Sky TV retention deals ( post your haggling successes )

MouldyOldDough

If I was to go down the NOW TV route

Can I run two Adapters on one account - to get two TV's connected at the same time ?

JulesWinnfield

MouldyOldDough said:

If I was to go down the NOW TV route

Can I run two Adapters on one account - to get two TV's connected at the same time ?

You can watch on two screens, at the same time, as long as you pay for the Boost add-on.

My understanding is, if you want to watch on multiple devices, but not necessarily at the same time, you don’t need Boost.

Seeing as Now has locked full HD behind the Boost add-on, it makes it pretty essential.

RainbowsInTheSpray

Not sure whether this is the right place to post this.

Switched from BT to Sky four years ago and been more than happy with the very basic freeview "Essentials" media package from them. We're old fashioned and don't want much TV - very happy with books, papers etc.

Just recently after Christmas, the service seemed to lose some channels including BBC1. Been told by a neighbour it may have been due to a birdstrike on the dish putting it out of alignment. Tried to troubleshoot things with the help of on-screen instructions but nothing seems to work.

Have rung Sky, only to be told that the box they provided is now obsolete and that, for an engineer's visit to sort it all out, we would have to be on a higher paying tariff as the new box is not compatible with the Essentials package.

Can anyone advise me on this? Are we being strung along?

Max68

RainbowsInTheSpray said:

Not sure whether this is the right place to post this.

Switched from BT to Sky four years ago and been more than happy with the very basic freeview "Essentials" media package from them. We're old fashioned and don't want much TV - very happy with books, papers etc.

Just recently after Christmas, the service seemed to lose some channels including BBC1. Been told by a neighbour it may have been due to a birdstrike on the dish putting it out of alignment. Tried to troubleshoot things with the help of on-screen instructions but nothing seems to work.

Have rung Sky, only to be told that the box they provided is now obsolete and that, for an engineer's visit to sort it all out, we would have to be on a higher paying tariff as the new box is not compatible with the Essentials package.

Can anyone advise me on this? Are we being strung along?

What box have you got?  Old Sky HD Box or Sky Q?  

JulesWinnfield

RainbowsInTheSpray said:

Not sure whether this is the right place to post this.

Switched from BT to Sky four years ago and been more than happy with the very basic freeview "Essentials" media package from them. We're old fashioned and don't want much TV - very happy with books, papers etc.

Just recently after Christmas, the service seemed to lose some channels including BBC1. Been told by a neighbour it may have been due to a birdstrike on the dish putting it out of alignment. Tried to troubleshoot things with the help of on-screen instructions but nothing seems to work.

Have rung Sky, only to be told that the box they provided is now obsolete and that, for an engineer's visit to sort it all out, we would have to be on a higher paying tariff as the new box is not compatible with the Essentials package.

Can anyone advise me on this? Are we being strung along?

I can only assume by your description you must be using an old Sky+ box. If you’re still able to access those channels, but just need the dish re-aligned, it does sound like they’re just pushing for another sale.

However, based on what you’ve said, it sounds to me like you’d be best served moving to a Freeview PVR, rather than a Sky supplied PVR, unless there are actual Sky channels you particularly watch.

Obviously, you need a working aerial for Freeview, but even if you don’t have one, the outlay for getting one fitted, as well as the cost of a new PVR, will quickly be offset by the money saved not subscribing to Sky.

RainbowsInTheSpray

Max68 said:

RainbowsInTheSpray said:

Not sure whether this is the right place to post this.

Switched from BT to Sky four years ago and been more than happy with the very basic freeview "Essentials" media package from them. We're old fashioned and don't want much TV - very happy with books, papers etc.

Just recently after Christmas, the service seemed to lose some channels including BBC1. Been told by a neighbour it may have been due to a birdstrike on the dish putting it out of alignment. Tried to troubleshoot things with the help of on-screen instructions but nothing seems to work.

Have rung Sky, only to be told that the box they provided is now obsolete and that, for an engineer's visit to sort it all out, we would have to be on a higher paying tariff as the new box is not compatible with the Essentials package.

Can anyone advise me on this? Are we being strung along?

What box have you got?  Old Sky HD Box or Sky Q?  

They were actually offering me a Q box so I assume I have the one before that.

It isn't just a matter of the TV but the whole package. We want to continue landline use and have the unlimited internet. 

We have a TV aerial. I'm afraid we are dunces with tech and I find this very confusing. If anyone could help I'd be grateful.

JulesWinnfield

RainbowsInTheSpray said:

Max68 said:

RainbowsInTheSpray said:

Not sure whether this is the right place to post this.

Switched from BT to Sky four years ago and been more than happy with the very basic freeview "Essentials" media package from them. We're old fashioned and don't want much TV - very happy with books, papers etc.

Just recently after Christmas, the service seemed to lose some channels including BBC1. Been told by a neighbour it may have been due to a birdstrike on the dish putting it out of alignment. Tried to troubleshoot things with the help of on-screen instructions but nothing seems to work.

Have rung Sky, only to be told that the box they provided is now obsolete and that, for an engineer's visit to sort it all out, we would have to be on a higher paying tariff as the new box is not compatible with the Essentials package.

Can anyone advise me on this? Are we being strung along?

What box have you got?  Old Sky HD Box or Sky Q?  

They were actually offering me a Q box so I assume I have the one before that.

It isn't just a matter of the TV but the whole package. We want to continue landline use and have the unlimited internet. 

We have a TV aerial. I'm afraid we are dunces with tech and I find this very confusing. If anyone could help I'd be grateful.

What, if any, actual channels provided by Sky are you watching other than terrestrial channels?

By terrestrial channels, I mean the likes of BBC, ITV, Channel 4 etc, etc.

RainbowsInTheSpray

I think it's mainly freeview stuff. We watch a lot of old time sitcoms on, for example, 'Rewind TV'. I'm not sure what counts as 'terrestrial' outside of those three you've mentioned plus Channel 5.

I did warn you you were dealing with a technophobe par excellence!

Max68

Sounds like you have the old Sky+ HD Box so no they (Sky) won't have replacements for those.  Found this quote on another site that may be of help where someone asked something similar and this was the answer.

"We do have to ask if you mean Essential TV ( a new SKY Stream package) or  an older offering called SKY Essentials on SKY Q

 If the former then the key thing to note is that it involves a switch to SKY Stream which needs a good internet connection, rather via Satellite.

This does include most of the channels that are 'Free To Air' channels on Satellite as well as SKY Atlantic & Netflix but does not include other subscription channels including other SKY channels & U&Gold, U& Alibi etc

The latter is via SKY Q but is just the Free To Air channels (i.e. no SKY Atlantic & no Netflix)"


I "think" Essential TV is also available on Sky Glass.  On the Sky site it says "Sky Essential TV, for just £15 a month".

Sky Essentials on Sky Q is only free to air channells.  It was £15 a month, not sure about now.

It's unfortunate that Sky have two packages named very similar.

JulesWinnfield

RainbowsInTheSpray said:

I think it's mainly freeview stuff. We watch a lot of old time sitcoms on, for example, 'Rewind TV'. I'm not sure what counts as 'terrestrial' outside of those three you've mentioned plus Channel 5.

I did warn you you were dealing with a technophobe par excellence!

Not at all, don’t worry about it. As long as nobody objects to the slight deviation off topic, I’m happy to help.

I found my way to this site by being a member of AV Forums and for the most part, I’m reporting back there with information posted about Sky here.

And my position on that forum is to help and be helpful, which I will transfer to here too.

As I previously mentioned, I’m concerned you’re paying Sky for a subscription you don’t necessarily need. Your example of Rewind TV is a free to air channel that can be accessed via Freeview, channel 95.

So, unless you are particularly watching a pay per view channel (PPV), such as Sky Max or Atlantic, which makes up part of the subscription you’re paying Sky for, you are not making use of your subscription with the exception of probably the ability to record?

If the above is true, you can easily ditch your Sky TV subscription and this shouldn’t affect your subscription for telephone and broadband, but you would be best advised to just double check that with them to ensure you don’t have a discounted price for all their services as a bundle.

If I were you I’d seriously consider investing in a Freeview personal video recorder (PVR). This would replace the Sky box you have and the need for a subscription, but only on condition your aerial is working and you get good signal strength.

I would advise buying a Freeview PVR from the likes of Amazon before you consider ditching Sky. If you purchase it from a reputable online retailer you have fourteen days to try it out to see if it’s a viable option before you tell Sky to go jump!