Discovery-Sky dispute (Now resolved)

mike2084

lertsnim wrote: »

I'm not redirected. I see the offer here. ISP is Virgin.

What link are you using - still getting the €59.99 sub even when I use uk.eurosportplayer.com?

lertsnim

That address. Now that I think about it, I must be seeing £'s because of Smart DNS

Samuel T. Cogley

Gonzo wrote: »

the best advice I've heard is don't cancel until the channels are removed. The reality is most want to stay with Sky if they can hammer out a deal to keep the channels, but if the channels are removed on Wednesday then I can't blame the huge amount of people cancelling once that happens. Most fall into 2 categories, those who like Eurosport and watch cycling/tennis and who don't watch Premier League/cricket/golf/can't afford Sky Sports and those who like the Discovery channels. I know 7 families who are going to leave on Wednesday if the channels do indeed get removed. Luckily for them they all have an alternative provider to move to which offer the Eurosport/Discovery Channels. Out of the 7 families, 1 is moving to Eir's eVision package, 5 are moving to Virgin Media and the last one is moving to BT's TV service in Scotland.

They won't get through in Ireland. Call wait times are hitting in excess of 45 minutes at peak times.

snaps

Libertarian Kant wrote: »

They won't get through in Ireland. Call wait times are hitting in excess of 45 minutes at peak times.

Can you still cancel via a registered letter? I know it's old school, but should be the easiest most effective way.

Wanderer78

Are these channels being removed from 28.2 entirely or just from sky's platform?

DopeTech

Wanderer78 wrote: »

Are these channels being removed from 28.2 entirely or just from sky's platform?

Sky is the only way you can get them legally on 28.2 so you would presume the streams will be removed entirely.

Johnboy1951

Wanderer78 wrote: »

Are these channels being removed from 28.2 entirely or just from sky's platform?

That decision is up to Discovery ..... we should soon know.

Wanderer78

Johnboy1951 wrote:

That decision is up to Discovery ..... we should soon know.

I assume discovery don't have the means to broadcast on 28.2 without the involvement of a broadcaster such as sky?

Johnboy1951

Wanderer78 wrote: »

I assume discovery don't have the means to broadcast on 28.2 without the involvement of a broadcaster such as sky?

We have no idea at this time what provisions (if any) Discovery might have made in the event of Sky not forking up what they want.

fernrock

I can see a lot of Sky customers calling to drop from Variety to Original after 1 Feb. There's no value in the bigger pack now.

I have done it already.

Wanderer78

Johnboy1951 wrote:

We have no idea at this time what provisions Discovery might have made in the event of Sky not forking up what they want.

I'm sure both parties will figure it out, a massive loss for both. Thank you for your responses

Johnboy1951

Wanderer78 wrote: »

I'm sure both parties will figure it out, a massive loss for both. Thank you for your responses

I have not come across any statement of an alternative from Discovery (although I might have missed it), but I don't expect that until the 'break-up' is absolute.

It is possible also that their carriage agreement might not expire at the same time (unlikely I feel) which could affect what they can do also.

Seems there is not enough public info to know what might happen

Samuel T. Cogley

snaps wrote: »

Can you still cancel via a registered letter? I know it's old school, but should be the easiest most effective way.

Their T&Cs say phone only, but I'd be surprised if they ignore post, but who knows - it's Sky :pac:

Kat1170

Libertarian Kant wrote: »

Their T&Cs say phone only, but I'd be surprised if they ignore post, but who knows - it's Sky :pac:

They claim that, but what about someone who is deaf.

Car99

Kat1170 wrote: »

They claim that, but what about someone who is deaf.

Copied from their website

"If you’d like to cancel your Sky subscription, you’ll need to contact us.

You can do this in one of the following ways:

Call us on 0818 719 819. Calls are free for Sky Talk customers.
Write to us or send an email to tell us that you’d like to cancel and we’ll call you back to verify your details and process your request. Please note, we won’t be able to cancel your services unless we verify your request over the phone"

I'll be emailing and waiting and waiting for a callback I presume. Email is mysky@sky.ie


https://www.sky.com/help/articles/remove-a-package-or-cancel-your-subscription-roi#

Wanderer78

Car99 wrote: »

Copied from their website

"If you’d like to cancel your Sky subscription, you’ll need to contact us.

You can do this in one of the following ways:

Call us on 0818 719 819. Calls are free for Sky Talk customers.
Write to us or send an email to tell us that you’d like to cancel and we’ll call you back to verify your details and process your request. Please note, we won’t be able to cancel your services unless we verify your request over the phone"

I'll be emailing and waiting and waiting for a callback I presume.

So if I send them an email and then cancel the Direct Debit I'd be within my rights I presume.

i tried to cancel years ago, tried ringing but didnt have the patience to hold on the phone. cut direct debit, ended with debt collector calling to the door. ive been informed, try contact them by 'all' avenues to guarantee no problems afterwards

Kat1170

Libertarian Kant wrote: »

Their T&Cs say phone only, but I'd be surprised if they ignore post, but who knows - it's Sky :pac:

Car99 wrote: »

Copied from their website

"If you’d like to cancel your Sky subscription, you’ll need to contact us.

You can do this in one of the following ways:

Call us on 0818 719 819. Calls are free for Sky Talk customers.
Write to us or send an email to tell us that you’d like to cancel and we’ll call you back to verify your details and process your request. Please note, we won’t be able to cancel your services unless we verify your request over the phone"

I'll be emailing and waiting and waiting for a callback I presume. Email is mysky@sky.ie


https://www.sky.com/help/articles/remove-a-package-or-cancel-your-subscription-roi#

I've asked them HERE, we'll see what reply they make.

cc

If they did leave sky and offer their own sub like BT, or better still, be part of their offering, that would excellent in my book. No need to take all the rest which is mostly FTA and just pay for what I watch most.

flutered

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

That decision is up to Discovery ..... we should soon know.

quset says that the will be on the fta platform next wedensday, how many of the others will follow them i wonder

icdg

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

That decision is up to Discovery ..... we should soon know.

They will be leaving Astra. To stay on after leaving Sky means paying Sky to be on the EPG instead of Sky paying them, and the dispute is over how much Sky is paying them.

The FTA platform Quest is available on is Freeview. Not Freesat.

Johnboy1951

icdg wrote: »

They will be leaving Astra. To stay on after leaving Sky means paying Sky to be on the EPG instead of Sky paying them, and the dispute is over how much Sky is paying them.

The FTA platform Quest is available on is Freeview. Not Freesat.

To be on Astra they do not have to be on the Sky EPG, so that payment would not be required.

ghost_rider

Gonzo wrote: »

.......<snip>....... I know 7 families who are going to leave on Wednesday if the channels do indeed get removed. Luckily for them they all have an alternative provider to move to which offer the Eurosport/Discovery Channels. Out of the 7 families, 1 is moving to Eir's eVision package, 5 are moving to Virgin Media and the last one is moving to BT's TV service in Scotland.

Sadly for us, I don't think we have any alternative to sky.

We receive sky via a dish, have no cable TV service available & have no broadband, we access the internet on a 3G dongle on the laptop, when we did have hardwired BB from Eircom, we barley scraped 1Mb download speeds.

So while there seems to be plenty of alternatives for those living in large urban centres, to switch to Virgin Media, or some other such TV provider, we are pretty much held to ransom by Sky. The Discovery Channels from 520 onwards is pretty much all we watch & will be a massive blow to us of they get pulled on Wednesday. I'll really have to look at cancelling Sky & just have to switch over to a freesat box instead, as paying for a Sky subscription without the channels we watch is pointless. We'll still be without our Discovery Channels, but at least we won't be paying a fortune for TV we won't watch.

If only Android boxes, switching to other TV providers such as Virgin etc, was an option for us, but it's not & I'd say there are many others in the same boat as us. I hope those of you who have access to alternatives realise how lucky you are

Wanderer78

ghost_rider wrote: »

Sadly for us, I don't think we have any alternative to sky.

oh theres alternatives available to you alright, cant be discussed here though;)

Truth be told, the illegal alternatives will probably stop working too, chances are that they just feed from 28.2.

Wanderer78

Karsini wrote: »

Truth be told, the illegal alternatives will probably stop working too, chances are that they just feed from 28.2.

the current alternatives will of course stop working at some stage but humans are damn smart, the 'next' alternatives are already in development

PAKNET

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

To be on Astra they do not have to be on the Sky EPG, so that payment would not be required.

The cost of transponder capacity would be prohibitive if it was only left there to provide a feed for cable networks though.

Given they are part of the Sky package Sky may be subbing them the transponder lease and uplink costs as part of the agreement.

They'd also likely have to switch to another conditional access system as the Videoguard costs are not cheap (and control of it naturally ties back to Sky).

You'd get much cheaper capacity on another satellite position which are intended for use as feeds.

icdg

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

To be on Astra they do not have to be on the Sky EPG, so that payment would not be required.

Of course not, but that's 5.5m Sky STB viewers who won't see the channel on their EPG. Now you have lost your income from subscriptions, you need to convince advertisers, now your only source of income, that people are viewing the channel. Telling them they can manually tune it in and access it through a process that takes a minimum of five button presses won't cut it.

It could go on Freesat - again not free to get an EPG entry.

icdg

Wanderer78 can have that 48 hour ban that I gave two warnings about earlier on the thread

Melodeon

ghost_rider wrote: »

Sadly for us, I don't think we have any alternative to sky.

We receive sky via a dish, have no cable TV service available & have no broadband, we access the internet on a 3G dongle on the laptop, when we did have hardwired BB from Eircom, we barley scraped 1Mb download speeds.

<snip>

If only Android boxes, switching to other TV providers such as Virgin etc, was an option for us, but it's not & I'd say there are many others in the same boat as us. I hope those of you who have access to alternatives realise how lucky you are

I could have written the above word for word with the exception of the bit about "hardwired BB", which has never been an option here.

I'd be willing to faff around with oddball tuner/DVR boxes, switching satellite/aerial feeds, manually tuning channels, researching and updating apps/software/transponder details, etc, but my octogenarian mother (who is currently comfortable navigating the Sky box to her favourite channels and playing back her recorded programmes) would be well snookered.

In any case, while we couldn't care less if soccer disappeared entirely from the airwaves, we have other must-watch sports and events on the Sky Sports platform that mean we can't just ditch the whole thing.
The cycling, tennis, snooker, and winter sports coverage on Eurosport will in particular be badly missed
I suppose we'll get to see the first 2 days of the Dubai Tour, and that'll be that.

Harry Palmr

icdg wrote: »

Of course not, but that's 5.5m Sky STB viewers who won't see the channel on their EPG. Now you have lost your income from subscriptions, you need to convince advertisers, now your only source of income, that people are viewing the channel. Telling them they can manually tune it in and access it through a process that takes a minimum of five button presses won't cut it.

It could go on Freesat - again not free to get an EPG entry.

A freesat EPG listing costs about 40k a year per channel which for Discovery is obviously peanuts, be interesting to see if they were willing to test the market with one channel

ghost_rider

Wanderer78 wrote: »

oh theres alternatives available to you alright, cant be discussed here though;)

But those "Alternatives", largely to my knowledge at least, rely on having an internet connection, which I don't have. Much like in Melodeon's case & as I suspect many, many others

Gerry Wicklow

Another point which needs to be considered if Discovery decided to go it alone apart from encryption, uplinking and TP costs is consumer boxes. You can be damn sure Sky would not allow their boxes, even out of sub ones, to be used. If memory serves Sky are in bed with Videoguard anyway so Disc would need an alternative system.

zeebre12

Will Quest still be available on Sky?

Johnboy1951

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

Another point which needs to be considered if Discovery decided to go it alone apart from encryption, uplinking and TP costs is consumer boxes. You can be damn sure Sky would not allow their boxes, even out of sub ones, to be used. If memory serves Sky are in bed with Videocrypt anyway so Disc would need an alternative system.

Are there not encryption systems in use today in Europe, that allow consumers to buy their own STBs with a suitable card slot built in?

Not that they would necessarily be suitable, but how could Sky stop anyone from using a Sky +HD box, which the user owns, from using it as they see fit?

pegasus1

zeebre12 wrote: »

Will Quest still be available on Sky?

No...

Gerry Wicklow

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Are there not encryption systems in use today in Europe, that allow consumers to buy their own STBs with a suitable card slot built in?

Not that they would necessarily be suitable, but how could Sky stop anyone from using a Sky +HD box, which the user owns, from using it as they see fit?

There are other systems and boxes. My thinking is that Sky would not let them use Videoguard and I doubt a Sky box can decode the other encryptions. It would mean consumers buying another box and possibly ending up with 2 satellite boxes.

EDIT: from KoS it seems Conax, Mediaguard 3, Nagravision 3 and Viaccess are common in Europe.

pa990

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

There are other systems and boxes. My thinking is that Sky would not let them use Videocrypt and I doubt a Sky box can decode the other encryptions. It would mean consumers buying another box and possibly ending up with 2 satellite boxes.

EDIT: from KoS it seems Conax, Mediaguard 3, Nagravision 3 and Viaccess are common in Europe.

Ppl are lazy, hence sky is so popular.
The vast majority of tv watched is on fta channels, yet ppl are willingly paying a sub to sky for the overall convenience.
(I use freesat)

No way will ppl fork out extra money for another stb, cam, and addition sub for the Discovery bouquet.

Edit. Free Sat boxs have a cam slot, and I could be wrong, but did some sky (sd) boxes have a cam slot on the rear.. I think it was covered by a piece of metal and one screw.
I could be wrong

muffler

pa990 wrote: »

Ppl are lazy

yes, even using keyboards :P

Gonzo

part of me remains hopefull that Sky will have to cave in and fork up the money. This is doing huge damage to the Sky brand and in the long term could be a more expensive option between lost sub numbers and damaged reputation. Most people are holding out for Wednesday to see what happens and it's best to hold onto your sky account until the channels are removed. But if the channels all vanish on Wednesday, then customers are perfectly in the right to leave if the channels they signed up for no longer exist on the platform.

As far as I know the same situation is also effecting Sky Germany/Austria. Not sure what the story is with Sky Italy yet.

It's a pity we don't have 2 competing Satellite providers like they have in America, Sky is the only game in town for most of us outside of cableland and there is no alternative to continue watching Discovery. Eurosport can be subscribed to online but customers in rural areas may not have the internet requirements to enjoy the Eurosport player properly.

pa990

muffler wrote: »

yes, even using keyboards :P

Mee Owww

pa990

Interesting times ahead, I'm sure that an 11th hr deal will be done.

Discovery is a very popular bouquet of channels

I think a solution will be found.

Harry Palmr

A competing platform is a no goer now - the future investment will be in IP based broadcasting, SKY themselves have indicated as much with all channels to be available by internet in the UK, in the long term they and everyone else is banking on fibre to every home that it can be reasonably got to.

Johnboy1951

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

There are other systems and boxes. My thinking is that Sky would not let them use Videoguard and I doubt a Sky box can decode the other encryptions. It would mean consumers buying another box and possibly ending up with 2 satellite boxes.

EDIT: from KoS it seems Conax, Mediaguard 3, Nagravision 3 and Viaccess are common in Europe.

I believe that Sky (at least in Germany) do allow for decryption of HD+ in their STBs. Of course they charge for the privilege

I am not so inclined to believe that the general populace is so lazy that when channels they liked and want to receive disappear from the Sky service they would not consider an alternative if presented to them.
A one-off payment for a suitable STB and a very low monthly sub for their 'needed' channels (plus all FTA channels) could be attractive to a lot of people.

pegasus1

Harry Palmr wrote: »

A competing platform is a no goer now - the future investment will be in IP based broadcasting, SKY themselves have indicated as much with all channels to be available by internet in the UK, in the long term they and everyone else is banking on fibre to every home that it can be reasonably got to.

When they do this Imagine will be dog slow:D, maybe even 300Mb will be slow due to contention..:o

Harry Palmr

Well there is no chance of this in Ireland (and probably large chunks of the UK) unless it's TV at lowest possible SD PQ for everyone outside the major towns and cities - for that reason alone SKY satellite will remain as a legacy platform.

murpho999

I'm not too worried about losing the discovery channels as they went to pot a few years ago when they dumbed down and moved more to reality shows such as Deadliest Catch and Pawn Stars.
History consisted of too much of the same topics too

That said I get that some people love them and combined with loss of Eurosport it'll be a deal breaker, so this could be a very damaging process for Sky.

They need to something. I was on a deal for HD and Sky Sports that expires soon and I am not paying €17 for HD and €40 for Sports. Crazy stuff.

Most annoying is that I can't amend my own account on-line and then have to pay premium rates to call them and be on hold for ages.

Kerrydude1981

murpho999 wrote: »

I'm not too worried about losing the discovery channels as they went to pot a few years ago when they dumbed down and moved more to reality shows such as Deadliest Catch and Pawn Stars.
History consisted of too much of the same topics too

That said I get that some people love them and combined with loss of Eurosport it'll be a deal breaker, so this could be a very damaging process for Sky.

They need to something. I was on a deal for HD and Sky Sports that expires soon and I am not paying €17 for HD and €40 for Sports. Crazy stuff.

Most annoying is that I can't amend my own account on-line and then have to pay premium rates to call them and be on hold for ages.

Isn't there a call back option or request a call option, remember reading about it on the sky deals thread

GY A1

Kerrydude1981 wrote: »

Isn't there a call back option or request a call option, remember reading about it on the sky deals thread

Anyone know this

theoneeyedman

murpho999 wrote: »

I'm not too worried about losing the discovery channels as they went to pot a few years ago when they dumbed down and moved more to reality shows such as Deadliest Catch and Pawn Stars.
History consisted of too much of the same topics too

That said I get that some people love them and combined with loss of Eurosport it'll be a deal breaker, so this could be a very damaging process for Sky.

They need to something. I was on a deal for HD and Sky Sports that expires soon and I am not paying €17 for HD and €40 for Sports. Crazy stuff.

Most annoying is that I can't amend my own account on-line and then have to pay premium rates to call them and be on hold for ages.

Having only recently had access to sly in recent weeks, but have to say the biggest let down to me has been the 'documentary' channels. Real dumbed down stuff. Everyone to their own I suppose, but they are more reality than documentary.
Some of the bills quoted here would make your eyes water.... E120 pm, 17 extra for HD.... FFS lads. It's no wonder people look for dodgy alternatives.

If people are happy paying this and getting rode, then fair enough, but then don't complain about it. To me, it's gouging, and saying losing the Discovery channels is not a material change in the contract is funny. I'd imagine though there will be an agreement, Discovery are pushing the issue hard on their programmes at present.

muffler

Kerrydude1981 wrote: »

Isn't there a call back option or request a call option, remember reading about it on the sky deals thread

GY A1 wrote: »

Anyone know this

If you have the Sky app installed apparently they will call you back if you are waiting more than 3 or 4 minutes. Other than that you can request a call back from the reps on the Sky talk to forum but depending on the nature of the call you could be placed in a queue but at least there's no charge for the call.