Leaving Sky Tv - Box Query 3 January 2019 at 10:12PM in TV MoneySaving 27 replies 2.7K views

hammersfaniow

Have kept my broadband throughSky at just under £20 per month but have cancelled my tv deal, which had sports & movies - I was paying £31pm and it was due to go up to £48pm so I’ll just have the free view channels.

Does anyone know if you can still use the functions such as recording, live pause etc on the sky box after my tv deal has finished ?

Thanks in advance

Cornucopia

hammersfaniow wrote: »

Does anyone know if you can still use the functions such as recording, live pause etc on the sky box after my tv deal has finished ?

Simple answer - no.

If you want to record/pause etc. using your Satellite dish, have a look at Freesat (and a Freesat Set-top Box).

SandraX

As post 2 as that is what makes sky hd, sky q, etc.

hammersfaniow

Thanks for that, at least I know now. I’m assuming that I’ll still be able to use the catch up tv, iPlayer and that sort of thing. No doubt I’ll get a call from Sky about 2 days before my deal expires !

Browntoa

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4487259&highlight=freesat

hammersfaniow

Cornucopia wrote: »

Simple answer - no.

If you want to record/pause etc. using your Satellite dish, have a look at Freesat (and a Freesat Set-top Box).

Apparently you can’t record, pause etc with a Freesat box

Cornucopia

hammersfaniow wrote: »

Apparently you can’t record, pause etc with a Freesat box

Their capabilities vary, but something like this will definitely record:-

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/4252476

hammersfaniow

For £199 I might as well just get the basic Sky package which costs £15pm for 300+ channels. Although I get that the £199 is only a one off payment, decisions eh !

Cornucopia

You pays your money...

This question comes up a lot in this sub-forum, and it broadly stacks up like this:-

- If you want recording capability, you'll need Sky, VM, Freesat (with a suitable box) or Freeview (with a suitable box). Some TVs can record to a memory stick, but their tuner/timer/EPG capabilities are often not that great. (Some other providers - BT, EE, Talktalk, Plusnet - also offer TV options that are based around a bundled Freeview/Youview box that attracts a subscription cost).

- Of the above, Freeview is probably cheapest in terms of equipment cost, IF you already have a functional outdoor aerial (recording boxes start from just over £100).

- Overall cheapest options (assuming you either want cheap pay TV, or you have no aerial or dish currently at your home but do have good broadband) will be streaming options: Amazon, Netflix or Now TV. These will entail watching in a completely different way, being mainly concerned with catch-up/video on demand rather than TV channels. (Now TV does carry a selection of live channels - they can be paused but not recorded). Equipment starts from around £15, and Pay Content subs are below £10pm. Most equipment can be operated solely for free content (therefore no subs) and that would normally get BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, All 4, Demand 5, UKTV Player and Youtube (though devices vary).

[Deleted User]

hammersfaniow wrote: »

Apparently you can’t record, pause etc with a Freesat box

News to me.
I dumped Sky back in 2009 for Freesat and have had all those features since day one.
So 9 years of no Sky payments for a one off payment for a Freesat box.
That is "money saving expert" advice. :T

hammersfaniow

Obviously with their recording boxes you can, but the majority of their boxes (the ones under £199) you can’t