NOW TV brand revealed for new internet TV service

By continuing to get better on-screen and to offer more value, we’ve been able to attract more new customers to Sky and persuade existing customers to take more from us.

To put that in context, five years ago, we had a base of just over 10 million subscription products. Today, that figure has increased by almost three-fold, across TV, HD and home communications. That’s a step change in the scale of our business.

Alongside that growth, broadening our distribution through other platforms is an opportunity to reach even more people.

The positive response to the launch of Sky Go underlined the growing appetite for greater flexibility in how people watch TV. As the quality of the TV experience over broadband has improved, people have become more willing to consume content in different ways.

Now, this presents a great opportunity to distribute our programmes that wasn’t there even a year or two ago. With the long-awaited explosion of connected devices now upon us, this opportunity is only going to grow. And it’s something we believe is highly complementary to our existing service.

Today, we know that around 13 million homes don’t yet take pay TV from any provider. So we can reach out to them and offer them another way to access and watch our content. And that’s why later this year, we will launch a distinctive new, over-the-top internet TV service.

It will be available on a wide range of devices and offer instant access to a range of high quality Sky content, with no install and no contract. Starting with movies, it will soon expand to sport and entertainment as well. And customers will be able to pay monthly or rent a movie on a simple, pay as you go basis.

Importantly, we are today announcing that this new service will have an entirely new brand – NOW TV – to differentiate it from our existing Sky TV service.

The launch of a second brand is an exciting opportunity for us. And the rationale is very simple. Having two brands will allow us to meet the needs and preferences of different customer segments more effectively.

We’ll offer two distinct ways to watch: the full, market-leading Sky service for the whole family, complete with the widest range of channels, high quality products like Sky+, HD and Sky Go, as well as the peace of mind of a monthly bill; or the flexible, more spontaneous, pay as you go service of NOW TV.

And because NOW TV will also be ‘powered by Sky’, customers will still know that it will give them the best, exclusive content and a high quality experience, all from a provider they can trust.

Either way, we believe we can offer even more customers a product that’s just right for them.

Jeremy Darroch’s full keynote speech from the 2012 Media Guardian Changing Media Summit is available here.