Hi,

I hope there isn't already a thread discussing this but i can't find one so here goes.

I was considering the Top Up TV package for £40 per month in readiness for the new season as an alternative to sky.

I like the idea of no contracts..

Does anyone else have Top Up TV or are considering getting it like me?

I am thinking it just connects via a scart lead from the TV and lead from the aerial. As my TV is attached to the wall i just like to remove my now "cancelled" old sky box and replace it with the new freeview one from Top up TV.

Any comments please.

I would expect that this deal exists because Sky have been forced to decrease the wholesale price of Sky Sports 1 &2, it simply means that the majority of sport worth watching will be moved to Sky Sports 3 and Extra, it`s worth a try as there is no contract, but if you think Sky will allow competition to give value for money then I`m afraid your mistaken

hi,

Thanks for your reply.

I might just give it a go for a couple of months and see what sky do between now and then. There is also ESPN aswell.

I think for those who watch Sport and just the basic channels, there may be some value in this, if it is available in HD, as many sports fans have objected to paying for unnecessary junk to get access to Sky Sports, time will tell.

That doesn't look like a bargain to me, you can get all the Sky sports channels plus ESPN and SSN for £38 direct from Sky.

The minimum Sky package is £19.00 any premium packages are added on to this, if I could get that and Sports for £38.00 quid I would bite their hand off Sorbie

Add £9 for espn and bob's yer ma's brother.
Check it out here
It is Sky though and you have to phone them rather than order it on line so there might be a catch, worth investigating though if you want just the sports.

It`s a nightmare to decipher these deals, they are worded in such a way as to get you on the phone with wee Davie from Livingston, sounded like a decent bloke, and he gave me Arsenal TV free for 3 months if I went for the package I wanted, it made sense at the time, then the first bill arrives and it`s 65.00

I`ll go through that with a fine tooth comb and post back later, as they say, if it seems to good to be true, it probably is

Within this same forum,someone asked a few weeks ago about the BT Vision offers for Sky Sports w/e 1st August,so as it's a maze trying to decipher the pros and cons of the deals on offer following Ofcom's ruling,I provided some links to comparison websites including Martyn Lewis' moneysavingexpert.com ......see link to the other thread below

The battle is inevitably beginning to hot up between BT & Sky,and with only 3 weeks to go to Premier League kickoff and BT aiming for 2 million new subscribers,half of whom they expect to switch from Sky,it's likely to get dirty.

I'm not impressed so far with BT's marketing and can't see them hitting their 2m target unless they sharpen up their act.

Sky reckon Bt Vision will lose money on every new subscriber they get for Sky Sports,and will hope to make it up on broadband and phone new business.

Sky would never get away with transferring the best bits from SS1 & 2 to SS3 and 4,as Ofcom wouldn't allow them to.

So what Sky are doing is laying the emphasis on all their channels being HD,including SSN very soon,as Ofcom allowed them to retain exclusivity on HD,and pointing out that to get the best deals from BT you need to sign up for 2 years.

ESPN of course comes free with BT Vision. The boxes for BT Vision and TopUpTV look similar to me but I've not compared their prices,though I suspect BT will offer the best deals,to attract new broadband and phone business,with better margins.

sky-sports-1-2-coming-to-bt-vision-t74847.html

With regards to the content of Sky Sports, Sky will push the envelope as far as they can, Ofcom are a toothless Tiger, it`s taken them a decade or more to get Sky to reduce wholesale prices with Government pressure, Sky do not like that, and they will never allow Ofcom to dictate to them what they broadcast and when they broadcast it, they will be up for a fight, and now they will get support from the Government the good times are back.
They obviously won`t be showing repeat highlights of the Paralympics from Sydney but if you have Sky Sports 1 and 2 only you will get half of what you want to see if your lucky.

I'm only really interested in their Premier League coverage myself,but I can see where you're coming from with other sports such as curling possibly being switched to Sky Sports 3 & 4

I guarantee, if there are two games on a Saturday, the 12.45 game will be on 1 or 2 and the 5.15 game will be on 3 or 4, same on a Sunday, It will drive BT and Top Up TV customers mental

oh well,I'll just have to stream it then poor old ESPN - I thought they'd be in with a shout for the 5.15 ko's

I`m not sure but I think they have some of them, a fair few short of their quota last year, I`m paying for ESPN at the moment for Aussie Rules, but the day after the Final it`s getting sacked.

That reminds me I`m up at 4.00am for the Bulldogs game

Time for bed

In reply:

- at the moment, all nine of Sky's live Premier League matches in August are scheduled for Sky Sports 1 or 2:

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12942,00.html

- and ESPN have the majority of the Saturday evening games, kick-off 17.30:

http://www.premierleague.com/page/UKAnd ... 06,00.html

Thank you and goodnight,SamD

Thank you for your replies.

With top up tv you are not tied down to a yearly contract, i think with Sky you are but it's been a few years since i cancelled mine.

I'm pretty sure it's 1 month free with top up tv + £40 for a freeview box.