Our move from Sky: Your questions answered

H&C recently announced that, from the end of January, we will withdraw the channel from Sky to focus on our streaming services. Feedback from viewers has surfaced a number of common themes, on which we really wanted to provide some further information.

First, one thing we have to point out…

There has been a revolution in video viewing over the last 10 years.

Over 50% of UK homes now subscribe to a streaming service such as Netflix. And, amongst younger viewers, on-demand viewing (watch what you want, when you want) far exceeds traditional broadcast TV viewing.

We want to respond to these changes in our viewers’ expectations, by offering great linear channels and 1,200 hours of on-demand equestrian programming, and more live sport than ever before. While we can’t do that on a traditional service like Sky, we can offer the best of both worlds – a scheduled channel and more live and on-demand – through our streaming services.

H&C was free on Sky – now I have to pay?

Actually, you don’t have to pay. As well as our terrific subscription service, H&C Plus, we have re-launched the channel everyone knows and loves as H&C Free. As the name suggests it is completely free to view anywhere in the world. So, whether they have Sky or not, more people in the UK and the Republic of Ireland than ever before can now watch H&C (which we think is a good thing). H&C Free can be watched in a number of ways:

Simply visit horseandcountry.tv, click on the “Channels” button and then “H&C Free” in the drop-down menu
Download our free app from your usual app store (iOS or Android) and select “H&C Free” from the icons at the bottom
If you have a streaming device such as Fire TV, Roku, Chromecast or Apple TV, search for the app and H&C Free will be a choice within the “Channels” section

Not interested in watching on my phone!

You don’t have to. For many viewers, watching H&C on their phone or tablet is a plus, but you can still watch on your big screen if you have a smart TV. This also goes for H&C Free.

You can do this by casting the channel from your mobile using Chromecast or Apple AirPlay, or by getting a streaming device, like Roku, Apple TV, Android TV or Amazon Fire.

If you’re having trouble, contact our customer support and we’ll try to help out.

H&C needs to improve its programmes…

And that’s exactly what we’ve done. H&C viewers have always told us they want more live sport. Unfortunately the costs associated with traditional satellite broadcast have meant we have shown very little live over the years.

Streaming changes this by bringing the cost of live coverage down dramatically. As a result, in recent months, we’ve been able to show live eventing from Pau, as well as showjumping and showing competitions from Arena UK, dressage from Hickstead, Hartpury and Bury Farm and a whole lot more. Our live streaming plans for 2020 are well advanced. Look out for more announcements soon.

Our subscription service is better than H&C on Sky in a whole lot of other ways too… Forthcoming highlights include exclusive Masterclasses with Isabell Werth, a new training series from Christopher Burton, a profile of Piggy French and her amazing 2019, and the return of H&C favourite Pammy Hutton in a five-part series, “Half Halt with Pammy”.

My broadband at home isn’t very good.

We fully recognise that the variable quality of broadband services in the UK means that streaming services are just not viable for some viewers. We are committed to lobbying to improve rural broadband delivery and are engaging with a number of countryside organisations to see how H&C can use its resources to help drive this cause.

In the meantime, we’re now making shows available to download to view within the app, so you don’t even need to be connected to your wifi to watch.

And finally…

Many viewers have understandably assumed that H&C receives some share of the monthly subscription that they pay to Sky. Sadly, this has never been the case. On the contrary, we’ve had to spend a lot of money on technical stuff like satellite capacity, that we’d much rather spend on great new shows and more live sport.

We are passionate about super-serving our super-enthusiast equestrian audience. And we firmly believe that a subscription-based, streaming service, offering significant value beyond what can be provided by a linear channel alone, is the best opportunity for a content provider like H&C to continue to do that today, and into the future. If you have further questions about our move, or our services, please contact us on support@horseandcountry.tv, and we will respond to you personally.

Thanks

The H&C Team

Our original announcement on leaving Sky can be viewed here.

Not yet a subscriber? Join H&C Plus to stream this series through the H&C website or app.