Is it just me, or are Universal Music going into business with every and any digital music service that has even the slightest chance of knocking Apple's dominance in the download market? Their latest new partnership is with Sky telly, who will be launching a new download service with the major later this year. The media spin on this is "Universal and BSkyB take on iTunes", though as far as I can see it is a subscription-based service, and no previous subscription-based service has ever done much to dent iTunes market share before.
The as yet unnamed new service - though it is expected to carry the Sky brand - will launch later this year and give users unlimited access to streamed tracks, plus a number of MP3 downloads. Initially their service will be limited only to Universal's (albeit ample) catalogue, though the plan is to add more labels over time. Sky say they are optimistic that they can grab a share of the download market, pointing out they are very experienced at operating subscription based content services, and that via their TV and broadband businesses they already have relationships with a third of all UK households.
BSkyB COO Mike Darcy told reporters: "We think that there is a considerable unmet and untapped demand in the digital music market. There is a desire among consumers to consumer, discover and purchase music online. We have considerable expertise in customer-focused subscription services, content aggregation, packaging and marketing. We have strong broadband services and online assets and we have contact with one in three UK households. No one has brought that to bear".