Alternative to Sky

CliffyG

CliffyG

CliffyG

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
17,649
Location
Cambridge
So all my deals have run out with Sky until mid July. My bill is £130 for all the TV packages, HD, multi-room, fibre and phone. BT sport HD with multi-room is another £35 on top of that. So £165 all in, mental!

I do like the product though, the Sky+ boxes are great and I watch a lot of the Sky Atlantic series. I'm not too fussed about movies but football is very important to me and the wife. It's rare we can watch a game as it kicks off and utilise Sky+ quite heavily for televised games. On top of that sometimes we go on media blackout on Saturday afternoons and evenings for the full game replay at 20:00 or the hour highlights at 22:00. Need the kids TV too really.

What is everyone else doing?

BT looks like they are throwing internet at you which would be helpful for BT sports but I don't think the sport is completely free now.

I hate Virgin but they keep sending me leaflets every month with massively discounted rates. Do they maintain these after the first year?
 
Virgin and Sky are great when you're on a set introductory offer, but like you say, the price after is mental.

If you can be bothered with the faff, jumping back and forth will be probably be the best option on cost. You could phone Sky, tell them you're off and see what they offer you?
 
I have Sky,NowTV, Amazon Prime and Netflix.

I know I'm doubling up on Sky with NowTV but it's cheaper to have NowTV through Roku boxes than 2nd or 3rd Sky boxes.

Haven't quite pulled the plug on Sky because of the F1. I could pay per view F1 through NowTV but I watch the races on Sunday evenings when kids are in bed and it doesn't interfere with the day - can't do that with NowTV.
 
They've got you by the balls TBH. You can get Sky Sports 1&2 HD from other providers for £27/month, or you can buy NowTV Sport Passes at £6.99/day, £10.99/week or £31.99/month, get all the Sky Sports channels, but you can only watch things as they're broadcast.

Sky Atlantic is only available from Sky or NowTV. NowTV Entertainment is £6.99/month. You do get catch-up TV with this though, so it is good value.

Price up everything you've got with other providers and you'll likely find a saving, but I'm not sure it would be enough to justify the hassle. If you want to save money, you'll have to compromise on Sport.

With BT you can't have Sky Sports/Movies and multiroom. With Virgin I believe you can(?). Their top package on an 18 month contract is £92.99/month for 12 months, then £116.99/month. Add another £49 plus £5/month in you want recording on the second box. Plus a NowTV box and entertainment subscription for Sky Atlantic.
 
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I'm starting to think I should ditch Sky fibre, phone and movies see what deals I can get with what's leftover then move phone and internet to BT for cheaper BT sports. Must be some sort of saving in there?

Presumably with the free BT sports I can still view it through my Sky box?
 
Yeah. IIRC BT Sport via a Sky box is £5/month for BT Broadband customers, plus another £5/month for HD. Sport seems to be an excuse to milk customers of their money. No wonder 'other avenues' are increasingly popular...

I'm with Virgin for broadband and Sky for TV as that worked out better value at the time than Sky for everything. If I could convince the missus I'd scrap the TV, ditch the TV license and buy a Roku, then just stream everything (NowTV/Netflix/Amazon).
 
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Cancel sky and give your 31 days notice. They will ring you within this to offer you a deal normally 50%, I have done this the last 3 years and it works every time, as you have quite rightly said it is an extortionate price to pay for TV.

As mentioned above you get a TV box and install kodi which is good but not always reliable if you watch a lit of live stuff but for films and TV shows etc. its great
 
CliffyG said:
I'm starting to think I should ditch Sky fibre, phone and movies see what deals I can get with what's leftover then move phone and internet to BT for cheaper BT sports. Must be some sort of saving in there?

Presumably with the free BT sports I can still view it through my Sky box?
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Don't ditch your internet with Sky as they have a true no usage policy, where as all others slow down your speeds when limits are reached. I just ended my tv contract with Sky and am using Nowtv to start with and then will add Amazon Prime, so saving £40 a month.
 
Not sure I'd recommend Amazon Prime as replacement for Sky - so much on there but a lot you have to pay extra for.

Yes some good new series such as Bosch but even looking at older stuff that has been out for years and you have to pay over £1 an episode which is madness in my book.
 
Well I ended up getting the Virgin Big Kahuna bundle with HD Sky. With the deal I save 80 quid a month and only miss out on Sky Atlantic. I can acquire the shows from that channel elsewhere. The ended up changing the install date a day before they were due in to 2 weeks later so ended up using my neighbours wireless temporarily. I did get £60 quid off my first bill and 2 months free HD Sky though. Internet is solid, router is better than Sky's but I'm struggling with the Tivo and the less said about the V+ HD box the better but I'm going to soldier on as the money saving is ridiculous. I got 6 months Netflix with it too as well as a free tablet. Even when it's at full price after a year it will still be a 55 quid saving a month at £115.
 
I'm was in a similar position. My bill was about to go from £60 a month to £130 a month due to deals ending.

Phoned up Sky and they offered me 50% of my TV package without me even trying. I then switched our broadband to BT and took out the BT Sport HD through Sky package.

All in, it's costing me £90 a month but I'm gaining BT Sport. I hope all of those footballers and agents spend my money wisely. :p
 
The only reason I'm still with Sky is for the F1 channel. I would jump to YouView and/or BT in an instant if the F1 was available.
 
CliffyG said:
Well I ended up getting the Virgin Big Kahuna bundle with HD Sky. With the deal I save 80 quid a month and only miss out on Sky Atlantic. I can acquire the shows from that channel elsewhere. The ended up changing the install date a day before they were due in to 2 weeks later so ended up using my neighbours wireless temporarily. I did get £60 quid off my first bill and 2 months free HD Sky though. Internet is solid, router is better than Sky's but I'm struggling with the Tivo and the less said about the V+ HD box the better but I'm going to soldier on as the money saving is ridiculous. I got 6 months Netflix with it too as well as a free tablet. Even when it's at full price after a year it will still be a 55 quid saving a month at £115.
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Tivo is pretth poor to be honest, the interface is archaic and slooooowwwwwww. If i could be bothered i would jump between Sky and VM to get the new customer deals.
 
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