Talk to me about giving up Sky tv...

[ISeeDeadDandelions]

I currently pay about £80 a month for Sky tv/broadband/landline. I could really do with cutting that back a bit, but I don't know where to start!

My tv isn't anywhere by an aerial socket so I guess I would just have to stream tv without an aerial, so I'd need a good broadband package, that's fine. But is there a way to keep my viewing habits the same as I watch with sky, essentially recording everything and watching it back later?

All we watch "live" is maybe bbc breakfast and CBeebies... can you stream live tv rather than having it through an aerial??

Help me please!

I stifled to give up sky until I got a smart tv. It will record live tv and has an the catch up apps already Netflix already installed.

It does need an ariel tho. I just got a really long one and put it round the room under the carpet where it isn't seen

Now tv is still sky but a fraction of the cost. I got myself a smart tv with all the apps, switched to a faster broadband with my mobile provider and then look for offers on now tv, amazon etc. I’ve saved about 60% on the amount I was spending with sky.
Also look around for broadband without line rental, I don’t use my home phone line to make calls and hated having to pay sky £12 a month to rent the line. My broadband now is faster and no line rental charge. The smart tv records direct.
I’ve also changed the way I watch tv and now binge watch series and don’t do so much recording.

I tried and failed to give up sky!

I had multiroom which wasn't needed so l cut the package down to just one box which l put in my bedroom. The TV'S downstairs are Smart Tv so can get Netflix if the DC get REALLY bored. Currently they haven't noticed it gone as they don't watch TV.

I'm paying £15 for their basic sky TV package and £50 for broadband and landline via BT.

I found out when my contract with them ended; and gave 31 days notice.

I then shopped around using comparison sites / Martin Lewis for broadband. Took broadband out so they took over from my sky

Sky then called me offering me 60% off my tv package

I pay £11 p/m broadband from Post Office and £12 for sky tv

Wow, looks like I should be able to get it for a lot less then. There is an ancient aerial in my loft, do you need a new one to get freebies does anyone know? I don't even know if it's connected to the aerial socket downstairs after so many years. Have a feeling it may not be...

You can certainly stream all the main channels live (bbc, itv, channel 4). Don't know about others. BBC also has a nice feature where you can return to the start of the current programme. You can watch pretty much everything on demand (think it's just some sports that don't get shown on demand), or if you want to be able to record still then you can get freeview boxes that allow that, but you'll need an aerial.

I got rid of virgin media about 3 years ago when i got a smart TV, Netflix costs me £5.99 per month and Now TV about £2.60. Great savings.

I gave it up

I have a smart TV

Now TV with entertainment, kids and movies
Amazon prime TV
Netflix

Mostly we watch freeview or freeview catch-up such as 4od

We got rid of Sky too. We just have Now TV boxes attached to our old TV's (£20 per box from Argos) which has all the on demand apps on to effectively turn them into smart TVs (no need for an arial). It also has the Netflix app on so we then pay £8.99 for Netflix on two TVs. It's a huge saving for us, we were paying £45 per month for Sky. We don't miss it at all, there's so much to watch on demand and on Netflix.

So with Now TV, do I get access to the normal tv channels, bbc/itv etc? Live and catchup? I'm finding it difficult to work it out on their website!! I don't have an aerial now I've checked, so will have to do it all through streaming it looks like...

On Now Tv you can get all the catch-up channels, and on some of them you can watch live tv (if you have an arial attached I think). It also has the Now TV app and Netflix app which you have to pay extra for, and You Tube app which is the same as your phone/ tablet.
I've just checked my Tv upstairs which is attached to an arial, I can watch Itv, itv 2, itv Be and ITV 3 live tv on the ITV on demand app but can't seem to do it on the bbc iPlayer/ channel 4/ Channel 5 apps but could be mistaken.
There are BBC news, Sky news and BBC sport apps which you can watch live news/ sports too. I've attached a picture of the Now Tv 'apps' page so you can see for yourself, You Tube and Netflix are further down.
We watch everything on demand now, we're just out of the habit of watching things live.

I also tried and failed to give up sky, who knew I loved flicking through live tv as much as I do? Best of luck OP!!

BT Broadband and landline- £29.99 a month for 30 months, you can then end the contract with no penalty before the price rise so can go onto another deal. Check which provider is best in your area though, most offer a reduced price for x months, but check if you can break the contract before then.

Now TV is really good, it has some 'main' sky channels and some boxsets, and I like how you can add or cancel packages so easily. Again, there's usually offers on as well, I found a code for 50% off the Entertainment and Cinema package for 6 months, and they sent through a free stick.

Also you would be able to stream BBC channels live as the sticks come with the iPlayer app, and also catch up with programmes.

We gave up Sky at the start of the year. Haven’t looked back!

We were paying £80 a month. Got a new unlimited broadband package with my mobile provider (£18.99 a month for a year, £30 thereafter) and Amazon Fire sticks in the TVs. Paying for Netflix, Amazon Prime and an app that streams freeview and can record called TV player. Even once we are paying the higher cost for broadband we will still be spending less than £50 a month, so it’s a signifcant saving.

And not that I would ever advocate pirating anything, but there’s nothing you can’t watch for free online if you look hard enough... and for £5 there’s an app on iPhone and Android called TV Stream Cast which allows you to mirror that stuff to your TV.

Brilliant, thanks all. Have taken the first step and cancelled my broadband today, changing t another cheaper supplier in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately tv is in contract until November so have to wait until then and hope I can keep my nerve 😂

We have NowTV which is basically streamed Sky and you can pay as you go (monthly like Netflix). It’s about £7.99 for the entertainment package, £10 ish for films and you can also get the movies and kids tv. We just got Now broadband (also Sky) and it was £30 a month for the best available plus the entertainment package is thrown in for four or six months. They do deals on movies etc e.g. we got 3 months for £15. We also have Netflix.

Do sky still let you keep the box and dish connected if you cancel? My PIL were forever canceling sky but were still able to use the boxes to watch the Freeview channels etc.

DH keeps threatening to cancel ours but then he realises he is the one who watches it most with the football!!

I think you can keep it if you have an older box, but mine is sky q so has to be returned. Even have to send back the broadband hub when that switches off in a couple of weeks.

We switched broadband provider (don't go with the post office as we did, it doesn't work. their service is shocking and it turns they're a front for Talk Talk).

That aside.... we tried Now TV and I wasn't particularly impressed (we already have Netflix which we use a lot). I felt the Now TV app was clunky. We also bought a SatNav freeview box thinking we could record live tv and essentially replace Sky this way. Within 5 days we'd sent the £200 freeview box back- we realised in comparison to sky it was so slow, clunky and not user friendly at all. We then called Sky and funnily enough our cost for TV on its own went down from the £30 a month we were paying before to £12, fixed for 18 months. Definitely go back to Sky after a few weeks and you'll be surprised how much they'll knock off to get you back.

I think you can get a NowTV stick for £20 or less and it usually comes with free entertainment package and free movies for a month or two so it’s worth giving it a go

We have a freesat plus box, which lets us access hundreds of free channels and record them like a Sky plus box, but we don't actually use it that much anymore as I tend to just use catch up as you can get UHD/4k via bbc iplayer or Amazon prime so quality is usually better than recording live tv.

Bought a chrome cast (£30) and cast directly from my phone. Our broadband and phone is £25 a month with now tv and we pay £5 a month for Disney life, for the kids.