To look for an alternative to Sky?

[Florene]

I have had Sky TV for around 8 years, and paid varying amounts for it within that time. I don't really watch that much TV, but partner loves sport, and the last two years I managed to get basic Sky + sports for £20 per month, so was happy with that.

This year Sky will not continue with this price, and so I have cancelled. All is fine, but I am missing the functions of the box such as live pause, record, catch-up etc.

I am also aware that there is a whole new world out there of box sets, series on demand, which I have never explored.

What should I be looking for? Can I get sports as well or do Sky really truly have the monopoly on them?

Advice gratefully received... 📺

You can buy Freesat boxes that allow for the recording functionality of sky+.

As for sports/box sets etc, have a look at now tv to see if that will suit you. If you have an xbox or similar you'll be able to access, or just get a now tv box.

It gives access to sky sports/cinema/kids channels and box sets on a pay monthly basis. I get the films package which is apparently 9.99 a month, but every 3 months when they threaten to increase the cost from the 3.99 intro offer I go onto the website, hit cancel and get about four "are you sure? are you really sure?" messages before being offered another 3 months at 3.99.... has worked for about 2 years now.

Thanks very much. Have had a look at Now TV which seems ideal, except for the sports cost of £33 per month!

I guess Sky do have the monopoly on sport

We cancelled Sky, switched to Vodafone broadband and got a youview and now tv box, but we don't bother with sports and I don't think it's worth £30 a month

You can get sports with BT and Virgin.

I think I am looking for the impossible, i.e. the £20 per month inc. sports that I was happy with when I had Sky!

Anything but virgin. I spend half my sodding life on the phone to them - beyond useless and shit!!

I feel your pain OP. We LOVE the ease of sky, recording, on demand and catch up. Have discovered box sets and occasionally get a free box office so even though we spend ££ on the full package I do finally feel that we're getting our money's worth.

Meant to say we would move but can't find a provider that offers the same.

We moved to virgin. Have never had an issue and was much cheaper

Go and watch some sport in person, perhaps?

Sport is the real issue I guess. We cancelled our sky because our signal was rubbish, got Now Tv (I think we pay £7/ month or so) and Netflix and don't miss it at all!

Virgin are terrible & I find more expensive than sky for less channels. My contract is up next month & im leaving virgin, going to get a free view box, now TV for sky Atlantic & a fire stick

We ended up paying about half what we were paying with sky when we went to virgin. Also use Amazon prime tv and now tv

Do not go to Virgin!
Awful!

If you’ve cancelled you can expect several phone calls from sky offering you ever cheaper packages. We eventually got to them offering us 6 months for free before I persuaded them that we really didn’t want a tv package anymore.

I have a package with BT for tv, broadband and phone line rental which is about £40 a month ish including sports.

Who do you get broadband from?
The MSE guides are useful.
www.moneysavingexpert.com/tv/

Cancelled sky. Went to BT for 18 months (introductory offer). Cancelled that when out of contract and hiked up prices. Kept youview boxes (record pause rewind etc). Switched to vodaphobe broadband £30 month). Have Netflix and now tv which we cancel/ reactivate on an as needed/ wanted basis. Worth trying now tv for sports if there's particular event or team playing? I've found they do offers if you say you are going to cancel a month... for example got now tv cinema pass on free 14 day trial when DS had chicken pox. Kept it for an extra month at £9.99. When I went to cancel for the next month and it asked why price / selection etc. I selected price - I got an offer of it for 4.99 a month for 4 months. So half price.

@Forallthesaints Watching premier league football in person will cost significantly more than the £20 per month or I would!

@Arbitraryname I was hoping for the discounted phone calls but they haven't called me at all since I cancelled! Maybe they are playing hard ball....

We're similar to ohidoliketobe. Bought a Youview box outright (can pause live tv, series record, various apps for catch up.) Plus we dip in and out of Netflix, Amazon and Now tv according to what we want to watch. Spend about £16 per month on average.

No idea about the sport side though, we don't watch it.

You can all relax - I can't get Virgin in my area!

Am in contract for broadband with Post Office for about another year I think, so no dual deal to be had unfortunately...

I might take all your advice and try the Now TV with sports pass, and see if they reduce it after the introductory period if I cancel. Fingers crossed...

If you have your mobile phone on contact can you see if they offer any deals?
I get free Netflix with mine and my DH gets free NowTv (which has access to lots of the sky channels). We have freeview/Internet TV and an AppleTV. We can download Netflix via the TV and send both Netflix and now TV via our phones to the AppleTV. We occasionally upgrade the NowTV to the films package if they have a deal on over the Christmas or summer holidays.