Very few UK businesses managed to beat the recession as comfortably as one of the biggest of them all. Whilst companies across the country, and across the world, were laying off staff, Sky, one of the world’s biggest satellite TV broadcasting companies went from strength to strength.
There are many secrets to this success, but at the top of the list is a telling piece of research that found when people were forced to cut back on their household spending, there was one item that they were more unwilling to part with than any else – their Sky subscription.
This, perhaps, is because during the recession people were choosing to stay in more frequently rather than going out and spending money. On such occasions, they turned to the most loved form of household entertainment, their televisions.
Of course, surviving the recession unscathed is one thing, coming out of it the other side and still growing is another altogether, but the landmark purchasing of HBO‘s back catalogue and the recent launch of Sky Atlantic looks set to help Sky achieve just that.
Still, many experts have predicted that with the growth of the internet and the rising popularity of other forms of entertainment could yet make things difficult for television companies across the world. In the smartphone era, people are looking to access entertainment on the move, and television so far has struggled to cross the divide from our homes to our handsets.
This is where Sky Mobile comes to the fore. Part of the next generation of mobile technology it allows people to stream television, video and to access the sky website on their mobiles, wherever they are in the world providing they have 3G and/or WiFi. So far the platform has been incredibly successful and as the nationwide 3G system improves, greater bandwidth will only lead to greater take up.
So, even if the UK struggles to return to growth for the years to come, it seems likely that Sky will continue to go from strength to strength, primarily because, perhaps more than any other company, they have adapted to new technologies and new mediums of entertainment and are staying ahead of the curve.
