General : £3 TV increase but BT Sport Europe is "free"

[passingbat]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

I think Arthur's talking about Sky Atlantic and ITV Encore (amongst others), and I have to say I agree with him on that one.

VM have decided to focus on sport, and that is where the money is being invested.

It is a focus that VM have decided upon, and that is fair enough. just don't expect them to have 'spare' money for other channels (even if Sky would let them have Atlantic).

If VM's focus doesn't suit you, then sadly there is little you can do about it other than finding another TV provider, or Cutting the Cord.

[muppetman11]

Originally Posted by ozsat

I suspect there would have been some sort of rise even if BT Sport Europe didn't happen.

They already have increased , my family had increases of £5-6 in Feb 15. It's almost as if you find it acceptable for multiple price increases over a year. With this £3 increase that's over £8 in a year on a package costing just short of £60 an increase of over 13%.

[vincerooney]

vm seem hell bent to increase prices. they would have gone up anyway without bt sport europe since weve had many over the top price increases in the last 18 months without any additional services or channels. at least this time they can say they brought us something for the hike in prices regardless of our individual views

my bill went up 3 quid a few months back and i got sod all. there seemed less anger back then though?? now people are being told the same price hike they seem more angry "i dont want football!" at least we're getting to see something additional rather than "soz lads ur bills up 3 quid......lol"

still think vm are increasing profit lines for a sell. vodafone latest rumour.

[harry_hitch]

Originally Posted by vincerooney

vm seem hell bent to increase prices. they would have gone up anyway without bt sport europe since weve had many over the top price increases in the last 18 months without any additional services or channels. at least this time they can say they brought us something for the hike in prices regardless of our individual views

my bill went up 3 quid a few months back and i got sod all. there seemed less anger back then though?? now people are being told the same price hike they seem more angry "i dont want football!" at least we're getting to see something additional rather than "soz lads ur bills up 3 quid......lol"

still think vm are increasing profit lines for a sell. vodafone latest rumour.

The people who don't like football have another price rise they do not want, though. People generally expect and except annual prices to cover running costs, but BT Sports Europe is not running costs. It is a premium channel which non VM/BT customers have to pay for themselves. BT and VM have colluded to fleece non sports of extra money via BT BB or VM's xl package.

Non sports fans don't have anything additional to see as they simply don't want to watch sports.

Their individual views count because they all work hard, are being ripped off and have no say in the matter over additional premium content they don't want.

Ultimately, if it were not for this deal, non sports fans would be £3 a month better off and sports fans would have to pay extra to watch the premium content. Whether you agree or not, the deal really is not fair on non sports fans.

[toady]

Originally Posted by vincerooney

my bill went up 3 quid a few months back and i got sod all. there seemed less anger back then though?? now people are being told the same price hike they seem more angry "i dont want football!" at least we're getting to see something additional rather than "soz lads ur bills up 3 quid......lol"

I can accept an annual price rise for running costs, to get another one where the main focus of the letter informing me of the price change is bt sport europe with the other channels as almost an after thought isn't worth the rise for me as its a channel I will never watch

[heero_yuy]

Originally Posted by toady

I can accept an annual price rise for running costs, to get another one where the main focus of the letter informing me of the price change is bt sport europe with the other channels as almost an after thought isn't worth the rise for me as its a channel I will never watch

Likewise. We have the XL pack for several of the documentary channels and the extra HD channels. I would quite happily forgo all the sport content and have a cheaper bill or downsize to L if the HD content were there as the extra channels can be streamed.

[Perfect Choice]

Originally Posted by toady

As we have zero interest in any sport that involves a ball, not happy with the £3 increase so looks like we will be downgrading from XL to L, going to miss the HD channels but this is a price rise too much for us

Same approach I will be taking, will miss HD channels but not much choice here if you don't want to pay for sport. I would move to another provider but also want the Tivo 3 tuners approach so I can record 2 channels while watching a third. That way we can build up a whole series to watch later when we want and not having the risk of a series being dropped from on-demand before we've watched it all. A case on balancing what we need so L package here we come!

[telegramsam]

Non sports fans are complaining about the price increase to cover the new BT Sports channels but what about us that pay for other channels we never watch? My household doesn`t watch the childrens channel,the shopping channels,the lifestyle channels,religious channels or listen to the radio stations but I accept them as part of the package I pay for. It would be great if we could all choose exactly which channels we had in our package,wouldn`t it?

[passingbat]

Originally Posted by telegramsam

Non sports fans are complaining about the price increase to cover the new BT Sports channels but what about us that pay for other channels we never watch? My household doesn`t watch the childrens channel,the shopping channels,the lifestyle channels,religious channels or listen to the radio stations but I accept them as part of the package I pay for. It would be great if we could all choose exactly which channels we had in our package,wouldn`t it?

There is a difference; the extra channels are Premium channels, which by definition, should be an extra cost to those viewing them, not everyone.

[one2escape]

We can cancel now as they are changing prices again?

[Gavin-D]

Originally Posted by one2escape

We can cancel now as they are changing prices again?

You can only cancel the affected service/s once you receive a letter saying your price is rising

[one2escape]

so yes then good. Major issue with the broadband been going on nearly a year now.

[telegramsam]

Originally Posted by passingbat

There is a difference; the extra channels are Premium channels, which by definition, should be an extra cost to those viewing them, not everyone.

Clearly Virgin aren`t classing them as Premium channels but never-the-less I still pay for channels in my package that I don`t watch or want to watch. There`s no difference in my eyes. When I subscribe to Sky Sports I get F1 channel included but I have no interest at all in watching motor racing so should I complain that I`m in effect paying for a channel I don`t want?

[Perfect Choice]

Originally Posted by one2escape

We can cancel now as they are changing prices again?

Yes received the letter yesterday and it states near the end you can cancel or change packages with the end of August stated as the deadline for me to do this without incurring any "penalty". Obviously that is a general statement as I was out of contract on all services as of July so can cancel some/all when I want without penalty!

[Arthurgray50@blu]

I agree with telegramsam. I believe that VM have its customers over barrel. Regarding subs, and increases.

There are some channels that l wont watch, as they are crap - especially the +1 channels. Yet, we get charged for them.

I believe that with all the technology out there, We the customer should be able to choose what channels we want. But, VM are still in the dark ages.

They put the price up, and everyone is effected. Under Telewest, they used to have a channel called Horizon. which has some being programmes on. But Telewest pulled it off claiming that viewers were not watching it.

I like watching football, and don't mind paying the extra charge. But l think its unfair on customers that don't watch it.

Its not a question of BT Sport being FREE, well it isn't now - they put the price up. So how can be Free

Don't worry, come Sept /October, VM will increase it again and blame Sky.