Sky has announced it will be increasing Sky TV prices on 1st September 2014.
Customers about to sign up with Sky TV, and those who will not have had their subscription for 12 months before 1st September will find their bills up to 10% more expensive from September 1st.
"In accordance with our standard terms," reads the small announcement at the bottom of Sky TV's subscription page, "your Sky TV package may rise by up to 10% in a minimum contract term." The minimum contract term is 12 months.
In a one line statement at the bottom of its website, Sky has announced that its TV customers will see a price rise of up to 10% from September.
This isn't the first time that Sky has quietly posted this message on its site. Sky says that all customers will receive full correspondence - and confirmation of exactly how much their bills will increase - in due course.
Bear in mind that while the rise will be up to 10%, as per Sky's Ts & Cs, it seems fairly unlikely that it would drop such a large bombshell on its customers. While the same wording was used in the 'alert'
last year, the actual rise was more in the region of 2.5%.
Compare TV deals in your area with broadbandchoices.co.uk
What does Sky TV have on offer?
Sky now offers three core bundles: Original (£21.50/month), Variety (£27/month) and Family (£32/month).
Optional extras are also available: Sky Movies at £16/month and Sky Sports at £22/month.
Sky's statement regarding the price rise doesn't make it clear if these extras (or which packages) will be affected by the rise, but a Sky spokesperson stated: "We work hard to keep any rises to a minimum, ensuring we continue to offer our customers great value. We will be writing to customers in July outlining any changes."
The changes won't affect the price of Sky's broadband or phone services.
Pay-TV Booms as Cash-Strapped Greeks Shun Depressing News Shows
Panagiota Fotou is so fed up with bad news on Greek free television that she’s willing to pay for programs that help her forget about her country’s economic woes.
The 29-year-old full-time homemaker spends about 70 euros ($95.35) a month, the equivalent of 12 percent of the minimum monthly wage in Greece, for pay TV, telephone and Internet services at a moment in which the economic crisis has left one in three people without a job and consumer spending stagnating. Fotou prefers watching movies, crime shows and situation comedies on Forthnet SA (FORTH)’s Nova TV, which is part of the bundle.
“People are tired of crisis-related bulletins,” says Fotou, flicking through channels at her Athens apartment. “Pay-TV may be an extra expense, but the deals are tempting.”
Greeks like Fotou are contributing to what the country’s two biggest telecom service providers Hellenic Telecommunications Organization SA (HTO) and Forthnet say is a doubling of subscribers to combined TV and online packages in the past two years. The increase comes even as unemployment climbed to 27 percent and retail sales plunged for a fourth consecutive year.
Earlier this month, Hellenic Telecom, also known as OTE, offered as much as 300 million euros for the Nova pay-TV unit of Forthnet, its main competitor in Greece. Forthnet’s board is weighing the offer, the company said on July 1. Hellenic Telecom, 40 percent owned by Germany’s Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE), said its offer is on a debt-free, cash-free basis and Greek regulators would have to approve any deal.
OTE had 280,000 subscribers during the first quarter of 2014, according to OTE and Forthnet estimates. A takeover of Nova would make OTE the top player, overtaking Forthnet.
Monopoly Watch
With a deal, OTE “would become the sole pay-TV operator in the Greek market,” IBG Research analyst Dimitris Birbos wrote in a note on July 2. “The telecom watchdog could possibly block a deal that will create a monopolistic status.”
The number of Greek pay-TV subscribers stands at 760,000, up from about 300,000 at the end of 2012, according to estimates by Hellenic Telecom and Forthnet. This gives a market penetration of 19.5 percent, after it had been stuck at between 11 percent to 13 percent for nearly 10 years.
The bundled-services trend confirms “an international trend for saturation in the traditional telecommunications service,” Forthnet Chief Executive Officer Panos Papadopoulos told Bloomberg in an e-mailed response to questions on July 3.
Vodafone Option
Nova’s subscriber base rose 6.7 percent in the first quarter, reaching 482,433, compared with 452,340 subscribers at the end of 2013, the company’s figures show.
Emirates International Telecommunications LLC has a 44 percent stake in Forthnet, which has a market value of 175 million euros, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
In addition to the bid from OTE, the company has also drawn interest from Vodafone Group Plc (VOD), which holds 6.5 percent and on June 4 agreed a deal with Wind Hellas Telecommunications SA, owner of 13 percent in Forthnet, on an option to raise its stake to nearly 20 percent. The option is exercisable one year after the date of the agreement, Forthnet said on June 10.
The moves around Nova reflect global industry trends, with telecommunications companies broadening offerings to clients by moving into television. Vodafone teamed up with Netflix Inc. (NFLX) in May to offer subscriptions to streamed movies and TV shows. AT&T Inc. (T), operator of TV and broadband business U-verse, on May 18 announced a $48.5 billion purchase of DirecTV.
Cheap Quality
Meanwhile viewers such as Panagiota Fotou are looking for television that is both cheap and good quality.
“I can’t stand the traditional Greek TV shows,” says Fotou, holding her two-year-old son in her arms. “They are full of ridiculous people, half-naked women and can’t even make you laugh. Pay-TV gives you the option to choose what you’re going to see and where you’re going to see it. On your TV, laptop, tablet or mobile.”
The Greek crisis has boosted demand for more specialized, on demand TV products, George Pleios, a communications professor at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, said in a telephone interview on July 11.
The economic crisis, which has cost Greece a quarter of its gross domestic product, “has greatly reduced the consumption potential of Greeks, including outdoor cultural products, visits to theaters, cinemas, even travel,” he said. At the same time, “reduced quality of the program of TV stations and the shutdown of the state broadcaster led to a general depreciation of the TV field.”
Saving Money
While the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund forecast the Greek economy will return to growth this year, the high level of unemployment still leaves a lot of Greeks looking for ways to enjoy themselves at home to save money, even if that means paying for TV.
“Instead of going out to watch a soccer game at a cafe, we gather at home, cook and bring our own beer,” said Tasos Prigkouris, a 39 year-old self-employed subscriber of both Forthnet and Hellenic Telecom pay-TV services. “It’s a lot cheaper than going out and the deals that providers offer these days make it a lot easier.”
The 29-year-old full-time homemaker spends about 70 euros ($95.35) a month, the equivalent of 12 percent of the minimum monthly wage in Greece, for pay TV, telephone and Internet services at a moment in which the economic crisis has left one in three people without a job and consumer spending stagnating. Fotou prefers watching movies, crime shows and situation comedies on Forthnet SA (FORTH)’s Nova TV, which is part of the bundle.
“People are tired of crisis-related bulletins,” says Fotou, flicking through channels at her Athens apartment. “Pay-TV may be an extra expense, but the deals are tempting.”
Greeks like Fotou are contributing to what the country’s two biggest telecom service providers Hellenic Telecommunications Organization SA (HTO) and Forthnet say is a doubling of subscribers to combined TV and online packages in the past two years. The increase comes even as unemployment climbed to 27 percent and retail sales plunged for a fourth consecutive year.
Earlier this month, Hellenic Telecom, also known as OTE, offered as much as 300 million euros for the Nova pay-TV unit of Forthnet, its main competitor in Greece. Forthnet’s board is weighing the offer, the company said on July 1. Hellenic Telecom, 40 percent owned by Germany’s Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE), said its offer is on a debt-free, cash-free basis and Greek regulators would have to approve any deal.
OTE had 280,000 subscribers during the first quarter of 2014, according to OTE and Forthnet estimates. A takeover of Nova would make OTE the top player, overtaking Forthnet.
Monopoly Watch
With a deal, OTE “would become the sole pay-TV operator in the Greek market,” IBG Research analyst Dimitris Birbos wrote in a note on July 2. “The telecom watchdog could possibly block a deal that will create a monopolistic status.”
The number of Greek pay-TV subscribers stands at 760,000, up from about 300,000 at the end of 2012, according to estimates by Hellenic Telecom and Forthnet. This gives a market penetration of 19.5 percent, after it had been stuck at between 11 percent to 13 percent for nearly 10 years.
The bundled-services trend confirms “an international trend for saturation in the traditional telecommunications service,” Forthnet Chief Executive Officer Panos Papadopoulos told Bloomberg in an e-mailed response to questions on July 3.
Vodafone Option
Nova’s subscriber base rose 6.7 percent in the first quarter, reaching 482,433, compared with 452,340 subscribers at the end of 2013, the company’s figures show.
Emirates International Telecommunications LLC has a 44 percent stake in Forthnet, which has a market value of 175 million euros, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
In addition to the bid from OTE, the company has also drawn interest from Vodafone Group Plc (VOD), which holds 6.5 percent and on June 4 agreed a deal with Wind Hellas Telecommunications SA, owner of 13 percent in Forthnet, on an option to raise its stake to nearly 20 percent. The option is exercisable one year after the date of the agreement, Forthnet said on June 10.
The moves around Nova reflect global industry trends, with telecommunications companies broadening offerings to clients by moving into television. Vodafone teamed up with Netflix Inc. (NFLX) in May to offer subscriptions to streamed movies and TV shows. AT&T Inc. (T), operator of TV and broadband business U-verse, on May 18 announced a $48.5 billion purchase of DirecTV.
Cheap Quality
Meanwhile viewers such as Panagiota Fotou are looking for television that is both cheap and good quality.
“I can’t stand the traditional Greek TV shows,” says Fotou, holding her two-year-old son in her arms. “They are full of ridiculous people, half-naked women and can’t even make you laugh. Pay-TV gives you the option to choose what you’re going to see and where you’re going to see it. On your TV, laptop, tablet or mobile.”
The Greek crisis has boosted demand for more specialized, on demand TV products, George Pleios, a communications professor at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, said in a telephone interview on July 11.
The economic crisis, which has cost Greece a quarter of its gross domestic product, “has greatly reduced the consumption potential of Greeks, including outdoor cultural products, visits to theaters, cinemas, even travel,” he said. At the same time, “reduced quality of the program of TV stations and the shutdown of the state broadcaster led to a general depreciation of the TV field.”
Saving Money
While the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund forecast the Greek economy will return to growth this year, the high level of unemployment still leaves a lot of Greeks looking for ways to enjoy themselves at home to save money, even if that means paying for TV.
“Instead of going out to watch a soccer game at a cafe, we gather at home, cook and bring our own beer,” said Tasos Prigkouris, a 39 year-old self-employed subscriber of both Forthnet and Hellenic Telecom pay-TV services. “It’s a lot cheaper than going out and the deals that providers offer these days make it a lot easier.”
TalkTalk offers half-price fibre broadband with £50 Love2shop vouchers
TalkTalk is giving consumers the chance to make savings when signing up for super-fast broadband.
New customers can take advantage of six months' half-price fibre broadband if they sign up by Thursday July 10th.
The firm's Superpowered Fibre boosts are available with TalkTalk's three broadband packages - SimplyBroadband, Essentials TV and Plus TV.
It costs just £5 per month for six months to add fibre to an existing ADSL package, rising to £10 per month thereafter.
Consumers signing up for SimplyBroadband with fibre can pay an initial £6.75 per month plus line rental, rising to £13.50 per month plus line rental.
The price for Essentials TV with Superpowered Fibre is £9.25 per month plus line rental for the first six months, rising to £18.50 per month.
And Plus TV costs £14.25 per month plus line rental during the introductory offer period, and £28.50 per month plus line rental thereafter.
In addition to the six months half-price offer, TalkTalk is giving away a free £50 gift certificate to new fibre broadband customers.
The Love2shop voucher can be spent at over 20,000 high street stores in the UK, including Argos, Boots, Debenhams, Toys 'R' Us, House of Fraser, River Island, New Look and Waterstones.
It is also valid at a host of restaurants, bars, attractions and more.
The voucher offer is exclusive to new TalkTalk customers who purchase a broadband deal online and do not require a new telephone line or number.
TalkTalk is also running a broadband deal for consumers signing up for its range of ADSL broadband packages without a Superpowered Fibre boost.
New customers signing up for SimplyBroadband, Essentials TV or Plus TV online receive a 50 per cent discount for six months and a £75 Love2shop voucher.
New customers can take advantage of six months' half-price fibre broadband if they sign up by Thursday July 10th.
The firm's Superpowered Fibre boosts are available with TalkTalk's three broadband packages - SimplyBroadband, Essentials TV and Plus TV.
It costs just £5 per month for six months to add fibre to an existing ADSL package, rising to £10 per month thereafter.
Consumers signing up for SimplyBroadband with fibre can pay an initial £6.75 per month plus line rental, rising to £13.50 per month plus line rental.
The price for Essentials TV with Superpowered Fibre is £9.25 per month plus line rental for the first six months, rising to £18.50 per month.
And Plus TV costs £14.25 per month plus line rental during the introductory offer period, and £28.50 per month plus line rental thereafter.
In addition to the six months half-price offer, TalkTalk is giving away a free £50 gift certificate to new fibre broadband customers.
The Love2shop voucher can be spent at over 20,000 high street stores in the UK, including Argos, Boots, Debenhams, Toys 'R' Us, House of Fraser, River Island, New Look and Waterstones.
It is also valid at a host of restaurants, bars, attractions and more.
The voucher offer is exclusive to new TalkTalk customers who purchase a broadband deal online and do not require a new telephone line or number.
TalkTalk is also running a broadband deal for consumers signing up for its range of ADSL broadband packages without a Superpowered Fibre boost.
New customers signing up for SimplyBroadband, Essentials TV or Plus TV online receive a 50 per cent discount for six months and a £75 Love2shop voucher.
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