Leave Sky and go to Freesat - Any good?

scan1703

Good afternoon, looking to trim down my bills and the obvious choice for us is Sky as we really only watch the usual channels + Cbeebies etc..

I only pay £27 to Sky but looking at Freesat and the humax hdr-1000s at £164 I could recoup this after 5 months or so. Does anyone know if I can cancel Sky and just watch the standard channels with PVR access still or would I lose that function and have only the BBC, ITV, C4 channels?

Is Freesat with Freetime a worthy challenger to Sky for those that don't subscribe to the big Sky Channels?

Thank you in advance, looking to cancel Sky ASAP and purchase the Humax, I don't believe this one has integrated WIFI and unsure if the latest model is worth paying extra for the WIFI.

Cheers

macman

Unlikely. In a years time you will be no further forward: you'llstill have to either pay £120pa just for the Sky+ functions, or buy a Freesat or Freeview PVR as a one off cost to do the same job.
Year 2 is when they'll aim to recover their first year losses.

macman

No, when you end your Sky sub you will lose all the PVR functions and access to existing recordings, unless you want to pay £10 per month. You'll have access to all the free to air channels (rather more than the 3 you list): if you want to know what exact channels you'll get, just pull your viewing card.
Without an existing aerial, Freesat with Freetime is indeed the way to go, otherwise opt for Youview.

Pincher

I just tried the Tivo 1TB from Virgin Media, which was pretty good, but I find the layers of menu a chore. This is despite the surfeit of buttons on the remote control. Cancelled and the Tivo is back with Virgin.


My FreeSat PVR is a 500GB EchoStar Slingloaded, which suffers from crashes from time to time. I think they have given up updating the software, so I don't rely on it too much.


Now that I have had a week with the new Sky+HD 2TB, I think it really is the best user interface around. I can get to the Planner by pressing the Play button, which is great. Now that I programmed the Sky remote for the TV, I can turn the volume up and down. The only worry is I'll wear it out, and have to buy another remote.


I'm currently on the MSE 40% off deal. If they offer me a 50% off retention deal, I think I won't say no.


The [EMAIL="xxxxx@sky.com"]xxxxx@sky.com[/EMAIL] e-mail address is so short, I love it.

I think I'll stay with Sky until the 2TB dies.

JAKE7

I am assuming the £10 a month deal to keep the record function after I cancel when the contract is over is still valid.


When the time comes, if they offer a good deal for say £12 a month, I might as well keep the subscription going.

Anon

At the end of 12 months (or after month 11 if you don't want to end up paying full price in month 13) you can simply cancel and no doubt get a good discount to stay (read around, many achieve at least 50% off).

It is quite a good offer (there have been some even better) and you can get higher packages which work out quite cheap with the cashback.

macman

JAKE7 wrote: »

I am assuming the £10 a month deal to keep the record function after I cancel when the contract is over is still valid.


When the time comes, if they offer a good deal for say £12 a month, I might as well keep the subscription going.

But why would you want to pay £120 pa, every year, ad infinitum, when for little more than that cost you could simply buy a Humax Freesat box as a one-off cost?

the_devil_made_me_do_it

Been without a Sky subscription since September and have been using the Sky box as a freeview box. Was just thinking the other day about freeview channels and how many were available. Can anyone point me in the direction of a list of freeview channels please. Trying to avoid scrolling through all the channels.

ariba10

Google FREESAT. Freeview is for land transmition.

the_devil_made_me_do_it

I have looked on Freesat before, but it doesn't apply to people who use the same sky box they had when they paid a subscription. There is no on demand facility even.