Sky makes software firms pay

By Deborah Hill Cone

Friday 8th February 2002

Monopoly pay television network Sky was "morally reprehensible and commercially stupid" not to communicate with its subscribers about problems with its interactive software, Consumers' Institute executive director David Russell said yesterday.

Sky Digital subscribers have been riled by "rain fade," an error when the television screen freezes, since the broadcaster secretly downloaded new software last December - and the problem is still not fixed.

Sky has defended its decision not to let subscribers know beforehand that the software was being downloaded - as well as its failure to send them information about it once the problems occurred.

Sky communications manager Tony O'Brien said the company had not written to subscribers but was broadcasting information to help subscribers.

If subscribers rang Sky they were also given help to unfreeze their screens - the decoder must be unplugged and started again.

But Mr Russell said under the Consumer Guarantees Act subscribers may have a case to opt out of Sky contracts and to get refunds of money paid in advance.

"It's morally reprehensible in terms of their relationship with their customers and commercially stupid - once the word gets out it damages the company's reputation and loses them business," Mr Russell said.

Mr Russell said Sky managed to send out bills regularly so communicating with subscribers should not be a problem.

He questioned whether as a monopoly Sky was arrogant and did not feel it needed to keep its subscribers informed.

Sky group head of technical and interactive broadcasting Brian Green said the software providers, Open Television and NDS, were covering the cost of fixing the bugs.

That may go some way towards appeasing Sky shareholders who have watched the upgrade fiasco and worried about its effect on the company's cashflow.

A team of 27 engineers, some flown in from overseas, has been working on the problems which have infuriated scores of Sky subscribers.

A Sky technician, who asked not to be named, said he had dealt with dozens of the rain fade problems among his clients.

One irate subscriber complained he was forced to listen to last Tuesday's Australia-New Zealand cricket test on a radio after the screen blacked out at a key moment.

Mr Green said Sky was planning to do a second download next week of replacement software which he claimed would fix the rain fade problem. The box may also jam at times when there is no rain fade but this was not as common.

Mr Green said all but about 12,000 of the boxes allowed the download to be done "in the background" and it was also done in the middle of the night when fewer people were watching - which is why subscribers were not told about it beforehand.

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