Free Sky weekend on Freeview

Sky Weekend PassThis weekend (11-13th Feb 2011), Sky will be offering a free weekend pass to Freeview, BT Vision and Top Up TV customers.

Sky will be broadcasting a showcase of some of their key programmes on the Sky 3 channel, which is free-to-air on Freeview channel 11.

On Friday the 11th, shows broadcast will include Karl Pilkington’s An Idiot Abroad, as well as Cougar Town and Got To Dance. Sky will also show the first episode of their new drama Mad Dogs.

On Saturday the 12th,there’s spy thriller Body of Lies (for fans of Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe), and footy fans will be able to watch Soccer AM and Gillette Soccer Saturday, two shows normally available on subscription only.

Lastly, the lineup for Sunday the 13th will include a double bill of the gangsters, corruption and booze-fest that is Boardwalk Empire. This series has recently premiered on Sky Atlantic (the new HBO channel launched at the start of the month)

Clearly, the free-pass weekend is offering a good collection of Sky’s premium content in an attempt to convert Freeview viewers over to the world of pay TV. Regardless of your feelings for Sky and subscription TV, set your recorders to Sky 3 from Friday to get a taste of what’s behind the Sky TV paywall.

In the event you’re tempted to sign up to Sky by this weekend’s freebie shows, note that Sky’s running some decent online offers at the moment, including a free Sky+ box, inclusive broadband and either a £25 or a £50 Marks and Spencer voucher (for a limited time) – See the Sky Offers page for the details, or go to www.sky.com/shop/tv.

Nice freebie from Sky, or cynical ploy to tempt customers to part with £19.50 a month? Have your say below!

As an aside: note that Sky 3 will be renamed to Pick TV at the end of February 2011
http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/news/2011/02/free-sky-weekend-on-freeview.html

The stated point of Sky 3 (when it launched) was to tempt people in to a Sky package. It's bloody obvious this is the case here too (just like the MTV on TMF weekend(s?) were).

As it happens, the programming doesn't look as good this time as before.

Perhaps Sky should be looking towards tempting back former customers who have deserted them for Freesat, but are still using Sky equipment.

The current minimum package is £19.50 per month, which is an expensive commitment to many at the moment.

Maybe they should tempt people back into the fold of pay-tv by creating a 'lite pack' of just a few basic channels at £10 per month, but with the Sky+ functionality restored (which is disabled if you end your subscription completely).

Something like that might be a more attractive option for many, and also a permanent way of tempting people to increase their subscription rather than these occasional 'free weekend passes'.

Sky's just passed the 10m mark - I'm sure they're happy with their pricing structure.

I think it would probably be more likely to encourage current subscribers to downgrade than it would non-subscribers to become subscribers.

I got a 'Do Not Disturb' door hanger branded with Free Weekend Pass things from one of those Sky booths in shopping centres.

[media:8c568d01f6]http://up.metropol247.co.uk/Jonny/sky3%20fwp11.flv[/media:8c568d01f6]

If they were serious about this offering they'd have put some live sport on again, as they did with a rugby match previously.

Gah! I cannot abide it they say "Jeff and the boys" when talking about Soccer Saturday. It makes me cringe everytime for some reason.

Obviously it's a bit of a balancing act but Sky3 certainly isn't much of a promotional tool lately, mainly sticking to low rate crap like Road Wars, Road Wars and Road Wars - even the practice of showing Sky's US shows a couple of years after they've ended seems to be long gone. Also still questionable whether removing the 24 hour ad for Sky Sports was wise too - though it's probably fair to say Sky doesn't exactly need Freeview's help to meet subscriber targets.

My dad and myself cannot get channel 11 on our Freeview sets. I have a Skybox in my room, my parents in the back room don't, but do so in the living room. I've done a rescan, no joy. We're served off Craigkelly. Any ideas what's wrong?