*** Sky TV Cancellation & Negotiation Thread ***

XeNoNF50 said:
Seriously considering it. Only use it for sports really.
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Yeah, this is my quandry, I only really use it for Sports and for everything else I could probably use a Freeview box. I just got off the phone with them after they'd told me my 'savings' had been applied due to these 'tough times' and they'd increased my monthly bill from £79 (which was still too high as it is) to £93. They offered to give me £85 instead. So I told them where to stick it. I don't get the feeling that I'll receive any decent offers.
Can anyone recommend a decent freeview box?

Thanks!
 
Converge said:
Yeah, this is my quandry, I only really use it for Sports and for everything else I could probably use a Freeview box. I just got off the phone with them after they'd told me my 'savings' had been applied due to these 'tough times' and they'd increased my monthly bill from £79 (which was still too high as it is) to £93. They offered to give me £85 instead. So I told them where to stick it. I don't get the feeling that I'll receive any decent offers.
Can anyone recommend a decent freeview box?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Sky have become a sports broadcaster. Nothing more. That's where they make their money and that's all they care about.
I was a subscriber for 18+ years, from Sky+ to +HD to Q to Stream. I began to use their products less and less as time went on and other services became available. I got rid of Sky Broadband about 18 months ago and switched to Community Fibre which gave me 8 times the speed for half the cost of what Sky wanted. I got rid of Sky Stream a couple of months ago as the pucks are just an abomination. Cheap, slow and unreliable, and even paying half price (because I complained) it wasn't worth continuing. There was no attempt to keep me as a customer whatsoever.
If you can get hold of a Manhattan T3-R Freeview HD recorder, they're very good but discontinued. The new T4-R is due out soon.
 
Having binned off the broadband for my parents because the price has gone up silly amounts over the years, I’m next to bin off the overpriced contract for TV too. That said, it’s a decent platform and they do enjoy having sky.

I’ve a few questions, obviously you no longer record but instead have playlists etc. I understand with BBC content which has been added to your list, it links in to iplayer and then streams the content from there. When doing so, is it similar to Q in that you press play and it then plays the programme or does clicking the content link you to the show profile and then you have to play again?

Other channels, eg ITV, they record a few from there. Is it the same as above with the shows streaming from ITVX? If that is the case, how is the quality? ITVX is only 25fps, so some shows look terrible compared to broadcast TV which has been recorded which is 50fps. Or is it played from elsewhere?

Cheers.

Re reading the posts above I get it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. What I’ve seen on YT of unboxing and usage it looks fine for their use case but only if it works for their shows.
 
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Kol said:
Having binned off the broadband for my parents because the price has gone up silly amounts over the years, I’m next to bin off the overpriced contract for TV too. That said, it’s a decent platform and they do enjoy having sky.

I’ve a few questions, obviously you no longer record but instead have playlists etc. I understand with BBC content which has been added to your list, it links in to iplayer and then streams the content from there. When doing so, is it similar to Q in that you press play and it then plays the programme or does clicking the content link you to the show profile and then you have to play again?

Other channels, eg ITV, they record a few from there. Is it the same as above with the shows streaming from ITVX? If that is the case, how is the quality? ITVX is only 25fps, so some shows look terrible compared to broadcast TV which has been recorded which is 50fps. Or is it played from elsewhere?

Cheers.

Re reading the posts above I get it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. What I’ve seen on YT of unboxing and usage it looks fine for their use case but only if it works for their shows.
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All playlisted content from non-Sky channels plays back from the appropriate channel's app. So all BBC content, if selected from the playlist triggers the iPlayer app to open, all ITV content triggers ITVX to open, Channel 4, My5, etc.
Any playlisted content from a channel which doesn't have its own third party app should 'cloud record' or rather, give you access to a stored recording of that channel's live stream from that transmission time. You have no control over this 'recording' other than the ability to play it. You can't delete it or save it or do anything with it like you would a physical recording on a hard drive.
Sky Stream can work fine. The quality of the live channel streams is excellent. It's the hardware that really lets the service down. The pucks and remotes are just cheap mass-produced junk which feel like they're from about 10 years ago. The apps are so slow compared to my TV apps and every other streaming device I've used. Fast forwarding and rewinding is also a total ball-ache, frequently booting you out of a stream if you've fast forwarded too far and try to rewind a bit. If that doesn't bother you then it's fine. It's absolutely not worth what Sky are charging for it. I paid £22.50pm for Entertainment/UHD/Atmos/Ad-Skipping & Netflix Premium and wouldn't pay any more than that as it simply isn't worth it. The whole family hated it after several years of happy Sky Q ownership. Now it's Apple TV 4K all the way... so much better in every way. (Apart from 720P iPlayer but we've got TV apps for that!)
 
After re-activating Sky they've managed to break my account. Billing doesn't work at all as I can't see past/future bills and the current one refreshes a login screen. My product list just gives a technical error. Wasted 3 hours on the phone over 3 days before/after Christmas trying to get this resolved and they still have no idea what's going on.
 
Steeps said:
After re-activating Sky they've managed to break my account. Billing doesn't work at all as I can't see past/future bills and the current one refreshes a login screen. My product list just gives a technical error. Wasted 3 hours on the phone over 3 days before/after Christmas trying to get this resolved and they still have no idea what's going on.
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Sky's entire internal IT system needs entirely rebuilding. It's an absolute car crash. Every time I had communication with them over the past 5-6 years the advisers ended up apologising for the amount of time their systems take to update. I think they run the whole place on Windows 95. Painful. When I signed up to Stream, switching from Q, they couldn't work out how to actually process the service. I ended up on a Sky Glass account even though I never had the TV and continued to get emails about 'making my Sky Glass even better' for over a year. They also couldn't cancel the free Discovery+ that I activated when I had Q. I still have it free to this day, despite not having any Sky account whatsoever. I gave my mum the Discovery+ login and she watches a load of dreadful shows on it, along with Eurosport, via the app on her TV. I occasionally login to it via my Apple TV 4K box too. The other positive I got from their incompetence was a second free 6 months of Apple TV+ via the MySky app. It said that you couldn't get it if you'd had it before but it gave me another six months free right before I cancelled my Sky Stream account.
 
It's frustrating the Paramount+ sub can't be activated elsewhere when using Sky+ instead of SkyQ. Annoyingly I can't use SkyGo Extra while these issues are ongoing because no one can fix my account to activate it. In 17 months time I think NowTV will get priority over renewing Sky, especially now they've killed off the Sky+ app for listings and recording to the box, the skygo app is useless for that.
 
Steeps said:
It's frustrating the Paramount+ sub can't be activated elsewhere when using Sky+ instead of SkyQ. Annoyingly I can't use SkyGo Extra while these issues are ongoing because no one can fix my account to activate it. In 17 months time I think NowTV will get priority over renewing Sky, especially now they've killed off the Sky+ app for listings and recording to the box, the skygo app is useless for that.
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Sky Go is useless with Stream & Glass too. After more than two years since it launched, you still can't add something to your playlist from the TV guide on the Sky Go app.
 
DiscoFizz said:
All playlisted content from non-Sky channels plays back from the appropriate channel's app. So all BBC content, if selected from the playlist triggers the iPlayer app to open, all ITV content triggers ITVX to open, Channel 4, My5, etc.
Any playlisted content from a channel which doesn't have its own third party app should 'cloud record' or rather, give you access to a stored recording of that channel's live stream from that transmission time. You have no control over this 'recording' other than the ability to play it. You can't delete it or save it or do anything with it like you would a physical recording on a hard drive.
Sky Stream can work fine. The quality of the live channel streams is excellent. It's the hardware that really lets the service down. The pucks and remotes are just cheap mass-produced junk which feel like they're from about 10 years ago. The apps are so slow compared to my TV apps and every other streaming device I've used. Fast forwarding and rewinding is also a total ball-ache, frequently booting you out of a stream if you've fast forwarded too far and try to rewind a bit. If that doesn't bother you then it's fine. It's absolutely not worth what Sky are charging for it. I paid £22.50pm for Entertainment/UHD/Atmos/Ad-Skipping & Netflix Premium and wouldn't pay any more than that as it simply isn't worth it. The whole family hated it after several years of happy Sky Q ownership. Now it's Apple TV 4K all the way... so much better in every way. (Apart from 720P iPlayer but we've got TV apps for that!)
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Thanks for that. Will reconsider that as an option then and see what they offer for Q when their contract eventually comes to an end. Somehow, and I believe my Dad, he’s in contract yet he hasn’t renewed/renegotiated since they moved in to this place nearly 3 years ago yet he still has months to go. Bizarre.

I might just get them to use my spare Apple TV for a while and if they like it get them a 4K one. I am huge fan of mine and IF they want sky shows they could take out a cheap now sub potentially. At least with that I can block the ads (hit and miss but works now and again) and not have to pay a fee upon fee to do stuff.

I didn’t realise I’d been watching iplayer in 720p :o
 
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Kol said:
Thanks for that. Will reconsider that as an option then and see what they offer for Q when their contract eventually comes to an end. Somehow, and I believe my Dad, he’s in contract yet he hasn’t renewed/renegotiated since they moved in to this place nearly 3 years ago yet he still has months to go. Bizarre.

I might just get them to use my spare Apple TV for a while and if they like it get them a 4K one. I am huge fan of mine and IF they want sky shows they could take out a cheap now sub potentially. At least with that I can block the ads (hit and miss but works now and again) and not have to pay a fee upon fee to do stuff.

I didn’t realise I’d been watching iplayer in 720p :o
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NOW works really well on the Apple TV, especially when you can get it so cheap. I currently pay £3.99pm for Entertainment +£1pm for Boost which is superb value, and I haven't had a single ad on anything I've streamed - it's completely ad-free. It makes a mockery of the £5pm Sky charge for the abomination that is ad-skipping on Stream.
Yeah iPlayer is limited to 720P due to the Apple TV not coping with DVB-DASH which is the streaming format the BBC use for their iPlayer UHD content. TBH I do the same as you and find the upscaled 720P to be perfectly watchable for most stuff. I'll switch to the TV's own iPlayer app if there's anything available in UHD with HDR but that doesn't happen often.
 
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Converge said:
Yeah, this is my quandry, I only really use it for Sports and for everything else I could probably use a Freeview box. I just got off the phone with them after they'd told me my 'savings' had been applied due to these 'tough times' and they'd increased my monthly bill from £79 (which was still too high as it is) to £93. They offered to give me £85 instead. So I told them where to stick it. I don't get the feeling that I'll receive any decent offers.
Can anyone recommend a decent freeview box?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
And since Man Utd are pretty crap nowadays I find myself only watching their games and too depressed to watch the rest lol
 
Bald-Eagle22 said:
Ok negotiation time next month or sack it off - advice please .

Going to bin off sports ( got used to f1 on CH4 ) and I’m going to get rid of the phone line .

Currently £114 a month going up to an eye watering £164.50 in March !

​

DetailPeriod CoveredAmount
Sky Signature
In-Contract discount
Sky Signature Discounted		1 Jan - 31 Jan£30.50£18.50
-£5.00
-£7.00
Ultimate TV Add on1 Jan - 31 Jan£7.00
Sky Sports - Complete Pack
In-Contract discount
Sky Sports Subscription Discounted		1 Jan - 31 Jan£32.00£20.00
-£7.00
-£5.00
Sky Cinema
Sky Cinema Subscription Discounted		1 Jan - 31 Jan£12.00£9.00
-£3.00
Sky Sports HD
Sky Sports HD Subscription Discounted		1 Jan - 31 Jan£6.00£2.00
-£4.00
Sky HD
Sky HD Subscription Discounted		1 Jan - 31 Jan£9.00£7.00
-£2.00
Multiscreen
Multiscreen Subscription Discounted		1 Jan - 31 Jan£15.00£12.00
-£3.00
Ultra HD1 Jan - 31 Jan£4.00

Broadband​


  • Sky WiFi, 1 Jan - 31 Jan, £0.00
  • Sky Broadband Superfast, 1 Jan - 31 Jan, £27.50 (Previous price: 39.5)
DetailPeriod CoveredAmount
Sky WiFi1 Jan - 31 Jan£0.00
Sky Broadband Superfast
In-Contract discount
Broadband Subscription Discounted		1 Jan - 31 Jan£39.50£27.50
-£5.00
-£7.00

Talk​


  • Sky Talk Anytime Extra, 1 Jan - 31 Jan, £7.50 (Previous price: 13.5)
  • Sky Talk Line Rental, 1 Jan - 31 Jan, £0.00
  • Call Charges, 1 Jan - 31 Jan, £0.00
DetailPeriod CoveredAmount
Sky Talk Anytime Extra
Sky Talk Call Package Discounted		1 Jan - 31 Jan£13.50£7.50
-£6.00
Sky Talk Line Rental1 Jan - 31 Jan£0.00
Call Charges
Local Calls (3 calls)
National Calls (3 calls)
Calls to NGN numbers (5 calls)
View all itemised calls		1 Jan - 31 Jan£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
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Just had a reneg on the above , binned the anytime calls since we all now use WIFI calling and only F1 instead of al sports ( Eurosport wins every time for me anyhow )- everything else the same . Basically told him need to be sub £100 a month and he came in at £98.50


That Will doe for another 18 months.
 
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Sky sent the email about price increases from the 25th March. Sky TV by £2, Sports by £2, HD by £1 and Ultimate by £1. My current deal ends on the 1 March so bills going from £40 to £100, they will have to get it below £50 for me to consider signing up again. Will probably have to leave again for that to happen.
 
I've moved my dad over from Sky to BT, as per my previous post recently (they were charging £76 for Entertainment & Box Sets tv and 12mb broadband). He was already paying around £30/month for line rental, calls, voicemail and caller ID to BT, so we've added 500mb fibre and Entertainment TV for a total of £65 all in.
 
Decided to stick with Sky after they gave a fairly decent offer to keep what I had (minus multiroom which we didn't really use).

Looking at Now TV (with Boost) and Netflix Premium, you're looking at £34 and Sky was an extra £8 but no faff changing things over and I keep 4K for the Sky channels rather than the woeful 1080p of NowTV which you have to pay for with Boost!
 
Casdawer said:
Decided to stick with Sky after they gave a fairly decent offer to keep what I had (minus multiroom which we didn't really use).

Looking at Now TV (with Boost) and Netflix Premium, you're looking at £34 and Sky was an extra £8 but no faff changing things over and I keep 4K for the Sky channels rather than the woeful 1080p of NowTV which you have to pay for with Boost!
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Yes - but with Now you treat Sky TV like you do any other streaming service and there are always deals to be had.
Months can go by when there is nothing on Sky to watch. Of course I don't know your viewing habits etc, but that is the exact reason we got rid of it last year. So many times I'd look at my Sky planner and every single thing on it was on a terrestrial or FreeView channel.
Before Xmas you could have had Entertainment for £4.95/month for 6 months and Cinema for £5/month for 6 months for example.
 
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