Free Digital TV and Radio.

[moonhounder]

Sounds like your Sky box is on it's way out. I've had Sky digital more or less since it first came out and have never experienced the problems you describe. The only problems that I've had is that the picture may freeze or become pixelated in thunder storms, but even that is very rare.

tend to agree with this, never had much of a problem with sky, I have sky+ at the moment, adverse weather causes an occaisional glitch and a rare "hung screen" for no reason, but that's just like any other hard drive.

[jongla]

Sky box is only 7 months old - shouldnt be faulty just yet! Can't get Sky to replace it, as we have had a 'falling-out'.

I do have a spare older box - will see if that works better.

On another point....
I am a little disappointed in the £150 price tag for digital TV. After all, the main extra channels you get are paid for either by advertising (ITV2 & 3) or by your TV license fee (BBC3, 4 etc). It feels like we are having to pay for the governments decision to shut down analogue TV.

What happens to the people, like my grandmother, who do not like modern technology and do not want any set-top boxes??

[Stu_Millard]

Sky box is only 7 months old - shouldnt be faulty just yet! Can't get Sky to replace it, as we have had a 'falling-out'.

Regardless of whether or not you've fallen out, they have an obligation to fix the equipment. See what they say if you say you're stopping your payments to them until they fix the problem. I believe your contract with them will state that you can cancel the agreement if they've not provided you with the service....

[yorkiesauctions]

Sky box is only 7 months old - shouldnt be faulty just yet! Can't get Sky to replace it, as we have had a 'falling-out'.

I do have a spare older box - will see if that works better.

On another point....
I am a little disappointed in the £150 price tag for digital TV. After all, the main extra channels you get are paid for either by advertising (ITV2 & 3) or by your TV license fee (BBC3, 4 etc). It feels like we are having to pay for the governments decision to shut down analogue TV.

What happens to the people, like my grandmother, who do not like modern technology and do not want any set-top boxes??

If the box is only seven months old then Sky have to fix it or replace it if it is faulty, all electrical goods come with a 12 months guarentee where ever you bought it from, thats the law as far as I know.

As far as the tv licence and advertising paying for the tv channels is concerned that has nothing to do with Sky, they don't own the channels they simply rent them space to broadcast on their transponders. The last I heard Sky were paying £70 for each box, add the cost of the dish and the wages of the people to come out and install the system (my mate was a Sky digital installer before he moved away, he was paid £40 for each installation by Sky), plus cost's and the final total cost to Sky can not be much less than £150.

Sky may gain from this offer, not from what they charge for the box and dish and installation but from people who get this package and then later decide to subscribe to one of the premium channels/packages (which I'm sure a lot will eventually). IMHO £150 is a good price and not at all a rip-off price (which I have come to expect from Sky, their premium channels packages are way too high IMHO).

As for people like your grandmother who don't have digital tv and still don't have it when the anologue broadcast's are switched off.... Well Blair has said that he will give digital receiver to every household who does not have one when anologue is due to be switched off. If people refuse the digital boxes then they won't be able to watch tv, simple as that. It will be their own choice. Time moves on and things change, tv is no exception, it will change a lot more in the next ten years too.

I think Sky might drop the price of this package in the future when the take-up figures slow down, they have done packages at a loss before in order to claw as many people as they can onto their system andd away from cable, so don't be surprised if you see the same offer for £100 or less in 12 months time.

[yorkiesauctions]

Regardless of whether or not you've fallen out, they have an obligation to fix the equipment. See what they say if you say you're stopping your payments to them until they fix the problem. I believe your contract with them will state that you can cancel the agreement if they've not provided you with the service....

I agree with the above in this instance, but once you've had the digibox for 12 months then you own it and it no longer belongs to Sky so it is up to the customer to have it repaired if it goes faulty. Sky will fix it for you, but at a charge. Sky will also sell you insurance at the end of the first 12 months which will cover you if the box ever goes faulty, take my advice and don't touch the insurance because it's way too expensive IMHO.