Frustrated with all the new subscriber deals

fuzzybee

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OK guys & gals i just want to vent my frustration and have a bit of a moan


I have been a Sky subscriber on the full package for over five years now, i am very happy with my sky+ box and the quality picture it offers me.
I am also happy with the content sky offers me even though i mostly watch UK Gold but thats not why i feel like moaning.

Here goes " Can someone please tell me why people like me who have been a long term subscriber never get offered anything for our loyalty"

Sounds like sour grapes

I understand sky offer great subscription deals to get new people to signup but what about people like us. They should take a note from O2 i get free topup credit all the time with them.

I just feel they could treat the members they already have a bit better but instead the price goes up a £1 a year

rant over now wheres the sky+ remote :hiya:
 
The reason why Sky do not offer you anything is because they do not have to. at the end of the day you are happy enough to keep on paying year after year after year, so Sky thinks you are happy to pay.

If you are not happy, then phone Sky up, tell them you hae had enough and you would like to end your subsciption and then Sky may offer you something.
 
As as47uk explains the logic behind SKY's business model is very simple and effective:)

Yes it would be nice to see some loyalty type bonus but that is only going to happen when the existing subscriber level actually drops, other products/services only offer incentives because they have to not be because they want to:)
 
Sky is starting to more or less give away their Sky+ boxes, because they think less people with Sky+ boxes will cease their subscription.

I will not get a Sky+ box myself, even if they gave me one,
 
I've been a member of sky for years remember when disney channel first started and saw something about its 10th birthday not long ago and not once have i recieved a "for being a valued customer...." however been with NTL broadband for just over a year and already get letter like that offering me tv and phone and cheaper prices
 
ad47uk said:
Sky is starting to more or less give away their Sky+ boxes, because they think less people with Sky+ boxes will cease their subscription.

I will not get a Sky+ box myself, even if they gave me one,




SKY know for a fact that churn for SKY+ users is insignificant, getting the SKY+ to be the standard base product also puts pressure on cable to do the same.

SKY+, great piece of kit, best thing I've bought over the last 4 years.
 
wormvortex1337 said:
however been with NTL broadband for just over a year and already get letter like that offering me tv and phone and cheaper prices




SKY would find it hard to offer you other cheap services since they can not offer phone and net packages directly unlike the cable companies.

Cable companies cross promote all their services in the effort to get every subscriber to take the triple pack, they may lose some money on one service but gain more from another service.

That is why SKY have bought Easynet and looking into xDSL distribution if telly, phone and net in an effort to grab some of the market which they have been unable to enter.
 
saying that sky used to phone me about getting sky talk, but i'd call it persistant advertising as appose to rewarding me as a customer
 
i think there may be an offering coming out early next year to existing customers when the hd box is being released for them to upgrade at a reduced price.

As far that i am aware, nothing has been said about the easynet as they are still looking at logistics of it and how it will be installed into customers houses.

i think it is going to be released starting in the north east and then rolled out over the country as this is what happened when the sky+ was launched. The HD system is also going to follow a similar way.
 
Funny enough I rang Sky today about this very topic. My girlfriend has a lower package and is always getting free movies for a month etc. The woman on the phone was very unhelpful. Next stop cancellation dept to see what they offer. My friend used to do this and get freebies from time to time.
 
There is no company offering sky services at the moment so they dont need to make you stay unlike o2, you could switch PAYG companies at any time so they really want to keep you.
 
bigpeterlg said:
i think there may be an offering coming out early next year to existing customers when the hd box is being released for them to upgrade at a reduced price.

As far that i am aware, nothing has been said about the easynet as they are still looking at logistics of it and how it will be installed into customers houses.

i think it is going to be released starting in the north east and then rolled out over the country as this is what happened when the sky+ was launched. The HD system is also going to follow a similar way.



It would be nice to think so but SKY know there will be a mad rush from certain groups to buy the kit at full price, reductions and offers will come when those "fools" (me included) have been exhausted:)

Easynet is all about it's Local Loop services namely ADSL2+ and via that a means to deliever broadband, digital TV and even phone services to people who either can not have satellite or have services from other providors.

I'm in the midlands and had SKY+ install on the day of launch (well the installer refused to fit it so I cancelled and bought the SKY+ from Currys (Derby) a couple of days later). I wasn't aware of a regional distribution method but I suppose I may have just got lucky but considering the low volume take up of SKY and I suspect SKY+ HD rationing for whatever reason would be unlikely.
 
Rang recently to take up the Sky + plus offer and told no!

Even though I have not been a customer with them for 5 years they don't want me. It seems once you have subscribed in the past you are never a 'new' subscriber. Seems odd as I was also going to take out the second receiver offer with all channels. That would have been more than 50 notes a month to them. A 12 month sign up would have netted them a minmum of £600.

Oh well the urge has now passed and back to freeview.
 
Starburst said:
SKY know for a fact that churn for SKY+ users is insignificant, getting the SKY+ to be the standard base product also puts pressure on cable to do the same.

SKY+, great piece of kit, best thing I've bought over the last 4 years.

Yep, Sky+ is great ... when it works. We've seen from the debacle over the last few months how Sky abuse their position to ignore customer issues when it doesn't.

At the end of the day, if Sky didn't have a lock on the UK DSAT market we'd be free to buy any number of interesting HDD Sat recording boxes and wouldn't have to pay a tenner a month to use them. If the remaining terrestrials (C4 and Five) would get on the FTA bandwagon of the BBC and ITV, then I'd ditch my Sky+ box like a shot. 90% of stuff that I record off of Sky is off the 'free' channels.


To the OP: Phone Sky and threaten to cancel. That should get you three months half price. Also, take a serious look at how many of those premium channels you really need. Consider postal DVD rentals instead of the movie channels, do you really need the sports when you can go down to the pub and watch it there and how much are the few high-profile shows on the entertainment channels worth it to you?



Gav
 
gavan said:
........ At the end of the day, if Sky didn't have a lock on the UK DSAT market we'd be free to buy any number of interesting HDD Sat recording boxes and wouldn't have to pay a tenner a month to use them......

"A lock" ? What lock ? You pay the £10 a month to use the EPG. There is nothing to stop another company starting their own DSAT service, and the BBC/ITV are doing exactly that, but it has been a slow start. We will have to wait and see if they offer a similar box to Sky+ for their service.
 
Nick_UK said:
"A lock" ? What lock ? You pay the £10 a month to use the EPG. There is nothing to stop another company starting their own DSAT service, and the BBC/ITV are doing exactly that, but it has been a slow start. We will have to wait and see if they offer a similar box to Sky+ for their service.


'A lock' being another term for 'a monopoly'. If you want to watch even the existing baseline lineup of UK analogue terrestrial channels off of satellite you NEED to do so through a Sky box. Currently, a standard DSAT receiver will only get you BBC and ITV. Additionally, some of the 'Freeview' DTT channels are only available on satellite as part of a Sky sub, or again, through Sky equipment only.

Since Sky charges for inclusion on their EPG, anyone contemplating starting up their own satellite channel finds that it's not really going to go anywhere unless they fork out rather a lot of cash to Sky simply to be listed on their system, hence many choose to strike a deal with Sky where they go encrypted (ie can only be received on Sky's equipment) in return for concessions on the EPG or a small cut of subscription money (in which case the end user must pay to see them).

As I posted, if we get a full lineup of the terrestrials broadcasting FTA (or even using encryption and providing a CAM/card) and the complete DTT Freeview lineup joins them, then the market gets very much more interesting for the consumer. Not only does the consumer benefit from having a viable service that can be received on their choice of standard hardware, the momentum is now there for new channels to break free of having to do a deal with Sky so it's good for potential new services too.

Try taking your Sky blinkers off for a moment and see how they are adversely affecting the UK satellite TV market and milking the consumer.


Gav
 
gavan said:
'A lock' being another term for 'a monopoly'. If you want to watch even the existing baseline lineup of UK analogue terrestrial channels off of satellite you NEED to do so through a Sky box. Currently, a standard DSAT receiver will only get you BBC and ITV. Additionally, some of the 'Freeview' DTT channels are only available on satellite as part of a Sky sub, or again, through Sky equipment only.

Try taking your Sky blinkers off for a moment and see how they are adversely affecting the UK satellite TV market and milking the consumer.

And I think you should switch off your obvious hatred for Sky for a few moments, and stop posting such drivel !

I have a reciever here on my desk capable of receiving lots of channels from the Astra 28.2 satellites, but it's not a Sky box - it's a DVB card in a PC. It receives BBC1, BBC2, BBC 3, BBC4, CBeebies, ITV, ITV3, BBC Parliament, including all the BBC and ITV regional variations. Now, the fact that I can't receive any of the other channels has nothing to do with the Sky EPG. It's because those channels have decided to encrypt their signals. That is the choice of the broadcasters, and nothing to do with Sky.

You don't need an EPG to watch Sky, and you really should realise that Sky is a company, whose aims are the same as every other company - to make profits for its shareholders. It's not a charity !
 
Nick_UK said:
And I think you should switch off your obvious hatred for Sky for a few moments, and stop posting such drivel !!

First, Nick, I don't "hate " Sky. I've been a subscriber to the full package for well over a decade. I have however come to strongly dislike their attitude to the consumer and anti-competitive practices, not to mention the ever-increasing price of their offering. If they charged more realistic prices and offered decent customer service I'd be much better disposed towards them.


Second, I didn't post 'drivel'. Its a fact that if you want to watch the baseline package of analogue terrestrial channels on satellite (BBC1/2, ITV, C4 and Five) you MUST do so through a Sky box. That immediately cuts out the possibility to use a lot of much more technically advanced and capable kit, or the ability to use really cheap bog-standard DSAT boxes.

If you want to watch the full baseline of digital terrestrial channels on satellite, you not only need a Sky box but you also need a basic Sky subscription. About a tenner a month.

[EDIT: Just checked the Sky website, it's 15 quid a month for the lowest sub.]

... and if you want to use your expensive HDD Sky+ box (you only have a 'choice' of what gear Sky mandate) to record those 'free' channels you need to pay *another* tenner to Sky.


So if you want to watch via digital satellite and have a twin-tuner digital HDD recorder - which most people would regard as a resonable requirement for digital viewing and recording in this day and age - that can record the lowest baseline of 'free' channels (the range of analogue ones) you're looking at paying a tenner a month to Sky. [EDIT: 15 quid]

If you want to be able to view/record the DTT 'Freeview' baseline you're looking at around 20 quid a month to Sky. [EDIT: 25 quid] Not for the hardware, which you must also pay for, but for the privilege of using your bought and paid for kit to perform the basic function of viewing and recording 'free' digital channels.

Bear in mind that with the analogue switchoff looming, this will leave people who choose/have to use digital satellite in the UK having to pay Sky 20 quid [EDIT: 25 quid] a month just to watch and record the basic digital TV services.

That's simply outrageous and any consumer who would defend it would go down in my book as a complete idiot. Things MUST change - the full range of 'free' digital channels should indeed be available free of charge to the UK consumer to watch and digitally record off of satellite. If Sky want to peddle their poor-VFM service as a luxury product then by all means let them do so and see how many people are prepared to pay 45 quid a month for what they offer.

Well done ITV for having the guts to join the BBC and break from Sky's proprietary system. Here's hoping that the C4 and Five join them so that the consumer can have a real choice of hardware.



Nick_UK said:
I have a reciever here on my desk capable of receiving lots of channels from the Astra 28.2 satellites, but it's not a Sky box - it's a DVB card in a PC. It receives BBC1, BBC2, BBC 3, BBC4, CBeebies, ITV, ITV3, BBC Parliament, including all the BBC and ITV regional variations. Now, the fact that I can't receive any of the other channels has nothing to do with the Sky EPG. It's because those channels have decided to encrypt their signals. That is the choice of the broadcasters, and nothing to do with Sky.

It's EVERYTHING to do with the way Sky muscled their way into the position of 'monopoly' broadcaster in the UK satellite market. if you want to broadcast a channel on DSAT to the UK and have a reasonable chance that anyone will watch it, you need to be on the Sky EPG.

And Sky used that position of power to coerce companies into encrypting using their system which doesn't offer a CAM ... locking you into their hardware (which doesn't have even have a connection for a CAM for other systems). They also managed to get some channels to go onto a Sky sub, even though they're free on DTT and have said they'd prefer to be free on Sky.

The BBC are big enough that they can afford to stay on the Sky EPG under favourable terms and broadcast free to air. ITV have decided to make the break now too. C4 and Five will hopefully follow suit.


Nick_UK said:
You don't need an EPG to watch Sky, and you really should realise that Sky is a company, whose aims are the same as every other company - to make profits for its shareholders. It's not a charity !


I don't resent companies making profits. I resent them using monopoly positions to throttle the market and milk the consumer.


Gav
 
Well, you still don't seem to have grasped the difference between being on the EPG and being encrypted. The two do not go hand in hand. You can receive ANY DSAT channel with a DSAT receiver, whether it's on the EPG or not. It's true that Sky do not allow their CAM to be used in other boxes, which I don't consider to be unreasonable, given the millions of £'s that Sky lost when pirates cracked the analogue encryption system. However, it's largely the broadcasters themselves who decide to use encryption, and it's usually because they do not have the rights to show programmes across the whole of the UK, or in Europe, and the Sky EPG is a useful way of restricting access geographically. I think you over-estimate Sky's "powers" - Sky do not upload or broacast anyone else's programmes but their own - they charge other companies for access to and use of the EPG, and that's as far as it goes.

As far as a "monopoly" is concerned - a company is only a monopoly if there are unfair legal or financial restrictions preventing competition, then there is no monopoly in the case of Sky TV. Sky had BSB as a competitor which it eventually took over, and it will soon have competition from the BBC/ITV venture, if it ever gets off the ground. You could start your own satellite TV company, if you had the backing, and the capital to start it. People see the profits that Sky make and say that they are a rip-off, but what about Sky's first ten years ? I didn't hear many people saying "Ahh, poor Sky - they've just lost another million, let's volunteer for a price increase". Sky have got to where they are by shrewd marketing and good financial planning, and if you look at the stock exchange, they're headed upwards, not downwards.
 

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