Got my letter from $ky...

[Chris]

...advising me of their new pricing structure. Apparently they will force me off Base and onto their new £15 deal, but not until December when my initial 12-month contract with them is up. Suits me, I would prolly have upgraded anyway.

What Sky are therefore doing is ensuring that their most basic package includes channels that are now on Freeview (like E4) and NTL/Telewest base packs (like Sky Mix), presumably so as not to look so uncompetitive. Sky's base pack is so appalling I would never have subscribed had we any Cable, or Freeview signal out our way (there's barely an analogue signal either). Nevertheless, they are still looking quite expensive when compared to NTL/Telewest base packs.

C'est la vie.
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Incidentally, the letter also says there will be some upgrades to the EPG, particularly to the 'favourites' system, which is currently very poor in comparison to NTL. I can't wait! Navigating through the EPG to the few channels I subscribe to at the moment is a right pain.

[dilli-theclaw]

So - don't subscribe when you're twelve months are up. Get a freesat card for £20. Which will give you all the freeview channels (apart from e4 - e4+1) and more besises.

[Chris]

So - don't subscribe when you're twelve months are up. Get a freesat card for £20. Which will give you all the freeview channels (apart from e4 - e4+1) and more besises.

But no Sky One and no E4 - the two channels we watched most (apart from BBC1) when we had NTL. :(

I was tempted by Freesat but I think for the sake of £15 a month I might as well stick with it.

[dilli-theclaw]

But no Sky One and no E4 - the two channels we watched most (apart from BBC1) when we had NTL. :(

I was tempted by Freesat but I think for the sake of £15 a month I might as well stick with it.

Fair enough.

Still someone else may see it as an option :)

[ian@huth]

Incidentally, the letter also says there will be some upgrades to the EPG, particularly to the 'favourites' system, which is currently very poor in comparison to NTL. I can't wait! Navigating through the EPG to the few channels I subscribe to at the moment is a right pain.Best bet is to use Digiguide to plan your viewing. Just set it up to list the channels that you can receive, probably removing channels you will never watch from the list. You can also set up to 20 channels as favourites and scroll through these with the blue button to see what's on now and next on those channels.

[Chris]

Best bet is to use Digiguide to plan your viewing. Just set it up to list the channels that you can receive, probably removing channels you will never watch from the list. You can also set up to 20 channels as favourites and scroll through these with the blue button to see what's on now and next on those channels.

I use the Radio Times online guide (http://www.radiotimes.com/ListingsServlet?event=13&broadcastType=1&jspGridLocation=/jsp/tv_listings_grid.jsp&jspListLocation=/jsp/tv_listings_single.jsp&jspError=/jsp/error.jsp) because it's free - but the upshot is the same. However it's not handy at home where we don't have always-on broadband and the computer's in a different room anyway (and I can't be bothered getting off the sofa after 8pm :D ).

I have set up $ky's excuse of a favourites system, but anyone who has used both NTL's Langley CR3 EPG, and $ky's EPG, will tell you that $ky's is utter pants in comparison. The critical problem is that you can't rearrange listings into the order you want (although the letter hints that they will be introducing this). You don't need a blue-button 'favourites' functon on NTL because when you browse 'now and next' you see your favourites first anyway. On $ky, you have to repeatedly stab the blue button to travel up the now-and-next list by favourite, but you can't navigate back down it again. You have to cycle through all 20 to get back to the start. And even as a base-pack subscriber, there would be more than 20 channels in my favourite list if I were allowed them.

[ian@huth]

But no Sky One and no E4 - the two channels we watched most (apart from BBC1) when we had NTL. :(

I was tempted by Freesat but I think for the sake of £15 a month I might as well stick with it.Take your viewing card out and tune into E4 (ch 163 on Sky) and you will find it is still there. E4 no longer needs a viewing card to watch.

[Chris]

I'll try that tonight - but last time I tried, E4 was encrypted and denied me with the viewing card in place (it is not currenty included in the base pack on $ky but will be from September).

[etccarmageddon]

E4 went 'free' not long ago.

[Paul]

Sky One is not free though.

[Chris]

E4 went 'free' not long ago.

It launched on Freeview not long ago. That is slightly different. $ky is reluctant to put more channels in its base pack, which is unbelievably poor value precisely because they want you to upgrade. But, they can see the writing is on the wall as more channels go on Freeview. So, the solution - ramp up the cost of the base pack and then add the 'free' channels to it.