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Sky Not Doing Deals Anymore?


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Old 04-05-2016, 14:08
mred2000
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Ok - it has been possible in the past (I used MythTV for many years to do something similar), but only with FTA channels..
Well, there were ways and means for getting stuff other than FTA.

And downloadable content, both legal and otherwise, via other sources and media players (XBMC, KODI, PLEX for example) had 'fluid viewing'. As well as streamed content over Microsoft and Playstation video...

Anyway, fact is, upon looking at it, it's totally not original from Sky. They've seen the tide of battle changing and have developed their own system to jump on board whilst marketing the hell out of it. Fair enough. But folk saying 'fluid viewing' is new and Sky exclusive are wrong.
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Old 04-05-2016, 14:42
daveh75
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Sky Q's the first to offer it on recorded content though (useful for people with poor broadband like me!).
They're not. They're just the first to offer it on an easily accessible/closed retail platform.
EE TV. Thats been around what? 18 months?
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Old 04-05-2016, 14:45
mred2000
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EE TV. Thats been around what? 18 months?
I'd already corrected my first sentence by the end of my post
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Old 04-05-2016, 14:58
Vertigo1
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The 100's of channels you refer too are the fta channels, though bundled in each pack, it's only the encrypted channels you technically pay for......

At last look it was about 30 in the Original bundle, 65 in the Variety and 65 plus HD variants for the Family bundle.

Sky minimum is £240 a year.
So that's £240 for 30 channels then? Looks like a bargain next to £150+ for the BBC alone!
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Old 04-05-2016, 18:13
aurichie
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Sky would surely do anything to stop you going, and certainly wouldn't cut anyone off.

Now I assume you are simply meaning they'll let you go ahead and cancel, but the way it's written suggests that if you try too hard to haggle they'll punish you by cutting your service - and that's obviously not true.
Correct - I worded it badly.

Basically in the past they wouldn't offer you a massive discount until after your notice had been served and the premium channels were disabled. And usually you'd have to wait for a mailer in the post, you wouldn't get any offers in your online account (admittedly the Sky Service app didn't exist back then). Occasionally they would sometimes call with an offer during your notice period offering you 25% off. But most often you'd have to wait several months for the "Come Back To Sky" mailer in the post offering you the really great deals (the 50% offers people get instantly now).

I do know if you take broadband and calls and threaten to cancel the TV you don't typically get the immediate offer of a 50% off TV discount. I'm guessing Sky's system sees you will still be paying them money after the TV goes off, so they don't need to be aggressive with the retentions offer. Sky has acquired a significant number of broadband customers with very generous first year offers. So I'm sure there are very significant number of people who still can't get easy TV discounts.
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Old 04-05-2016, 18:20
jonmorris
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They got a load of users for broadband with the whole 'press to activate Sky Sports' nonsense. You know, the thing you didn't need to do.
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Old 04-05-2016, 18:30
shirt44
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I've cancelled my sports & movies as the discounted 50% offer I had on all my packages comes to an end next month and my contract is up for renewal come July. It's the same old same old but this time I'm prepared to cancel and walk away and sign up with VM as I've just transferred my Broadband and landline to them.
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Old 04-05-2016, 18:43
Deacon1972
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Correct - I worded it badly.

Basically in the past they wouldn't offer you a massive discount until after your notice had been served and the premium channels were disabled. And usually you'd have to wait for a mailer in the post, you wouldn't get any offers in your online account (admittedly the Sky Service app didn't exist back then). Occasionally they would sometimes call with an offer during your notice period offering you 25% off. But most often you'd have to wait several months for the "Come Back To Sky" mailer in the post offering you the really great deals (the 50% offers people get instantly now).

I do know if you take broadband and calls and threaten to cancel the TV you don't typically get the immediate offer of a 50% off TV discount. I'm guessing Sky's system sees you will still be paying them money after the TV goes off, so they don't need to be aggressive with the retentions offer. Sky has acquired a significant number of broadband customers with very generous first year offers. So I'm sure there are very significant number of people who still can't get easy TV discounts.
I gave notice for TV the other week whilst my bb/phone were still in contract, I got 50% off TV immediately via the service app. Once my bb/phone were 90 days from out of contract I rang to give notice on those too, got offered 50% off fibre bb straight away and took it.

I won't be taking the TV offer, or any other offers that may come along, moving over to UHD Bluray for movies and box sets when available.
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Old 04-05-2016, 19:27
Zeropoint1
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So that's £240 for 30 channels then? Looks like a bargain next to £150+ for the BBC alone!
I assume that £240 a year for Sky includes HD, national and local radio, access to all programmes on catch up, and actual 720/704 x 576 SD picture quality?
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Old 04-05-2016, 19:39
Keith_Rigby1
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The 100's of channels you refer too are the fta channels, though bundled in each pack, it's only the encrypted channels you technically pay for......

At last look it was about 30 in the Original bundle, 65 in the Variety and 65 plus HD variants for the Family bundle.

Sky minimum is £240 a year.
How many sky subscribers pay £240 a year, come on lets be honest not a lot.
And my point is BBC TV £145 a year, and sky as you put it £245, and dont forget all your getting for that extra £100 a year with sky is a few extra channels, the rest of them are FTA.
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Old 04-05-2016, 19:53
dearmrman
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I assume that £240 a year for Sky includes HD, national and local radio, access to all programmes on catch up, and actual 720/704 x 576 SD picture quality?
Actually they poster didn't take into account anyone on 50% deals so it could easily be £120 a year for the basic Sky service, but at least with Sky you can actually cancel and have the ability to get decent offers. Unfortunately with the BBC Subscription Licence they don't offer any discounts if you feel it doesn't offer value for money.
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Old 04-05-2016, 20:06
Deacon1972
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How many sky subscribers pay £240 a year, come on lets be honest not a lot.
And my point is BBC TV £145 a year, and sky as you put it £245, and dont forget all your getting for that extra £100 a year with sky is a few extra channels, the rest of them are FTA.
No idea how many take the Original bundle, but the minimum cost is £240, not £480.

No, it's £240 for around 30 encrypted channels, dont forget you also have to pay the £145 TVL.

For the past 11 months I've only been paying £18 a month/£216 a year for The Family bundle, I consider this much better value for money than my TVL.
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Old 04-05-2016, 20:44
Keith_Rigby1
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No idea how many take the Original bundle, but the minimum cost is £240, not £480.

No, it's £240 for around 30 encrypted channels, dont forget you also have to pay the £145 TVL.

For the past 11 months I've only been paying £18 a month/£216 a year for The Family bundle, I consider this much better value for money than my TVL.
I Consider the TVL great value for money, as i watch BBC1 BBC2 and BBC4 a lot, dont get me wrong i use to have sky for a lot of years, but i struggled to find quality programing on it, thats why i got rid of it, but whats good for me, mite not be good for you, it just what i consider value, i like the catch up, and enjoy the comedy, and dramas the BBC Channels put out.
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Old 04-05-2016, 22:03
Resonance
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At the end of the day it's Sky's business decision. I don't agree with it, I think it's unfair on those who pay an ever-increasing full price, but ultimately Sky have clearly decided they will take whatever they can get from those who are playing the cancel game every year for the time being.

It's a complex balancing act for sure and I don't pretend to have all the data that presumably led them down this new path. But my gut instinct is they are devaluing the brand, and they are worrying about a customer exodus that is never going to happen due to all the rights they have locked up. I'm sure Sky saw some terrifying emerging trend out of big data analytics that after 3 months disconnected customers were far more likely to refuse to take up a new deal when finally offered, and so it was better to keep people connected to Sky with a deal before cancellation.

I'm more interested in what the move to leased equipment means about future plans. What I think it means is those who want to keep getting huge discounts every year will not be able to make their move to the future with Sky Q. That we're going to see a two-tier service where people who want 50% off each year won't receive Sky Q and have to stay on the legacy platform. Eventually UHD should tempt many more people over to pay full price I think, but we haven't even started broadcasting in UHD yet.
I'd say discounts are more likely to be offered on Sky Q. Sky won't want to be picking boxes up and then sending them back out if people decide to re-subscribe. In fact I'd say they are likely to offer the bigger discounts while the Sky Q customer is still on the phone because of this.
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Old 04-05-2016, 22:13
dearmrman
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I'd say discounts are more likely to be offered on Sky Q. Sky won't want to be picking boxes up and then sending them back out if people decide to re-subscribe. In fact I'd say they are likely to offer the bigger discounts while the Sky Q customer is still on the phone because of this.
Then I think you will be in for a major shock. VM are not so generous with discounts and you rent their equipment, and once the service is deactivated the equipment is useless...at least with a Sky+ box it still is usable.
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Old 04-05-2016, 22:25
Resonance
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Then I think you will be in for a major shock. VM are not so generous with discounts and you rent their equipment, and once the service is deactivated the equipment is useless...at least with a Sky+ box it still is usable.
Well Virgin are a different company, so who knows? We'll see when people start canceling in 17 months or so of guess. I can't see any reason why Sky would offer lesser discounts, just because someone has a Sky Q box though.
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Old 04-05-2016, 22:34
dearmrman
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Well Virgin are a different company, so who knows? We'll see when people start canceling in 17 months or so of guess. I can't see any reason why Sky would offer lesser discounts, just because someone has a Sky Q box though.
That's the reason I am holding off at the moment...will wait to see what discounts people are getting when they decide to cancel.
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Old 05-05-2016, 08:02
Vertigo1
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Then I think you will be in for a major shock. VM are not so generous with discounts and you rent their equipment, and once the service is deactivated the equipment is useless...at least with a Sky+ box it still is usable.
I think I still have a 15 year old Sky box in the garage somewhere lol!

I've literally just sent back my VM Tivo box. Quite painless - they send you out the packaging which you just stick the Tivo into, put the pre-printed sticky label on and drop it at the local corner shop.

As for discounts, in my case I was ditching my VM TV service and upgrading my broadband, leaving me with just broadband and phone and they still offered me a very good deal, even though they had to "reclaim" the Tivo. Basically I think it costs them peanuts to get them back so doesn't really have much effect on what offers they make.
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Old 05-05-2016, 08:09
sodafountain
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Well Virgin are a different company, so who knows? We'll see when people start canceling in 17 months or so of guess. I can't see any reason why Sky would offer lesser discounts, just because someone has a Sky Q box though.
They are already doing free Sports & Movies for 18 months, with a £10 install, for new customers on SkyQ with Friends & Families.

That would work out, at a guess, about £10 more than a 50% discount on Sky+HD with the same package.

Once that is offered to existing customers, I would be tempted.

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2148590
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Old 05-05-2016, 08:24
daleski75
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They are already doing free Sports & Movies for 18 months, with a £10 install, for new customers on SkyQ with Friends & Families.

That would work out, at a guess, about £10 more than a 50% discount on Sky+HD with the same package.

Once that is offered to existing customers, I would be tempted.

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2148590
Correct me if I am wrong but do you need to know someone who works at Sky to get this offer or is it open to everyone i.e new customers?
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Old 05-05-2016, 08:32
sodafountain
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Correct me if I am wrong but do you need to know someone who works at Sky to get this offer or is it open to everyone i.e new customers?
In theory, it is a code given out by Sky Employees to their friends and families.

In reality, if you ask for a code in the thread i linked, someone will give you a code, it has happened on here for years.
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Old 05-05-2016, 16:44
LOSG
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Any one know the likelihood of getting an free engineer call out? I was finally offered 50% of any package today but I wanted an engineer call out as there is an issue with one of my outputs. I was quoted £60(!) so turned it down.

Am I wasting my time trying to haggle for it?
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Old 05-05-2016, 18:33
shirt44
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Any one know the likelihood of getting an free engineer call out? I was finally offered 50% of any package today but I wanted an engineer call out as there is an issue with one of my outputs. I was quoted £60(!) so turned it down.

Am I wasting my time trying to haggle for it?
Just cancel and if by magic the charge will get wavered. I've never paid for any call out charge yet even whilst still in contract.
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Old 05-05-2016, 20:43
LOSG
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Just cancel and if by magic the charge will get wavered. I've never paid for any call out charge yet even whilst still in contract.
Sorry bit of back story I canceled about 10 days ago, they've repeatedly called me over the last two days with offers. Originally it was just 35% and amazingly after that being the "best we can do" today it was 50% - which im happy with - but a free engineer visit would be handy.
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Old 05-05-2016, 20:51
CM
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Hi All
Yesterday I rand the cancellation number to ask if my subscription could be reduced
as it was due to go up to £94 a month and being a pensioner I could not afford that.

Simply told Sky not doing deals anymore and would I like to go ahead with the cancellation.
Of course I said yes and I was than offered Line rental for £10 and half price Fibre for 12 months.
This included keeping my Sky+ box and using it for freeview.

I accepted the offer and now my bill will be £17:40 a month.

If I take BT sport at £23 a month I am still only going to be paying £40:40.

I think Sky must have another reason for doing this but I expect I may get
the please stay emails and a discounted price.
Sky phoned me yesterday offered me 5 months Free package and then 7 months at £10 until April 2017 when I decide if I want to commit fully to Sky so basically they do great offers,
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