| SKY TV AN INDEPENDENT REVIEW |
| The Standard Sky TV Package What you get & What it costs. |
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| A Satellite Dish This is your aerial - it picks up Sky TV signals (plus 200 other channels) and brings them into your home. Your dish (including installation) will cost £30.00** |
| A Standard Sky Box This decodes the Sky TV signal - so that you can watch it on your Television. The Standard Sky Box and Remote (including set-up) are free** when you sign up to Sky TV. |
| Subscription to Sky TV Your monthly subscription allows you to watch the programmes of your choice. The cheapest subscription entitles you to watch ONE of Sky's Entertainment packs and costs £17.00 a month (57 Pence a day). **See warning below But the really good part is that for no extra cost you will also be able to watch up to 200 extra channels. For a full list of these channels click the link below "Free to Air" channels |
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| The Standard Sky Package is built around six "Entertainment Packs" - each with a different theme. They are called Variety, Music, News & Events, Children's, Knowledge, and Style. One pack will cost £17.00 a month (all six will cost £22.00 a month) **Warning - In order to qualify for the "Free" satellite dish and free installation - you must take out a subscription for at least £20.00 a month. If you choose the cheapest package (£17 a month) you will have to pay extra for your dish & box! This is not made entirely clear on Sky's website. |
| We Like... We like the fact that you can get a satellite dish (fully installed) for just £30.00. We also like the idea of gaining access to over 200 free channels - including BBC, ITV, Channel 4 etc. These channels do not belong to Sky - but your dish will pick them up and you can watch them for free. We also like the fact that buying a Sky package like this solves all of your future problems regarding digital TV reception. We Dislike... We seriously dislike the way Sky "bundles" its channels into "themed" packages - even at this "entry-level". The music package contains nothing but music channels, the knowledge package contains only educational channels etc etc. Most families need a variety of programmes to choose from - some children's programmes, some news, some music, some educational, etc. In order to get this kind of "normal family variety" you would have to buy all six packages - and we think that's pretty naff! We think Sky should offer a "Mix-n-Match" package instead of forcing people to pay and pay and pay again! Luckily the 200+ Free to Air Channels offer a huge variety of viewing options - more than enough for most families. Our Verdict Despite our gripes, we have to admit that this entry level package is pretty good value for money. And with the digital switchover looming large - a Sky package makes more and more sense. Sky is digital - so you if you have a Sky dish & box, you won't have to worry about the switchover. AND IF YOU CANCEL YOUR SKY SUBSCRIPTION AFTER THE MINIMUM 1 YEAR - YOU CAN KEEP THE EQUIPMENT AND STILL HAVE ACCESS TO ALL OF THOSE FREE CHANNELS! (Hundreds more channels than Freeview or FreeSat) Sky is far from perfect - but it is a better option than Virgin, BT Vision, Tiscali TV etc. Sky are always offering incentives to join - and some of them are too good to resist! We suggest you visit the Sky TV Website and take a look at the offers. And if you do sign up - THE STANDARD BOX WITH FOUR "ENTERTAINMENT PACKS" provides the best value. That way you get the dish, the box and installation for £30.00 |
| So the cost of this package is £30.00 for the dish, the box and full installation, plus a subscription of £20.00 a month. |
| The Top Ten Site has never been very fond of Sky TV. We don't like the way they bundle their packages together (a separate package for every subject) - we think it's a con. In order to watch Sport, Movies, Children's TV, Education, News, Music etc - ie "Normal" family viewing - you have to buy umpteen different packages. It's like having to buy ten packs of Liquorice All Sorts - just to get a choice of flavours! We also dislike the fact that you can pay for all of the top packages - and STILL HAVE TO ENDURE "PAY PER VIEW" for the best programmes! We are morally opposed to this kind of profiteering! But with the digital switchover looming large in Britain - we decided to look at a basic Sky Package. Is it a viable solution to the problems that we will all encounter when our region goes digital? |