Alternatives to SKY

[Clariman]

On the Sky retention's thread, other options were briefly touched on. The main reason we have Sky is that the Freeview signal is very poor where we are, due to the presence of a large wind farm. We have Sky variety pack I think, plus a second box in the kitchen. This costs about £44 per month and isn't good value. The Sky box in the kitchen plays up too.

We have Amazon Prime to watch the occasional film and get free next day delivery from Amazon. Both our TVs are Smart so no problem watching iPlayer etc. However, we still watch live TV. We would like to be able to watch different programmes on the 2 TVs ocassionally.

So, what are my alternatives for receiving live TV? We don't have fibre/able in our area.

Thanks
C

[stevensfo]

If you already have a satellite dish, couldn't you use Freesat?

There also seem to be more online services as well:

http://tvmucho.com/watch-tv/live-stream ... bbc-one-hd
http://www.filmon.com/tv/bbc-1-wales

Filmon is free for non-HD but this is no good for a large screen.

Steve

[poundcoin]

We stopped our Sky subscription more than 6 years ago but up until a few weeks ago , carried on using the old Panasonic receiver for just the free to air channels via satellite.
We got all the usual terrestrial channels BBC1 , ITV etc and all the +1 channels ,main news channels plus other random channels like Pick or True Movies ( wife likes those !).
Oddly some of the channels like Quest or Dave were encrypted even though they are free on Freeview .

Maybe on more modern Sky boxes you don't have the option to view the free channels via satellite without a subscription ?

About 3 weeks ago bought an aerial splitter and changed over to a Freeview box so as I can watch car programmes on Quest !

[Lazyferret]

We got rid of Sky about 6 months ago in favour of Freesat. We have a cheap non-recording Freesat box in the kitchen and an all-singing all-dancing on in the living room which gives us everything the Sky box did (pause and rewind live TV, series linking, etc) and on demand channels plus has a lot more recording space than the Sky box did (although whether this is actually a good thing is a moot point ;0) ). We're a bit, er, sad? boring? so our biggest thrill was to find that we can series link radio programmes which we'd not been able to do on our Sky box. Both Freesat boxes are Humax brand, if that makes a difference.

They have their own cables to the satellite dish so we can watch different things on each one. We'd never had a Sky box in the kitchen so Mr F had to install the cable to that but it took about 10 mins and was very easy (plugging the cable into the spare port on the dish and then tacking a cable along the side of the house and in through the side of the kitchen window).

We were paying less than you, but we've been amazed at how fast the money seems to be piling up in the joint account since we cancelled Sky, and we reckoned that the boxes would take approx 6 months to pay for themselves - mainly because Mr F got a bit giddy when buying the living room one and wouldn't wait 3 days for the one he actually wanted to be back in stock! The main thing we missed was Eurosport but Mr F subscribed to it online through a cheap deal (£5 for a year!) and we watch it through the living room TV or on any of our computers.

They do take longer to come to life than the Sky box did - we joke about going back to the days of valves warming up - and occasionally the one in the living room gets its knickers in a twist and has to be turned off for 30 secs and then turned back on again, but it's never lost any recordings by doing that. And any minor glitches are well worth the £30 a month that we're not paying to Rupert Murdoch.

Hope this helps,

'ferret

[Alaric]

We got rid of Sky about 6 months ago in favour of Freesat.

Sky undercut themselves with their own Now TV box. This works by using a broadband connection and at a cheaper price than satellite, you can also get Sky 1 etc.

Freesat & Now retains much of the existing channels and features of Sky+. I do miss the facility to download a program to watch later.

[Clariman]

Thanks folks. I find it really difficult to get a clear understanding of what Sky packages and Now TV give you, because Sky blurs the lines between the delivery mechanism, features and what channels you get.

Our Requirements
Like to be able to watch different channels in 2 rooms. (we have satellite signals coming into the 2 rooms, to allow this)
Ability to record live TV in one room while watching another channel in that room (living room has 2 satellite signals coming in, to allow this)
Ability to pause and rewind - ideally in both rooms
Broad range of channels - especially news, main BBC, ITV, C4, C5 channels, documentary channels (esp history ones), arts channels

Delivery Mechanism
Our problem where we live is that a dirty great big wind-farm causes issues with our digital aerial signal. This is the original reason that we have Sky so we get a decent TV signal via satellite. A Humax freesat device would allow us to do this without subscription
However, in this day and age it would be good to be able to view channels via broadband as they are broadcast, but is this available ... legitimately?

Features
2 signals in different rooms, record, pause and rewind could be provided by Humax Freesat HDRs

Channels
Freesat would meet most of our requirements I think. Can they be supplemented on and 'as desired' basis with temporary subscriptions? We would lose Sky Arts which I occasionally watch.

Any other ideas or suggestions. I am going round in circles with it.

Looks like Freesat may be the main answer.

C

[Alaric]

However, in this day and age it would be good to be able to view channels via broadband as they are broadcast, but is this available ... legitimately?

Just point your browser at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/live/bbcone to watch BBC1 through broadband. The other BBC channels, plus ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 are also available.

It was a facility first developed for PCs, but it's also available on tablets, smartphones, Now TV etc.

[kiloran]

Thanks folks. I find it really difficult to get a clear understanding of what Sky packages and Now TV give you, because Sky blurs the lines between the delivery mechanism, features and what channels you get.

Our Requirements
Like to be able to watch different channels in 2 rooms. (we have satellite signals coming into the 2 rooms, to allow this)
Ability to record live TV in one room while watching another channel in that room (living room has 2 satellite signals coming in, to allow this)
Ability to pause and rewind - ideally in both rooms
Broad range of channels - especially news, main BBC, ITV, C4, C5 channels, documentary channels (esp history ones), arts channels

Delivery Mechanism
Our problem where we live is that a dirty great big wind-farm causes issues with our digital aerial signal. This is the original reason that we have Sky so we get a decent TV signal via satellite. A Humax freesat device would allow us to do this without subscription
However, in this day and age it would be good to be able to view channels via broadband as they are broadcast, but is this available ... legitimately?

Features
2 signals in different rooms, record, pause and rewind could be provided by Humax Freesat HDRs

Channels
Freesat would meet most of our requirements I think. Can they be supplemented on and 'as desired' basis with temporary subscriptions? We would lose Sky Arts which I occasionally watch.

Any other ideas or suggestions. I am going round in circles with it.

Looks like Freesat may be the main answer.

C

We dumped Sky about 6 years ago.... we found the boxes to be unreliable so we kept losing all the recorded programmes, we watched very few channels, and paying £30 or whatever for that privilege was crazy. We bought a Humax Freesat PVR and it has been 100% reliable for those 6 years, and paid for itself in 6 months or so. The only downside we found is that the Sky remote was ergonomically much better than the Humax.

If you want to be able to record a programme while watching another in one room, you'll need a dish with a dual LNB (Low-Noise Block.... the receiver). This provides 2 cables to the Sky or Freesat box. If you want another Freesat box in another room with the same capability, you'll need a quad LNB which provides 4 cables, 2 for each box.
If you currently only have a dual LNB, upgrading to a quad is cheap and simple..... £15 or so, excluding labour and extra cables.

--kiloran

[Drusse13]

hi Clariman,

I will potential soon have a humax freesat box available, which will take a satellite cable and will allow you to get freesat.

I got it for my mum but i have managed to fix her tv ariel/ reception issues and the extra remotes where causing issues.

As you have done so much for this group and back in the day sent me a copy of one of your budgeting spreadsheets I would happliy let you have it for an agreed (low) fee, rather than the hassle of ebay or it sitting in a cupboard.

I don't mind sending to you first to see if it works on your set up. It is only months old and was bought direct from Humax.

It is the basic set top box with remote, I don't have the details to hand they are t my mums.

drusse13 (carried over form the fool)

I've got two brand new TV aerials as well (the fix was a bit trial and error)

[Clariman]

hi Clariman,

I will potential soon have a humax freesat box available, which will take a satellite cable and will allow you to get freesat.

I got it for my mum but i have managed to fix her tv ariel/ reception issues and the extra remotes where causing issues.

As you have done so much for this group and back in the day sent me a copy of one of your budgeting spreadsheets I would happliy let you have it for an agreed (low) fee, rather than the hassle of ebay or it sitting in a cupboard.

I don't mind sending to you first to see if it works on your set up. It is only months old and was bought direct from Humax.

It is the basic set top box with remote, I don't have the details to hand they are t my mums.

drusse13 (carried over form the fool)

I've got two brand new TV aerials as well (the fix was a bit trial and error)

That's very kind of you. Much appreciated. After lots of thought and looking at various options, tbis morning I have decided to go with Sky Q, with new customer deal and a significant discount on my monthly bill.

Thanks again
Clariman

[Dranz100]

Here's another shout for Freesat via a HUMAX Freesat PVR.
We've had the HUMAX box for 8 years and it has been rock solid.
We moved house 5 years ago and I fitted aligned the dish myself.
(The dish was off ebay and actually badged as a 'sky' dish)
It was a piece of cake installing - I downloaded an app onto my phone to help alignment.
I did buy a signal strength meter because that felt like the thing to do, but if you have a helper you can use the signal strength meter on the humax box...the helper needs to be inside and telling you what happens to the signal strength when you wiggle left/right/up/down.

The beauty of it is that there's only modest capital cost, and then NO running cost.

It was so easy that I'm thinking of setting up another dish and buying another type of box just to watch Spanish TV, as two of us are learning the lingo.
Dranz

[supremetwo]

After lots of thought and looking at various options, this morning I have decided to go with Sky Q, with new customer deal and a significant discount on my monthly bill. Clariman

I'm in the throes of renegotiating with Sky.

Do tell us the details.

[Clariman]

After lots of thought and looking at various options, this morning I have decided to go with Sky Q, with new customer deal and a significant discount on my monthly bill. Clariman

I'm in the throes of renegotiating with Sky.

Do tell us the details.

I currently pay £44 for Sky with Variety pack and Multiroom.

I rang up and immediately said I was cancelling my contract (I was happy to do this on the basis that I felt I could return as a new customer and get a better deal). The first call handler passed me through to the cancellations team who did a lot of objection handling and asked if I had an alternative lined up, so I said that I would move to FreeSat. The Sky rep said that FreeSat doesn't work with a Sky dish, which I believe to be untrue. Anyway, that's by the by. The point is, she asked lots of question and we batted back and forth. I also emphasised that the only reason we have Sky is because we receive such a poor signal from our local transmitter, so I resented paying £44 per month to Sky just to get a decent signal.

In the end I said that I would consider staying with Sky if they gave me SKY Q for the same deal as a new customer would get it i.e. £44 (with Variety pack and equivalent of multitoom) with no upgrade charge, £15 installation fee and the free 32" LG TV. I also emphasised that the only reason we have Sky is because we receive such a poor signal from our local transmitter, so I resented paying £44 per month to Sky just to get a decent signal.

So that is pretty much what I got, except that the TV (which I didn't actually need) was replaced with a 40% discount on the core £32 rental, meaning that I'll be paying £31.20 for Sky Q, Variety pack and a Sky Q mini (which replaces multi-room).

If I had simply upgraded online, I would have paid £148 for the installation/upgrade of the Sky Q and Sky Q mini, followed by £44 per month. i.e. it would have cost me £261 more. There is no way that I would have paid £148 to upgrade - I would have gone through with the cancellation.

[foundone]

Regarding installing a second dish, there's only one per property allowed where I live, not sure if that's generally the case.

Sky were still offering me 60% off any package for 12 months last week, I left them in December.

[NomoneyNohoney]

Regarding installing a second dish, there's only one per property allowed where I live, not sure if that's generally the case.

Sky were still offering me 60% off any package for 12 months last week, I left them in December.

You can see Sky dishes with more than one LNB arm - what they do is, have one pointed at one Sky satellite, and another pointed at a different one. Thus: one dish receiving more than one satellite.