Sky Going Up Again

Storm 10

Just received an email from Sky telling me that my package is going up from the 1st of December by 4.50 a month, anyone else hear of this.

muffler

Thread here in the Sky talk to forum about it

_John C

No. First I've heard of it. It was this time last year when they announced last year's December price hike. I got on the phone to them and said goodbye. Haven't looked back since. When I studied what we were actually watching, It turned out that most of the stuff we were watching and recording were on the free channels.

We bought a good combi box to replace the sky+HD box. It has 7 day guide on the RTE and English channels, Series link type function. It was an expensive box but it will pay for its self.

byte

Storm 10 wrote: »

Just received an email from Sky telling me that my package is going up from the 1st of December by 4.50 a month, anyone else hear of this.

What package are you on? It's a sizeable enough increase.

macjohn

_John C wrote: »

We bought a good combi box to replace the sky+HD box. It has 7 day guide on the RTE and English channels, Series link type function. It was an expensive box but it will pay for its self.

Which box did you go for that has that?

_John C

macjohn wrote: »

Which box did you go for that has that?

VU+ Duo2 with twin satellite tuners and twin terrestrial tuners, 500gb internal HDD, usb flash drive to store the epg. And its running Openvix software.The twin terrestrial tuner module was rare at the time and most suppliers only had the single version. I had to buy it online from England.

All costs about €520 at the moment.
And don't forget a good rf modulator (€40) if you want to watch it in another room.

Storm 10

byte wrote: »

What package are you on? It's a sizeable enough increase.

Looking at this I am wondering am I being charged twice for the HD pack.

Sky+HD Pack
Variety
Sports
Sky+HD

muffler

Storm 10 wrote: »

Looking at this I am wondering am I being charged twice for the HD pack.

Sky+HD Pack
Variety
Sports
Sky+HD

You must have hyperlinked those when you were logged in as they dont display now.

Storm 10

muffler wrote: »

You must have hyperlinked those when you were logged in as they dont display now.

There are off my Sky Log in, what you see are the four packs that I have and am paying for.

muffler

Storm 10 wrote: »

There are off my Sky Log in, what you see are the four packs that I have and am paying for.

When I click on those links I have to log into my own account before I can view anything you linked to. Then I can only see what I am subscribed to. So I've no idea what you have in your sub or what you're paying.

Can you post up a couple of screen grabs without any personal details of course?

Storm 10

This is my package that I have at present, I was just wondering why I appear to be paying for the SKY+HD in the first and last line here

Sky+HD Pack

Feel closer to the action with up to 5-times more picture detail for TV that looks breathtakingly crisp and clear.

• Up to 67 HD channels
• Sky Box Sets
• Pause and rewind live TV
• Set up recordings at home even when you're not there
• 3D-Ready
• Record up to 60 hours of shows you love


Variety

Formerly Sky Entertainment Extra.

Over 80 channels featuring the best drama, comedy and documentaries from the US and UK, plus over 240 free-to-air channels.

• Sky Atlantic, for the most talked about shows from the US
• Over 80 channels of entertainment, music, kids TV, news, documentary and more
• More than 240 free-to-air channels including 6 in HD
• The UK's biggest Catch Up TV service
• Shows you love on the move at no extra cost with Sky Go
• The best of the week's TV on demand


Sports

Exclusively live Barclays Premier League matches, live international cricket, US Open Tennis, unrivalled F1® coverage and more.

• 7 dedicated sports channels
• Live Barclays Premier League matches
• Every F1® race live and uninterrupted
• Live international test match and T20 cricket
• Live US Open Golf


Sky+HD

Pause, rewind and record TV as you're watching and automatically record entire series of shows you love in stunning HD.

• Pause and rewind live TV
• HD picture up to 5-times more detailed than standard definition
• Record up to 60 hour-long episodes in HD or 185 in standard definition
• 3D-ready
• Automatically record an entire series
• Set up a recording from your mobile device when you're not at home
• Record two shows at once, while watching another show you've recorded

muffler

From top to bottom it looks like you have the following:

1. Sky+ HD pack which allows you to view some free channels (RTE, BBC etc) in HD together with HD channels in the variety pack any other HD channels that are part of the Sports or Movies packs. Also includes the box sets

2. The variety pack which is self explanatory and contains a number of HD channels which you can view as you are subscribed to HD as above.

3. Sports pack which again contains a number of HD channels available to you.

4. Is the Sky+ HD box which allows you to view and record everything that you are subscribed to in SD and as you have the HD pack you can use the box to view those HD channels in the variety and sports packs.

All in all I cant see that you are being charged twice but if in doubt ask the reps in the Sky talk to forum.

Edit/ Are you paying full price and if so if you posted the prices it would be easy to see if you are being overcharged or not.

Storm 10

Are you paying full price and if so if you posted the prices it would be easy to see if you are being overcharged or not.

I will have to see the breakdown on the packs, I will post this in the Sky forum and see what happens.

Thanks for the help

NIMAN

Well they do have to pay all that money to the Premiership, you really think all those huge wages and transfer fees for the likes of Paul Pogba is going to create itself?

Kristopherus

NIMAN wrote: »

Well they do have to pay all that money to the Premiership, you really think all those huge wages and transfer fees for the likes of Paul Pogba is going to create itself?

And fill in the rest of their offering with largely rubbish channels that have miniscule viewing numbers.No wonder there's a million illegal options available in the UK that are flourishing because of Sky's rip-off prices:mad:

NIMAN

Get yourself a decent Freesat recorder box, I did about 5 years ago. Still allows you to record, pause, rewind, series link etc. Initial outlay then free forever.

Then if you feel the need, you can subscribe to the likes of Netflix for a fraction of the cost of Sky and you'll have thousands of hours of TV, boxsets and films you will be able to watch.

Kings Inns or bust

I have to say I can see both sides.

Sky - you can get the basic TV pack for under 30 quid, they aren't reliant on any other service like netflix is. Netflix themselves had admitted their subscription model is unsustainable, furthermore they've been cracking down on IP shifting to overcome licences. They've also highlighted how expensive licensing is moving more and more to original content. You can't get Sport on Freesat/Netflix - yes there are a myriad of 'free' options but that's like saying €400 for a TV pffft - my mate from Kilbarrack sells them for €45!!

On the other hand. €1.85bn profit buys a lot of beer and crisps!

NIMAN

Bottom line, is that Sky TV pricing is only going to continue one way....you either accept it and pay it, or decide its too much and jump ship.

Some people think it is a necessity and as such will continue to pay no matter what they charge, others are more picky

MBSnr

^^^
I ditched Sky a year ago. Takes about 12 months to recoup the costs of bining the Sky basic subscription (€29.50 pm without a deal) and buying a Freesat box (€250) and a Walker PVR Saorview DTT box (€100) - but if you don't watch the paid for channels, it's well worth doing.

Tropheus

Got a mail today as well. Mine is going up by €5.50 per month. We have two boxes and the full Sky+ subscription. It's getting to the point where I have to seriously question the value. That brings our monthly bill to €121 per month. Kids use it more than we do. Mostly we record and watch selected stuff later.

Not sure the Freeview option will cut it. Eir is ok, but lacks the HD channels. We'd also miss Sky Atlantic.

mdwexford

Such a rip off, baffles me how sky are still getting €100+ a month off some people for tv in this day and age.

theteal

mdwexford wrote: »

Such a rip off, baffles me how sky are still getting €100+ a month off some people for tv in this day and age.

I assume most people do what I do and call them up every year, do the dance and get the usual ~50% discount

Not sure it's helpful to compare with UK pricing but my current Sky package is box sets + sports @ £25.15pm

Gerry Wicklow

Tropheus wrote: »

Got a mail today as well. Mine is going up by €5.50 per month. We have two boxes and the full Sky+ subscription. It's getting to the point where I have to seriously question the value. That brings our monthly bill to €121 per month. Kids use it more than we do. Mostly we record and watch selected stuff later.

Not sure the Freeview option will cut it. Eir is ok, but lacks the HD channels. We'd also miss Sky Atlantic.

At that rate two months sub will buy you a combo box (and a Netflix type sub if you really need it). Six months sub would replace the boxes you currently have with change left over. With them kinds of savings it is amazing how quickly you forget about the few specialist channels you no longer have.

sjb25

Got no email yet but I assume I can expect one? If I do think it's good bye sky I've already cut back my package but feck it not paying any more increases

_Kaiser_

The problem is that even their basic packages are becoming too expensive for what they offer (unless you bargain them down to 40/50% off), and there's no way to customise the packages to only include the channels you actually want/watch.

If you have young kids then ditching them may not be an option either as you can't get access to the 2/3 channels they watch without taking all the rest as well.

Tropheus

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

The problem is that even their basic packages are becoming too expensive for what they offer (unless you bargain them down to 40/50% off), and there's no way to customise the packages to only include the channels you actually want/watch.

If you have young kids then ditching them may not be an option either as you can't get access to the 2/3 channels they watch without taking all the rest as well.

That's the problem. I've looked several times at dumping some of the options, but it makes no economical sense. I've even looked at cutting sports, but given my package, it makes very little difference and may as well have it there for the few times I look at it.

galtee boy

Apart from no access to sports, another big drawback is that, you can't get TV3, TG4 and UTV Ireland in HD if you give up pay tv. People pay good money for HD TV sets and ironically can get the five UK terrestrial channels free in HD, but we have to pay to get three of the main Irish Terrestrial channels in HD !

lertsnim

galtee boy wrote: »

Apart from no access to sports, another big drawback is that, you can't get TV3, TG4 and UTV Ireland in HD if you give up pay tv. People pay good money for HD TV sets and ironically can get the five UK terrestrial channels free in HD, but we have to pay to get three of the main Irish Terrestrial channels in HD !

How much of that HD content is available FTA on the five main UK channels in HD?

galtee boy

lertsnim wrote: »

How much of that HD content is available FTA on the five main UK channels in HD?

I don't quite understand the question, do you mean how much content goes out fta in full HD on the five UK terrestrials ? If that is the question, then I don't know , but what I do know is that even upscaled is way better than standard definition. The SD quality of TV3, TG4 and UTVI on Saorview is appalling, hence the famous Saorview Connect box ( if it ever appears ) is the equivalent of giving a comb to a bald man. Who will want to record and series link that quality ?

lertsnim

How much of the programming on TV3 HD and UTV Ireland HD is available FTA on the five main UK HD channels is what I meant.

The loss of TV3 HD and UTV Ireland HD isnt that big a deal. Sure you will miss out on the Champions League in HD but that's not worth a basic Sky sub with HD.

galtee boy

lertsnim wrote: »

How much of the programming on TV3 HD and UTV Ireland HD is available FTA on the five main UK HD channels is what I meant.

The loss of TV3 HD and UTV Ireland HD isnt that big a deal. Sure you will miss out on the Champions League in HD but that's not worth a basic Sky sub with HD.

Sorry, I misunderstood. You're right, some HD stuff is available on the UK channels, but it's the likes of Red Rock, Ireland AM etc that the gang in my house like and in HD !

snaps

After I moved from Ireland to Poland I ditched Sky. Then for 2.5 years I had Canal+ (nc+) here. The same was happening here, with sports channels it was getting far too expensive (Then Canal+ lost Italian and Spanish soccer so another sub to eleven sports was required). At Easter I ditched pay TV as my contract was up.

My kids never missed Disney, Boomerang, Nick etc as they just started to watch everything on youtube and other means like netflix.

Youtube is the most watched app here, music, cartoons etc all in one.

Sport, well I'm not really missing it, I've actually gone old school recently, watching match of the day and listening to commentary's on the radio.

bk

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

If you have young kids then ditching them may not be an option either as you can't get access to the 2/3 channels they watch without taking all the rest as well.

There are already 10 dedicated kids channels of FTA/Freesat, plus a ridiculous amount of kids shows on Netflix and Youtube. How much TV do kids need?!!

Yes I know there might be that one show they love, but shrug, they will get over it and find a new one.

bk

I ditched Sky for FTA/Saorview/Netflix/Youtube a few years ago and I couldn't be happier.

I've 100+ English channels, including the channels that make up some 95% of all viewing in Ireland, plus a mind boggling amount of content on Netflix and youtube. Once you give up the Sky addiction, you quickly realise how little was on it.

Literally the only thing I miss was Game of Thrones, so instead I simply buy it on Bluray in fantastic picture quality.

Youtube actually makes up over 50% of my video viewing now, with TV and Netflix being about 25% each. Mostly TV is just used for background noise while doing other things. Really not worth paying Sky €30+ for that IMO.

Johnboy1951

I too ditched Sky some years ago and have no regrets overall.
There are a couple of things I would like to be able to do that I cannot at this time .... would need a little more investment in a new device.

I have all the TV channels as well as stored media and recordings available on all devices in house (and on line if I wished and had fibre speed upload ) and each device can record to the central HDD for all to view.

The only thing I do not have is a means of distributing the eir sports channels to other devices, at the moment, so it is a bit of a hassle to switch to viewing from those channels.

If only someone would develop a Kodi plugin that I could use with my eir account I would be happy
It would be worth a few bob to get such a plugin.

muffler

bk wrote: »

There are already 10 dedicated kids channels of FTA/Freesat, plus a ridiculous amount of kids shows on Netflix and Youtube. How much TV do kids need?!!

Yes I know there might be that one show they love, but shrug, they will get over it and find a new one.

Have you kids yourself?

Johnboy1951

bk wrote: »

There are already 10 dedicated kids channels of FTA/Freesat, plus a ridiculous amount of kids shows on Netflix and Youtube. How much TV do kids need?!!

Yes I know there might be that one show they love, but shrug, they will get over it and find a new one.

muffler wrote: »

Have you kids yourself?

Is that relevant? Can one not hold and express an opinion otherwise?

I understood such questions were frowned upon by Boards ..... but maybe I am mistaken as I see you have a 'Moderator' tag.

Deep Thought

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Is that relevant? Can one not hold and express an opinion otherwise?

Try telling a four year old that he cannot watch Paw Patrol any more...

Henry Ford III

Does this relate to a higher price or higher orbit? I can see issues with either tbh.

bk

muffler wrote: »

Have you kids yourself?

Deep Thought wrote: »

Try telling a four year old that he cannot watch Paw Patrol any more...

Yes I do and yes I have (not specifically paw patrol).

You know it is good not to spoil your children and to teach them that they can't always get exactly what they want! The world won't end if they can't watch paw patrol any more and they will quickly get over it and move onto the next show/activity.

I know I'm sounding like an old man now, but growing up I had just two TV channels and just a few hours of kids TV (The Den!) and yet somehow I survived that traumatic experience

I remember as a kid asking for multichannel TV, I was simply told no by my parents and that was that.

Today kids for free can get 10 almost 24/7 kids channels, + netflix kids + youtube cartoons, an almost unlimited amount of brain frying kids entertainment, yet that still isn't enough!! :rolleyes:

BTW if there is one show that they really can't give up, you could always buy it for them on dvd/bluray. Much cheaper then keep paying for Sky for just that one show.

_John C

Is paw patrol really worth €470 a year?

Balmed Out

Deep Thought wrote:

Try telling a four year old that he cannot watch Paw Patrol any more...

That's on free to air....

bk

Balmed Out wrote: »

That's on free to air....

And Netflix

JDxtra

Paw Patrol is on Milkshake in the mornings on Channel 5 HD (free to air). DVDs are €4-ish.

Balmed Out

Also Rte junior and I think cbeebies

_John C

Jesus lads. We 'll all be watchin paw patrol now.

bk

And it turns out Paw Patrol DVD's are just £3 on Amazon!!!

lertsnim

Deep Thought wrote: »

Try telling a four year old that he cannot watch Paw Patrol any more...

Aww poor pet. He'd have to get over it like most children do.

bk

This is all a great example why Sky gets away for charging so much for so little! People blindly go along paying Sky incredible amounts of money when the vast majority of what they watch is actually available for completely free.

They think that they watch lots of Sky content, while the TV ratings clearly show that 95% of all TV content watched is actually on the FTA/Freesat channels.

Clarebelly

Deep Thought wrote: »

Try telling a four year old that he cannot watch Paw Patrol any more...

I have 40 episodes of Paw Patrol recorded from channel 5 on my freesat box.

Kings Inns or bust

bk wrote: »

This is all a great example why Sky gets away for charging so much for so little! People blindly go along paying Sky incredible amounts of money when the vast majority of what they watch is actually available for completely free.

They think that they watch lots of Sky content, while the TV ratings clearly show that 95% of all TV content watched is actually on the FTA/Freesat channels.

To be fair to Sky it's not really their fault that people watch ****.

I've a cheap sky sub, a netflix sub and various online subs I don't begrudge paying any of them. If I did I'd simply cancel.

Top tip by the way, if you are canceling and not just chancing your arm have a read of Sky's T&Cs. If you are just chancing your arm - fair enough but don't do it when you're going to be on hold for 40 minutes, wait until it all dies down a bit.