Sky / Freeview options?

dmrevis

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Looking for some advice, incase i'm totally missing the obvious here. Bascially i have Sky (normal) right now but dont feel i am using it enough to warrent paying £30+ per month. The channels i mostly watch are Sky Sports for Cricket and WWE (no laughing!), and the discovery/Nat Geographic/History channels.
Now, i have thought about Freeview so i can watch E4 which is a must for me, but this doesnt allow me to continue to watch Sky Sport or the discovery channels.

Top up TV is an option for Discovery, but the Food channel and Discovery Real Time are only on for about 3 hours each morning. I dont think this is very good for a £7.99 per month fee.

Is there any possible way to cut my monthly fee, but still keep sky sports and some of the discovery/NG/History channels?

I have heard that some people get good deals if they leave sky to rejoin, i dont want to use leaving sky as a negotiation tool as i'm genuinely thinking of leaving but what can i reasonably expect sky to offer to keep me?

Before anyone suggests cable, i live in Orkney. Sky or Freeview are the only things availible to extend viewing from Ch1,2,3,4.

Any help much appreciated.
 
dmrevis said:
Looking for some advice, incase i'm totally missing the obvious here. Bascially i have Sky (normal) right now but dont feel i am using it enough to warrent paying £30+ per month. The channels i mostly watch are Sky Sports for Cricket and WWE (no laughing!), and the discovery/Nat Geographic/History channels.
Now, i have thought about Freeview so i can watch E4 which is a must for me, but this doesnt allow me to continue to watch Sky Sport or the discovery channels.

Top up TV is an option for Discovery, but the Food channel and Discovery Real Time are only on for about 3 hours each morning. I dont think this is very good for a £7.99 per month fee.

Is there any possible way to cut my monthly fee, but still keep sky sports and some of the discovery/NG/History channels?

I have heard that some people get good deals if they leave sky to rejoin, i dont want to use leaving sky as a negotiation tool as i'm genuinely thinking of leaving but what can i reasonably expect sky to offer to keep me?

Before anyone suggests cable, i live in Orkney. Sky or Freeview are the only things availible to extend viewing from Ch1,2,3,4.

Any help much appreciated.
the more I hear about TuTV the less I think of it so I would agree with your conclusion there.
As for Sky, the min package currently runs to £15/month (£16 from Sept) which I think gets you Discovery etc. Your stuck with the Sports though as that is a premium channel.
Basically to get what you want you are going paying min £25 (as I understand it) - Like or not if you want to watch sport Sky has got ya by the short 'n' curlies.
If you cancel you will get all the main channels (BBC1 through CH5) plus a few others (Sky3 etc) through your Sky box which will become a "FreeSat from Sky" box.
However if you fancy chancing the "I want to cancel" phone call I'm sure they will be offering you a deal. Judging by how busy the retention reps are at the moment (wait times to speak to one reported on this forum) and how quickly they cave in (vs 12 months ago) they seem a bit desperate at the mo.
Try phoning mid-morning or mid-afternoon when they might be less weary with what must be a tough job - oh and don't push it too much, if they offer you half price for 6 months I would take it.
A year ago they would argue with you till the cows come home but recently (like a month ago) they give in after the half price offer....
 
dmrevis said:
also, what is the deal with this http://www.freepcskytv.co.uk/freepcskytvfaq.htm
its gotta be too good to be true, no?
looks very suss to me, the WHOIS for the domain does not list a name or physical address and seems to be hosted by STREAMLINENET who, if you google them, has some rather "interesting" webpages devoted too them.
I don't see how it can actually be legal
 
davincicodex said:
it is m8, you dont get e4 more 4 film4 etc or uk history. if you buy a freesat system other than from sky with their card, thay also scramble channel 4 and 5. complain to ofcom. thse channels are free to bloody air
oh sorry this info is for your 1st question
 
dmrevis said:
Looking for some advice, incase i'm totally missing the obvious here. Bascially i have Sky (normal) right now but dont feel i am using it enough to warrent paying £30+ per month. The channels i mostly watch are Sky Sports for Cricket and WWE (no laughing!), and the discovery/Nat Geographic/History channels.
Now, i have thought about Freeview so i can watch E4 which is a must for me, but this doesnt allow me to continue to watch Sky Sport or the discovery channels.

Top up TV is an option for Discovery, but the Food channel and Discovery Real Time are only on for about 3 hours each morning. I dont think this is very good for a £7.99 per month fee.

Is there any possible way to cut my monthly fee, but still keep sky sports and some of the discovery/NG/History channels?

I have heard that some people get good deals if they leave sky to rejoin, i dont want to use leaving sky as a negotiation tool as i'm genuinely thinking of leaving but what can i reasonably expect sky to offer to keep me?

Before anyone suggests cable, i live in Orkney. Sky or Freeview are the only things availible to extend viewing from Ch1,2,3,4.

Any help much appreciated.

You could drop 4 mixes to save a few quid and just keep the Docs and 1 other (think that saves £3) but you're a bit stuck if you want to keep Sports as thats the most expensive part.

If you have to choose between freesat and freeview - then go freeview as better channels imo (I have both and the only 2 on freesat I watch are Zone Horror and Men & Motors, whereas Freeview gives me Sky Sports News, E4, More 4, abc1 and UK History and a few others) but no reason not to have both really.
 
Hi, freeview has a better picture than sky too, especially since all the hoo-ha about them `downgrading` their SD signal. my sagem hdD45`s built in freeview is stunning, wheras my bro`s new sky plus on his plasma is awful. I think freeview is a very good option, it`s the one i`d go for.
 
thanks for all the info guys. I think i'll phone sky to cancel next month cos i'm already past my billing date. If they offer me something decent for a few months i'll take it then cancel when the offer finishes. I think i'll go with Freeview for now.
 
ShaunIOW said:
You could drop 4 mixes to save a few quid and just keep the Docs and 1 other (think that saves £3) but you're a bit stuck if you want to keep Sports as thats the most expensive part.

If you have to choose between freesat and freeview - then go freeview as better channels imo (I have both and the only 2 on freesat I watch are Zone Horror and Men & Motors, whereas Freeview gives me Sky Sports News, E4, More 4, abc1 and UK History and a few others) but no reason not to have both really.


hmm..surely as the guy already has a digibox, he can just keep the box, cancel sky, pay the £20 for the freesat card, get a freeview box and have all the channels the two FTA formats provide?

no need to choose...lol
 
Knyght_byte said:
hmm..surely as the guy already has a digibox, he can just keep the box, cancel sky, pay the £20 for the freesat card, get a freeview box and have all the channels the two FTA formats provide?

no need to choose...lol

I did say no reason not to have both;) BTW when you cancel Sky your viewing card becomes a freesat card - no need to fork out 20 quid.
 
the biggest dilema is over Sky Sports. I could live without Nat Geographic and History channel, but i really want to see the cricket (Ashes coming up) and also i'm a big WWE fan.
 
dmrevis said:
the biggest dilema is over Sky Sports. I could live without Nat Geographic and History channel, but i really want to see the cricket (Ashes coming up) and also i'm a big WWE fan.

You could do what I do: refuse to pay Sky and see if it folds and a FTA channel picks up football, cricket, watching paint dry etc instead.

It may sound a cheeky answer, but it's actually my conscious decision.
 
I understand the logic, but i dont think that will EVER happen with the money incolved in sport/broadcasting rights these days. Sadly.
 
dmrevis said:
I understand the logic, but i dont think that will EVER happen with the money incolved in sport/broadcasting rights these days. Sadly.



True:)
Setanta would snap up the sporting rights and expand their network on Dsat thus replacing one profit motivated pay sports broadcaster with another:)
If it wasn't Setanta then it's just as likely the footy clubs would rip up their collective agreement and offer their own games on a PPV or subscription basis. Smaller sports like cricket and rugby would get peanuts from other broadcasters who would take advantage and I guess some people would applaud even though some sports/leagues could be driven to the brink of collapse by a premature SKY closure.

Nice to get stuff for free or on the cheap but there has to be enough money to maintain the sport and while that may mean not everyone can afford to watch it on TV it does mean the sport can pays it way in a far more aggressive market than existed a couple of decades ago.

Of course the ramifications for sports who get the bulk of their money from TV (SKY in other words) would be terrible if SKY went bust and defaulted on contracts, shame some people would accept mass redundancies and collapse of leagues if it meant SKY was out of the picture:(
 
The Freesat thing intrigues me, only heard about it briefly before. The Mrs and I have just bought our first house and are looking at cutting costs wherever possible - Sky bit the bullet in it's entirety and we'll be cut off in a few days time (we should move to the new place on the 4th of August).

Only problem is our current house is rented, so the dish isn't ours, it was there when we moved in. If I wanted to use Freesat at the new property (as it's not in a Freeview zone, I've checked as this was Plan A), then I'd need to get a dish installed at the new house, correct?
 
rio1981 said:
Only problem is our current house is rented, so the dish isn't ours, it was there when we moved in. If I wanted to use Freesat at the new property (as it's not in a Freeview zone, I've checked as this was Plan A), then I'd need to get a dish installed at the new house, correct?




Well for £150 SKY will install a Freesat system in your new home which includes a new digibox and smartcard. If you source a dish yourself then you can use your existing digibox and ex-sub smartcard to give you the same service.

The BBC/ITV Freesat has been pushed back to late 2007 and analogue shutdown doesn't start until 2008 but remember the Freeview location thingy is not always 100% accurate so you may get something with a decent aerial.
 
rio1981 said:
(as it's not in a Freeview zone, I've checked as this was Plan A), then I'd need to get a dish installed at the new house, correct?

I have found that asking neighbours is often more reliable than the Freeview checkers; especially Freeviews own one. Trying a box is the only definite test.
This checker is perhaps a little more accurate.


http://www.dtg.org.uk/retailer/coverage.html
 
Cheers fellas, looks like I have more than one option in front of me then, as that link kindly provided states that we should be able to receive some, if not all channels at the post code.

How much is it likely to cost for a decent company to provide a new dish, cable it, and set up?

I'm thinking that's likely to be around or over £150 itself, so it may be more cost-effective to get Sky to do a brand new system, or get a site survey from a local aerial company for Freeview.

As with anything AV, there are always so many choices to be made... :D
 
Well, I've been saying I will do it for a few months now, but this morning I finally went ahead and cancelled my SKY subscription - MOVIES (repeated rubbish anyway) and SPORTS (always prefer a pub atmosphere anyhow) have gone. Just wasn't watching that much to warrant £480 a year, and realised most of what I was watching was available Freesat or Freeview.

One final SKY-sucker-punch though....it took me 8 mins of holding, then 2 mins talking to one guy, before being passed to 'cancellations dept' (I use the term losely!!!) for another 5 mins, where upon I was asked about my viewing habits - just cancel it pls - but what do you like to watch? - you're not going to keep me - pls don't be angry, I'm just enquiring what you watch - I'm not angry, I'm......

Feeling like the French felt in '45....I am liberated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Derren said:
£480 a year,

Hi Derren; and for about half that you can get a top of range Freeview Twin Tuner; if you havn't already :)
 
Richard46 said:
for about half that you can get a top of range Freeview Twin Tuner; if you havn't already )

I was blind, and now I can see - might just have to take a look at those - TWIN TUNERS...Grrrrrr
 
Well i've decided my course of action. I'm gonna be phoning Sky to cancel, but i'll take a 3 month half price offer if they give it to me, then cancel after that. I'm gonna be buying myself a HDD/DVD Recorder with a Twin Digital Tuner then so i can watch one channel while recording another or watching a DVD. Sorted. :)
 
dmrevis said:
I'm gonna be buying myself a HDD/DVD Recorder with a Twin Digital Tuner

I hope I have missed something but I am fairly sure there is (surprisingly) no such thing yet.

HDD T/Tuner -yes; Loads
HDD DVDR single digital tuner -yes; a few; I think one of the Sonys has one digital and one analogue.

but come across nothing* that has the lot in one box.

*Apart from a very expensive reelbox configured with extra tuner/ DVDR modules; and that was recently at least still having the software developed I believe or computer based set ups.
 
i managed to find one or two, but certianly not known brands and i'm not sure i'd be able to find it again! I just googled it.
 

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