Sky Price increase

average_runner

Just get iptv!! Save a fortune

icdg

Just a reminder that there is absolutely no discussion of pirating television here. Any IPTV related discussion should be confined to providers such as Now, eir, and Vodafone.

Trampas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120279055#Comment_120279055

Of course it is but as long as people pay it then they charge it. I’ve stopped pay for sky a few months ago and can manage without out. Sky need to realise paying billions for football, cricket and f1 and more each time deal comes up isn’t going to work by asking the customer to stump up more money for it. They’ve how many channels and some nights they’ve same sports on multiple channels and sky sports news running on main event. How is that value for money

timothydec77

I cut the cord too.

I watch other Leagues and other Sports.

There is plenty Sport on Saorview, Freesat and legal Streaming services.

touts

I cancelled before Christmas and went with Saorview and Freesat. No regrets.

Got an email this morning from Sky telling me my bill was going from €0 to €4 a month. Either their system is screwed up or they are charging me for not being a customer. I logged onto the bank and made sure the direct debit is cancelled.

Butson

With so many options, legal or otherwise, having Sky is really a premium product at this stage.

DaveyDave

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120278462#Comment_120278462

Yeah the sky dish goes straight into the TV. Some older/cheaper TVs may not have satellite input as pictured in one of my previous posts but you can get a Freesat box for that.

I had to get the LNB part on the dish replaced with a universal one (€20) as newer Sky dishes don't work straight into the TV, older dishes do. Most houses have a dish these days and older ones with with Sky Q so don't need to necessarily be updated/replaced so chances are unless the house got a dish in the last few years it should work.

cc

Alternatively, I downgraded to sky q lite/essentials for 10eur per month. It's FTA with the Irish channels bundled in HD. The discovery plus rolling free for 12 months works (with sport recently added). Catch up works for the Irish channels and All 4. There is a new BBC section added to catch up but looks like that is not live yet, be interesting to see if I can access it.

Scottie99

Just received an email with notification of a price increase. Does this mean I can break the contract?

timothydec77

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120279475#Comment_120279475

SKY or any Pay Tv provider are far from being an essential.

icdg

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120279777#Comment_120279777

OT but that’s a very interesting spot there - there is indeed an empty “BBC TV” category in the Catch Up section. A glitch or something more I wonder? Sky Glass users have had BBC catch up access for a few months now so not inconceivable.

Trampas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120279809#Comment_120279809

You can be sure it’s covered in the t&c

chalkitdown1

I only joined Sky in December and just got an email about a €3 per month price increase. FFS.

So this is what people warned me about....

If I complain about this on the phone is there any hope of them dropping it back to what it was?

muffler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120296963#Comment_120296963

Always worth ringing but it's in their T&C's that they can increase the subscriptions by up to 10% during the contract period.

DaveyDave

They'll tell you to F off. I tried getting a cancellation or even a discount by playing the "my circumstances changed and I really need to cut costs" card two years ago and the person I was speaking to REALLY didn't give a **** and just pointed out I signed a 12 month contract. No shít, but things change. I feel sorry for anyone who genuinely does fall on hard times and is stuck paying €50-60 a month on some TV package.

Don't get me started on the 3 hours it took via Facebook chat to cancel my TV plan at the end of my 12 months. I was only giving notice to cancel, but they refused to acknowledge it because I wouldn't answer them about broadband and other nonsense, when I said I was cancelling because I don't use it she said "I see on your usage you do use it" because we had it on once or twice a week as background noise. I've never dealt with such a disgusting company.

Doodah7

Cancelled today and it took less than ten minutes. The girl didn’t seem that motivated to try and retain my custom. I have been a Sky customer for over 20 years and finally realised we no watch little if any programmes that are not available free to air.

I was offered a huge €7 discount initially and then some €10 per month package for just the FTA channels EXCLUDING HD. Charging a monthly fee for FTA channels is some cheek. Charging for HD in 2023 is even more ridiculous!!!

icdg

It is, though note you’d be getting HD anyway on a number of the very small number of channels that you get in that package (Sky Q lite). It does have its advantages in that it’s €120 for the year, you keep your existing equipment, you can get RTE without an aerial and you’ll keep your recordings for the channels you remain subscribed to (just RTE, VMTV, and TG4 really) and the free to air channels.

Im not saying it’s the best option, it’ll only give you the Irish channels and the FTA channels that are on the Irish EPG. You’ll have to tune in Channel 4 and it’s friends even though their FTA because the Irish versions on the EPG are not.

But it might be the most economical option. I’ve cancelled Sky myself (they offered me a paltry discount off a high price for TV only to stay, and no Sky Q lite for me apparently) and I’m now pricing FTA alternatives but it’s a high price upfront with a Freesat 4K box (which won’t give me multiroom) at €300 at least. Cheaper recievers are available but then there’s the cost of getting an installer out to swap the LNB to factor in too. That’s without adding Saorview though I’m considering living with the players now that very few programmes are missing on the live streams these days.

Trampas

Or stream get a chromecast or similar and stream from a tablet if your tv hasn’t got rte, virgin media etc.

Doodah7

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120300255#Comment_120300255

I'm going to get the Freest 4K box. Available from Curry's UK, Argos UK, Amazon and Richer Sounds for RRP without having to resort to the ripoff prices of the satellite installers here. It will pay for itself in six months compared to what I was paying Sky. I already have one Freest box and my TV's were connected to Saorview as a redundancy in the event of a loss of satellite signal. I also use NOW TV for cinema and Sports so getting rid of Sky for just the entertainment pack when we never watch the non-FTA channels anyway is a no-brainer.

I also think the Sky rep was somewhat confused as she must have thought I was on Sky Q as she started a spiel about returning the box. I pointed out that the Sky+HD box is mine. Hence why she offered the €10 per month offer which I assume is limited to a Sky Q box only?

icdg

I imagine so, it’s “Sky Q lite” after all. No real reason why they couldn’t offer it on a Sky+HD box, but since (as you point out) you own it, you’d really only be paying for RTE/VMTV/TG4 in that case. You can use that box to access BBC and other FTA services with no subscription (unlike Sky Q which you have to give back).

I thought long and hard about it but the Freesat 4K was ultimately the replacement. The not having to swap the LNB (for now; I may decide to do so to get multiroom back down the road) was ultimately the key factor. Thought long and hard about doing the swap now and getting the ZGemma which comes highly rated around here but also (from reading the thread) seems to require you to put a lot of work admin wise in and to be honest Freesat is the most-Sky like experience you can have in terms of it being plug and play and forget about. I also am not getting Saorview for now so I don’t need a combo box at present. Players for now for the Irish stuff and like yourself Now for sports.

quinnd6

Does the Freesat box restrict what Free to air channels you can get?

I thought I read that in a comment before. Just curious as I got the dreaded price increase email myself and so am considering dropping Sky. I have Sky Q currently so the Freesat 4k box could be an option. I could use something else then to stream RTE etc.

Butson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120308554#Comment_120308554

Chromecast is a good investment.

€35 / €40 and supports all platforms. Move it around the house, bring it away with you etc.

Gerry Wicklow

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120308554#Comment_120308554

https://www.freesat.co.uk/channels

Official FreeSat boxes have all the main channels. Some lesser, +1 channels may not be included. AFAIK you can manually add other channels but it is a bit of a faff to switch to them.

icdg

Afaik it is a similar situation to Sky - off EPG channels need to be manually tuned and it’s now and next info only (it appears how easy this is differs from box to box). The thing is you’ll probably be using this facility a lot less than manual tuning on Sky because all the BBC/ITV channels are on the EPG.

quinnd6

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120308656#Comment_120308656

Chromecast have very low storage space though. I thought I might be better off with an Android box. I don't really like streaming from my mobile as it kills the battery.

quinnd6

I rang Sky and they told me about the Sky Q light package. I think I might end up going with that. It's 10 euros a month for the Irish and the free to air channels. That's a lot cheaper than the 35 euro for the basic signature pack. All I really watch are those channels most if the time anyway. It's be handy as a temporary measure anyway. Between Freesat boxes and Chromecast or or Android boxes I'd have spent nearly 400 euro and still probably have a worse service than Sky. I'm guessing they don't let you stream to other devices with the sky Q light package. Anyone have any experience with it?

I think it's spelt Sky Q lite. There's nothing on their website about it.

Does Sky Q lite have a Sky Go lite included?

Capt'n Midnight

SKY's NOWTV = you can cancel any time instead of at the end of the year. Just have to click "are you really sure" a load of times. And wait a day or two for special offer.

The NOW TV thread in bargain alerts lists the offers.

Getting UK and Irish channels on one box is tricky because the UK equipment is deliberately hobbled to prevent this being easy to appease the rights holders.

All of the main UK terrestrial channels are now in HD on Freesat. And a genuine Freesat box will tune itself the hardest bit is deciding whether to enter a NI postcode like BT1 1AA or use a London one or midlands one depending on which regional BBC/ITV channels you want on the low numbers. Unlike the Irish Saorview Connect box, series link just works and it's usually good when program times change at short notice.

Most TVs even if they don't have satellite will allow you to record the Irish channels off Saorview onto a USB stick and do timeshift so you can pause and rewind.

eigrod

Is phoning Sky the only option to cancel subscription? Been looking on the My Sky app but they provide no contact details on the page explaining the cancellation process, which is crazy. Obviously trying to make it as difficult as possible for customers to cancel.

icdg

They offered me a deal today which, had they offered me it when I called to initially cancel, I would have taken. But alas it’s a bit late now (particularly when the agent I spoke to assured me they would never be able to offer me the price I was looking for - the price they just offered me).

muffler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120331496#Comment_120331496

They / some agents are notorious for telling lies in an attempt to retain the custom.

icdg

Maybe so. To be honest I didn’t like the aggressiveness, when my instruction was to cancel. I had a bottom line and that particular agent was unwilling (or unable, I worked in a call centre many eons ago and appreciate they have their instructions/mandate) to meet it and also told me it was impossible for Sky to meet it. But it’s too late now tbh, I’ve made my arrangements for post-Sky at this stage, I’m going to see how they work out down the road.

For what it’s worth, the deal was half price Sky Signature and half price Sports and Cinema for twelve months. The important parts of the package are Sky Sports and Sports Extra and I was getting nothing off Sports Extra or HD/multiroom but the overall price would have met my bottom line. As I say it is partially the fault of the very aggressive line the original CSR took who offered me a small amount off what I was paying.

FlicFlak

I got the email about the price increases on Monday, i actually never realised i had sky kids as one of my packages. It said sky signature would increase by €1.30 a month and sky kids by €2 a month. Looked in my package details (was not easy i might add, they do make it difficult) and found i had sky kids for the last three years and payed €8 a month for it!

So did the facebook messenger thing to cancel the sky kids, jumped through a million hoops with the AI they have just to get to an actual person, explained all the above, and her response was just, 'do you want to sign up to sky fibre and tv for €68 a month'!!

No explanation as to why i had sky kids, no offer refund for money paid, no offer UHD free for a year, no sorry about that at all!

So now my sky bill has dropped to the princely sum of €41 a month from next month.

Aquos76

Do the freesat 4K receivers need the Sky Q LNB or will they work with the standard Sky Quad?

icdg

They will work with both or with the hybrid. Assuming you want the PVR model:

If you have a wideband (Sky Q) LNB you can have up to 4 channels recording at once but no multi-room

If you have a quad you can up to 2 channels recording at once and can have another box for multiroom.

Youll need the hybrid if you want both.

Citizenpain

@FlicFlak

what package have you ? There is a €10 basic package that I have with broadband added

CalamariFritti

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120333751#Comment_120333751

A couple of years ago they broke up what was then the basic sub into 2 or 3 things. New basic package got called signature and then there was kids and one other thing, can't remember could be music. So one became 3 and by default everyone who had the original basic one was automatically put on all three. Of course the whole thing came with an overall increase.

Was technically a good thing cos I was able to unsubscribe to kids & music and save a few euros but it would have been better again if they had actually told me.

Tbh they've been pissing me off for years. and the biscuit is really the extra HD charge. At this point the only reason I still have basic sky and the old box is because the missus would freak out if we didnt but I'm working on that.

galvo_clare

I also discovered I was signed on for Sky kids. After a big runaround during which I was told I had signed up for it, they eventually said I was signed up automatically because we rented a movie from them.

I immediately called for a supervisor and in fairness he confirmed that this was rubbish. Got my full refund but still no idea how they signed me up for it.

FlicFlak

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120341772#Comment_120341772

I have the signature package, as its called now. When i signed up years ago, i got the basic sky package and added on the entertainment package, which basically had History, discovery, nat geo and those type channels, which i do watch. I t was weird, when i go in to look at adding packages, Ultra HD is free for two months then €4 a month after that, but to get HD is free for two months, then €8 a month after that!

CalamariFritti

Me personally I think Sky are doing it all wrong.

Price gouging, constant reshuffles of packages with hidden increases, maximum opacity of 'your plan', basic features cost extra, never ending 'cancellation' and other temporary deals. Its a mess and leads to customer dissatisfaction and surely it costs a pretty penny just to support what with calls and letters and whatnot.

Why don't go the exact opposite way? The 'GoMo' way if you like. Price reduction across the board. Basic package €30, Sports €20, Movies €10, no messing around charges for HD or 'another room' or all that nonsense.

I dare say they would massively increase their customer base and stop people from looking at freesat or even pirate subs it just wouldn't be worth it. They could half the service department and let go of a ton of lawyers, too. In the end they'd probably make more money.

Just my humble opinion but maybe I'm thinking too simple.

doc22

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120353861#Comment_120353861

NOW tv is the gomo option in fairness.

CalamariFritti

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120355468#Comment_120355468

I didn't know that. It's not quite clear to me from their website but say with the Entertainment package would you actually have live TV content the same way you would get it from Sky Signature? Like all the 100 odd regular live TV channels RTE, BBC etcpp?

I assume with the Sports package it would have to be live TV, like matches etc. But Entertainment seems more like as if you had Sky boxsets?

Xander10

If you are cancelling, don't you the text option.

Spent 5 and half hours on to them to cancel TV & Broadband Package .

I have the sports package. I rang 6 months ago to cancel the sport package. They agent talked me into keeping the Sports Package at a 50% discount for 6 months.

So now when I contact them today to cancel the whole package, they are saying that when I excepted the 6 months discount for Sports, I basically at that time entered into a new 12 month contract for the basic TV package and can't cancel it for another 6 months! Never made aware on the phone. But they can produce an email with the new t&cs which where a shock to me.

Be careful dealing with Sky or accepting offers, especially unwanted offers. All very underhand.

decor58

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120355491#Comment_120355491

Yes, the channels are live but only the Sky channels, about 10 of them. No RTE, VM, BBC live channels, you do get RTE and VM players. Sky have recently added a form of BBC iplayer to their service here that would be very welcome on NOW tv in Ireland.

icdg

Really if going the Now option you want to pair it with another service (be that Saorview and Freesat, Sky Q lite, or a basic Vodafone/eir package) for your free to air/basic cable viewing. Now is mostly (though not exclusively) Sky’s own content.

muffler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120355580#Comment_120355580

You can request an audio copy of that telephone conversation.

lertsnim

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120355491#Comment_120355491

There are live channels in the Entertainment package but not the likes of RTÉ or BBC. It is very limited with Sky owned channels, Comedy Central, GOLD, Alibi and MTV.

Doodah7

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120355960#Comment_120355960

That's exactly what I have now: Saorview, Freesat and NOWTV. Entertainment pack is on offer at €3 per month if you look in the Bargain Alerts thread:

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120322156#Comment_120322156

icdg

They have made Now very attractive compared to Sky Q when it comes to sports in particular. I am not sure of the strategy behind it but I was very surprised to learn that the deals are not restricted to new customers and you can effectively cancel (and don’t have to have an argument with retentions to do it) and sign up immediately for a new deal provided any offer period has less than 30 days left. I’d commend that thread to anyone thinking of the Now route but again it’s not suitable to be your sole TV service and you need something else for the terrestrials.

dam099

Its also often worth cancelling when your deal runs out, they usually do ask you to select a reason from a drop down as to why you are cancelling, say price and they may offer an extended or new deal.

Butson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120358406#Comment_120358406

With sports they have to.

So much piracy.