Sky TV retention deals ( post your haggling successes )

AL2022

GrubbyGirl_2 said:

alexthomas89 said:

alexthomas89 said:

Does anyone have any views on whether a Roku stick, Apple TV etc will offer a noticeably better experience for live sports than the integrated LG apps?

I'm less concerned about the clunky interface to be honest.

Cheers

Alex 

I can't comment on sports as I don't watch but the Apple TV 4K box is excellent and a real game changer compared to other streaming devices and the LG TV which is slow and clunky.  Also worth spending £5.99 on the TV Launcher app to get all the live channels

Thanks, starting to lean towards Apple TV I think.

I'm an Android and Chromebook user so recognise I won't get some of the other benefits but the lack of those don't seem like they'll undermine it being the best option.

Is the TV launcher app essentially streaming of Freeview/Freesat? Sounds perfect.

Thanks again

GrubbyGirl_2

alexthomas89 said:

GrubbyGirl_2 said:

alexthomas89 said:

alexthomas89 said:

Does anyone have any views on whether a Roku stick, Apple TV etc will offer a noticeably better experience for live sports than the integrated LG apps?

I'm less concerned about the clunky interface to be honest.

Cheers

Alex 

I can't comment on sports as I don't watch but the Apple TV 4K box is excellent and a real game changer compared to other streaming devices and the LG TV which is slow and clunky.  Also worth spending £5.99 on the TV Launcher app to get all the live channels

Thanks, starting to lean towards Apple TV I think.

I'm an Android and Chromebook user so recognise I won't get some of the other benefits but the lack of those don't seem like they'll undermine it being the best option.

Is the TV launcher app essentially streaming of Freeview/Freesat? Sounds perfect.

Thanks again

TV Launcher gives you a complete TV guide which links to the streaming apps which are working in the background.  Some of the channels require you to download the relevant app but you can set it to do that automatically but once they are there's nothing more to do.  It basically means you can easily channel hop without having to laboriously open each app individually and for most live channels it offers you the choice to watch from the start. 

One of the best features is Siri where you just tell it what you want to watch and it finds it so for example last night I wanted to watch Boston legal so I asked and it opened Disney plus and got me to the next episode.  Another good feature is when you miss a bit of dialogue because of background noise or mumbling, you just say "what did he say?" and it rewinds 30 seconds and switches on subtitles for that period.  

I know it has many more features I haven't even discovered yet but I can safely say this is by far the best value apple product there is and if you have an iphone set up is simple you just unlock your phone and put it next to it and it will even automatically connect to your network

Chrisandbev

alexthomas89 said:

GrubbyGirl_2 said:

alexthomas89 said:

alexthomas89 said:

Does anyone have any views on whether a Roku stick, Apple TV etc will offer a noticeably better experience for live sports than the integrated LG apps?

I'm less concerned about the clunky interface to be honest.

Cheers

Alex 

I can't comment on sports as I don't watch but the Apple TV 4K box is excellent and a real game changer compared to other streaming devices and the LG TV which is slow and clunky.  Also worth spending £5.99 on the TV Launcher app to get all the live channels

Thanks, starting to lean towards Apple TV I think.

I'm an Android and Chromebook user so recognise I won't get some of the other benefits but the lack of those don't seem like they'll undermine it being the best option.

Is the TV launcher app essentially streaming of Freeview/Freesat? Sounds perfect.

Thanks again

Isn't Google TV Streamer similar to Apple TV box, but on Android/Google ecosystem?

jimbow25

Sorry if this has been mentioned but

Are the deals poor because we have come to the end of Sky Q and Sky dishes full stop, as a product?

The guy on the line in January said they had stopped offering Sky Q - even though he thought having the box to record was good...and so do I. I could see that wasn't the case in January looking on the website as a new customer, but the Sky Q deals on the website were behind the streaming deals, and poor value (£64 for entertainment, sport and Netflix.... more than I paid an an existing customer. And that was the new customer offer).

Two months later I've returned to the website and Sky Q has indeed disappeared.
https://www.sky.com/tv
even its own page (from Google link) only appears to offer Sky Glass.

To me, two of the major main benefits of having Sky TV are the live sport without delays, and the recording feature (which is helpful for time shifting shows on channels that don't have apps). Oh and fast forwarding through adverts. The streaming offering appears to offer none of these (I think ad skipping is something you now pay for on the streaming service?). Anyway I did renew for 2 years to Jan 2027 but felt I was renewing despite it being a poor deal, I just wanted to keep what ii Have for now. if Sky are only offering streaming going forwards then I am sure I will be leaving after this contract.

Max68

Well just noticed mine is going up from £60 to £65.49 which is a 9.15% increase in June for some strange reason.  Checked with live chat and they said it will be June so not sure why it isn't April or May as it's the April price rise.  No offers at all although I am in contract till December, and can't even save by removing Cinema as it's in contract, so bit of a waste of time.  One thing of interest is that apparently Sky are looking at a package of TV Essentials, where you can add Sport or Movies to it.  His quote is here.

"the Tv essentials package costs you around £15 and the signature is £40.50 so sky is trying to add sports and cinema on the essentials packages and remove signature so the customer can save more and be happy with the channels that he want to watch like sports or cinema so they will be directly saving almost £20 to £30 pound there"

Must confess, to be able to keep the Sky Q box and just have the Basic chanels with Sport and HD and get rid of Signature is something I wish they had done before, although it all depends on hwo much they charge your for the add on's.  I certainly won't get Sport for £13 which I currently have so if Sport is say a £40 add on it makes it a bit pointless, but nevertheless an extra option to look at maybe once Sky confirms if this will happen.

PZ19

Their essentials package including Netflix is £15 and can add sports on for £20.  That is a stream price though.

for Sky q, my friend just called he called a reinstate number and was offered signature £24.50, HD £4 and Sports £18, which ties in with the figures @mits999 quoted earlier in the thread for pending cancellation. That included April price rise.  Like I said before I don’t think he’s that bothered about staying, so he left it

Detail_Merchant

PZ19 said:

Their essentials package including Netflix is £15 and can add sports on for £20.  That is a stream price though.

Be careful not to mix up "TV Essentials" with "Essential TV":

• "Essential TV" is, as you say, a stream package, available for £15/month to new Sky customers.

• "TV Essentials" is a service available to Sky+ or Sky Q customers, nominally for £15/month though sometimes people have reported getting it for £5 or £10, which allows them to keep using their Sky PVR for free channels, but with none of the pay channels that Sky Signature gives. Sky sometimes offer this to customers when they are thinking of quitting Sky.

Sky don't see to have a page for "TV Essentials" anymore, but it is mentioned in the legal small print at the bottom of https://www.sky.com/mysky

Edit: The page is still there, but not easy to find - https://www.sky.com/help/articles/tv-essentials

PZ19

Detail_Merchant said:

PZ19 said:

Their essentials package including Netflix is £15 and can add sports on for £20.  That is a stream price though.

Be careful not to mix up "TV Essentials" with "Essential TV":

• "Essential TV" is, as you say, a stream package, available for £15/month to new Sky customers.

• "TV Essentials" is a service available to Sky+ or Sky Q customers, nominally for £15/month though sometimes people have reported getting it for £5 or £10, which allows them to keep using their Sky PVR for free channels, but with none of the pay channels that Sky Signature gives. Sky sometimes offer this to customers when they are thinking of quitting Sky.

Sky don't see to have a page for "TV Essentials" anymore, but it is mentioned in the legal small print at the bottom of https://www.sky.com/mysky

Edit: The page is still there, but not easy to find - https://www.sky.com/help/articles/tv-essentials

You’re right I had mixed them up!

MouldyOldDough

Detail_Merchant said:

PZ19 said:

Their essentials package including Netflix is £15 and can add sports on for £20.  That is a stream price though.

Be careful not to mix up "TV Essentials" with "Essential TV":

• "Essential TV" is, as you say, a stream package, available for £15/month to new Sky customers.

• "TV Essentials" is a service available to Sky+ or Sky Q customers, nominally for £15/month though sometimes people have reported getting it for £5 or £10, which allows them to keep using their Sky PVR for free channels, but with none of the pay channels that Sky Signature gives. Sky sometimes offer this to customers when they are thinking of quitting Sky.

Sky don't see to have a page for "TV Essentials" anymore, but it is mentioned in the legal small print at the bottom of https://www.sky.com/mysky

Edit: The page is still there, but not easy to find - https://www.sky.com/help/articles/tv-essentials

Does "TV Essentials" allow you to view any apps such as Youtube ?

tomr182

Anybody have a better phone number to call? I got ‘the text’ about calling back about deals and called. 0333 202 2178 Is what I called. 

What they said makes no sense to me. They can’t review broadband deals as I’ve already signed to virgin even though it doesn’t begin for a month. 

They can’t give me any deals on TV unless I withdraw my cancellation, review the deals, and either sign up or begin the notice period afresh.