Sky sports rebrand

[Jay_23]

Yes the price hike isn't great but if you want a relaible Sky sports and bt sport, with fast unlimted fibre BB, then for me anyway, bt is still the cheapeast method. 

Now tv is just too unreliable, I cant get VM. Sky, talk talk etc work out more expensive.

My bt contract is due for renewal in February so will see then once the BB is full price!

The 2 channels to 1, I must be in a minorty here!

I'm not too bothered if there's 1 channel or 5, aslong as I get to see all the sports that I want to.

However if sky had just left the channels alone and bt still charged £22 for SD version, then yes I think most of us would've been better off!

[MadRob]

EPL - Every Sky PL game will be on either Main Event or Extra.

Championship - I believe most, but not all, Championship games will be on. It would appear that next Friday nights game is not on, with golf taking precedence. I can understand the Solheim Cup being viewed as a 'main event' over Burton v Birmingham. *The Saturday evening Championship game will always/mostly clash with BT's EPL game*.

La Liga - hard to know what they'll do there as other sporting events could take priority.

Cricket - not always shown in its entirety as they cut away for other things or miss days completely. Daytime games probably stand more chance of getting full coverage, such as yesterday's Women's T20.

F1 (race day at least) - I'd expect these to be shown, it looks like the next 2 at least will be on (according to Digiguide listings), as they can utilise the Extra channel for PL if they clash.

Boxing - the next Sky live boxing is also scheduled for Main Event. Currently the boxing at the start of September is not listed as being on Main Event.

NFL - Can see no reason why there wouldn't be a healthy smattering of games on but that will be Sky's decision to make in whether they want to share those games with us.

I've signed up during the week and am willing to test it out for a month or two and see how it all settles down. I don't want to re-sign up with Sky tv as I don't want to pay their big prices for stuff I won't watch so am currently happy with Main Event as it stands. As a mainly football fan maybe I'm being selfish in liking the current set up with BT covering enough EPL and of course Main Event throwing in the majority of live EPL games and hopefully a good dose of Championship also, with a few other sports which I'd tend to just watch on a casual basis anyway.

[IanW17]

Doesn't apply to all though as the funny thing is that I am now paying less with a combination of Sky for TV and BT for broadband, albeit for 12 months. I get all Sky Sports and BT Sport channels for less than of I took everything out with one provider. Both providers win and so do I in this instance.

[Brookstermax]

I expressed my displeasure earlier in the thread and was a day 1 cancellation for the Sky Sports BT bolt on after these changes. 

 I did take the plunge with Now TV. Whilst I cannot record or pause and have to use 2 devices on the main TV, it is working out ok with some small advantages. I can now watch Now TV on both the Now TV box and also my Xbox One upstairs - so have several places to watch Sky Sports. Also I have all Sports channels, and have SSN which I have missed for a long time.

The now TV picture quality is inferior to the HD streams on BT TV but it is adequate enough.

However more importantly for BT generally I am rethinking my strategy on watching TV generally. Do I maintain this or do something different longer term.

Interesting to note that this thread has real life in it and this topic matters to a number of people.

[jam2000]

Wait till you watch a live game on now TV and it jumps and skips. Been well reportedon the Nowtv forum but still no fix.

[MadRob]

Sky now insist on an 18 month contract for new customers. Anything they offered me meant paying more for things I don't ever watch.

Some people on their own forums warning of them sneakily charging more by saying some offers not now being honoured due to the sports restructuring. 

Now tv doesn't interest me as I need the recording function of a box. I hope they have ironed out the gremlins when showing big events which have invariably led to loads of complaints in the past. Too many people watching at once hammering their servers.

[IanW17]

Strange, at no point when I signed up was I advised of an 18 month contract and when I log on to My Sky, it states Sky Sports No Contract. I will have to review the paperwork when I get home, just in case.

[MadRob]

You can get it on a no contract basis but it is more expensive than taking it out on contract, even after offers. I don't mind paying through BT for it but I don't think I'd ever go back fully to Sky. Main Event covers the sport I watch anyway. 

Someone earlier mentioned Sky Sports News which covers all the 'downtime' on Main Event, some days it loops for hours on end. 

[IanW17]

Just checked and it's a 12 month contract, so that's a relief.

I get what you're saying about Main Event covering your needs, but I always like the option of choice. I would have preferred to keep everything with BT but I really didn't have a choice in the matter. There was no way I was paying £33 A month for 1 channel when I could get them all for a lot cheaper. Luckily, BT offer a great deal with BT Sport on Sky of you keep your line and broadband with them. It all worked out cheaper.

[andy_m1]

Depends what you're after I guess, and you're right, you have to go where your needs are best served.

I just want football and f1 with the odd bit of tennis thrown in. If I was with Sky I'd have to pay £18 for the Premier League channel and the same again for the f1 channel plus an hd fee. That wouldn't get me any tennis and the only football I'd get would be the Premier League so I'd probably end up with the full package. I'm paying £33 now for one channel but that one channel, so far at least, seems to give me what I want. And I'm obviously paying BT a lot less in the first place than I'd have to pay Sky to even get to the stage where subscribing to sport channels is an option.

I think if you can see past the one channel thing Main Event has marked an improvement in the Sky Sports offering available on BT but as I said right at the beginning of this discussion - there will inevitably be losers when changes like this occur, as well as winners.