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I used the RT Forum search for phone sky and found my previous number for Sky’s disabled and registered customers was:
08007 591 263
I questioned the prices for Signature and for HD channels.
The disabled phone number also acts as the Retentions Department used to negotiate better deals or extra options.
If downgrading, then we lose access to our Sky recordings that used that service or services.
We also lose the timeshift storage to pause and rewind and fast forward.
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SKY FEB/MARCH/APRIL 2025 UPDATES
Upon receiving an increase charge on my Sky services, I lost the £9 discount for HD quality service and the bill increased to almost £40 this month. So I phoned Sky about getting an updated deal if possible. The Free 0800 151 2747 number worked OK.
03442 414 141
0800 151 2747I wasn’t impressed to learn that from April 2025 the basic Sky service will increase by £4 a month. I got very little extra discount offered and that gets wiped out when the April increase starts. The other discounts I get will soon go as well.
I was able to switch to the ESSENTIALS non-Sky channels service for £10 a month instead of £15 a month and agreed to that starting today and thus losing all Sky recordings on the Sky+ HD Planner set-top box. The ESSENTIALS contract was for 24-months. Even so, I’m not paying £40 a month for those 24 months and that’s a so-called saving of over £700 from today.
If I try the NOW TV service for Sky Entertainment, then I get something that way, even if paying about £12 a month. With discount deals the NOW TV service accounts that I have may reduce the costs even more. So even if £10 a month on average I still get to save about £450 to £500 instead of £720.
Sky ESSENTIALS lets me record the free-to-air TV channels to my Sky+ HD set-top box. If I were to put that box into another room upstairs or downstairs then any non-Sky recordings would still work. I couldn’t transfer the Sky card to a different set-top box and still keep the other box’s recordings intact, as far as I know. So I’d move the Sky+ HD box to make sure of keeping what I’d recorded safe.
http://www.sky.com
http://www.nowtv.comThe present setup means that I will still see my account details on my Sky+ box as well as on the Sky website. I tested Sky’s website on different web browsers and found I could get better access on the Supermium web browser I installed recently. That’s how I could sign in and see the products and their current prices and discounts.
The thing is, some customers live alone and could be paying the discount prices until these get changed in April. An increase from £36 to £40 for the basic Sky channels and timeshift and downloads and HD as well is a lot of money and may not be wise to continue if inflation gets added and Sky require over 10% more from April 2025.
As for Sky’s August Cyber Sale offers, I’m regarded as a non-Sky customer and may qualify for whatever deal helps in the future. I would then be switched and the non-Sky TV channels would either remain intact or get wiped off the Sky+ HD set-top box as a new Sky contract starts. If not saving a really significant way then then Sky deals at that time wouldn’t make sense. Especially after that £4 a month increase from April 2025.
If not wanting the Sky ESSENTIALS deal I’d be using various Freeview set-top boxes such as the Netgem Netbox 4K version easily bought from eBay sellers which offers over 100 EXTRA TV channels which we can’t record to the inserted 32GB USB drives inserted into this set-top box… It’s an alternative when we consider these drives sell for about £4 each and can record about 20 hours of Freeview channels on the 28GB storage of these 32GB drives. Some 4K TVs may work with external USB hard drives if the specifications info states that…
My Sky+ HD has a 2TB storage for hundreds of hours of storage and these boxes are sold on eBay, too. Plus the extra feature of having a SCART output as well as the HDMI viewing cable for the 4K TVs. Even without Sky ESSENTIALS I would still be able to use a DVD Recorder to record the LIVE TV films and TV shows. So there are several options nowadays.
http://www.youtube.com for ways to switch off pay services eg CUT THE CORD is the search phrase for Sky or other streaming services and live recordings or Sky downloads.
http://www.justwatch.com is a way to find out various services to watch certain films or TV shows and the various apps that offer some of these free. All these will bring into question the BBC and its TV Licence requirements for watching LIVE TV films or TV shows and especially for the BBC TV channels and the BBC iPlayer content.
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If pensioners and disabled people live alone they must pay utility bills and their standing charges and 5% VAT as well. The updated news of the April 2025 Price Cap increase of 6% to 7% meant that the cheaper tariff deals got withdrawn and replaced with more expensive tariffs.
Virgin Media may charge for Broadband alone or include the phone line rental. Some will get huge discounts and some won’t.
Even if we save with other companies and their discounts, we should still be prepared to switch and save from bank to bank or pay services to reduced services just to save money. We can check different services to act as alternative ways to save. So Google search will lead to news and reviews and ways to save.
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Here is the updated info about SKY ESSENTIALS and NOW TV:
I was able to switch to the ESSENTIALS non-Sky channels service for 10 pounds a month instead of 15 pounds a month and agreed to that starting today and thus losing all Sky recordings on the Sky+ HD Planner set-top box. The ESSENTIALS contract is set for 24-months unless upgrading and returning to Sky.
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This 5 pounds a month discount is set for the first 12 months as confirmed by email. I can apply again in February 2026 to get that discount continued from that time on.
***Even so, I’m not paying 40 pounds a month for those 24 months and that’s a so-called saving of over 700 pounds from today.
If I try the NOW TV service for Sky Entertainment, then I get something that way, even if paying about 12 pounds a month. With discount deals the NOW TV service accounts that I have may reduce the costs even more. So even if 10 pounds a month on average I still get to save about 450 pounds to 500 pounds instead of 720 pounds.
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The current NOW TV offer is for 6 months at 5.99 pounds a month then it ends and continues at 9.99 pounds a month unless cancelled so that offers us a 24 pounds saving straight away. Even so, other offers may apply if we sign in and check for these before getting that 6 months deal using any registered account we’ve set up already.
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By the way, there is a font called Hello Sky that I downloaded and installed and it looks a bit like it could be useful as a dyslexic style font for those with reading difficulties.
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For the end of January 2026, I got a Sky email about that £10 offer ending. I phoned Sky to see what I could get and extended the £10 offer for another year, saving £60 in the process. I decided to disconnect the Sky+ box and take it upstairs instead and then started recording TV shows and downloaded a few HD and SD TV shows. The Sky Essentials package helps me to use the time shift feature for rewind and fast forward and pause actions to work.
I got NOW TV subscriptions for 6 months and 12 months for £4 each. I’m paying £8 instead of £20…
So with the £10 and the £8 I’m better off than paying about £32 to Sky.
It’s not that I’m getting an identical set of TV channels that counts as much as saving £100 in the first 6 months.
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From April, 2026, my discount for Sky Essentials is OK, but the Sky increase is still £1 a month more.
For Sky Signature, it would be £2 extra, and Sky Cinema £1 extra.
The added services include Sky One returning to Sky. Third-party channels will also be added, yet subject to whether free or extra subscriptions.
I phoned Sky free on 08007 591 263 to verify what their letter explained about my subscription. Sky Essentials only gets free-to-air channels, yet allows me to use the time shift pause and play and reverse and fast forward actions for my Sky+ HD set-top box and to download HD or SD Catchup TV films and shows.
http://www.sky.com for the latest updates and the TV channels’ offers.
Also view live Sky TV adverts or those you’ve recorded in your Sky+ Planner.
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6th of July 2026 update:
Sky customers who have the Sky Signature subscription can get the Sky Cinema upgrade with Paramount+ included for an extra £10 a month for 18 months.Once they have upgraded, they can access all 11 dedicated Sky Cinema channels » in HD with the Sky Cinema pack ».
The Paramount+ service is now included at no extra cost saving £6.99 a month.
Extra offer: Receive two free Vue Cinema tickets every month.
This Sky Cinema deal secures an automatic £9 per month OFF per month for 18 months, costing just £10 extra per month. Customers can ave £162.00 with this discount subscription, available here online for a limited time. By the way, the existing Sky+ customers can upgrade to Sky Q for as little as £49, or choose to upgrade with the all new Sky Stream and Glass services.
https://www.sky.com to upgrade online if that works better for you…
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