Sky TV to increase subscription prices by 10% from September

[chris]

Cnet is reporting that BSkyB is going to increase subscription prices by 10% from 1st September this is after an 18% increase on their telephone line rental back in December. I would think SKY are going to need to take on some extra staff to handle the cancellation calls as the prices are now getting ridiculous for a load of repeated TV.

 

[Lazarus]

Agreed. Slowly, but surely, people who previously equated Satellite TV to BSkyB are becoming aware that a great deal of what they watch is Free To Air anyway. Yes, there are many who really want Sports and other Premium services, but at the end of the day, our excellent (In relative terms, anyway!) Public Service Broadcasters remain central to viewing figures and nobody needs BSkyB for that.

*od 'em!

 

[Mickha]

When you compare Sky UK , to other broadcasters, I'm amazed more of their customers don't complain. I was discussing Game of Thrones, with a friend, and was surprised to hear that, on Sky, they have advertising breaks, during the episodes, compare that to most other, foreign, broadcasters, and their customers wouldn't stand for it.
Considering how much subscribers are charged you'd think there wouldn't be a need for so many advert breaks.

 

[trigger]

Maybe it's also to cover the loss of customers when 2E goes live (in September - maybe).
IF 2E takes over all of 2A with no coverage for the Canaries (as 2F most probably doesn't have) then there will be a huge amount of customers cancelling their subscription as there will be very little worth paying for.
I know some don't think that the Canaries are a big thing but there will be maybe 5,000 subs here (£55/month x 12 months x 5k subs = £3.3 Million) across the islands. I would bet that the 5,000 is more likely 20,000 (£13.2Million) so will be a real chunk of revenue that needs to be recouped.

Just throwing that out there

 

[Ghostleader]

When you compare Sky UK , to other broadcasters, I'm amazed more of their customers don't complain. I was discussing Game of Thrones, with a friend, and was surprised to hear that, on Sky, they have advertising breaks, during the episodes, compare that to most other, foreign, broadcasters, and their customers wouldn't stand for it.
Considering how much subscribers are charged you'd think there wouldn't be a need for so many advert breaks.

Here, here, Pure greed, subs are well ott AND they have all the bloody adverts!!

 

[Ghostleader]

Trigger thats something to consider as well mate.

 

[timo_w2s]

I'm thinking of dropping down to the minimum package in September. I refuse to pay extra for HD too. I may even end up cancelling altogether when Astra 2A and Eutelsat are shut down as they are the only satellites I can get on my setup in Helsinki. I'm keeping an eye open for an alternative European package - just in case.

 

[Agorima]

It's the typical Sky style.
They continue to rise the prices despite of the ongoing crysis, in order to watch many crap movies from Hollywood, the bloody (and possibly doped) football, the same documentaries, and so on.
Don't forget that Sky is in a conflict of interests, operating as a satellite provider and also as an ISP.
They definitely deserve to go out of business.

 

[PaulR]

Talking of $ly as an ISP, I am now a customer of theirs after O2 sold their telephony and brosdband business to them. Now I have been very happy with O2; I'm fairly close to my exchange and regularly get 12 - 16 Mbps download speed. I've also sacrificed a little of that download speed to increase the upload speed (I run a Slingbox here)to 1.5 - 1.6 Mbps. All pretty good for ADSL and I was willing to waituntil fibre is installed at my exchange (2014 sometime - boo, hiss).

Anyway, everyone will be migrated regardless in the autumn but I have received calls from $ly to get me to switch now. They're offering a free 12 month TV subscription and free broadband for just the cost of the phone line rental. I've told them I'm not interested in the TV and I'd think about the phone/broadband.

They're obviously hoping that I would continue to take their TV after the 12 months is up but it just shows what they're prepared to spend to catch a customer.

 

[Topper]

Well now they are going to find out how much they will have to spend to keep this consumer

What with yet another price hike and soon to force people to use an HD box whether they like it or not....the time is nigh

 

[Captain Jack]

I'm thinking of dropping down to the minimum package in September. I refuse to pay extra for HD too. I may even end up cancelling altogether when Astra 2A and Eutelsat are shut down as they are the only satellites I can get on my setup in Helsinki. I'm keeping an eye open for an alternative European package - just in case.

At least you have a choice of Viasat and C+ over there - both decent packages IMO.

 

[timo_w2s]

At least you have a choice of Viasat and C+ over there - both decent packages IMO.

Yes, quite lucky in that respect, although there are not many channels on Viasat that interest me. Canal Digital has BBC Entertainment and BBC HD which would help ease the pain of losing Dave/Watch/Gold. Now if only Comedy Central UK was available in Finland I could cancel Sky right away.

 

[Piltdownpaul]

I cancelled my sky package maybe 10 years ago now. The package i had was the cheapest at the time £16 quid a month. When we added up just what we were paying a year for what you had available with repeats and adverts we couldnt warrant it. If you complain as i did, i got the usual banter, oh we have new channels starting and we have new programs starting etc. But they arent making programmes , they're just buying them from America and poor ones at that in my opinion so that was that really.

 

[rolfw]

I cancelled my sky package maybe 10 years ago now. The package i had was the cheapest at the time £16 quid a month. When we added up just what we were paying a year for what you had available with repeats and adverts we couldnt warrant it. If you complain as i did, i got the usual banter, oh we have new channels starting and we have new programs starting etc. But they arent making programmes , they're just buying them from America and poor ones at that in my opinion so that was that really.

Not strictly correct Paul, they are actually making quite a bit of TV these days and some halfway reasonable shows at that, do think that it's a bad time to put up prices though.

 

[Piltdownpaul]

Not strictly correct Paul, they are actually making quite a bit of TV these days and some halfway reasonable shows at that, do think that it's a bad time to put up prices though.

What i meant to say really was at the time of cancelling not at the moment as not having sky i wouldnt know at the present time.

 

[Huevos]

IF 2E takes over all of 2A with no coverage for the Canaries (as 2F most probably doesn't have) then there will be a huge amount of customers cancelling their subscription as there will be very little worth paying for.
I know some don't think that the Canaries are a big thing but there will be maybe 5,000 subs here (£55/month x 12 months x 5k subs = £3.3 Million) across the islands.

Canaries are irrelevant. 5000 subs out of 10 million is 0.05%. And anyway BSkyB are increasing subscribers by more than 1000 a day. Also, people in the Canaries don't sign up for phone and broadband so they are not such interesting customers.

 

[2cvbloke]

I haven't had $ky for several years, I keep thinking of gettng it, then I see the prices they want for stuff I don't want, and I remember that it's easier and cheaper to buy the DVDs or download the stuff I want...

It will come to a point where they'll go to a price where most of their customers will end up just leaving for alternative services, such as BT Vision, Virgin and (legal) streaming TV services, or just realising there's more to life than just sitting round watching adverts for PPI claims, comparison websites and women's perfumes...

 

[Lazarus]

It beats me how many people are seemingly able to afford such a service anyway. I don't smoke or go to pubs or anything like that and still don't have enough discretionary spending available for BSky to get a cut. I suppose I could give up holidays, or food!



(I'm quite interested in the Women's Perfumes, though ......................... )

 

[Huevos]

enough discretionary spending available for BSky to get a cut. I suppose I could give up holidays, or food!

Or earn more money... about 50p/hour more based on a 40 hour working week, which is about 5% of the median wage before tax. :-hide

 

[Lazarus]

I'm Retired and very happy indeed with my financial state, thankyou, even though it's way below what our Government considers to be the Poverty Line. More than meets our needs. It would be a sad day indeed to feel obliged to climb back on the bandwagon just for a few somewhat dubious luxuries.

There's far more to life than the relentless acquisition of money and material assets - even worse is that a good number of those relatively wealthy (for indeed they are) people who can shell out for Subscription TV are the very same who go on and on about recession, their declining living standards etc and want us to feel sorry for them. Some Education in Budgeting and setting priorities wouldn't go amiss.

No, a simple life with modest material aspirations has much to commend it.

And to be frank, even if I were one of the happy-go-lucky money grabbing majority, I probably wouldn't bother with Sky anyway. One has to exercise a little taste, don't you think?

There are, however, a great many people whose circumstances and/or abilities are such that they simply cannot even contemplate forking out for Sky and I have no doubt that of the apparently ever growing number of Subscribers there are those who actually really cannot afford it.