Alternate to Sky?

ChrisD.

ChrisD.

ChrisD.

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Joined
20 Sep 2006
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I'm paying something stupid to them each month and all I watch is the occasional movie, all of the F1 and whatever Man Utd games they choose to show. My GF watches the usual woman stuff and I can't help but thinking it's an enormous waste of money.

Are there any other viable alternatives where I can watch my sports still? Perhaps pay per view combined with Freeview HD/Freesat HD or something? I'm a HD whore so HD only options (if any!).
 
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BT vision is investing a lot of money for the 2013/14 season replacing / suppliment to ESPN coverage, but I believe this requires a fast broadband speed for HD as this is how it is deliviered, however I suspect Sky will still cover a lot more games than BT/ESPN do for some time

I believe its also possible to get a stripped down F1 package on its own from Sky to cover that angle (there is a huge thread in the Motors /Motorsport sub forum on this for more details)
 
Cheers. I have BT Infinity 80Mb so broadband speed isn't too much of an issue. I will be moving though in the new year and chances are it'll be back on rubbish broadband though. I wish Freesat signed up to do some pay per view thing with Sky!
 
Ring them up tell them it is too expensive and threaten to cancel the account.

They will probably offer you 25% off, but don't take it instead wait for the phone call in 2 weeks time when they offer you 50% off. (see my other thread on here)
 
Yeah I've started having a read through that. I've just had 25% off applied, which brings the price to around £50. It's still far too expensive for something I hardly use. The GF uses it more than me and that's mainly for watching BBT (which I watch too) and some other generic TV series.
 
If you are moving in the new year just wait until a deal comes available before you sign up with them as you will be a new customer - failing that just cancel your present subscription and they will def discount further.
 
I've scrapped my virgin media package and gone for just broadband and freeview. A htpc setup will be replacing my previous VM package using a combination of freeview hd tv tuner and streaming. The whole setup will have paid for itself in a little over 8 months.
 
Options with notes as follows:

Sky - full interactive service and all channels, inc. Sky+
Virgin - Sky sports, TiVo, but no red button for footy on mutli-screen
BT Vision - growing presence in the market, with some sport (SS1/SS2/ESPN only), missing SS3, SS4 and red button. Also the STB is of questionable quality, it freezes and hangs on a daily basis.
Freesat - no Sky sports
Freeview - no Sky sports, but you can add them at extra monthly cost through Top up TV which gives you SS1/SS2/ESPN

All in all if you're that glued to sports then Sky takes some beating.
 
Whatever you do, DO NOT go with anyone offering a "Youview" box, they are UTTER crap. As berties86 say's, needs at least a daily restart, on BT Vision if you set up a playlist of stuff to watch it'll play a random amount and then stop completely, the box itself is unbelievably noisy with a loud fan running constantly, the interface is at best clunky and slow and it has a habit of constantly disconnecting when watching on demand content.
 
bertles86 said:
Options with notes as follows:


BT Vision - growing presence in the market, with some sport (SS1/SS2/ESPN only), missing SS3, SS4 and red button. Also the STB is of questionable quality, it freezes and hangs on a daily basis.
Click to expand...

I've had BT Vision for around 18 months now and my STB has never froze. The only problems it throws up is when the internet throws a wobbler while I'm watching On Demand content. That is a rare event though and no fault of the STB.
 
BT vision is just LOL compared to sky and virgin, the STB are utter rubbish, my inlaws have one, awful awful tat much like the BT homehub
 
Sliver said:
I've had BT Vision for around 18 months now and my STB has never froze. The only problems it throws up is when the internet throws a wobbler while I'm watching On Demand content. That is a rare event though and no fault of the STB.
Click to expand...

Well all I can say is you are (a) in the minority and (b) very lucky.
 
bertles86 said:
Options with notes as follows:

Sky - full interactive service and all channels, inc. Sky+
Virgin - Sky sports, TiVo, but no red button for footy on mutli-screen
BT Vision - growing presence in the market, with some sport (SS1/SS2/ESPN only), missing SS3, SS4 and red button. Also the STB is of questionable quality, it freezes and hangs on a daily basis.
Freesat - no Sky sports
Freeview - no Sky sports, but you can add them at extra monthly cost through Top up TV which gives you SS1/SS2/ESPN

All in all if you're that glued to sports then Sky takes some beating.
Click to expand...

Another option is to get a bigger satellite dish and point it towards another satellite and subscribe to them.
 
It's a grey area, the essence as I understand it is:

Personal use - okay but frowned upon
Commercial use with an audience - hotly debated, potentially illegal with prosecution

Also consider depending on the service provider you subscribe to and the location of their satellite(s) you may need a signficantly larger dish than the standard Sky minidish and have to re-align the dish.

Your potential shopping list can easily snowball:

New dish
New stb
New subscription/viewing card
Aerial/Sat installer to align dish/run cable

I wouldn't recommend it.
 
I got the Humax HDR-1000s/1TB box (FreeSat) and am quite enjoying paying £0 per month. No sports but I do get the handful of free HD channels, on-demand TV and the usual recording features like live pause, series link etc. Well worth a look as you already have the sky dish there to use.

You'll be making a profit in less than 6 months and you can use the money you save to watch the football down the pub with a few beers :D
 
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