It is NOT cheaper than
Sky. In fact, as I've stated many times before to apparently disbelieving audiences,
Sky is extremely good value comparatively speaking. No other European market offers the range of channels and digital features offered by
Sky.
Take the Dutch package for instance.
The "basic" package only gives you the two C+ channels - Rood & Blauw - plus the widescreen C+16:9 over and beyond the stuff that 95% of the country get on cable (and it in fact it gives you less since the cable packages include many channles - not least BBC1 & 2 - which are not available in the Dutch satellite package at all). For the 3 extra channels, you pay € 26,80 per month, being 19 of your earth pounds. By comparison, the "family" package from
Sky gives more than a hundred extra channels for less per month.
The most expensive "Top" Canal Digitaal package here costs € 46,50 per month (GBP 33). That gives 19 channels and some games.
The Brits don't know they're born! They get time-shift variants of many major channels (Discovery+1, UKgold+1, etc); they get a vast array of music and sports channels; huge (and I mean HUGE) numbers of movie PPV channels.
And they get all those interactive features, games, shopping, multi-screen news, etc etc. None of that (except for a few games) is available from Canal Digitaal in Holland...
Oh, and it's all in their own mother tongue, too...!
2old