Sky playing hardball, no offers if you threaten to cancel.

Krustov wrote:
uk.media.tv.misc
mick
Wed, 17 Jan 2007 15:38:26 GMT


I haven`t payed full price
for Sky for years and have absolutely no intention of doing so in the future
(it`s waaaaay over priced) so if there are no more deals then there`ll be no
more Sky. Not that I`m fussed.


On the odd occasion its a bit of a bummer if you fancy watching a rerun
of the xfiles or whatever - but it doesnt take long to find out what
freeview channels are worth watching and you soon get used it .

Skys new tactic could well backfire on them as the longer you go without
the subscription channels the less you seem to miss them .


I am very surprised at this too. Their top package is currently a
shocking £522 a year, but if you cancel they get nothing. Surely
offering you a deal for £20 a month is better than zero as far as
their business model is concerned?

I am sure millions pay full price becasue they are unaware that deals
can be done, or are simply too lazy, like my dad who never watches the
movie channels but cant be arsed to call and cancel down to the sport
package!

Perhaps they are just trying to prove who has the balance of power,
them or the punters, now that freeview has taken off.

They may be shocked to find out it isnt them!

uk.media.tv.misc
Ed
17 Jan 2007 08:36:20 -0800
.com

I am sure millions pay full price becasue they are unaware that deals
can be done, or are simply too lazy, like my dad who never watches the
movie channels but cant be arsed to call and cancel down to the sport
package!


TMK the churn rate has been in skys favour for several years & the
people who cant or arnt willing to do without sky one dont affect the
churn rate because they will never cancel .

Should in the event sky discover they are losing money by not offering
any half price deals - then all they have to do is a snail mail postcard
promotion to recent customers who have canceled and the chances are they
would get most of them back quite quickly .

Sky arnt stupid .


--
www.phptakeaway.co.uk
(work in progress)

steeler wrote:

They finally got wise to the tactic so now they are letting people actually
cancel first and offering more "come back" deals to people who cancelled 3
months ago.

You mean all the posts here about getting discounts from sky did not go
un-noticed??!! Shh best be careful what you say no, especially if sky
is your ISP.

Mike

"Mike" wrote in message
...
steeler wrote:

They finally got wise to the tactic so now they are letting people
actually cancel first and offering more "come back" deals to people who
cancelled 3 months ago.

You mean all the posts here about getting discounts from sky did not go
un-noticed??!! Shh best be careful what you say no, especially if sky is
your ISP.

Mike



LOL.

"Ed" wrote in message
oups.com...

Keith wrote:
mick wrote:
Ed wrote:
Krustov wrote:
uk.media.tv.misc
Ed
17 Jan 2007 05:20:51 -0800
om

Normally Jan and Feb are full of 'please stay with Sky' offers
because people are broke after Christmas and call to cancel.

But reading the MSE thread on the subject no-one, but no-one at
Sky's turnaround dept. is even entertaining a conversation about an
offer, let alone offering one


Do you mean they are doing what you want without the hard sell .


--
www.phptakeaway.co.uk
(work in progress)

No, normal method for getting a deal is to call and say you want to
cancel. You dont want to cancel, but you have to play their game.

I`m on my 30 days notice now (switches off at the weekend) When I phoned
up to give notice they told me they couldn`t offer me another half-price
deal. They did however phone me up yesterday to ask me why I was leaving
and was by box ok. I just told them I wanted rid of it. I haven`t payed
full price for Sky for years and have absolutely no intention of doing
so
in the future (it`s waaaaay over priced) so if there are no more deals
then there`ll be no more Sky. Not that I`m fussed.

mick

I think £21 for family pack is pretty reasonable, trouble is if I want my
sky+ to work then I have to pay through the nose.

In what way is that reasonable? Which channels that are not available
on freesat or freeview are worth £21. Sky One? Cartoon channels? Given
that you get around 200 channels free over the astra satellite I see no
reason to pay for sky other than the sport, on a personal level

If you add up the programming budget for Sky One, FX, Living and E4 you will
find £21 a month is quite a good deal. Of course it assumes you want to
watch all those US imports - if you don't then it is worthless.

Personally I make a fair living, don't smoke, only drink in moderation these
days - so 30 squid a month is hardly going to bother me much. You pay more
than that for a passable restaurant meal (double if you add wine, quadruple
if you take the gf).

"Ed" wrote in message
oups.com...

Krustov wrote:
uk.media.tv.misc
mick
Wed, 17 Jan 2007 15:38:26 GMT


I haven`t payed full price
for Sky for years and have absolutely no intention of doing so in the
future
(it`s waaaaay over priced) so if there are no more deals then there`ll
be no
more Sky. Not that I`m fussed.


On the odd occasion its a bit of a bummer if you fancy watching a rerun
of the xfiles or whatever - but it doesnt take long to find out what
freeview channels are worth watching and you soon get used it .

Skys new tactic could well backfire on them as the longer you go without
the subscription channels the less you seem to miss them .


I am very surprised at this too. Their top package is currently a
shocking £522 a year, but if you cancel they get nothing. Surely
offering you a deal for £20 a month is better than zero as far as
their business model is concerned?


That is true so long as it is only the minority paying the reduced rate.
The old "threat to cancel" thing is hardly a secret though so if they did
not put a stop to it they might find the majority expecting a discount.

The pay nothing scenario is why sky will soon make the sky+ box standard.
They hope that having the box in your living room will convince you to pay
to record or upgrade your package - that way they guarantee £10 a month for
life once you are hooked. An economic system not dissimilar to drug
dealers.

Edster wrote:
"Ed" wrote in message

Normally Jan and Feb are full of 'please stay with Sky' offers because
people are broke after Christmas and call to cancel.

But reading the MSE thread on the subject no-one, but no-one at Sky's
turnaround dept. is even entertaining a conversation about an offer,
let alone offering one

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...115125&page=73

Bugger!

Their new adverts on demand scheme for Sky+ users will more than
compensate for a few people unsubscribing. Advertising fees for
something like that are going to be extremely high.

I would imaine exactly the reverse to be true, on the basis that since
I got sky+ I cant remember not fast forwarding through an ad break. I
time shift almost everything apart from live sport. Programme
sponsorship and product placement are the way Sky will go as its ad
revenues plummet as it gives all its customers sky+ for next to
nothing. Subs will rise to cover the shortfall in advertising revenue,
so hanging onto churners, even at half price, should be vital for them

steeler wrote:
"Ed" wrote in message
oups.com...

Keith wrote:
mick wrote:
Ed wrote:
Krustov wrote:
uk.media.tv.misc
Ed
17 Jan 2007 05:20:51 -0800
om

Normally Jan and Feb are full of 'please stay with Sky' offers
because people are broke after Christmas and call to cancel.

But reading the MSE thread on the subject no-one, but no-one at
Sky's turnaround dept. is even entertaining a conversation about an
offer, let alone offering one


Do you mean they are doing what you want without the hard sell .


--
www.phptakeaway.co.uk
(work in progress)

No, normal method for getting a deal is to call and say you want to
cancel. You dont want to cancel, but you have to play their game.

I`m on my 30 days notice now (switches off at the weekend) When I phoned
up to give notice they told me they couldn`t offer me another half-price
deal. They did however phone me up yesterday to ask me why I was leaving
and was by box ok. I just told them I wanted rid of it. I haven`t payed
full price for Sky for years and have absolutely no intention of doing
so
in the future (it`s waaaaay over priced) so if there are no more deals
then there`ll be no more Sky. Not that I`m fussed.

mick

I think £21 for family pack is pretty reasonable, trouble is if I want my
sky+ to work then I have to pay through the nose.

In what way is that reasonable? Which channels that are not available
on freesat or freeview are worth £21. Sky One? Cartoon channels? Given
that you get around 200 channels free over the astra satellite I see no
reason to pay for sky other than the sport, on a personal level

If you add up the programming budget for Sky One, FX, Living and E4 you will
find £21 a month is quite a good deal. Of course it assumes you want to
watch all those US imports - if you don't then it is worthless.

Personally I make a fair living, don't smoke, only drink in moderation these
days - so 30 squid a month is hardly going to bother me much. You pay more
than that for a passable restaurant meal (double if you add wine, quadruple
if you take the gf).

Sky One is wall to wall simpsons, plus the occasional US import like
24, that you can get on DVD for a month's sub. FAs for Living, that's
for women and E4 is free (on freeview).

So i dont see that as being worth £250 a year, no

"Ed" wrote in message
ups.com...

steeler wrote:
"Ed" wrote in message
oups.com...

Keith wrote:
mick wrote:
Ed wrote:
Krustov wrote:
uk.media.tv.misc
Ed
17 Jan 2007 05:20:51 -0800
om

Normally Jan and Feb are full of 'please stay with Sky' offers
because people are broke after Christmas and call to cancel.

But reading the MSE thread on the subject no-one, but no-one at
Sky's turnaround dept. is even entertaining a conversation about an
offer, let alone offering one


Do you mean they are doing what you want without the hard sell .


--
www.phptakeaway.co.uk
(work in progress)

No, normal method for getting a deal is to call and say you want to
cancel. You dont want to cancel, but you have to play their game.

I`m on my 30 days notice now (switches off at the weekend) When I
phoned
up to give notice they told me they couldn`t offer me another
half-price
deal. They did however phone me up yesterday to ask me why I was
leaving
and was by box ok. I just told them I wanted rid of it. I haven`t
payed
full price for Sky for years and have absolutely no intention of doing
so
in the future (it`s waaaaay over priced) so if there are no more deals
then there`ll be no more Sky. Not that I`m fussed.

mick

I think £21 for family pack is pretty reasonable, trouble is if I want
my
sky+ to work then I have to pay through the nose.

In what way is that reasonable? Which channels that are not available
on freesat or freeview are worth £21. Sky One? Cartoon channels? Given
that you get around 200 channels free over the astra satellite I see no
reason to pay for sky other than the sport, on a personal level

If you add up the programming budget for Sky One, FX, Living and E4 you
will
find £21 a month is quite a good deal. Of course it assumes you want to
watch all those US imports - if you don't then it is worthless.

Personally I make a fair living, don't smoke, only drink in moderation
these
days - so 30 squid a month is hardly going to bother me much. You pay
more
than that for a passable restaurant meal (double if you add wine,
quadruple
if you take the gf).

Sky One is wall to wall simpsons, plus the occasional US import like
24,

and Battlestar, Lost, Bones, Rescue Me, Nip/****, Eureka, Deadwood, etc,
etc - as well as some gems that never made it to freeview like Wonderfalls
and Dead Like Me.

FAs for Living, that's

First channel over here to show Boston Legal.

for women and E4 is free (on freeview).

Not everyone can get a decent freeview signal. You were comparing to
freesat so don't change the rules now.

So i dont see that as being worth £250 a year, no

*shrug* It is worth it for me. Sure I could buy the DVDs or download them
all - but DVDs are not free, your internet costs and frankly, my time is
money.

I am not saying that everyone should sub to sky - but they are not forcing
anyone and just because it is not for you does not mean that some people are
willing to pay for the service they provide.

"Mike Henry" wrote in message
...
In .com, "Ed"
wrote:


Edster wrote:
"Ed" wrote in message

Normally Jan and Feb are full of 'please stay with Sky' offers because
people are broke after Christmas and call to cancel.

But reading the MSE thread on the subject no-one, but no-one at Sky's
turnaround dept. is even entertaining a conversation about an offer,
let alone offering one

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...115125&page=73

Bugger!

Their new adverts on demand scheme for Sky+ users will more than
compensate for a few people unsubscribing. Advertising fees for
something like that are going to be extremely high.

I would imaine exactly the reverse to be true, on the basis that since
I got sky+ I cant remember not fast forwarding through an ad break. I
time shift almost everything apart from live sport. Programme
sponsorship and product placement are the way Sky will go as its ad
revenues plummet as it gives all its customers sky+ for next to
nothing. Subs will rise to cover the shortfall in advertising revenue,
so hanging onto churners, even at half price, should be vital for them

I think you've misunderstood. In this context, "adverts on demand" is at
the advertiser's demand, *not* the viewers! As far as I understand it
the system is capable of working like this: advertising content is
downloaded during idle periods and saved to the whopping 50% of the disc
reserved for it. Later, when the viewer is watching something and
presses "FF" on the remote, adverts can be played back at that point in
time (inserted into the recording) and can be made un-skippable.

Therefore Sky can demand, and will get, very high fees from the
advertisers for the "holy grail" of unskippable adverts that they can
send to millions of viewers.


and it is also pure speculation. They have to weigh up the increased
revenue against customer reaction. Every PVR provider has a contingency for
unskippable ads but none have been brave enough to risk it yet.

I see Sky's on demand business model more like a box office or downloads
service - missed episodes and premium movies on a fee basis (either per use
or flat monthly) mixed in with some free content as loss leaders.