Digital TV Cost Cutting Article - Discuss What You've Been Offered

TrevBrw

It is also possible to get a Sky HD box and not pay the HD sub.[/QUOTE]

Do you mean by getting one from ebay? or where. That might be useful for me for the future to know. The current facility is in my Panasonic TV but dont get me started on the timeliness (not) of their updates.

Your post also suggested that you needed to get a Freesat from Sky card after you have cancelled your Sky sub. [/QUOTE]

I dont think it did. My intention was to say the opposite. Not worth the money.

Virgin Media do but obviously at a price.[/QUOTE]

OK but not available in more rural areas where its not economically viable.

ncfc1902

A viewing card is needed to view only a small number of free channels, see post 4174.
An ex subscription cards is exactly the same as a Freesat from Sky viewing card.
Sky give all new subscription customers a Sky + HD Box.

jem16

TrevBrw wrote: »

Do you mean by getting one from ebay? or where. That might be useful for me for the future to know. The current facility is in my Panasonic TV but dont get me started on the timeliness (not) of their updates.

You upgrade through Sky. As all boxes are now HD boxes you choose the Sky+ option at £99 plus £60 installation.

http://www.sky.com/shop/high-definition/home/upgrade-to-sky-hd/

TrevBrw

ncfc1902 wrote: »

A viewing card is needed to view only a small number of free channels, see post 4174.
An ex subscription cards is exactly the same as a Freesat from Sky viewing card.
Sky give all new subscription customers a Sky + HD Box.

Yes I Know this. The point I am trying to make is that I dont want to pay a monthly subscription to Sky. I presume that even if they give you a box they will want a subscription for at least a year, or am I missing something?

The other point I am trying to make is that the options for people living in a large city are different to those living in a small rural town ie: no cabling, no full freeview service, etc. It is basically SKY or Freesat , which I think is why the BBC and ITV jointly set it up. It suits my situation but it might not suit yours or vice versa. Thanks for all the info

ncfc1902

TrevBrw wrote: »

I presume that even if they give you a box they will want a subscription for at least a year

Yes that's correct.
I take it you still have all your Sky equipment and are using it to view the free channels.
You could buy a second hand Sky HD box and use it to view the free HD channels. Your viewing card would work to view Channel 4 HD and Channel Five HD.

ickletp

Hello all,

I called sky this morning, to try to save some money for the new year as my husband has lost work (for now), i am on a basic package with a couple of channels for the kids ie discovery, and children channels. I have been a loyal customer for 8+ years and even have my old orignal box from the start.. I was offered a free upgrade to HD box but no discount!!! how does this help me at all!!! I have now cancelled my subscription.. I am disgusted, others i know have been offered discounts to help them through harder times...,

3nations

Most of the comments on this thread seem to relate to Sky. I have Virgin (TV phone and broadband) . We are currently on the minimum TV package which is basically Freeview and we don't pay anything due to the various set offs in the package. We have just ordered a new HD TV with built in Freeview. However, Virgin standard conditions are to charge £49 to "activate" the HD element in their box- although our box is so old that it will probably need to be replaced. We do like the convenience of the Virgin catch up TV, iplayer etc and the movies on pay per view but don't really want to pay this charge nor the monthly cost of the HD "package" when I presume we can get the freeview HD channels for free? Any advice on whether I am likely to get any deal from them?

Thrifty_Ruby

ickletp wrote: »

Hello all,

I called sky this morning, to try to save some money for the new year as my husband has lost work (for now), i am on a basic package with a couple of channels for the kids ie discovery, and children channels. I have been a loyal customer for 8+ years and even have my old orignal box from the start.. I was offered a free upgrade to HD box but no discount!!! how does this help me at all!!! I have now cancelled my subscription.. I am disgusted, others i know have been offered discounts to help them through harder times...,

I really think it depends on who you speak to! I phoned 2 days ago as I have an original old box which we have had just over 9yrs. First person I spoke to said that the Sky+HD box would be £99 plus £60 to be fitted so I declined! The second person said I could have one for FREE with £30 connection fee. I pay £24 a month at the moment & can't afford any more! I was told I could have the new box without the HD connected but if I wanted it connected at a later date it would be £10 a month! I was just about to agree to the package they were offering when after 16 mins of chatting they cut me off! Now I'm left wondering if I will be able to get that offer again!
Dx

Heinz

ickletp wrote: »

I called sky this morning, to try to save some money for the new year as my husband has lost work (for now), i am on a basic package with a couple of channels for the kids ie discovery, and children channels. I have been a loyal customer for 8+ years and even have my old orignal box from the start.. I was offered a free upgrade to HD box but no discount!!! how does this help me at all!!! I have now cancelled my subscription.. I am disgusted, others i know have been offered discounts to help them through harder times...,

I appreciate you were after some discount on your remaining £20.50/month subscription and were disappointed not to get an offer on that but a free upgrade to an HD box has got to be worth £300 or so retail so being digusted is a little over the top IMHO.

Thrifty_Ruby

Just a little update!

Managed to get through to a lovely guy, explained that I wanted to leave & was going to get a FreeSat/Freeview & that I had been cut off twice! He straight away offered me a FREE Sky+HD box & FREE instalation! So I managed to get them down from £159 to £0. I had to agree to a 12 month contract (would have probably stayed anyway!) so I will still have to pay the £24.50 that I pay now but will have the Sky+ facility!

Its definatly worth calling back again if you don't get offered a good deal! Good luck!

Dx