The Freeview vs Sky content debate

This occurred to me last night. It may sound like conspiracy theory but I think that the dumbing down of the freeview show might not be directly due to the show's producers or ofcom.
It could be
The Sky marketing department!

In support of this, I make the following points
1. There is a big marketing campaign on at present to get people to sign up to Sky. In Tesco stores, they are promoting HD tv and if you buy a new tv, you can get a free Sky box (obviously a subscription to Sky is needed as well) I have been approached twice by Sky sales people in Tesco trying to get me interested in Sky. I have also received letters in the post offering a free box if I sign up
2. There are still a lot of people who need to buy a new freeview box or tv before the digital switchover. Once someone has a freeview box, they are less likely to get Sky and their potential market is reduced. Hence the big campaign on at present in my area which switches over this November.
3. The girls on the show have often said "We cant do that on Freeview" or similar, implying they might do it on Sky.
4. Cellcast read this forum, and presumably this thread. As yet there has been no comment from them at all. Anyone reading this thread would soon conclude that the Freeview show is dumbed down relative to the Sky part of the show. This would be what Sky wants people know, since it might increase Sky takeup.
In conclusion, Sky could be offering "incentives" to Cellcast to keep the show tamer than the Sky version.

This is just an idea. What do others think?

interesting idea, definately something to think about. i do smell a conspiracy but with sky involved? it's possible i suppose.

I'm sure there's something in what you say Watcher.It is rumoured that lobbyists on behalf of Sky got the free to air hardcore porn shows removed from the two biggest European satellite platforms,Astra 19.2 and Hotbird 13 about 18 months ago.Sky broadcast throughout most of Western Europe as well so it was too much competition for their own pay channels.The free stuff is mostly like what we have over here now.

Dreamlander

Dreamlander Wrote:I'm sure there's something in what you say Watcher.It is rumoured that lobbyists on behalf of Sky got the free to air hardcore porn shows removed from the two biggest European satellite platforms,Astra 19.2 and Hotbird 13 about 18 months ago.Sky broadcast throughout most of Western Europe as well so it was too much competition for their own pay channels.The free stuff is mostly like what we have over here now.

Dreamlander

Was that SKY Italia or BskyB?

Interesting, TheWatcher. It does make sense when you lay it out like that...however:

- People talk. Bearing in mind that Freeview potentially yields a larger audience, I'm not that convinced that cellcast would want to risk alienating Freeview for short term gains. Unless they're expecting the Freeview service to be short-lived (in which case, why not just 'go for it' like with PG?) and/or are being offered a really spectacular 'incentive.'

- Existing Sky viewers are (rightfully) complaining that BS1 goes a bit Cinderella at midnight...to anger your core audience to the extent that they're switching channels seems baffling to me. In the hope of poaching viewers that don't even exist yet? If I buy my SkyBox and find all these lovely channels I'm arguably more likely not to go for BS1 because other (including non-cellcast) ones are a bit wilder...

All things considered, I think it's more likely they're still in a probationary period right now, and treading quite a tricky path.

(EDIT: Also, thank you TheWatcher, for introducing a (much appreciated) new angle to this discussion)

I thought perhaps I was just having having evil thoughts: http://www.babeshows.co.uk/showthread.ph...#pid144546

vila Wrote: Sudden thought: Rupert Murdoch couldn’t be paying them a backhander, could he? No, silly me! What a foolish thought, he’s a straightforward, honest businessman, isn’t he?

The real conspiracy is that these people are shape shifting lizards, using subliminal mind control techniques to turn your minds into mush and take all your cash to finance a war against the new messiah Rupert Murdoch.

Judgement day begins on the 22nd of December 2012.

Did you know that the BabeStation studio is actually located in area 51?

Or perhaps BabeStation are simply playing it safe on freeview which is now in 48% of the UK's homes.

vostok 1 Wrote:

Dreamlander Wrote:I'm sure there's something in what you say Watcher.It is rumoured that lobbyists on behalf of Sky got the free to air hardcore porn shows removed from the two biggest European satellite platforms,Astra 19.2 and Hotbird 13 about 18 months ago.Sky broadcast throughout most of Western Europe as well so it was too much competition for their own pay channels.The free stuff is mostly like what we have over here now.

Dreamlander

Was that SKY Italia or BskyB?

I'm not sure.The posters on the sexysat forum a while back seemed to think it was to do with News corp.in some way.Are they different companies? I haven't got a clue who owns what!

Dreamlander

Much of what is said and done on the show during Freeview hours seems to assume that Freeview is a new audience, despite the fact that Cellcast have had Party People for several years - and have they already forgotten Party Girls?

It makes no sense to me at all. The girls remain covered most of the time and we are frequently told that we must phone in and ask if we want the girls to reveal their breasts. On the other hand we are also told that outside of Freeview time the channel can be seen on the TVAlways web stream. Any potential Freeview customer can therefore quickly discover that viewers of the Sky-only show don’t have to beg for the girls to go topless – they’re topless the majority of the time and also indulge in activity which is far more explicit than that shown on Freeview. Do they really think that Freeview customers are so stupid that they’ll be prepared to pay the same £1.50/min for the inferior FV service as Sky customers pay for their vastly superior product?

Furthermore, their own sister channel, Partyland, features girls who are topless almost all the time. PL also shows a fair amount of two-girl action – tame in comparison with Sky BS but far better than FV BS1’s ‘two-girls-lying-on-a-bed-side-by-side-face-down-talking-on-the-phone’ crud.

On Sky as 12am approaches there are repeated calls for viewers to phone in before FV commences, ostensibly because the influx of new viewers will make it harder to get through to the girls, but in reality, I suspect, because they know that most Sky viewers won’t want to call during the watered-down FV show. In fact, I would think that most Sky viewers with an ounce of sense, other than dedicated fans of the channel, switch channels at 12am to find something worthwhile elsewhere. One way or the other Cellcast lose most of their potential Sky customers.

The girls seem to be spending much more time waving their phones to show they’re free and there are increasing occurrences when they come on the mike to say that there are no callers. On one occasion recently one of the girls, Donna or Jodie I think, picked up the mike to say she had no callers waiting, only listeners. I suspect those listeners weren’t there for very much longer! More lost revenue. On another recent occasion, towards the end of the FV period, Rachel had no callers and was on the mike saying ‘Come on, if you want my breasts to come out, you have to phone in and ask’. Did it not occur to anyone that that she had no callers precisely because her breasts weren’t out???

So they seem to be shooting themselves in the foot from every angle imaginable – but for what?

Ofcom sets the standards for programme content and those standards apply equally to both satellite and terrestrial broadcasting. Ofcom was set up specifically to replace all the other previous regulatory bodies, so there should be nothing that gives Freeview the power to impose any additional rules of their own.

So all of this has to be because of some sort of commercial decision by Cellcast but what their reasoning might be is a complete mystery to me.

With regard to the conspiracy theory, I suppose it's even possible that Sky night threaten to withdraw BS from their service if the FV version isn't diluted.

Obviously, I'm no expert, but it's beginning to seem to me that whichever way you look at it, Cellcast aren't making as much money as they could be just now. How strange...unless there's a longer-term strategy at work?