Sky alternatives

[AndyP & Lenore]

After two recent incidents with Sky we're thinking of ditching them and replacing their service with a mixture of free-to-air products and subscription supplied download services. We're currently paying about £80 a month for the full sky package.

Here's some meandering thoughts...

I need to pay for the full Sport package because I watch a LOT of tennis and all the Masters events are spread across SKy Sports 1, 2, 3 & 4. Three of the slams are covered by other sports channels which I can either get free-to-air or pay a subscription for. The US Open is covered by Sky and I'm not sure who I could get that from, would need to look into it.

We have the full movies package, but I'm thinking we could just subscribe to a Net Flix type of service.

We have the full world package - if that's what it's called - which includes Sky Atlantic and Sky One etc... None of these channels we watch any more anyway. Used to watch Lost and Fringe on Sky Atlantic, now they are done there's not much left anyway.

We have infinity at home so the pay-on-demand service for downloading movies (LEGALLY ) should work fine. And the live streaming of sports should be fine also.

Does anyone know if you can have a Sky box running the free to air "Freeview" channels, BBC, ITV etc - in HD - without paying anything to Sky? Or do they still charge for the "free" HD channels?

Interested to hear others opinions and experiences...

Andy

[Gismo]

Andy, when we moved to the USA we obviously cancelled our Sky package, when it was switched off we were able to watch the "normal" tv channels without any payment to Sky

If you are ever worried about missing some tv series, wait for the DVD's to come out, much better, cheaper, better picture and no adverts

[Craig]

sky Freesat ?

http://www.sky.com/shop/freesat/home/what-can-i-watch/

[AndyP & Lenore]

I find you can stream most footie games via the internet, not sure if you can do the same with tennis though. I'd imagine though given your line of work you won't want to do this as I think a lot of the streaming sites are of questionable 'ethics' if not plain illegal.

Beyond that we go with a Blockbuster postal subscription for our movies, we don't visit the cinema much as most of the local cinemas are the faceless corporate multiplexes. Plus I've got a great full HD 7.2 setup at home which means I can get a similar experience at home whilst sat in my PJs. Our broadband is only 3.5Mb so downloading movies in decent enough quality to use the home cinema is a no no.

I find that threatening to cancel sky on a regular basis means you never have to pay full price, ever. We currently get the basic channel package just for the Sky+, costs us £10.75.

- - - Updated - - -

Most of the free HD channels are available for free, but remember the Sky+ service will cost you money unless you have the basic package.

All good points Paul.

The ATP have their own live streaming service called TennisTV.com. I used to subscribe to it before we switched Sky Sports on, but at that time the service was pretty questionable and our own download speed was a bit iffy, so it was difficult to know who to blame. I believe from others that it is now a great service and you can even download games from previous days. And at £90 a year it seems like a no-brainer.

But you're right, I won't download or stream anything I haven't paid for. I'm aware of free streaming services and (purely out of curiosity) I've looked at them in the past and the image quality is truly awful and the commentary was in some Asian language - and that wasn't during the Asian swing, I think it was Rolex masters, Monte Carlo.

Am I right in thinking it's £10 a month for the "Sky +" service? No way MrsP could manage without a very good recording service.

[AndyP & Lenore]

sky Freesat ?

http://www.sky.com/shop/freesat/home/what-can-i-watch/

Cheers Craig. Will have a look at that. On first glance it doesn't look like you get the "+" service for recording.

[john]

I have Freesat, HD, I bought the. Box but I have to pay Zero per month, you can also pay zero annually its up to the individual

[AndyP & Lenore]

I have Freesat, HD, I bought the. Box but I have to pay Zero per month, you can also pay zero annually its up to the individual

John do you get the Sky+ feature with that so you can record programs? If not, how do you record programs?

Loving the idea of £zero a month for a couple of years.

[john]

I can pause record and rewind just like sky plus

[weefossy]

Andy, interesting thread. I'm thinking along the same lines as yourself, because of my hate of Sky. They make it so easy, at a price, but I just feel so trapped. We don't have the movies but we have all the sport, but have just read that ESPN and it's Premiership football is going to BT vision next season. On that point I've just installed a BT Vison box and that has the BBc etc HD channells and it has an easy recording facility. that might be an option for you? I would love to be able to get football from overseas channels like the do in Tenerefe etc, as I'm not worried about listening to all the pundets. Does anyone know, is Sky sports a monopoly to Sky or can you pay for it through any other means?

[AndyP & Lenore]

I can pause record and rewind just like sky plus

Hmmmm....:scratch::scratch:

Can you record two channels at once?

[john]

Yes

[weefossy]

You can on BT vision, plus you have "pay on demand" which I haven't used yet.

[AndyP & Lenore]

Andy, interesting thread. I'm thinking along the same lines as yourself, because of my hate of Sky. They make it so easy, at a price, but I just feel so trapped. We don't have the movies but we have all the sport, but have just read that ESPN and it's Premiership football is going to BT vision next season. On that point I've just installed a BT Vison box and that has the BBc etc HD channells and it has an easy recording facility. that might be an option for you? I would love to be able to get football from overseas channels like the do in Tenerefe etc, as I'm not worried about listening to all the pundets. Does anyone know, is Sky sports a monopoly to Sky or can you pay for it through any other means?

I seem to recall Sky were told to make a couple of their sports channels available to other media suppliers. So, I'm pretty sure you can get Sky Sports 1 & 2 from the likes fo BT Vision and Freesat etc. BUT!!! (I can't speak for footy here because I don't watch it) but when I'm watching a tennis tournament over the course of a week or so, they regularly have Friday's matches on Sky Sports 1, Saturdays on 4, Sundays on 2 etc. No use having just the two sports channels for me. One of the reasons I'm seriously considering Tennistv.com. Will get all the matches all the time.

But, thanks for reminding me about BT Vision, I'm off to have a look at that now. :thumbs up::thumbs up:

[weefossy]

Andy, think you get a £200 box for £5 a month contract. you only need to keep the contract going 2 years (24 x £5 = £120) and then you can cancel and keep the box. We got it for £3 a month, because the on line sales guy cut our other BT costs by £2. Think they had been over charging us for years!!

[AndyP & Lenore]

Malcolm it seems BT have two "services"... "YouView from BT" and "Vision + from BT" I'd want a combination of both packages which you can't have. Sigh. The search continues.

[Scottie]

BT Vision do not do HD and is rubbish compared to SKY TBH. We cancelled Sky and went free and then BT Vision for a period over 12 months and couldn't wait to get back to Sky. We have all the bells and whistles package sports movies blah blah blah including phone and broadband and pay £57per month for the lot. However I've no idea about cable maybe that's a option for you.

[AndyP & Lenore]

Well, I'm going to try the bluff game first, call them and have a moan that I'm unhappy with the service for what we are paying. All completely true. It will only get sticky if they call my bluff and say "OK. byeeee." Which I'm sure they've done before.

[AndyP & Lenore]

Andy, one final point, I spent ages looking for a viable alternative to Sky and didn't find one.

They really do have the market pretty well cornered, don't they. Every other option I've looked at has been a diluted version of what they offer. But, we may just be ready to tell them to stuff it anyway and go down the diluted route. It will be more awkward but we would get used to it.

Cable is not an option for us - no Virgin Media cable coverage in the Scottish Borders.

[Tam1314]

Just seen an advert for "Pay as you Go" for Sky Sports on the telly. £9 for a day pass