Setanta/Virgin TV

Sol00

The fact it's a loss doesn't take away from the fact that Setanta on XL package was heavily subsidised. If customers upgraded to this pack because of Setanta, then they can easily downgrade again.

jadex

Sol00 wrote: »

The fact it's a loss doesn't take away from the fact that Setanta on XL package was heavily subsidised. If customers upgraded to this pack because of Setanta, then they can easily downgrade again.

Apart from that you are effectively locked in 12-months contract whenever you change your package.
Luckily I upgraded in 2007 from L to XL so can change it back.
It was £8ish more at that time, now it's £11.50.
I did it purely because of Setanta was included, whether it was so-called free bonus or not did't and doesn't bother me.
But if I go back to L package I gain virtually nothing as L customers pay £5 more for Sky Sports and £5 for additional V-box.

Fifer

It wasn't free, it was part of the package of programmes. And they will give a discount for its loss if you haggle. FIL did so last week and got one. The inclusion of Setanta was one of the factors which convinced him to switch from Sky.

Sol00

jadex wrote: »

Apart from that you are effectively locked in 12-months contract whenever you change your package.
Luckily I upgraded in 2007 from L to XL so can change it back.
It was £8ish more at that time, now it's £11.50.
I did it purely because of Setanta was included, whether it was so-called free bonus or not did't and doesn't bother me.
But if I go back to L package I gain virtually nothing as L customers pay £5 more for Sky Sports and £5 for additional V-box.

No you're not, you're only locked into a new 12 month contract if you add a service.

Stolen_Soul

Fifer wrote: »

It wasn't free, it was part of the package of programmes. And they will give a discount for its loss if you haggle. FIL did so last week and got one. The inclusion of Setanta was one of the factors which convinced him to switch from Sky.

If there is no extra charge for it, then it is free.
Inclusion of Setanta did not result in an increase in the cost of the XL service.

Fifer

Stolen_Soul wrote: »

If there is no extra charge for it, then it is free.
Inclusion of Setanta did not result in an increase in the cost of the XL service.

Wrong. If there is no charge for it, it is free. If there is no extra charge, it's part of that package (which of course, is not free).

FIL entered into a contract for, and paid for a package, which included Setanta. The cheaper, next package down did not include Setanta. Setanta was not free. You could not get it without paying.

Virgin must agree as he got his discount.

Horne

I only signed up to XL for setanta, I rang them up saying I wanna go down to L, and they said I was in a contract till Jan, and that wasn't the only channel I was gettiing, and I said its the only channel I wanted, I thought I signed my contract thinking I was gonna get sport for the next year. They said they would add sky sports to my bill if i wished for £19.99, I said how can only change my contract as long as it goes up but not down? with no real responce. I said what do I do now, ring Ofcom file a complaint, they said if u wish to complain someone will ring you to discuss it. has anyone else had any luck.? I'll keep you posted when they ring me, if they ever do.

Stolen_Soul

Fifer wrote: »

Wrong. If there is no charge for it, it is free. If there is no extra charge, it's part of that package (which of course, is not free).

FIL entered into a contract for, and paid for a package, which included Setanta. The cheaper, next package down did not include Setanta. Setanta was not free. You could not get it without paying.

Virgin must agree as he got his discount.

This is an issue that could be debated forever and a day. My personal opinion is it was provided free to all XL customers. There was no increase in the price of the XL package to cover the cost of Setanta.

The next package down includes a lot less than Setanta.

I don't think it's a case of Virgin must agree. More a case of Virgin wanting to keep a customer

Fifer

Sorry to labour the point, but once Setanta was included in a package, it becomes as much a part of the package as any other channel. It wasn't added for free, but for no extra charge. A monthly fee still had to be paid to get it.

The only free digital channels I'm aware of are all of Freeview, the Sky FTA channels and the other FTA stuff on Astra.

preecey

Fifer wrote: »

Sorry to labour the point, but once Setanta was included in a package, it becomes as much a part of the package as any other channel. It wasn't added for free, but for no extra charge. A monthly fee still had to be paid to get it.

The only free digital channels I'm aware of are all of Freeview, the Sky FTA channels and the other FTA stuff on Astra.

Couldn't have put that better myself.