What to choose (sky, netflix, Prime/firestick etc) - Help!

Squiggly_Diddly

Hi, I'm looking for a bit of guidance/advice please... I'm due to move house at the end of this month and think it's a good time to assess whether what I currently have TV wise is the best option, or if I can find something better (and if so, then what?!). Apologies in advance for the length of this!!

I currently have Sky (not Sky Q). An HD capable box downstairs, and two boxes upstairs (one HD, one not). I have multiroom on one of the upstairs boxes (my adult daughter's). Mine is used as a freeview box. This sort of arrangement suits me although I am considering adding multiroom to my box too. I have the 'original bundle' tv package which is discounted to just under £15 p/m (I need to check how much longer but I think for several more months at least). No HD subscription. I could add Box Sets for £5 pm and/or Cinema for £10 pm. I do use the Sky+ features downstairs.

I don't have an ipad and don't tend to watch TV 'on the move' anywhere despite having the choice to through Sky Go Extra (I think that's which facility it is!).

However, I wonder if I would be better cancelling my TV packages when I move, and using a different service such as Netflix or getting a Firestick? (I have amazon prime until the summer but no additional subscriptions). I do like to watch movies and would most likely also watch the box sets options if they were available. I also like the Good Food channel, and Comedy Central.

So, the problem being that I really don't quite understand which service provides what and for how much (and how they work) and whether they are better choices than Sky. Also, can I buy a 'recording' type of box similar to the Sky one that can be used without a subscription for that feature?

Sorry for the length of this - any suggestions much appreciated!!

Neil_Jones

You can get Freesat recorders which will emulate the Sky+ experience, though it will never be 100% the same, but the basic principle is there. They use the same dish and cable you have now for Sky.

Netflix, Amazon/Firestick and NowTV are all web streaming services, they don' allow you to record but everything is on demand through your internet connection. You can use your Amazon Prime through the Firestick to get the bulk of the content.

Comedy Central is available on NowTV but Good Food is only on Sky, Virgin, TalkTalk and BT (and TVPlayer with a Plus max subscription, which also carries Good Food in the same package).

You could mix and match if you wanted to - NowTV gives you Sky Cinema and its just £10 a month and use the Firestick for Amazon Prime and Netflix (you won't get Netflix on Sky or NowTV). Amazon Prime works out IIRC £80 a year or £6.66 a month, Netflix £5.99 a month and then Now TV Cinema £10 a month (this can be reduced if you know how). £22.65 a month plus your internet/phone fees. This is flexible so if you move house, just take the lot with you and update your billing address for the next payment, or you can take your Firestick to a hotel and use Wi-Fi to watch there. Try taking your Sky dish into a hotel

NowTV has some box sets, similar to Sky though the range isn't as great and it gets cycled regularly so you may find you're halfway through something and it suddenly expires.

Blondetotty

I used to pay for Sky, had a bells and whistles package which was costing me £80 plus a month (obs that included broadband). When I moved from the south coast up to Manchester for work 2 years ago I cancelled everything, took a new unlimited superfast fibre broadband contract out with Virgin for 30 quid a month and decided to not take any TV packages.


Instead I currently subscribe on a rolling month basis to Now TV entertainment and movies (£10 & £7 a month each) and Amazon Prime which gets me their movies and TV (£8 a month). My partner pays for his Netflix and we share an account so I don't pay for this but if I did I believe it is about £5 a month. As I don't watch or record live TV or watch any of the BBC channels and only watch on demand programming I also save myself £12 a month for a TV licence although I will say that despite "signing" untold numbers of declarations saying I don't need a licence I still get threatening letters every few months saying they understand my circumstances have changed blah blah. I just go in and re-sign a new declaration.


This works for me but I tend to be a movie gal or box-set binger so it saves me a huge amount of money and I don't feel I miss out on anything, however if you want to watch particular shows when they're on and need to keep up with everything then it may not work for you. I know my colleague next to me in the office HAD to watch Bake off when it was broadcast but tbh I don't really care if someone messed up their crumpets on live tv or not!

[Deleted User]

I got NowTv cinema pass £8 a month for 4 months and entertainment for £3.49 a month for 4 months, Netflix 2 screens for £7.99 a month and Amazon instant video at £5.99 a month, a freesat PVR for all the free channels. There are 5 of us here so plenty of enetertainment for all.
We never need to buy dvds so save money that way. I couldn!!!8217;t do with a tvl as I do like to watch the news and quite a lot of bbc content and any tv we record so we dont watch adverts.
The best of all worlds for £26 a month plus TV licennse is pretty good.

AndyBSG

Recently switched from Virgin to Sky Q.

Biggest thing I noticed is the BB speed is significantly slower.

I went with a full phone, TV and BB package but it was only a pretty basic one with the original TV bundle, sky fibre unlimited and the basic phone package. I also went with the multiscreen package

My bill breaks down as

Sky TV original - £11.00
Sky Q Multiscreen - £12.00
Sky Talk Line Rental - £18.99
Sky Fibre Limited - £20.00

Total - £61.99

The big advantage for me with Sky Q is that you don't need to run any wires for additional boxes and also you can add as many boxes as you want with no increase in monthly cost, you just pay a one off fee to purchase the extra boxes.

I also have the basic Netflix account and find that between those two I have access to pretty much all that I want.

Inner_Zone

AndyBSG wrote: »

Recently switched from Virgin to Sky Q.

Biggest thing I noticed is the BB speed is significantly slower.

I went with a full phone, TV and BB package but it was only a pretty basic one with the original TV bundle, sky fibre unlimited and the basic phone package. I also went with the multiscreen package

My bill breaks down as

Sky TV original - £11.00
Sky Q Multiscreen - £12.00
Sky Talk Line Rental - £18.99
Sky Fibre Limited - £20.00

Total - £61.99

The big advantage for me with Sky Q is that you don't need to run any wires for additional boxes and also you can add as many boxes as you want with no increase in monthly cost, you just pay a one off fee to purchase the extra boxes.

I also have the basic Netflix account and find that between those two I have access to pretty much all that I want.

Actually you are limited to four mini boxes per account. And although you pay for them you never own them.

[Deleted User]

Inner_Zone wrote: »

Actually you are limited to four mini boxes per account. And although you pay for them you never own them.

The 4 mini boxes is a recommendation rather than a solid limit, presumably because the main box processes everything?

That said I got one of their letters this week offering a 2TB box for an additional £12 a month for 18 months (£216 total) plus a £65 setup fee. They seem to imply that you don't get a mini box with this deal as they offer the first extra box at £50 upfront (so you're paying for multiroom without the capability unless you stump up another £50).

In the small print though they say that only 2 mini boxes can be used concurrently (plus presumably the main box) so Sky Q looks increasingly, strangely limited to me.

bertiewhite

We got rid of SKY and watch Netflix through a Firestick as well as the usual catch/on demand channels like iplayer, More4 etc. I watch more through the firestick than I ever did through SKY.

anfywills

whats on a fire stick?

Neil_Jones

anfywills wrote: »

whats on a fire stick?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stick-Alexa-Remote-Streaming-Player/dp/B01ETRIFOW

All the catch-up services BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Netflix, some other stuff all documented above.

telemarks

Neil_Jones wrote: »

You can get Freesat recorders which will emulate the Sky+ experience, though it will never be 100% the same, but the basic principle is there. They use the same dish and cable you have now for Sky.

We are BIG fans of FreeSat HD+ a great free service. That combined with alternating Netfix or Prime subscriptions for Movie catchups works for us.