Thinking of downgrading Sky+ to save money

emilyka

Hi everyone,

I am looking for a little bit of advice about reducing mine and the OHs sky bill every month. Currently we have Sky+ HD, we have the movies and documentarys package (but no sport or music). We currently pay £55 per month :eek: which we are looking to dramatically reduce in a bid to save money.

Ideally we would still like some kind of documentary package (so the OH can scare me with 'Air Crash Investigation' the night before a flight:p) and some kind of films package (for when I'm not being made to watch Air Crash!:p). We looked into freeview (TV has it inbuilt) but we use the recording facility on Sky+ so frequently and recording programs is important to us, is there any cheaper/ free option where you can record programs? (without dusting off the VCR!)

Any advice would be most welcome!

Thanks :beer:

nordtraveller

Cancel your Sky tv channel subscriptions, and just pay sky a tenner a month to keep the recording facilities.

These channels are free using your sky box......

http://www.sky.com/shop/tv/free-to-air-channels/?DCMP=ilc-aa5_10Jan_FTA

Phantom_Flan_Flinger

Both Freeview and Freesat have recording options, but you won't get the subscription channels you currently pay for.

If you've had HD for a year, you could drop that sub.
You don't actually pay for the recording facilities on the box as long as you have a minimum subscription.

Is it purely Sky TV you have or is there a phone/broadband package in there too?

macman

Humax PVR 9300T will do everything that Sky+ does for your Freeview channels.

will-in-estoril

emilyka wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I am looking for a little bit of advice about reducing mine and the OHs sky bill every month. Currently we have Sky+ HD, we have the movies and documentarys package (but no sport or music). We currently pay £55 per month :eek: which we are looking to dramatically reduce in a bid to save money.

Ideally we would still like some kind of documentary package (so the OH can scare me with 'Air Crash Investigation' the night before a flight:p) and some kind of films package (for when I'm not being made to watch Air Crash!:p). We looked into freeview (TV has it inbuilt) but we use the recording facility on Sky+ so frequently and recording programs is important to us, is there any cheaper/ free option where you can record programs? (without dusting off the VCR!)

Any advice would be most welcome!

Thanks :beer:

I think that you have already got what you want, with the exception of the monthly charge! I am no expert on pay TV but is there a smaller film package which could shave a bit off. Do you also need to pay for HD package? I think that could save you £18 in total. Others will correct me if I am mistaken.

emilyka

nordtraveller wrote: »

Cancel your Sky tv channel subscriptions, and just pay sky a tenner a month to keep the recording facilities.

These channels are free using your sky box......

http://www.sky.com/shop/tv/free-to-air-channels/?DCMP=ilc-aa5_10Jan_FTA

Thank you- that's really useful. I must admit the two channels OH likes best are Discovery and Gold, bit of a !!!!!! really, channels I like are listed as free using the sky box on the list

Phantom_Flan_Flinger wrote: »

Both Freeview and Freesat have recording options, but you won't get the subscription channels you currently pay for.

If you've had HD for a year, you could drop that sub.
You don't actually pay for the recording facilities on the box as long as you have a minimum subscription.

Is it purely Sky TV you have or is there a phone/broadband package in there too?

Thank you, I dont think we've had HD quite as long as a year but I think it'll be the first to go when we can. Dont see much point in HD when our 37 inch TV has a fine black pixel line through the middle of it :rotfl:. We only have Sky TV- broadband and telephone are BT.

macman wrote: »

Humax PVR 9300T will do everything that Sky+ does for your Freeview channels.

Humax PVR- is that a separate box? How does it work? Very grateful for all suggestions, I feel that as we are at home for 3 waking hours an evening and not all of those we watch TV it is a bit of a waste of £55!:mad:

emilyka

will-in-estoril wrote: »

I think that you have already got what you want, with the exception of the monthly charge! I am no expert on pay TV but is there a smaller film package which could shave a bit off. Do you also need to pay for HD package? I think that could save you £18 in total. Others will correct me if I am mistaken.

HD will be the first to go. It's such a shame you cant pick and choose the extra channels because apart from films there's probably only 2 channels we watch enough to make them worth having :mad:

You are so right about having what we want except for monthly charge, it's true we want something for nothing and everything for less.. who doesnt! The smaller film package is a good idea if we could keep the recording facility (more than enough films to watch if you can record the ones you like as you go.)

Thank you all for suggestions.. so useful and something to put towards OH who wants to save money with no scarifice and unfortunately it just won't work that way!!!

Em

macman

The Humax PVR is a box with twin Freeview tuners and a 320GB hard drive. 500GB version also available. As I said, it does for Freeview what Sky+ does for Sky-except you don't have pay Mr Murdoch £10 a month if you are not a Sky subscriber.
http://www.richersounds.com/product/freeview-freesat-pvr/humax/pvr9300t/huma-pvr9300

emilyka

macman wrote: »

The Humax PVR is a box with twin Freeview tuners and a 320GB hard drive. 500GB version also available. As I said, it does for Freeview what Sky+ does for Sky-except you don't have pay Mr Murdoch £10 a month if you are not a Sky subscriber.
http://www.richersounds.com/product/freeview-freesat-pvr/humax/pvr9300t/huma-pvr9300

Thank you- that's good to know. Not sure whether it would work with our tv- we already have built in free view?

macman

emilyka wrote: »

Thank you- that's good to know. Not sure whether it would work with our tv- we already have built in free view?

Yes, it will work fine with your TV. You just view using the tuners in the PVR rather than the tuner in the TV.

duchy

It probably wouldn't hurt to call Sky cancellations and tell them you are thinking of downgrading due to cost and ask if they can suggest the most suitable package.......Cancellations (aka retentions) have more freedom to offer deals than customer service.