Why do Sky charge us for Multiroom?

ParmMann

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Simple question really, if you've already paid for two Sky boxes (normal, Sky+ or HD boxes) and you already pay your monthly subscription for your channel packages, why do they have to charge us extra to view what we already pay for in another room?

I'm sure there's a simple explanation, but I just don't get it.

Sure in the past it might have made sense, but now the majority of people have more than one TV.

I find Sky's method of viewing in other rooms really limited. The TV Link is the alternative option, but you don't even get stereo sound that way which is appaling.

Even with a Multiroom subscription for £10 per month, that only entitles you to viewing via a Sky box in one other room. My understanding is that to have a third room with Sky is another £10 per month.

With Sky HD now upon us, I really think that HD subscribers should be entitled to free Multiroom. Especially those who are upgrading to HD, they will already have a Sky or Sky+ box which they should then be able to use in another room.

All the Sky channels = £42
HD Subscription = £10
Multiroom = £10
Total = £62

Does anybody else feel as though Multiroom isn't a good deal?
 
I think there is a simple answer - with multiroom you can watch different channels at once - so effectively you're getting two subcriptions for just £10 extra.
 
ParmMann said:
Simple question really, if you've already paid for two Sky boxes (normal, Sky+ or HD boxes) and you already pay your monthly subscription for your channel packages, why do they have to charge us extra to view what we already pay for in another room?

I'm sure there's a simple explanation, but I just don't get it.
Simple answer to a simple question really. Sky are a commercial organisation not a charity and they will charge as much as they believe the consumer will bear.
 
It's just unfortunate that everything else seems to come down in price, Sky+ did, Sky HD will, but Sky Multiroom has always been £10 and shows no sign of changing.
 
ParmMann said:
It's just unfortunate that everything else seems to come down in price, Sky+ did, Sky HD will, but Sky Multiroom has always been £10 and shows no sign of changing.

Hardware certainly has come down in price but subscriptions certainly haven't:cool:
 
meansizzler said:
I rememebr back in the days of analogue cable, an extra box was only £5 a month...




A good deal for cable who put their prices up to £15 for digital:)
There was no official SKY Analogue multiroom deal, I had to pay for a full second subscription (just the family pack and of course you could swap cards around as much as you wanted) until 1998 when I moved to Digital and just had the one subscription.
 
Think yourself lucky, NTL charge £18 a month for an extra stb :eek:
 
:thumbsdow They'll continue to charge what ever they can get away with untill the day we rebel and all cancel our subs or the day some real competition comes along to make them worry.

Has anybody actually counted how many price increases there have been since 'On Digital' went bust and guess at least 5! :mad:

Cheers, Franc
 
At least one a year which would be the same for virtually every company to take into account inflationary pressure both from inhouse costs and external costs from third party suppliers.
 
Sorry guys I am a bit of a newbie on Sky, and I am sure someone out there may shoot me down :nono: .....but....
I understand that with Sky+ you get a receiver which has two tuners and as the ads say you can view one channel while recording another, or record two different channels...:smashin: Yes?
If so assuming there is a composite signal feed out from both channels on the Sky+ box can't this analogue signal be fed to another room?

I distribute Sky around every TV in the house this way by feeding the signal from my current Panasonic Sky box back up the aerial lead (not the sat lead). It means tweaking the output from the Sky box to a channel which doesnt interfere with Channel 5 but it works and I get a reasonable picture.

Fozzie
 
Starburst said:
At least one a year which would be the same for virtually every company to take into account inflationary pressure both from inhouse costs and external costs from third party suppliers.

in that case tell me why engineers money has gone down every year instead of up????????
 
Fozzie Bear said:
Sorry guys I am a bit of a newbie on Sky, and I am sure someone out there may shoot me down :nono: .....but....
I understand that with Sky+ you get a receiver which has two tuners and as the ads say you can view one channel while recording another, or record two different channels...:smashin: Yes?
If so assuming there is a composite signal feed out from both channels on the Sky+ box can't this analogue signal be fed to another room?

I distribute Sky around every TV in the house this way by feeding the signal from my current Panasonic Sky box back up the aerial lead (not the sat lead). It means tweaking the output from the Sky box to a channel which doesnt interfere with Channel 5 but it works and I get a reasonable picture.

Fozzie

for digital channels received by the Sky box when using a subscription based service, you only have one decoder....in other words one output at a time.........however you can use the RF passthrough from your roof aerial for analogue terrestrial TV to another television (BBC1/2, ITV, C4, 5)....but you cannot watch 2 sky digital channels at the same time....(like i say, this includes anything when you click on the sky planner, from BBC1 to Sky1, movies, sports etc...)
 
Can you really find two different channels at the same time with something worth watching:D
 
All we can hope is that BBC & ITV get their act together and provide some real competition via satellite
 
pete267 said:
All we can hope is that BBC & ITV get their act together and provide some real competition via satellite



Both are FTA now and have no interest in PAY channels nor are in the position to fund a billion pound platform.
The best they can do is to prove to OFCOM that SKY can not justify the EPG fees so I wouldn't be praying for those two corporations to bring in the Dsat nirvana:)
 
Starburst said:
Both are FTA now and have no interest in PAY channels nor are in the position to fund a billion pound platform.
The best they can do is to prove to OFCOM that SKY can not justify the EPG fees so I wouldn't be praying for those two corporations to bring in the Dsat nirvana:)

Having said that both BBC and ITV have huge back catalogues and UKTV Gold (which BBC owns a chunk of) is the next most popular channel after Sky One. So Freesat could have a subscription option just using their existing stuff.
 
Only real competition I can forsee is IPTV, which I think may shake things up a bit. Or perhaps (as BT employee) that's just wishful thinking on my part :)
 
beerhunter said:
Having said that both BBC and ITV have huge back catalogues and UKTV Gold (which BBC owns a chunk of) is the next most popular channel after Sky One. So Freesat could have a subscription option just using their existing stuff.




UKTV does indeed buy BBC programs but the BBC itself does not own UKTV, the deals are done through the commercial arm of the BBC and operates independently.
Simply put the BBC creating it's own PAY channels for the UK market is not going to happen (charter and public opinion) and ITV have stated openly that PAY channels are of no interest.

Yes Freesat with STB's with CI slots could provide a way into a subscription service (just need a CAM and Card) but at a cost for them and the viewers and I can not in all honesty see any current content supplier leaving SKY to give exclusive support to a platform controlled by the BBC and ITV:)
 
Graeme Snell said:
Only real competition I can forsee is IPTV, which I think may shake things up a bit. Or perhaps (as BT employee) that's just wishful thinking on my part :)




Yep.
IPTV could in theory offer very strong competition to SKY and Cable for certain content (PPV and basic channel stuff). It's no surprise that SKY are covering that market with their purchase of Easynet, they can not let BT have it all their own way although as always content will be king.
 
Starburst said:
UKTV does indeed buy BBC programs but the BBC itself does not own UKTV, the deals are done through the commercial arm of the BBC and operates independently

UKTV is jointly owned by the BBC Worldwide and Flextech Television, a division of Telewest Communications.
 

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