Campaign to get SKY to restructure irish prices

ctlsleh

Hello everybody,

I think its time for us to collectively start pressurising SKY to review their pricing models in Ireland. I've been comparing the UK vs ireland prices and its astonishing how irish customers are getting ripped off here. I encourage everyone to complain to Sky about this and collectively we might have some impact.

Here are some examples
Sky HD upgrade in the UK costs 10.25GPB = 12.50Euro, however irish customers are being charged 15Euro, thats a 20% delta.
Sky Multiroom upgrade is the same.......in the UK costs 10.25GPB = 12.50Euro, however irish customers are being charged 15Euro, thats a 20% delta.
On Sky Sports the difference is even more significant, Sky Sports upgrade in the UK costs 20GBP online = 24-25Euro, however Irish customers are getting charged 34Euro. Apparently our subscription includes ESPN, however, i would argue that id happily take the standard package same as UK for the 24Euro.

heres the online complaints website......i hope people can join the campaign for the greater good of getting a fair and equitable deal for irish Sky customers........
Eoin

https://helpcentre.sky.com/helpcentre/contact-us/complaintsEmail.html?pkrid=8f9feadc-0148-11e0-871e-0050569170a5%20Please%20click%20here%20to%20email%20our%20complaints%20team.%20Did%20that%20link%20o

pa990

The best way a campaign would succeed would be if hundreds or even thousands of people cancelled.


And I can't see that happening

ctlsleh

sure if there was more competition in the market, that would work, in the meantime, taking collective action might work. I just spent the last hour chatting with SKY on this topic and highlighting that a 20-40% delta to protect against currency is unacceptalbe, normal businesses include a 3-5% surcharge, thats it. I got escalated and they couldnt justify the difference and offered me 25% discount for 6 months, that brings the price in-line with the UK market which is reasonable IMO.....
So while i agree with you that ideally we would all cancel the service, the reality is that we need the service, so we must minimally complain and collectively our voices will have to be heard.....IMHO
Eoin

snaps

Its like everything in this country. We have accepted the high prices we pay for a lot of things. We just get on and keep paying it. That's why companies come over here and charge what they want.

The digital switchover may put a bit of pressure on sky, but i highly doubt it. they have the monopoly here (Uk has decent virgin cabled areas and a great digital terrestrial system). We have none of that here, unless there is more competition sky will carry on charging high prices here. Its as simple as that.

marco2068

why don't more switch to upc?

watty

Because
1) You might not be in a Cable area.
2) UPC own the box forever, with Sky you can cancel and have all the Free UK channels and you own everything from day1
3) No free channels on UPC
4) UPC is poorer TV quality (Great Broadband)
5) No point unless they are doing Sky Sport cheaper and that is what you want.
6) Less channels, no UK regions.

The real choice is between FTA UK Satellite TV via "Freesat+ HD" PVR & Saorview and UPC /Sky.

Most people spend less than 10% of time watching Pay TV and 90%+ watching Free TV. Sky sports (ALL channels) OR Sky 1 gets less than 2% viewing time.

The DSO will benefit Sky & UPC due to poor campaign by RTE & Government and FUD spread by Currys, Sky and UPC etc.

ftakeith

sky are fair to ireland through prices

sky go monthly ticket has the same prices as in the uk

MisterAnarchy

ftakeith wrote: »

sky are fair to ireland through prices

sky go monthly ticket has the same prices as in the uk

I think ftakeiths account has been hacked ,judging from all this Sky propaganda.:D

pa990

ctlsleh wrote: »

.....
So while i agree with you that ideally we would all cancel the service, the reality is that we need the service, so we must minimally complain and collectively our voices will have to be heard.....IMHO
Eoin

I disagree, we don't "need the service", well, i for one don't.

Freesat and Saorview satisfy my needs

timesnap

The main problem now is that Sky have the rights to most sports,and to even the oldest of old films.

This is going to get even worse as time goes on.

RTE are going to concentrate on Irish sports only, the BBC selling or not even bidding for sporting events they always covered with great style is coming to an end.

BskyB or ESPN will buy up most of these rights and there will be nothing left on Freesat or Saorview to compensate sports or movie fans.

I hope Setanta Ireland can pick up some of the crumbs and join Saorview in some form.
I think the fall of Setanta was more down to a golf game between a Sky CEO and a Disney(owner of ESPN)CEO than anything else.

piperh

I'd be more inclined to join a campaign for better customer service from Sky. We know the price of our packages and have a choice whether to pay for it but if we do we should get decent service.

They restricted my viewing on the Monday as my account became payable on the Sunday regardless of the fact on their website it says restrictions may apply where and account becomes SUBSTANTIALLY overdue. So in sky speak 1 day is substantial :mad:

Feel its only fair to say that this issue was sorted following an email and a phone call from Sky.

snaps

marco2068 wrote: »

why don't more switch to upc?

UPC only covers large towns and citys, also there isn't much choice on UPC as there is on the Sky platform.

Chimaera

The main issue I have with alternatives to Sky is limited/no access to Discovery and National Geographic's range of channels. If I could get those on an alternate platform (not UPC because their selection sucked last time I checked) I'd be gone from Sky.

Gonzo

most of us have no alternative to sky as upc only operate in large towns and cities. Without sky we are left with a few Irish channels on the aeriel and watching uktv via aerial is like watching it through a snowstorm.

Saorview is useless as it only has the basic Irish tv channels and nothing else. If Saorview were to offer a few fta satellite channels and the uktv channels then it would be a decent alternative.

icdg

timesnap wrote: »

I hope Setanta Ireland can pick up some of the crumbs and join Saorview in some form.
I think the fall of Setanta was more down to a golf game between a Sky CEO and a Disney(owner of ESPN)CEO than anything else.

Setanta were authors of their own destruction, they bit off far more than they could chew. ESPN merely took advantage of the situation.

Setanta's business isn't free-to-air, its pay TV. Its only compelling, mass market product is the 3pm FA Premier League kick offs and they may be gone from 2013 onwards. What does that leave them? Their other football is usually available elsewhere. The BBC and Sky cover Formula One. Not many will subscribe to see the GAA leagues. The NRL is really only of interest to Australian ex-pats. If the FAPL kill off the televising of 3pm kick offs, as is rumored, Setanta look like a dead duck.

marco2068

I think setanta need to reappraise their pricing policy, i'd recon they'd get far more subscribers if they were €8.99 or there abouts. Thats where they'll have to be when the 3pms go.

timesnap

icdg wrote: »

Setanta were authors of their own destruction, they bit off far more than they could chew. ESPN merely took advantage of the situation.

Setanta's business isn't free-to-air, its pay TV. Its only compelling, mass market product is the 3pm FA Premier League kick offs and they may be gone from 2013 onwards. What does that leave them? Their other football is usually available elsewhere. The BBC and Sky cover Formula One. Not many will subscribe to see the GAA leagues. The NRL is really only of interest to Australian ex-pats. If the FAPL kill off the televising of 3pm kick offs, as is rumored, Setanta look like a dead duck.

Hi icdg,walking on eggshells to stay at least somewhat on topic.
Setanta is PPV,no dispute about that.
at one time it had many channels under its umbrella,its big mistake was underbidding for half of the rights to the EPL it had.
When you say it bit off more than it could chew,that is most likely true,it is hard to believe that this only happened four years ago.

Compared to the billions it was valued at the inability to raise even e100,000 to stay afloat towards the end even though people who declared they had confidence in its future were willing to invest but suddenly pulled out suggests to me the investors received a phone call from a 'higher power'.

The irrational hatred on Digital Spy forums towards Setanta read more like the 'Paddys' were getting too big for their boots.

It was amazing that ESPN got on air within such a short space of time if there was no collusion between BskyB and Disney.

Regarding Setanta on saorview,I suppose that was wishful thinking on my part,since even RTE cannot support itself by ads alone.

moving on to ASO in Ireland,something Elmo and myself discussed a while ago:
Setanta Ireland needs to become an entertainment channel.
I am not sure how much of an overspill Saoirview will have outside of the 32 Counties,but its availability in the six counties will scupper any chance that it might gain exclusive rights to the Island of Ireland,Sky would not even agree to that small concession imo.

So as a possible Saorview channel would it not be able to get some movies as it did before,get some rights to Irish sports Gold and other possible programs to fill its schedule.

Setanta could remain the same on Sky, ie,sports 1 as well as the current form of Setanta Ireland,but as said above its subscription charge is plain silly for what it offers.
It would be nice if it could have some presence on Saoirviw.

thyme

ctlsleh wrote: »

sure if there was more competition in the market, that would work, in the meantime, taking collective action might work. I just spent the last hour chatting with SKY on this topic and highlighting that a 20-40% delta to protect against currency is unacceptalbe, normal businesses include a 3-5% surcharge, thats it. I got escalated and they couldnt justify the difference and offered me 25% discount for 6 months, that brings the price in-line with the UK market which is reasonable IMO.....
So while i agree with you that ideally we would all cancel the service, the reality is that we need the service, so we must minimally complain and collectively our voices will have to be heard.....IMHO
Eoin

I did the same as you last year to ask them why am I paying so much for the package I have, it was only a 10 quid short of the full package. Been with them a long long time, so the guy said thats the way the packages are today and there is nothing he could do.
But I did not sign up to all that I said, so we had a long chat about it and in the end I got the 6 months discount as well, and told to call back when the six months were up and well see what we can do for you then.
Did that and told sorry we cant do any more for you, so i'am back where I started I said, ok I said cancel the lot, and that was that.
You don't need it, yes it was nice to watch live sport on at the weekend, but you get over it.

NIMAN

afaik, $ky's subscription numbers in UK and Ireland are on the increase.

Why would they change the pricing when people seem happy to pay it?

Only campaign which will have any effect is one of widespread cancellations, and people are too addicted to their TVs these days to do that I'm afraid.

And for what its worth, I cancelled $ky about 18 months ago after being a customer since it started in the UK (think around late 80s).

basill

I think setanta need to reappraise their pricing policy, i'd recon they'd get far more subscribers if they were €8.99 or there abouts. Thats where they'll have to be when the 3pms go.

Hence why they are struggling. They only have 1 channel of any worth. I currently pay Sky €80 a month for the sports and most of the packs (excl movies) with multiroom. For that I get hundreds of channels, granted most are unwatchable so I am left with probably a net 20 or so that I would bother to watch/record. To go and pay Setanta more than 10% of my monthly subscription on top makes no sense. RTE, S4C and BBC seem to have a good selection of the rugger. Soccer prima donnas are on Sky or ESPN. If its CL then often its on ITV HD through "other channels" or RTE.

Unless you were a diehard tee tottler soccer fan who won't leave your couch and go to a decent pub with european satellites then I really don't see any use for Setanta.

Tomk1

If you want to do an effective campaign, best to come up with a month like June or 'summer without sky campaign', where subsribers drop all packages but keeping the basic package.

A lot of people don't watch much TV durning the summer, as out and about, other things todo also TV-shows end for the season till sep/nov.

I know nothing about sport, but with the Olylmpics on the BBC ?, should be enough to keep sport-fans entertained, and the money saved each month could be spent on a night out in the pub drinking carling @ €3 and watch a match.

A few months to build up a facebook campaign before the Summer, then ask people to phone Sky to drop all extra packages for June, and when asked why, 'as part of the campaign against Sky's higher charges in Ireland. Don't take any discount offers as that just makes the whole thing pointless.

And in September go back, as you are a loyal customer, and have made your point, so will Sky be loyal to you.

If enough people did it just to dip the June figures, suits would be asking why?

I dropped Sky a decade ago, but would have of preferred to been able to pick the few channels of interest not as an addon to FTV & crap channels, at a reasonable price.

(The only channels of interest Sci-fi & discovery & nothing else, but these are in two different add-on packs to an unwanted basic pack -now I dont't even watch FTA as I buy boxsets instead)

Hope someone (OP) actually does start a campaign rather than just complain.

Widescreen

marco2068 wrote: »

I think setanta need to reappraise their pricing policy, i'd recon they'd get far more subscribers if they were €8.99 or there abouts. Thats where they'll have to be when the 3pms go.

I had setanta for a fiver a month for about 4 years. got a phone call every three months saying they had to charge at least 7 or 8 euros going forward , so each time I said i would cancel ,so they just renewed it for a fiver to keep me. eventually about six months ago I got fed up with this routine and cancelled it ... I have not missed it for one moment since. all i wanted it for was the odd 3pm match and i can watch that through other methods when I need to.they i do have sky/espn and that does me ..only future for setanta is to try and go ftv(like lfc tv) and forsake the 3pms. maybe more people would then watch their other football/gaa coverage etc etc and they might get more advertising...

Chimaera

Chimaera wrote: »

The main issue I have with alternatives to Sky is limited/no access to Discovery and National Geographic's range of channels. If I could get those on an alternate platform (not UPC because their selection sucked last time I checked) I'd be gone from Sky.

They also don't have Challenge, which is a channel I watch a fair bit of.

liamtech

watty wrote: »

Because
1) You might not be in a Cable area.
2) UPC own the box forever, with Sky you can cancel and have all the Free UK channels and you own everything from day1
3) No free channels on UPC
4) UPC is poorer TV quality (Great Broadband)
5) No point unless they are doing Sky Sport cheaper and that is what you want.
6) Less channels, no UK regions.

The real choice is between FTA UK Satellite TV via "Freesat+ HD" PVR & Saorview and UPC /Sky.

Most people spend less than 10% of time watching Pay TV and 90%+ watching Free TV. Sky sports (ALL channels) OR Sky 1 gets less than 2% viewing time.

The DSO will benefit Sky & UPC due to poor campaign by RTE & Government and FUD spread by Currys, Sky and UPC etc.

100% agreed - i cant believe that so many people are still with sky. I understand that many would not be satisfied with the FTA line-up but in all honesty i think a lack of information is to blame. Many Sky users dont realize what you can get with Freesat/FTA & Saorview combined. Regardless of what box your using you get literally hundreds of stations. they honestly believe that if you want UK TV stations you HAVE to pay... thats just not true

twinklerunner

liamtech wrote: »

100% agreed - i cant believe that so many people are still with sky. I understand that many would not be satisfied with the FTA line-up but in all honesty i think a lack of information is to blame. Many Sky users dont realize what you can get with Freesat/FTA & Saorview combined. Regardless of what box your using you get literally hundreds of stations. they honestly believe that if you want UK TV stations you HAVE to pay... thats just not true

If your argument is correct, why have Sky circa 10 million subscribers in the UK?

Cantona's Collars

liamtech wrote: »

100% agreed - i cant believe that so many people are still with sky. I understand that many would not be satisfied with the FTA line-up but in all honesty i think a lack of information is to blame. Many Sky users dont realize what you can get with Freesat/FTA & Saorview combined. Regardless of what box your using you get literally hundreds of stations. they honestly believe that if you want UK TV stations you HAVE to pay... thats just not true

I have Sky and Freesat/Saorview, guess which gets watched the most in my house? It sure ain't the FTA channels bar herself watching soaps.
No documentary channels,no live EPL,RTE slow to air decent imports and when they do they stick them on in the middle of the night.

FTA has about 25 or so channels worth watching but after that there's feck all else.I have that many documentary channels alone on Sky.

I agree Sky is overpriced here and I'm in the lucky position to be only paying half price for the year.
If prices were on a par with the UK it'd be decent value.But as we see throughout retail,we get ripped off royally with the markup when converted from £'s to €'s.

galtee boy

The FTA option is being severally hampered by the lack of a Saorview PVR with Series link. Lets be honest, how many people watch "live" tv these days, bar sport and news ? I know there are Saorview boxes with USB capabilities etc, but who wants to be cat farting around with that and there is no series link etc ? I think a Saorview PVR combined with a Freesat PVR ( ideally the Holy Grail of a one box Saorview/Freesat PVR with series link, is the answer, but it looks like we will be waiting for that ), would really tempt people to ditch Sky/UPC. I know in our house, until there is a Saorview PVR, as user friendly as SKY +, so that Fair City etc etc , can be recorded/series linked etc, I would be shot, if I ditched Sky.

gcgirl

Gonzo wrote: »

most of us have no alternative to sky as upc only operate in large towns and cities. Without sky we are left with a few Irish channels on the aeriel and watching uktv via aerial is like watching it through a snowstorm.

Saorview is useless as it only has the basic Irish tv channels and nothing else. If Saorview were to offer a few fta satellite channels and the uktv channels then it would be a decent alternative.

Just use your old sky box with the card pulled out, you cannot watch any of the English ftv channels because their on the Astra 2 sat where as Saorview is a different satellite altogether

chewed

Has anyone tried the Contact us page?

I get the following when I click Submit!


Server error

Unfortunately an error has occurred.

Please come back later.

jaggiebunnet

zerks wrote: »

FTA has about 25 or so channels worth watching but after that there's feck all else.I have that many documentary channels alone on Sky.

is that not enough, how many do you need ?:D

the only thing I miss about sky is the sports and to be honest they spoiled that with the price they wanted to charge me to watch it in HD so they can feck right off, too many crap games on anyway. When there is a live game on now (such as tomorrow night or the weekend fa cup) I get to watch it in HD free of charge and enjoy it twice as much as I am not saturated watching crap like bolton v fulham to make sure I get value out of my sub.

basill

25 showing original content would be fine but alas since most of the digital channels seem to either be owned by the same crowd or have the same rights to telly programmes then you actually need a lot more than 25 to try and ensure that there is at least 1 with something worth watching.

Hence why so many of us are turning off, programming record and watching our telly when it suits thus skipping all of the adverts.

MBSnr

galtee boy wrote: »

.
.
I know in our house, until there is a Saorview PVR, as user friendly as SKY +, so that Fair City etc etc , can be recorded/series linked etc, I would be shot, if I ditched Sky.

Exactly (except the Fair City bit..!). OK we do pay €25 a month, but for that we have one box that does all. The Euro markup on the basic Sky package isn't so bad. Until there's a Saorview PVR out that works and doesn't cost the earth, or Sky hike their prices up for the basic package, I see no point in giving up Sky at present (esp since with the card trick I can record all the main UK FTA channels).

So 1yrs Sky = €300
Add up cost of Samsung Freesat box (€270) + mythical Saorview PVR (€???). So 2 boxes with initial outlay of well over €300.

If the Soarview PVR appears around/before Oct then it'll need a few months out there before they iron out all the bugs. So it certainly looks like I'll be keeping Sky until Jan 2013 at the earliest.

Cantona's Collars

jaggiebunnet wrote: »

is that not enough, how many do you need ?:D

the only thing I miss about sky is the sports and to be honest they spoiled that with the price they wanted to charge me to watch it in HD so they can feck right off, too many crap games on anyway. When there is a live game on now (such as tomorrow night or the weekend fa cup) I get to watch it in HD free of charge and enjoy it twice as much as I am not saturated watching crap like bolton v fulham to make sure I get value out of my sub.

Of the 'main' FTA channels,once you remove the hours of soaps and bland reality tv there's very little left.ITV2 for example:Bridget Jones on a cycle for weeks on end,the only thing worth watching is the epic Celebrity Juice.ITV:the only time it's watched is for the odd match or herself watching soaps in HD.
BBC has even been dumbed down to compete with ITV's reality junk.RTE/TV3: The less said,the better.Channel 4/E4 is ok purely because of Skins/Shameless and a few hidden gems.
With regard to HD,I put off getting it for ages until a deal came along, now I wouldn't go back to watching SD content.

This Utopia of Saorview/FTA is a bit of a myth,when people are told that they won't get Discovery,Living,Sky Sports etc. they soon go cool on the idea.Sure Sky/UPC costs money but if people are willing to pay for the channels they want to watch then these companies will grow.
Strangely enough there's a lot more knowledge among Sky customers about the free alternatives than among cable customers,the vast majority of those know of nothing else except pay tv and see it as the be all & end all.I'd feel more aggrieved if I was a cable customer paying the same price as Sky for a lot less content.Down my way it's €25 a month for 14 channels:eek: from UPC,that's where Saorview/FTA is a real,viable alternative.

jaggiebunnet

zerks wrote: »

Of the 'main' FTA channels,once you remove the hours of soaps and bland reality tv there's very little left.ITV2 for example:Bridget Jones on a cycle for weeks on end,the only thing worth watching is the epic Celebrity Juice.ITV:the only time it's watched is for the odd match or herself watching soaps in HD.
BBC has even been dumbed down to compete with ITV's reality junk.RTE/TV3: The less said,the better.Channel 4/E4 is ok purely because of Skins/Shameless and a few hidden gems.
With regard to HD,I put off getting it for ages until a deal came along, now I wouldn't go back to watching SD content.

This Utopia of Saorview/FTA is a bit of a myth,when people are told that they won't get Discovery,Living,Sky Sports etc. they soon go cool on the idea.Sure Sky/UPC costs money but if people are willing to pay for the channels they want to watch then these companies will grow.
Strangely enough there's a lot more knowledge among Sky customers about the free alternatives than among cable customers,the vast majority of those know of nothing else except pay tv and see it as the be all & end all.I'd feel more aggrieved if I was a cable customer paying the same price as Sky for a lot less content.Down my way it's €25 a month for 14 channels:eek: from UPC,that's where Saorview/FTA is a real,viable alternative.

all depends on what you are looking for I guess. There is always something recorded that I can watch when I am looking to watch tv, so much so that i am running out of space. I wouldn't watch soaps or anything remotely "celebrity" so that pretty much rules out TV3 . Discovery meh, when I had it, I found it as full of repeats as anything else, would rather watch the docs on the free channels to be honest. Utopia, not quite as I don't get free sport when I want, but apart from that I could never go back to sky. Again it depends on what floats your boat, but for an average amount of tv watcher I would say the freesat box and saorview tv I have would satisfy most people.

OldRio

Look at this offer for the UK.
We are truly been fecked by Sky in this country.

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/s-back-sky-75-off-for-returning-customers-50-credit-1193468

icdg

Its not all bad. UK customers don't get ESPN included in their Sky Sports packages.

OldRio

That works out very expensive for ESPN.

nigmc04

I see plenty of reference to combining SKY signal from dish and Saorview O/put signal from stb to Sky digibox! I'm using sky for uk channels with a FTV card and analogue aerial for RTE1+2+TnG+TV3. Can I just stick o/put from Saorview stb into TV aerial input? or is that too simplistic? Thanks.

zg3409

nigmc04 wrote: »

I see plenty of reference to combining SKY signal from dish and Saorview O/put signal from stb to Sky digibox! I'm using sky for uk channels with a FTV card and analogue aerial for RTE1+2+TnG+TV3. Can I just stick o/put from Saorview stb into TV aerial input? or is that too simplistic? Thanks.

Start a new thread. This thread is about prices. I can help then.