Binky
Junior Member
Posts: 1,126
|
Post by Binky on Jan 25, 2022 11:03:09 GMT
It’s my annual Sky TV health check, and my wallet is starting to shrug at cost of our bills. Granted we’re all-in with Sky, and it is a great system but it’s not £141 a month great!
Looking at my account it shows we’ve been with Sky for 21 years. No wonder it’s proving difficult to cut the cord - the contract is 5 years older than my marriage.
There are things we can easily trim to reduce the bill a bit, but has anyone recently gone cold turkey with Sky? Did you go crawling back, or was it refreshing? Despite being a football watching cave dweller, paying the premium for that doesn’t seem as attractive as it once was. Especially now that we have subs coming out of our ears with Netflix/Apple/Amazon/Disney. Those 4 seem to offer more between them than Sky Atlantic and… er… News.
We’ve got 2 say mini boxes around the house as well, so we’d need to be weened off of them as well - or convert the bedroom and kitchen into smart TVs.
Help me do what must be done.
|
|
dogbot
Full Member
Posts: 8,738
|
Post by dogbot on Jan 25, 2022 11:07:22 GMT
I had a full Sky HD sub with two boxes when my Mrs first moved in. She looked at the bills (was about £110 a month back then) and had a bit of a fit. I think I was mostly paying out of habit, tbh. We agreed to assess our usage over the next couple of months or so.
It turned out that almost everything we watched was terrestrial or Netflix/Prime. Except for Sports and some Documentaries.
We kicked it into touch and although I've missed the sport, there are options available. Everything else, I haven't missed at all. We've added a Discovery Plus sub recently, but iPlayer/All4/Netflix pretty much do everything we need now and the money is much better spent elsewhere. Don't miss it at all.
|
|
Bongo Heracles
Junior Member
Technically illegal to ride on public land
Posts: 4,661
|
Post by Bongo Heracles on Jan 25, 2022 11:08:40 GMT
Yeah. Ive been with sky on and off for almost as long as you and in that time Ive been to virgin and nowTv and have always ended up flipping back. NowTV came close but the quality is so shit I didnt enjoy watching it at all.
I think cord cutting depends on how passively you watch TV. Sometimes you dont want to make a decision and just flick about.
We are down to just the entertainment pack, though. Kids, films and whatnot are gone. I had the movies package for ages but with the streaming services and the fact its cheaper to just rent/buy them on apple tv, I binned it a while ago. And the quality is far better
|
|
|
|
Post by imamazed on Jan 25, 2022 11:16:17 GMT
Can you not haggle them down to something more affordable? Or is that just a Virgin Media thing?
They were all set to charge us £40 extra a month for the same package - one 5 minute call later we're paying the same as we were before for the next 18 months.
|
|
robthehermit
Junior Member
Subjectively amusing
Posts: 2,468
|
Post by robthehermit on Jan 25, 2022 11:17:41 GMT
Now TV gets a lot better if you pay them the £5 a month for HD, 3 concurrent streams and no ads.
|
|
|
|
Post by brokenkey on Jan 25, 2022 11:19:10 GMT
1) switch your broadband to a smaller provider who isn't subject to the high-court's copyright blocking orders
2) Yaarrr away.
3) profit.
|
|
Binky
Junior Member
Posts: 1,126
|
Post by Binky on Jan 25, 2022 11:20:36 GMT
Will definitely be calling them to reduce costs (I do this annually), and as part of that I'll drop Cinema, BT and possibly Sky Sports.
I'm more than sure that most of our watching is done via BBC/Ch4 with the occasional Sky Atlantic thing, but it's more the hardware/software being so well executed that makes it hard to drop.
|
|
|
|
Post by imamazed on Jan 25, 2022 11:21:13 GMT
Now TV gets a lot better if you pay them the £5 a month for HD, 3 concurrent streams and no ads. Absolute madness that those features are an extra. I was ready to bin off Sky Sports on our Virgin package til I remembered about the 720p stuttery streams. |
|
|
|
Post by Danno on Jan 25, 2022 11:22:35 GMT
Russian streams and a decent adblocker can cover your sporting needs if you're not concerned about diverting money from Murdoch
|
|
|
|
Post by imamazed on Jan 25, 2022 11:22:48 GMT
Will definitely be calling them to reduce costs (I do this annually), and as part of that I'll drop Cinema, BT and possibly Sky Sports. I'm more than sure that most of our watching is done via BBC/Ch4 with the occasional Sky Atlantic thing, but it's more the hardware/software being so well executed that makes it hard to drop. That's fair. Might be worth looking into some Freeview+ Recordy boxes? Initial costs can be c.£200 but there's some decent hardware around now that replicate Sky+. |
|
|
|
Post by Dougs on Jan 25, 2022 11:25:17 GMT
I binned Sky a few years ago and moved to NowTV. I'm currently paying £6 for entertainment, £5 for movies (both on offer - I cancel if they go full price), £5 boost and then share sports with a mate for a tenner a month. Full fibre line is £25, so a significant saving compared to north of £90 for the full package inc broadband. Of course, still have Disney, Netflix and Prime to add to that! Prime is probably the only streaming service that doesn't get used much tbh but use the postage service a lot.
|
|
cubby
Full Member
doesn't get subtext
Posts: 6,403
Member is Online
|
Post by cubby on Jan 25, 2022 11:25:21 GMT
I keep looking at now TV but their list of supported devices is weirdly discouraging. The list on their website makes more of a point that lots of devices no longer work.
|
|
|
|
Post by Dougs on Jan 25, 2022 11:26:20 GMT
Will definitely be calling them to reduce costs (I do this annually), and as part of that I'll drop Cinema, BT and possibly Sky Sports. I'm more than sure that most of our watching is done via BBC/Ch4 with the occasional Sky Atlantic thing, but it's more the hardware/software being so well executed that makes it hard to drop. That's fair. Might be worth looking into some Freeview+ Recordy boxes? Initial costs can be c.£200 but there's some decent hardware around now that replicate Sky+. Depending on your telly, you can just buy a USB external drive and record to that |
|
robthehermit
Junior Member
Subjectively amusing
Posts: 2,468
|
Post by robthehermit on Jan 25, 2022 11:27:37 GMT
Yeah, I object to it as well but it's a necessity for me as I share the account with my parents and our daughters (and Disney, Netflix and Prime). You'd think one of them would offer to chip in, but no such luck. The real problem with Now TV is that there are no user profiles so everyone gets everyones viewing list and that they restrict not only the number of viewers but also the number of devices you can log in from.
|
|
Binky
Junior Member
Posts: 1,126
|
Post by Binky on Jan 25, 2022 11:30:03 GMT
Yeah, I object to it as well but it's a necessity for me as I share the account with my parents and our daughters (and Disney, Netflix and Prime). You'd think one of them would offer to chip in, but no such luck. The real problem with Now TV is that there are no user profiles so everyone gets everyones viewing list and that they restrict not only the number of viewers but also the number of devices you can log in from. See that's the other point actually. I'm currently shouldering the burden of at least 2 other households for the sports, netflix and disney! Getting them to chip in might make this all easier to swallow. |
|
|
|
Post by Dougs on Jan 25, 2022 11:47:48 GMT
I think Nowtv have changed their approach to devices a bit - there's still a limit, but I think it's more fluid - log-on with a new one and one drops off etc.
|
|
Bongo Heracles
Junior Member
Technically illegal to ride on public land
Posts: 4,661
|
Post by Bongo Heracles on Jan 25, 2022 12:03:32 GMT
I still want higher quality than NowTV is able to give, even with the HD stipend.
|
|
KD
Junior Member
RIP EG
Posts: 1,333
|
Post by KD on Jan 25, 2022 12:04:23 GMT
I stopped my sky years ago, now I have a xbox on someone else's account so I can watch the f1 and if someone's over let them pick stuff to watch.
|
|
geefe
Full Member
Short for Zangief
Posts: 8,323
|
Post by geefe on Jan 25, 2022 12:10:18 GMT
I genuinely cannot understand why someone would have Sky, in this day and age. There's only so much content you can have
|
|
|
|
Post by elstoof on Jan 25, 2022 12:10:47 GMT
Can’t remember the last time I switched the virgin box on, everything’s streaming off the smart TV now. Can you bin the TV off but keep the internet/phone? Think I’m paying £80 a month, should give them a call really
|
|
|
|
Post by elstoof on Jan 25, 2022 12:13:38 GMT
Quitting sky is a hoot though, enjoy that phonecall. They’ll practically offer to send Jerry Hall round to nosh you off if you’ll think about staying
|
|
Bongo Heracles
Junior Member
Technically illegal to ride on public land
Posts: 4,661
|
Post by Bongo Heracles on Jan 25, 2022 12:16:38 GMT
I genuinely cannot understand why someone would have Sky, in this day and age. There's only so much content you can have Two reasons: 1) They are a good content provider in and of themselves. They get HBO shows and whatnot. 2) Sometimes you just want to watch passively and have something on in the background |
|
|
|
Post by Dougs on Jan 25, 2022 12:19:38 GMT
I still want higher quality than NowTV is able to give, even with the HD stipend. Yeah, fair, me too. But for the price, it's not too bad. Just can't justify their 4K offering. In time, they'll make Sky Glass available on other devices, I am sure - no idea what the price is though, not as cheap as Now. |
|
|
|
Post by spacein_vader on Jan 25, 2022 12:22:57 GMT
I genuinely cannot understand why someone would have Sky, in this day and age. There's only so much content you can have The only reason I can think of is if you're a sports nut. Streaming services cover all other content and freeview/Freesat covers news and other live stuff. Only if you watch enough of sky's sport output to make the odd nowtv day or weekend pass not add up is it worth having sky. I support a lower league football team, at best we're on sky twice a season so I buy a day pass when we are. I buy a monthly pass for a couple of months of test & T20 cricket in July/August and don't bother with any sky output other than that. |
|
|
|
Post by Dougs on Jan 25, 2022 12:25:16 GMT
HBO stuff tho. CBA pirating these days
|
|
|
|
Post by imamazed on Jan 25, 2022 12:26:35 GMT
Can’t remember the last time I switched the virgin box on, everything’s streaming off the smart TV now. Can you bin the TV off but keep the internet/phone? Think I’m paying £80 a month, should give them a call really Yeh should pretty easy to bin it off unless you're in the middle of a contract. Just ring the retention/cancellation line. Will probably be about £45 depending on your speeds. They may even offer you what you've got now for less if you're willing to sign up to a contract. |
|
mrpon
Junior Member
Posts: 3,769
|
Post by mrpon on Jan 25, 2022 12:31:28 GMT
Just had the second Virgin increase letter, another £3.25 from March. Need to renegotiate because balls to paying £55 a month for just 100MB fibre.
|
|
KD
Junior Member
RIP EG
Posts: 1,333
|
Post by KD on Jan 25, 2022 12:39:52 GMT
|
|
mrpon
Junior Member
Posts: 3,769
|
Post by mrpon on Jan 25, 2022 12:41:13 GMT
Yeah it's pisstake you have to do that, I thought a regulation was brought in to stop it?
|
|
dogbot
Full Member
Posts: 8,738
|
Post by dogbot on Jan 25, 2022 12:43:37 GMT
£60 a month for 100Mb is criminal.
|
|
