Our take...
The launch of Go!View in the UK follows the June launch for the service Sony's Portable device via Canal Plus' online service CanalPlay. As with the UK version, the French service has a mixture of movies as well as TV shows from the American broadcasters and BBC Worldwide. However, there are differences between the services as each relies on a version of the local pay TV operator's existing online platform. Consequently, where the French service is extensively co-branded and integrated into CanalPlay's website the UK Go!View lacks integration into Sky's existing portfolio of properties, but relies on a standalone application. Similarly each service reflects the respective pay TV operator's established online business model preferences. For Sky this means a subscription-led service that reflects their existing online sports highlights package and an extension of the strategy to bundle-in value-added content with their traditional pay TV subs, while for Canal Plus it is a transactional VoD model.

The decision to lead so heavily with a subscription offer puts the Sony/Sky JV is in an interesting position. On the plus side, it is a device-focused service. As Screen Digest has been saying for some time, paid-for digital content consumption only gains traction in a device-based environment. Moreover Go!View serves an already established user base; at the end of 2008 the PSP is expected to have an install base of 3.8m in the UK (though by contrast Apple is expected to have sold 7.4m video iPods in the region by the end of the year).

However, adoption is likely to be hampered by a number of factors. Specifically:

• The lack of catch-up TV, which Screen Digest research suggests is by most popular content category from paid online TV services by far
• The heavy promotion of a subscription model over download to own or pay per view. Subscription models have consistently failed to attract a major audience online beyond sport. While Go!View does offer sports content it's current iteration can provide neither the live games that drove pay TV or the sort fan services that dedicated club sites provide and that has found some popularity online
• Basing the service on a Kontiki application that isn't compatible with non-Windows PCs and that can encounter difficulties negotiating users' firewalls may also dampen uptake.

Nevertheless the launch of Go!View in the UK cannot be seen as anything other than a significant move as it brings a growing catalogue of quality content to the non-Apple portable device with a significant install base for the first time in the region. Moreover the potential for the service to be extended to Sony's Playstation 3 (PS3) is obvious and, if that is bundled with existing Sky subscriptions (like SkyPlayer), Screen Digest believes that it could easily develop into one of the UK's leading online content services.