Stick with Sky or Check out Alternatives?

Oxide™

Oxide™

Oxide™

Soldato
Joined
26 Dec 2007
Posts
2,702
Location
Broadstairs
We have Sky (not Q) and it's something I really enjoy - I like the ease of use, the picture quality (1080i), the planner/guide/DVR/boxsets etc. however Sky costs us around £75 per month (includes discounts, 40mbit unlimited fibre, phone, HD, Formula1 HD, entertainment package NO MOVIES/MULTIROOM/SPORTS which is fine)

We are early preggers and my wife would like to drop Sky when discounts end February 2019 and go to the cheaper alternatives like Netflix etc. to save some money for when baby arrives

Now I'm happy with Sky and I don't think the alternatives can match it for far cheaper and I honestly cba with the faff of setting a new system all up/universal remote etc.

Are the alternatives any good and what should I be looking for please? I'm not current with what the best alternatives are, are they worth it or suck it up, explain to the wife and stick with Sky?

It's becoming a point of stress and anxiety for me - first world problems I know.
 
Netflix and amazon have a vast library and superior 4k content. Freeview play has most of the crap people watch day to day. Assuming you have a smart TV with hard drive attached, you can pretty much operate that like you would sky on demand.

The pros of sky are superior user interface and sports. If those things you can compromise on, you can save yourself a lot of money.
 
Still have my trusty 10 year old 42 inch Panasonic Plasma (th-42pz80) 1080p non smart - have a PS4 though could I use that?

We tend to watch series and me war documentaries, reality shows like police custody, 24 hours in a&e etc
 
There's a lot to be said for simplicity. Sky makes recording and viewing TV very easy. More than that though, with channels such as Sky Atlantic and Sky Arts, the company has moved from being just a packager of TV channels to a producer of some of the best shows on TV. You have access to that either through the channels or through box sets.

Cost is always a thorny issue. When a bundle also includes telephony and broadband then there's a lot in the pot which makes the whole thing seem expensive. Splitting it down and looking at the component costs could help you see where costs can be saved. This is useful for when you start to compare the alternatives.

Though Freeview is free*, and every TV has a tuner built in, live pause and dual channel recording does require some additional hardware; and of course, that has a cost to purchase. The other niggle is the channel choice. Yes, there's a lot of overlap, but also plenty of gaps. You'll also miss all the +1 channels that Freeview doesn't have the capacity to carry.

NowTV can get you Sky's entertainment package for £10/month, but limited to 720p resolution. I've never been convinced that changing 1080i to 720p is a good solution.

Netflix for £7-£10 gets you films and an additional range of commissioned programming. The rub is now you've got two or possibly three different viewing platforms. It's not quite the simple solution she has in mind.




* not counting the TV Licence costs
 
Freeview and Netflix is all you need. Sky is overpriced garbage, even more so if your not into sports!
Just get a chromecast with netflix one month trial and see how it goes?

also if your considering ditching Sky TV, look at BT deals for internet and you will get their tv box for free which also has the Netflix app.
 
Last edited:
We have Netflix, Prime and add in talk talk fibre costs come to around £42 per month.

Netflix and prime has more than enough back catalogue to keep us going.
 
Sounds really cheap due to you get 40mbit unlimited fibre & phone Included

I have to pay £41 per month just for my 40mb & phone..:mad: and then about £55 for my sky on top
 
Having got myself a decent deal with Sky Q and moving into a new build, I was pretty excited to be having Sky installed on Sunday after rushing to set up all of my equipment.

The excitement didn't last long as the Sky engineer confirmed that it would be impossible to get any sort of signal due to large tress running parallel to the house.

I am now in need of an alternative to Sky. There is no aerial in the loft, neither do we have Internet yet so we are stuck with nothing at the moment.
 
GJF47 said:
Having got myself a decent deal with Sky Q and moving into a new build,

The excitement didn't last long as the Sky engineer confirmed that it would be impossible to get any sort of signal due to large tress running parallel to the house.

neither do we have Internet yet so we are stuck with nothing at the moment.
Click to expand...

Confused..... You went for a Sky Q deal .... Which works via the Internet...... But you don't have the Internet in the house. ... Erm ....
 
Sky Q works via the Internet? So it doesn't need a dish at all?

I will have Internet as soon as the line is in but the developers are taking their time doing it.
 
How come they couldn't install it for me?

He said there was not possible to put a dish up due to the trees so I have no option but to use Freeview or BT...
 
@TALON1973 You are confused, Sky Q doesn't 'use the internet' it uses the same dish but with a different LNB. Sky have been trialling an OTT service with Sky Q I believe (@MissChief ?) but it's not "Sky Q" and it isn't yet available to everyone. Current forecasts from what I've read are suggesting Q3 2019 but that's not confirmed anywhere.

https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Sky-Q/Press-release-for-Sky-Q-plans/td-p/2872739 - say it's in the pipeline so hopefully over the next 12 months something might come available - this was in July.

Sky Q is already Europe’s best home entertainment service. We have now launched Sky Q in each of our major markets and scaled it to 3.6 million customers by the end of Q4. This is delivering significant long-term benefits including lower churn, more incremental ARPU and higher customer satisfaction scores.
From here we will scale Sky Q’s growth and continually enhance the service with a strong pipeline of innovation ahead over the next 12 months:
 Developing a hands-free TV experience with our next-generation of voice control.
 Improve personalisation with addition of individual profiles, enhancing the platform’s data-
driven recommendations.
 Introduce a kids mode, giving parents peace of mind over what their children can watch.
 Double the amount of Ultra-HD (UHD) content available, with HDR launching in 2019.
 Roll out Sky Soundbox to Germany and Italy, transforming the TV sound experience for
customers in those markets.
 Launch Sky Q without the need for a satellite dish in Austria and Italy, opening up new growth
opportunities with customers who cannot have a satellite dish.
Click to expand...

https://www.uswitch.com/tv/guides/do-you-need-a-satellite-dish-for-sky/ - posted Dec 2017:

Although Sky’s dish-less service is still a year off, you can access Sky content without a satellite dish — or a Sky subscription.
Click to expand...
 
sky has exclusive content and newer content that netflix and prime.

if he wants to watch game of thrones, etc then sky is the best way to do it.

it's simple as if you want to save money then ditch it. if you like it then just haggle a better discount. or leave wait a month and wait for their new welcome back offer for a free upgrade to sky q.

GinG said:
We have Netflix, Prime and add in talk talk fibre costs come to around £42 per month.

Netflix and prime has more than enough back catalogue to keep us going.
Click to expand...

I can't find anything worth watching on either these days. it's all old stuff and the new stuff is mainly garbage.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Psycho Sonny said:
sky has exclusive content and newer content that netflix and prime.

if he wants to watch game of thrones, etc then sky is the best way to do it.

it's simple as if you want to save money then ditch it. if you like it then just haggle a better discount. or leave wait a month and wait for their new welcome back offer for a free upgrade to sky q.
Click to expand...

I watch Game of Thrones on NowTV. Much cheaper. Walking Dead, Westworld, etc.
 
In reality it depends on what you want to watch. You're paying the extra for the F1, but i'm not sure if there's another platform that broadcasts it (maybe NowTV with some of their Sky stuff).

Oxide™ said:
We tend to watch series and me war documentaries, reality shows like police custody, 24 hours in a&e etc
Click to expand...

Netflix/Prime have plenty of series available, and have also been developing their own over the years and have produced some very good series. However if you're looking for a show that's already finished, then that can be a bit hit&miss, but that's no different to Sky really, just depends on what content they want to purchase for broadcasting.

Also remember you can use 4od/5 on demand for various police custody shows / 24 hours in A&E, and all you'd need is a streaming stick for that.

Frankly i'm in the "Sky is garbage" pool as well, actually that's probably overly harsh. I'm of the opinion that Sky is way overpriced for the majority of the content that it delivers, yes it probably is 'the' best platform for sports, but you're then paying a premium for everything else. But their packages excluding sports is still way overpriced, they'd need to drop those prices by a half/two-thirds for me to consider it.
 
Kol said:
@TALON1973 You are confused, Sky Q doesn't 'use the internet' it uses the same dish but with a different LNB. Sky have been trialling an OTT service with Sky Q I believe (@MissChief ?) but it's not "Sky Q" and it isn't yet available to everyone. Current forecasts from what I've read are suggesting Q3 2019 but that's not confirmed anywhere.

https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Sky-Q/Press-release-for-Sky-Q-plans/td-p/2872739 - say it's in the pipeline so hopefully over the next 12 months something might come available - this was in July.



https://www.uswitch.com/tv/guides/do-you-need-a-satellite-dish-for-sky/ - posted Dec 2017:
Click to expand...

From what I’ve been reading the Sky Q over IP service hasn’t really got very far and isn’t even into any sort of trial beyond a very small group of the developers or even testing in someone’s home yet. It’s still a long way off and I’d be surprised if it’s even likely before 2020. At the moment a dish is still required.


Also don’t forget Netflix has launched on Sky Q today so you can take Sky’s box set package and Netflix for £10 and if you have Sky Q Multiscreen that gives you the Netflix premium package. Saves £2.99 on the standard Netflix pricing or £4.99 on Premium. Still need a 2TB box to watch on 4k or UHD and no HDR on Q yet.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom