Sky remains "most popular digital TV platform"

[Media Boy UK]

Digital satellite television remains the most popular digital television platform according to Ofcom's latest report.

As of September 2006, 33.9% of UK television homes (8.5m) either subscribed to BSkyB's television services or received free-to-view satellite services, up 128,000 since June 2006.

The report also shows that by the end of September 2006 almost three out of every four UK television households viewed digital television on their main set.

As of September 2006 there were almost eight million second sets connected to some form of digital reception device up from four million in the same period last year.

No Info on NTL Telewest OR even Freeview/Top up TV then.

Info from 'Media 247 AND Ofcom.'

[skyblueheroes]

I'm not surprised. Some people may disagree but Sky have the better service, and certainly better customer service than TW or NTL.

Only problem I have with sky is the fact they charge once you have had the box a year. I have sky + the sound keeps dropping the picture freezes often and to get it looked at would cost to much thats the only reason im switching

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

Only problem I have with sky is the fact they charge once you have had the box a year. I have sky + the sound keeps dropping the picture freezes often and to get it looked at would cost to much thats the only reason im switching

Might be worth a call to their retentions to cancel your subscription? when they ask why say " well its pointless paying for something that I cannot watch " see how quickly they find a compromise.

[Mikoyan]

Without a doubt sky is still miles better than the competition and l see that they have finally got thier finger out and launched an all in one bundle for thier TV, telephone and broadband which is bad news for NTL as this was the reason people went for cable over sky
i have been with sky for about 4 years and never had a problem with thme which is more than can be said for NTL - thier service is DIABOLICAL!!.
At the end of the day l think sky are pretty decent if a little expensive - though how much do you pay for the tv licence and for only a few channels at that

[Wicked_and_Crazy]

Originally Posted by Mikoyan

Without a doubt sky is still miles better than the competition and l see that they have finally got thier finger out and launched an all in one bundle for thier TV, telephone and broadband which is bad news for NTL as this was the reason people went for cable over sky
i have been with sky for about 4 years and never had a problem with thme which is more than can be said for NTL - thier service is DIABOLICAL!!.
At the end of the day l think sky are pretty decent if a little expensive - though how much do you pay for the tv licence and for only a few channels at that

If you have had Sky for 4 years i assume you dont have NTL so how do you know that there service is dire?

[AndyCambs]

Originally Posted by Mikoyan

..............................i have been with sky for about 4 years and never had a problem with thme which is more than can be said for NTL - thier service is DIABOLICAL!!.

And I've been with C&W, NTL, NTL:Telewest for six years and never had a problem. Any faults, and the engineer has always been out promptly and at no charge. Unlike my friend who had Sky and had problems perpetually with the signal from the dish

[themelon]

I Had Sky previously, Once in about 2001 when their clueless install engineer destroyed my house trying to fit the thing, the customer service was pathetic, they were not bothered how it was installed as long is it worked, which it did for a bit. I advised the engineer that he was installing the bin lid in a wind tunnel, sure enough the first sign of wind the dish moved, signal lost!! 50 minutes on hold to an 0870 number is not impressive! especially when they try and claim it is my fault.

I soon after quit Sky, after arguing that they were not providing a decent service, they were not interested and cut me off after much arguments about the 12month contract. Called up ntl, they cam ethe next week, did an excellent install, everything worked great never looked back for 4 years.

Last year I had to move to a rented new build in an uncabled area and ordered Sky, as I thought maybe they have changed. FAT CHANCE! The Installer looked like a escaped prisoner and had about 65 Fag breaks, he made mess where he drilled holes, did not use the proper grommits to seal the holes, just a bit of silicone bunged in with a chisel! He did not clear up after himself and made muddy footprints on a new carpet. I decided to ring Sky to complain, but after waiting on hold to an 0870 number for 1 hour 15 minutes I decided to give up as it would probably be cheaper to fix it myself! The TV worked ok except in heavy wind, snow or heavy rain as normal as pathetic as that is, you probably need the TV when the weather is crappy!

After 12 months in 2006 I brought a house in a cabled area cancelled Sky and moved back to ntl. All was installed perfectly, the engineer did as requested and installed cable behind skirting boards and under floorboards as I had already taken up, all holes were filled with correct grommit and visable cable was clipped neatly, the blokes even vacumed up the dust.

Every time I have called ntl I have never had a problem, calls are generally answered in 15-30 minutes while although not great it used to be free, I wasnt too chuffed about the new 0845 number I have to admit. Engineers always arrive promtly and fix any problems.

[d0pey]

I always request special heights crew to come out from Sky when any work is being done just say you want the dish on the chimney. I have never had one problem with special heights but general sky engineers seem to be awful. Special heights dont drive round in the sky vans they are usually subcontracted.

[Mikoyan]

Originally Posted by Wicked_and_Crazy

If you have had Sky for 4 years i assume you dont have NTL so how do you know that there service is dire?

my `rents` decided to go for it and as l remembr there was a lot said about how sky were crap and rupert murdoch was evil etc so plumped for that instead - cue a long list of complaints - technical problems, long queue times, poor customer service etc - being older they werent used to ca
ll centres and were tearing thier hairn out at getting nowhere

[Chrysalis]

Originally Posted by Mikoyan

Without a doubt sky is still miles better than the competition and l see that they have finally got thier finger out and launched an all in one bundle for thier TV, telephone and broadband which is bad news for NTL as this was the reason people went for cable over sky
i have been with sky for about 4 years and never had a problem with thme which is more than can be said for NTL - thier service is DIABOLICAL!!.
At the end of the day l think sky are pretty decent if a little expensive - though how much do you pay for the tv licence and for only a few channels at that

yeah I can see ntl been the biggest losers by this move from sky.

NTL need to play their trumpet card now and I think its the only card they have, their broadband service.

The killer they have over ALL adsl services in this country is the line quality/distance factor of adsl, I would get on tv etc. pumping out information how 75% of lines on adsl cannot achieve 8mbit full stop and will also likely be dissapointing (best word) for adsl2+ services.

---------- Post added at 06:05 ---------- Previous post was at 06:04 ----------

Originally Posted by d0pey

I always request special heights crew to come out from Sky when any work is being done just say you want the dish on the chimney. I have never had one problem with special heights but general sky engineers seem to be awful. Special heights dont drive round in the sky vans they are usually subcontracted.

yep I had subcontractors 2 guys who put the dish on my chimney, charged £40 for it as well, was reasonable so I had no qualms paying it.

---------- Post added at 06:07 ---------- Previous post was at 06:05 ----------

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

Only problem I have with sky is the fact they charge once you have had the box a year. I have sky + the sound keeps dropping the picture freezes often and to get it looked at would cost to much thats the only reason im switching

I noticed on sky+ the box is very laggy and sometimes get picture freezes and I know why now.

If you press services button then goto sky+ setup, you will see the option for automatic recording which is probably set to 30 minutes (the default) this is for the instant rewind feature, if you dont mind losing this feature then set it to disabled and the box becomes responsive again like a normal sky digi box. You will still be able to schedule and do manual recordings.

[Lambard]

may that will change when virgin media let hope

[d0pey]

Originally Posted by Chrysalis

yep I had subcontractors 2 guys who put the dish on my chimney, charged £40 for it as well, was reasonable so I had no qualms paying it.

The £40 is for the bracket kit rather than any installation costs. AFAIK they are no longer charging for any brackets or poles.