TV advice?

chirpychick

Hi,
I haven't ever posted on this board before so hope I'm in the right place.

I am looking for a bit of advice.

We have had Sky TV for the past 7 years and now we just have the basic Sky package with the record feature. We have for the past 2 years managed to have big reductions and keep on affording it but our subscription runs out this month and we had said we would keep it until after Christmas and then cancel as we are expecting a baby (Friday :eek: )

Anyway, we don't have an aerial, well we do but it's broken and my husband says it would cost a lot of initial upfront cost to get it repaired/replaced so we would need to use the sky box to get any channels. Which is fine.

BUT he works *really* hard and has been hugely supportive this past 9 months and I know that honestly he is a bit sad about losing the record feature particularly as our laptop is 6 years old and so not really capable of using things such as iplayer.

Therefore, I wondered if there is any way at all that we could cut the cost of TV right down, perhaps a box of some kind that allows the record feature that doesn't cost a fortune upfront?

Sky want £21.50 just for basically having record! If there was anyway I could cut this in half or pay for something which meant we didn't need a monthly subscription it would really be helpful.

I have tried to haggle with Sky but basically we have had it half price for a long time and now they are saying no.

Sorry it's long winded!!

macman

If you want to retain the Sky+functions then it will cost you £10 a month without a sub, not £21.50.
But a much better option is just to buy a Freesat PVR (a Humax Foxsat HDR is the one to go for, various capacities starting at around £199)). This is a straight box swap and will work with your existing LNB and dish to give you all the PVR functions. It'll pay for inside a year, since you will be saving over £20pm.

chirpychick

macman wrote: »

If you want to retain the Sky+functions then it will cost you £10 a month without a sub, not £21.50.
But a much better option is just to buy a Freesat PVR (a Humax Foxsat HDR is the one to go for, various capacities starting at around £199)). This is a straight box swap and will work with your existing LNB and dish to give you all the PVR functions. It'll pay for inside a year, since you will be saving over £20pm.

How come £10 a month? I am literally on basic package with them with just Sky+ package and this month onwards is £21.50 because they raised their prices?

macman

That is the price for keeping the Sky+ functions if you terminate your sub. You don't need a sub to still get the Free To Air channels, but Sky+ will cease to function unless you pay £10pm.
£21.50 is the price for the basic subscription package, which includes Sky+.

chirpychick

Thank you for the advice. I have contacted Sky and haggled my subscription down to £5 for 3 months without extending a contract. Which I am over the moon about.
Have looked into Freesat and will see if this is something worth our while doing in 3 months time (gives us a few months to save up for the box!)
I really appreciate the help