesome as it has Lost, 24, Fringe, Simpsons and many more and all in HD, as soon as they are shown in America. C4 and C5 don't take this approach at all and I am going to have to wait ages to see the new season of House, because 5 are so crap, I only watch the Gadget show and CSIs with them.

Sky also provide the best sports coverage for everything

Sky + is one of the greatest things ever as well, I love it. It means I nearly always have something to watch, especially with the new Anytime service.

I also have freeview built into my new TV, but it lacks some channels (Sky One and Paramount Comedy notably) and the ability to record stuff

Also, you realise there are no mid-film movies with Sky Movies (they also show the Clone wars TV series) and they offer all their movies in HD.

Frankly Sky + rules.

is Sky like the British equivalent of DirectTV?

Also, how many channels do you get for those 45 GBP

I wouldn't have a problem with that, but my parents need the football on Sky Sports. My point was that, if Sky didn't exist, that same football would be availible free on the BBC.

"Get Virgin Media"

I don't have a cable connection. Even if I did, the sport thing is still an issue.

"Sky One is awesome as it has Lost, 24, Fringe, Simpsons and many more and all in HD, as soon as they are shown in America."

And if Sky didn't exist then the five channels would pay for them. They still manage to, occasionally: Heroes on BBC. Sky adds little value to the analogue setup. Obviously now that Sky is the norm you have to pay for it, but...

"Sky also provide the best sports coverage for everything"

See my first comment. Sky only have it because they used 'unfair' tactics to get the monopoly position.

"Sky + is one of the greatest things ever as well, I love it. It means I nearly always have something to watch, especially with the new Anytime service"

iPlayer and the equivalents for ITV and C4 are the same but free and donmn't require special hardware. Anything else Sky+ does can be replaced with a DVR if you want it.

"I also have freeview built into my new TV, but it lacks some channels (Sky One and Paramount Comedy notably) and the ability to record stuff"

Sky One has very little original content so most of that stuff would be on the 5 channels per above. Paramount would probably have gone Freeview if not for Sky. Recordng stuff has always been possible for someone with a VCR or these days a DVR.

"Also, you realise there are no mid-film movies with Sky Movies (they also show the Clone wars TV series) and they offer all their movies in HD."

I have no clue what you mean by the first part, but again I'm sure BBC, etc. would offer similar services for free if Sky did not exist. As for HD... most people don't have HD equipment but they still pay the same money.

"is Sky like the British equivalent of DirectTV?"

Yes. Except you have competition in satellite TV: with us it's Sky or nothing. (Except cable, but few people actually have a cable connection).

FUCK MAN I KNOW
BUT DO YOU WANT ALL THE CHANELS THERE ARE RIGHT FROM YOUR PC?

(joke, dont get too serious, if you don't understand, don't comment)

@ game boy, you keep on saying that the BBC would buy them, but they can't afford them and if the others bought them, they would provide a crap service. If the BBC were to provide the service Sky does they would have to introduce adverts or increase the licence fee

The sky movies set up is pretty much unmatched, and what I meant was that there is no mid film advertising

The ease of recording is the main part, especially with a very large hard drive and the series link is just great