Possible to cancel Sky & still watch F1 in 2012?

Jo4

My parents currently have Sky+ but they were thinking of cancelling their Sky subscription in January and therefore they were wondering what channels are available on Freeview. Where can I find out if Freeview is available in their area and what channels they would be able to view instead of the ones they currently can view by paying Sky £22.50 a month, I think? I read somewhere on here that Sky do Freesat but where can I find a list of what channels they offer?

Finally I am also considering cancelling our Sky subscription but my hubby loves his F1 so how can he still view F1 next year because apparently you need Sky Sports to be able to? Is the only way to view F1 nexy year by subscribing to Sky Sports? I guess I might need to find out how much it costs to add Sky Sports to our monthly subscription rather than cancelling it or has anyone any useful suggestions?!? :eek: :rotfl:

johnnyreggae

I think you'll find both questions have been regularly asked and answered in the TV section here as well as on the Sky site

vale46_2

yes there's a few threads on this
freeview via an aerial check your coverage here http://www.freeview.co.uk/availability

sky channels that are free when you cancel your sky subscription sky+ functions will be disabled
leave your viewing card in the box to get some channels a list here
http://mgpc.b1.jcink.com/index.php?showtopic=28&view=findpost&p=73

F1 Again theres a few threads on this https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3404489

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3641351

alanrowell

Sky is not the only way to see F1 - the BBC are still covering the major races.

mcfisco

BBC are covering all the races - just not live

I'd also call Australia and Canada major races
As a fervent F1 fan, recorded highlights are a poor substitute for live coverage
Personally, I'll just suck it up and pay Murdoch

I had considered watching it all live via RTL and using R5 for the English commentary

almillar

These are the channels you will get if you cancel your sky subscription, and leave your card in. This is also what people purchase seperately as freesatfromsky.
http://www.sky.com/shop/freesat/home/what-can-i-watch/
You won't get the Sky coverage of F1 on that package though. That requires you to EITHER have the Sports subscription OR the HD subscription. You DO NOT need to have both. Sky will have all practices, qualifying and races live plus loads of background stuff on a dedicated HD F1 channel.
The cheapest you can do it, as standard, would be £32.50 a month I reckon. That's the standard package, plus the HD pack.
As above though, all races can be seen on BBC in HD, and 10 of them are live, and the full BBC team will be at every race.
Goto the Freeview website to find out about Freeview availability, and if you're buying new kit, consider FreeviewHD. You can also get a list of channels there.
http://freeview.co.uk/

Jeff_Bridges_hair

Depending on your telly you could also watch the live matches direct from one of the foriegn TV providers via the internet..

Gratis

Jo4 wrote: »

Finally I am also considering cancelling our Sky subscription but my hubby loves his F1 so how can he still view F1 next year because apparently you need Sky Sports to be able to? Is the only way to view F1 nexy year by subscribing to Sky Sports? I guess I might need to find out how much it costs to add Sky Sports to our monthly subscription rather than cancelling it or has anyone any useful suggestions?!? :eek: :rotfl:

No. As almillar has posted (and he's always right! :T) you won't need to pay for Sky Sports (£20 supplement per month) to watch the Formula One on Sky. You will be able to receive it (and in HD) for no additional fee if you subscribe to Sky HD generally (which is a supplement of £10.25 per month).

So, if you don't want to pay Sky an additional £240 a year to watch people playing with balls or swimming up and down pools for hours on end, just to get the Formula One, you won't have to. You can pay £97 a year less by simply upgrading your Sky to HD instead (if you haven't already done so) and getting it "free".

Bear in mind that if you (are able to) cancel Sky right now, you have to give Sky 31 days' notice, so you (and your parents) will get all the Christmas and New Year season Sky service anyway, before it cuts off.

When you ring to cancel, it is likely that Sky will offer you, there and then, a discount not to. If Sky doesn't (or if you aren't happy with the discount offered) and you go ahead with the cancellation, it is usual that, after a couple of months of receiving no money from you :eek: :wall: , Sky will offer you the inducement of a 50% discount for 12 months. Your two months without Sky would save you at least £40 (possibly a lot more) and your resumption, with HD, would coincide handily with the start of the Formula One season on 16 March.

We cancelled Sky and were without it for three months (saving us £100). At the end of November we were offered a 50% discount for a year and took it – with HD again.

So, the basic pack (£20 a month), discounted, by 50%, to £10 a month, plus the HD (undiscounted) at £10.25 a month, will cost us a total of £20.25 a month for a year and will include the full Formula One package. That, for £243 a year, offers quite a lot. Our year of discount will coincide handily with the end of the Formula One season, so we'll probably cancel the whole lot again then!

Bear in mind also that Sky is devoting a whole new HD channel to Formula One when it launches in March, so, there'll be lots of extra stuff on it and your husband will be in Seventh Heaven!


Here's a list of the 20 Grands Prix scheduled for next year.

The ones in red will be shown LIVE only by Sky.

The ones in green will be shown LIVE also by the BBC.

And, to assist anyone who may suffer from eyesight problems with colour, I've also marked the latter with an asterisk { * }.


Formula 1 Calendar - 2012


1. Australia

2. Malaysia

3. China *

4. Bahrain

5. Spain *

6. Monaco *

7. Canada

8. Europe *

9. Great Britain *

10. Germany

11. Hungary

12. Belgium *

13. Italy

14. Singapore *

15. Japan

16. South Korea *

17. India

18. Abu Dhabi *

19. United States

20. Brazil *


Clearly, the BBC has been allowed by Sky to cherry-pick fairly generously but there are limits to how much Sky can afford to let itself be undermined by the process. The BBC has been denied some important ones live and has had to accept a few dogs – no pun intended – with China, South Korea and, some would say, Valencia.

The BBC has also had the wisdom to decline Bahrain and has steered clear of Austin, both of which races are somewhat uncertain.

I agree with mcfisco that Australia and Canada are major omissions but I consider Hockenheim, Monza (particularly) and Suzuka as even more important ones. Suzuka, however, will be mitigated by time-zone considerations. Many in the Asian community will probably be disappointed by missing out on India, live, as well – but that, too, will be helped by its time-zone for showing "extended highlights" later in the day.

If, however, the penultimate race, at Austin does go ahead, one or both of the World Championships could be decided there. Which would leave the BBC in a very embarrassing position.

Sky, incidentally, is not owned by "the Murdochs" nor even by News Corp. If it were, they wouldn't have tried (unsuccessfully) to buy it for £5 billion earlier this year.

Spank

The BBC got the pick of the first 3, then sky picked 3 & so on.

Itismehonest

Neither was allowed to have 3 races in a row.
Remember, too, that the practice sessions which are all to be shown by Sky will only be shown on BBC for the races that they(the Beeb) are showing live.

scotsbob

Fi is being shown FTA by many European broadcasters for those who have suitable satellite equipment. It will also be possible to watch over the Internet. (www.liveonsat.com will give you the details)