Digital TV Deals

I wound't normally post such a thing but its does seem like a good cheep offers, going if you have a good look around

For sky there is this: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/cheaper-sky-cheap-cable IF your fast could save pennies.

For the question is has be does anyone else use these helpful steps to get bargains? I get the feelings alot dont.


How to haggle – step-by-step

We've pulled out the top tips here, but for more see our full Haggle with Sky & more guide.

Benchmark the best buys

The first step is to ensure you know the type of price you should be looking to beat. New, hot customer offers abound on digital TV packages – you should aim for these.

Note down the best TV buys for the package you want using the best buy deals below. These packages often include broadband as well, but to benchmark broadband prices, see our Cheap Broadband guide for the cheapest bundled and standalone deals.

Then call your supplier near the time you're due to renew. Quote the best buys and ask for a price match.

Be polite and charming

Don't be aggressive. You've no right to a discount – just a right to leave. Think of it like financial flirting.

Good haggling is simply an exchange between two people trying to agree on a win/win deal. It should be done with seduction, a gentle patter and a touch of firmness. Aim for polite, firm and non-combative.

It's rumoured some operators have quotas on the discounts they can give, so make them want to give you a price cut.

Get put through to 'retentions'

If you're coming to the end of your contract, or are out of it, you’re wielding a powerful weapon: customer loyalty. Companies desperately want to keep you, so if they believe they'll lose you, you can often get much better deals.

If you don't get the deal you want from the first person you speak to, tell 'em you're considering leaving. Then you get put through to 'disconnections', which is really 'retentions'. It's this department's job to keep you, and it has more power deals.

Don't be forced to disconnect

If your bluff is called, and the deal isn’t good enough, then consider leaving. Yet don’t be forced into a corner to disconnect. An easy 'get out of jail free' card is to say: "I need to check with my husband/wife/dog etc first – I’ll call you back."

If you fail, try again

Don't assume one setback means a no. Wait a few days and try again. You may have been unlucky – the person you spoke to might have already hit a quota of discount deals, so it's worth trying again. Or maybe you talked to somebody in a bad mood, or perhaps you just didn’t use enough of your haggle charm.

£30 a month is dirt cheap, but like everything in this life, only you can work out whether it's worth it, for if you don't watch the sports channels for example, it's pointless having them. That's only for 12 months by the way.

At the current regular price of £80 a month that's going to top £1000 a year within the next two years easily, on top of your regular TV licence fee of £145.50 a year. There will surely come a point where the asking price becomes too much and the key figure is the customer churn rate - ie the people leaving the service. Sky can and do dish out discounts like confetti at a wedding though if you phone up...

Its the basic packages that should really be cheaper like ie £20, If sky had that, might just solve alot of there problems. ( Sky1, Kids, doc, music and other general rubbish. ) Movies channels have to fight with the likes of Netflix... While Sport as you say could start to price people out of viewing.

This is the first time Sky has done this type of offer. I know there were doing good offers on the new Q box, etc.

Sky do new customer deals all the time. Previously they were just dressed up as "Join Sky and get x% off for 12 months, we'll give you a box, we'll install it, show it you working, do the washing up and feed the cat" type offers. Now they seem to be giving away 32" TVs, free broadband, a free tablet, access to SkyQ and whatever else, all for £x a month.

Sky don't have problems as such, they might do when the football bubble bursts mind you, but that's another topic. The churn rate is low, subscriber numbers are up... Sky's advantage with movies is that it just airs them, plus you get them on-demand as well to your box, whereas Netflix one has to stream and that needs a decent internet connection in the first place to do that.

http://www.electroschematics.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/digital-tv.jpg



Mod Edit: Picture of Tesco value chicken* are now banned.

*Don't go posting Sainsbury stuff now!

http://www.electroschematics.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/digital-tv.jpg

No!

Sky's basic package is £20/month (or thereabouts).

That said, with new customer offers, it's far cheaper. I've just cancelled my subscription, and my wife's signed up - £110 through Quidco, plus a £100 prepaid MasterCard from Sky. It works out as £40 total for the first year - after which point, we'll probably cancel and sign up in my name again. The installer was rather pleased at the easy job he had...

The basic package is £20 a month, don't think it's gone up in price for a couple of years now.
Unfortunately to get anything else you have to have that and then everything else is built on top of it. Movies @ £17 a month, Sky Sports at about £28 a month , then HD £6 a month... there's £60 right there before you start looking at the variety or family pack.

Sadly there is little other service that comes close to it with the range of channels and IMO ease of use. And the way things are going it may become the exclusive home of anything that isn't on the protected list of sporting events.

I signed up to Sky back in 2014, took out half price TV on a 12 month contract and paid full price line rental and broadband unlimited, at the time it worked out cheaper than TalkTalk which was a no brainier for me. Last year I managed to near enough keep the same deal, albeit only for 10 months. This year despite my best trying to haggle on the phone, I took an email offer of 20% off TV for 12 months, so in effect I am paying more. Although I don't have as much time for TV these days I cannot fault the equipment, and I think I'd really miss the Sky+ function too much.

From what I was reading last week I think they've toned down the retentions offers lately, hence why the churn rate has increased. Interesting to see how long they'll take this stance for.

I had cable for years and I do miss it, where I live now is not cabled, but Sky is pretty decent, pathetic as it sounds.

If BT had Sky1,I'd seriously contemplate switching.

SkyQ is more expensive than the regular Sky+ and seems to want to be an all-in-one solution smart box. The blurb suggests you can do everything with it you can with a smart TV, which kind of defeats the point if you already have a smart TV. On the plus side, the new boxes look really nice, really dinky and what not.

Sky stopped supporting the older Sky boxes and now only support what is effectively one box series for Sky+ that had extra functionality tacked onto it with each revision and the new SkyQ boxes. How long before that gets withdrawn and we all get forced onto SkyQ and its higher prices do we reckon?

I've never seen any marketing comparing Sky Q with a smart TV. I've got two 'smart' TV's but on the whole they're pretty limited.

Incidentally, the retention deals I was offered were 25% off for 9 months; then 35% off for 12 months; then 50% off for 12 months.