Can someone explain Sky/Virgin TV to me?

shifty_uk

shifty_uk

shifty_uk

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Helping an elderly relative out trying to arrange a new TV/phone deal. Apparently Virgin have bumped the renewal package up to over £70 p/m. I suspect there's been an up-sell at some point mid-contract as that seems overboard for what's used.

Apparently when she attempted to cancel, the girl on the phone said she could downgrade to the basic TV package which includes just Freeview and catch-up... Why on earth would someone pay Virgin for Freeview?

So I've been attempting a bit of digging, I can't find a channel list for any of these packages? Looking at an alternative Sky package, Sky Signature is presented as a basic package.. but what channels are included? When you look at the Entertainment package list it's all Freeview. Again, why would anyone pay for Freeview?

Tried to get someone on the phone but they are closed. They said they would send an SMS :confused: A bit hard to organise remotely as I don't have the literature or renewal notice to hand but you'd imagine there would be freely available channel lists all over the place?

Maybe I'm being dramatic but glad I don't deal with these companies.
 
Think the crack is they rent you the gear to record and what not. Big shame if they have upsold an elderly to 70 quid a month.

Edit: you may pay Virgin for Freeview if you do not have an aerial.
 
shifty_uk said:
Helping an elderly relative out trying to arrange a new TV/phone deal. Apparently Virgin have bumped the renewal package up to over £70 p/m. I suspect there's been an up-sell at some point mid-contract as that seems overboard for what's used.

Apparently when she attempted to cancel, the girl on the phone said she could downgrade to the basic TV package which includes just Freeview and catch-up... Why on earth would someone pay Virgin for Freeview?

So I've been attempting a bit of digging, I can't find a channel list for any of these packages? Looking at an alternative Sky package, Sky Signature is presented as a basic package.. but what channels are included? When you look at the Entertainment package list it's all Freeview. Again, why would anyone pay for Freeview?

Tried to get someone on the phone but they are closed. They said they would send an SMS :confused: A bit hard to organise remotely as I don't have the literature or renewal notice to hand but you'd imagine there would be freely available channel lists all over the place?

Maybe I'm being dramatic but glad I don't deal with these companies.
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Because if they don’t list them people will ask if they get them or assume they don’t come with them. When Sky launched their HD service the boxes were marked ‘SkyHD’ and every customer, without a doubt or shadow of a lie asked ‘Does it not come with Sky+?’ So the boxes were quickly changed to say ‘Sky+HD’ on them.
 
If she's out of contract get her to ring them and cancel everything. Don't take no for an answer and don't accept any offers they might make.

They'll come back before the final termination date with a sensible offer.
 
As said above. There’s the recording function but also usually there’s some extra even in the basic package like Sky Atlantic.
 
Why the hell would anyone want sky TV!? Serious question! Is your elderly relative a fan of sports and movies?

Maybe try a Freeview/Amazon/netflix combo?

Does sky offer certain must have channels for the silly money people pay?
 
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Screenbeat said:
Why the hell would anyone want sky TV!? Serious question! Is your elderly relative a fan of sports and movies?

Maybe try a Freeview/Amazon/netflix combo?

Does sky offer certain must have channels for the silly money people pay?
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We have Sky, but we don’t have any sport or movies.
Neither of us are interested in sport, including the Olympics, World Cup, or Wimbledon, and it would take a fantastic movie to pique our interest, so Netflix meh.
When Sky raised our package price from £39, (I think) to £44, we toyed with switching to Virgin, but there’s a U.S. cop show on Sky Atlantic that my wife enjoys, so we stuck with Sky.
I watch Newsnight, PBS documentaries, France 24 and occasionally Al Jazeera, my wife likes travel shows, like “A Place in the Sun”, or BBC News and that cop show, and that suits us.
 
Screenbeat said:
Why the hell would anyone want sky TV!? Serious question! Is your elderly relative a fan of sports and movies?

Maybe try a Freeview/Amazon/netflix combo?

Does sky offer certain must have channels for the silly money people pay?
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1) Single interface that's been learned over many years and is familiar.
2) Reasonable selection of documentaries and other random crap

Yes, iPlayer, Netflix, Prime and all the others exist. All with their disparate interfaces and multiple remotes.

Try getting someone who really hates technology and gizmos to switch inputs on the TV, switch to the other remote, open the correct app, find a programme to watch..

Nah, it aint happening.

People here have to remember that there are a lot of folks who don't want to/can't learn how to operate all this stuff.

A single service with a familiar interface (for those of us who have had Sky, etc, for years) is not something these people will abandon easily, or at all.
 
Jean-F said:
We have Sky, but we don’t have any sport or movies.
Neither of us are interested in sport, including the Olympics, World Cup, or Wimbledon, and it would take a fantastic movie to pique our interest, so Netflix meh.
When Sky raised our package price from £39, (I think) to £44, we toyed with switching to Virgin, but there’s a U.S. cop show on Sky Atlantic that my wife enjoys, so we stuck with Sky.
I watch Newsnight, PBS documentaries, France 24 and occasionally Al Jazeera, my wife likes travel shows, like “A Place in the Sun”, or BBC News and that cop show, and that suits us.
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Surely you can get all of that for £9.99 a month with now TV? You're paying £44 a month to watch the same content you can get for a tenner.

We ditched sky a couple of years back and now have Roku boxes on all the tvs with Now TV, Netflix, amazon prime and Disney plus. Costs far less overall and a much better choice.
 
Should be able to get Sky signature for around £25 per month as a new customer. There are loads of documentary channels that aren't on Freeview as per channel list above. We have it mainly for sports so additional £20 or so. Virgin TV isn't as smooth in the user interface but both take some time to get used to.
 
Em3bbs said:
For £44 I'd want sports and movies, thats about what I'm paying Sky after threatening to leave.
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Definitely - that's what I pay for the above, but with multiroom as well, but had to go through the cancellation dance as well to get this (would have been 60 odd quid otherwise).
 
Abyss said:
Surely you can get all of that for £9.99 a month with now TV? You're paying £44 a month to watch the same content you can get for a tenner.

We ditched sky a couple of years back and now have Roku boxes on all the tvs with Now TV, Netflix, amazon prime and Disney plus. Costs far less overall and a much better choice.
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Some people still don’t have great broadband and as said they like everything in one place and the ability to record regularly rather than having everything on demand.
 
If she only watches freeview channels and has an aerial then ditch Virgin and get a second hand Youview box. Really simple interface and an easy way to record , can record 2 programs at once and has netflix, prime, catchup apps built in (its a bit slow but I doubt she will care).

It's probably the easiest one to use, unless the virgin box has had a big update I always thought the interface was terrible.

https://www.freeview.co.uk/check-channels-home
 
Puzzled said:
If she only watches freeview channels and has an aerial then ditch Virgin and get a second hand Youview box.
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I thought Youview required an Internet connection?

The OP doesn't mention they have broadband. I would keep telling Virgin they are leaving then their retentions unit will make a proper offer. If that is still overrated then sign up to Sky as suggested. They will get the new customer deals.

The only issue I see is the Virgin phone line. Is it possible to move a number back to a non-virgin based service?
 
We've had just Freeview for years and it's fine, if we want to watch a movie I just rent it from Google play, which happens about once every 2 months.
 
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