I cancelled my Sky Sports subscription

Status
Not open for further replies.

CA1

New Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Messages
1,894
Cancelled it this morning. I am one of the last in my close circle of friends to do it as well.

Where did it all go wrong for them?

Their coverage is crap now. They don't seem to get the big games or names anymore.

Andy Hinchcliffe yesterday on the Spurs-City game. Felt like you were watching a League Two match.

Same old pundits with the same old lines. Made up arguements that have been pre-arranged between Neville and Carragher.

Lost the CL and a lot of European leagues but still expensive.

BT are even worse but they get some decent pundits/co-comms on who have at least played to a decent standard.

The future has got to be a streaming service of some kind surely?
 

SalfordRed18

Netflix and avocado, no chill
Joined
Sep 24, 2012
Messages
13,928
Location
Salford
Supports
Ashwood City FC
Illegal streaming + other companies being better.
 
Last edited:

horsechoker

The Caf's Roy Keane.
Joined
Apr 16, 2015
Messages
51,388
Location
The stable
Illegal streaming vs other companies being better.
and rising costs despite losing many rights. This 3pm kick off rule needs to change and companies like Sky need to push for it even harder because why pay for a limited number of matches on Sky when you can watch any through illegal streaming?
 

11101

Full Member
Joined
Aug 26, 2014
Messages
21,207
Just another media company trying to fight the future rather than embracing it.

I think football games, and only the games, will eventually end up on streaming services. Punditry will be a separate thing on free to view with adverts. Its only a matter of time before an online company bids big. People like Jeff Bezos could buy the entire Premier League with what they have down the back of their sofa.
 

ivaldo

Mediocre Horse Whisperer, s'up wid chew?
Joined
Nov 15, 2012
Messages
28,699
Cancelled it this morning. I am one of the last in my close circle of friends to do it as well.

Where did it all go wrong for them?

Their coverage is crap now. They don't seem to get the big games or names anymore.

Andy Hinchcliffe yesterday on the Spurs-City game. Felt like you were watching a League Two match.

Same old pundits with the same old lines. Made up arguements that have been pre-arranged between Neville and Carragher.

Lost the CL and a lot of European leagues but still expensive.

BT are even worse but they get some decent pundits/co-comms on who have at least played to a decent standard.

The future has got to be a streaming service of some kind surely?
Nowhere. It’s still immensely popular and immensely profitable. The shake up earlier this year to the sports channels, allowing subscribers to subscribe to their preferred sports, has paid dividends. Figures at the beginning of the year saw operating profits rise by about a quarter, and although they’ve lost Champions League coverage, they’ve maintained the vast majority of Premier League packages.
 

youmeletsfly

New Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2018
Messages
2,528
Just another media company trying to fight the future rather than embracing it.

I think football games, and only the games, will eventually end up on streaming services. Punditry will be a separate thing on free to view with adverts.
Wasn't Facebook supposed to stream the majority of EPL games this year or the deal fell off?

Anyway it's a feking ripoff if you want to watch the majority of the games these days as you need to pay 3-4 subscriptions to different media companies.
 

11101

Full Member
Joined
Aug 26, 2014
Messages
21,207
Wasn't Facebook supposed to stream the majority of EPL games this year or the deal fell off?

Anyway it's a feking ripoff if you want to watch the majority of the games these days as you need to pay 3-4 subscriptions to different media companies.
I think it was Amazon? They bought the rights to a single weekend in January I believe, just to test the water.
 

CA1

New Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Messages
1,894
Nowhere. It’s still immensely popular and immensely profitable. The shake up earlier this year to the sports channels, allowing subscribers to subscribe to their preferred sports, has paid dividends. Figures at the beginning of the year saw operating profits rise by about a quarter, and although they’ve lost Champions League coverage, they’ve maintained the vast majority of Premier League packages.
Fair enough, I don't have the facts and figures handy.

But I know loads who have cancelled and like I say I just have because it's not worth the money in my opinion. If I want to watch a game, I'd happily get a NowTV day pass or go to the pub.

But it just seems like a drain at the moment.
 

Cloud7

Full Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2016
Messages
12,778
This seems like primarily a U.K. based problem isn’t it? From what I gather on here most people outside of the U.K. manage to get all the PL and relevant CL games under one package, as well as the 3pm games.

There is something very wrong when the country that the football is coming from pays the most and has the hardest time accessing coverage of the matches.
 

DanNistelrooy

Lineup Prediction & Last Man Standing winner 2017
Joined
Mar 19, 2006
Messages
8,797
Location
W3104
Cancelled it this morning. I am one of the last in my close circle of friends to do it as well.

Where did it all go wrong for them?

Their coverage is crap now. They don't seem to get the big games or names anymore.

Andy Hinchcliffe yesterday on the Spurs-City game. Felt like you were watching a League Two match.

Same old pundits with the same old lines. Made up arguements that have been pre-arranged between Neville and Carragher.

Lost the CL and a lot of European leagues but still expensive.

BT are even worse but they get some decent pundits/co-comms on who have at least played to a decent standard.

The future has got to be a streaming service of some kind surely?
I'm surprised you cancelled after MNF, especially last night as I thought Neville and Carragher's analysis of Martial and Barkley was superb (the level of analysis when Neville is on is usually very high). I actually found the analysis either side of the football more interesting than the game itself.

Had you done this after one of the so-called "Super Sundays" Sky have had recently then I would understand. I agree with you about the same old pundits too - I am not sure what Redknapp and Souness provide - would like to see more of Higginbottam who does a great job IMO.

Are you going to get something to replace it? Few of my mates have got IPTV
 

Lay

Correctly predicted Italy to win Euro 2020
Joined
Jan 29, 2013
Messages
19,790
Location
England
Cancelled it pretty much when they lost the CL. Now they don’t have La Liga either there’s not much else I have time for. Majority of EPL games bore me anyway.

Saw they got the NBA though and hope they do a better job this time with it.
 

RikRuud

Full Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2014
Messages
1,962
Location
Auckland, NZ
I loved premiere league plus back in the 2000's. For the last few years sky have cared more about the drama and controversy surrounding the game more than the football itself. The broadcasting has become too Americanised for my liking personally I prefer the BT coverage now that the punditry has improved.
 

Bojan11

Full Member
Joined
May 16, 2010
Messages
33,113
What’s wrong with Andy Hinchcliffe?

BT have way worse than him. They have Owen, Savage and Sutton for starters.

Have you cancelled your sky or just the sports? Because they most likely will end up contacting you if you cancelled Sky and give you half price for a year or something.

My annoyance with them is they lost La Liga and tennis. Both cheap contracts compared to premier league.

Eleven sports don’t even have a channel and they had a YouTuber presenting the el Classico.

Prime now was hit and miss for US open. Don’t really like streaming sports when I’m home, I prefer watching through satellite rather than a stream.
 

devil in me

Full Member
Joined
May 6, 2011
Messages
6,603
Location
Hereford
Its certainly gone to shit this season, some of the live football thats been on over the last few weekends has been shocking. They've got about half the games that they used to and charge more. Mine will be going soon I think. Absolute rip off and a load of games are on BT now anway.

I will say though that I think Andy Hinchcliffe is one of the better co comms!!
 

AKDevil

Full Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2009
Messages
3,007
Location
London, England
Cancelled it this morning. I am one of the last in my close circle of friends to do it as well.

Where did it all go wrong for them?

Their coverage is crap now. They don't seem to get the big games or names anymore.

Andy Hinchcliffe yesterday on the Spurs-City game. Felt like you were watching a League Two match.

Same old pundits with the same old lines. Made up arguements that have been pre-arranged between Neville and Carragher.

Lost the CL and a lot of European leagues but still expensive.

BT are even worse but they get some decent pundits/co-comms on who have at least played to a decent standard.

The future has got to be a streaming service of some kind surely?
I’m close to doing the same. End of the season it’s gone. Paying same if not more and they’re losing everything...Champions League, La Liga, chunk of PL games, Italian football etc etc
 

red4ever 79

New Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2015
Messages
9,530
Location
Czech Republic
Mentioned it a few times on here. In Czech Republic it is pretty good. We have one provider who has the EPL, La Liga, Bundesliga and Serie A all for around 13eur per month. Seperate provider has the Champions League, that is around 7 eur per month.
 

Real Madras

Full Member
Joined
Nov 30, 2016
Messages
1,062
Location
London
Supports
Real Oviedo
When I lived in India from 2003 to 2007 I watched every single game available to me and there were loads. Abroad you pay for one service which is very cheap and you get to watch everything. Normal channels on sky with the sky sports and BT is £150 a month. It’s a joke.
 

Real Madras

Full Member
Joined
Nov 30, 2016
Messages
1,062
Location
London
Supports
Real Oviedo
Mentioned it a few times on here. In Czech Republic it is pretty good. We have one provider who has the EPL, La Liga, Bundesliga and Serie A all for around 13eur per month. Seperate provider has the Champions League, that is around 7 eur per month.
20 euros per month an and you get everything. It’s crazy
 

Real Madras

Full Member
Joined
Nov 30, 2016
Messages
1,062
Location
London
Supports
Real Oviedo
What’s wrong with Andy Hinchcliffe?

BT have way worse than him. They have Owen, Savage and Sutton for starters.

Have you cancelled your sky or just the sports? Because they most likely will end up contacting you if you cancelled Sky and give you half price for a year or something.

My annoyance with them is they lost La Liga and tennis. Both cheap contracts compared to premier league.

Eleven sports don’t even have a channel and they had a YouTuber presenting the el Classico.

Prime now was hit and miss for US open. Don’t really like streaming sports when I’m home, I prefer watching through satellite rather than a stream.
I enjoy getting Sutton getting ripped to pieces the other night. Talks drivel.
 

charlenefan

Far less insightful than the other Charley
Joined
Aug 17, 2005
Messages
33,052
Cancelled it this morning. I am one of the last in my close circle of friends to do it as well.

Where did it all go wrong for them?

Their coverage is crap now. They don't seem to get the big games or names anymore.

Andy Hinchcliffe yesterday on the Spurs-City game. Felt like you were watching a League Two match.

Same old pundits with the same old lines. Made up arguements that have been pre-arranged between Neville and Carragher.

Lost the CL and a lot of European leagues but still expensive.

BT are even worse but they get some decent pundits/co-comms on who have at least played to a decent standard.

The future has got to be a streaming service of some kind surely?
Sky do still get all the big games tbf
 

Mr Anderson

Eats, shoots, leaves
Joined
Jul 6, 2009
Messages
24,298
Location
Ireland
I keep Sky Sports as long as they give me an offer. Usually half price for 6 or 9 months. Ring at the end and see if they offer me the same - if not I will eventually kick it. I could stream it as I do have an iptv sub but I like having the option to record games and watching it once I get in the door oblivious to any score.
 

Bojan11

Full Member
Joined
May 16, 2010
Messages
33,113
I’m close to doing the same. End of the season it’s gone. Paying same if not more and they’re losing everything...Champions League, La Liga, chunk of PL games, Italian football etc etc
They never had Italian football besides the Coppa Italia.

They actually showing more premier league matches in the next rights. Their main focus is EPL and EFL. They just don’t really care about anything outside the UK.

There are rumours that they might end up bidding for the champions league next year.

BT are the ones who should be worried if they lose that. They already lost UFC and NBA. They lost the Italian football. If they lose the champions league then they are in deep shit.
 

Vadim

New Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2018
Messages
1,739
When I’m back in the UK visiting family I enjoy the EFL Championship matches on Sky, much better than the Prem which is a load of overrated shite.

My dad always does the same trick with Sky - phones them up, tells them he’s cancelling and when they ask why “too expensive”. He always gets an amazing deal for 18 months there and then.

Try it rather than just cancel. Here in the US we’ve got pretty good coverage of fhe English ‘soccer’.
 

Bocca9978

Full Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2014
Messages
2,106
Mentioned it a few times on here. In Czech Republic it is pretty good. We have one provider who has the EPL, La Liga, Bundesliga and Serie A all for around 13eur per month. Seperate provider has the Champions League, that is around 7 eur per month.
€20 a month for everything! Wish I’d even get close to that.
Only BT for me at the moment.
 

Dumbstar

We got another woman hater here.
Joined
Jul 18, 2002
Messages
21,137
Location
Viva Karius!
Supports
Liverpool
Utd not doing well then.

I felt the same most years as LFC fan.
 

Bocca9978

Full Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2014
Messages
2,106
When I’m back in the UK visiting family I enjoy the EFL Championship matches on Sky, much better than the Prem which is a load of overrated shite.

My dad always does the same trick with Sky - phones them up, tells them he’s cancelling and when they ask why “too expensive”. He always gets an amazing deal for 18 months there and then.

Try it rather than just cancel. Here in the US we’ve got pretty good coverage of fhe English ‘soccer’.
Do you mean the coverage or the football?
 

Gio

★★★★★★★★
Joined
Jan 25, 2001
Messages
20,300
Location
Bonnie Scotland
Supports
Rangers
They've got complacent. Charging more but offering less and less. The app's pish, devices are always getting locked out on the My Sky thing. They'll be okay for the short-to-medium term because their subscriber base is set in its ways, consumes their product they way they deliver it, and are probably not all that interested in the stuff they've lost like La Liga. If they were this far behind the curve when they came into the market in the 1990s, they would never have been successful. Long-term if they lose their monopoly, they're gonna struggle.
 

0le

Full Member
Joined
Dec 25, 2017
Messages
5,806
Location
UK
I think removing CL football from FTA (free to air) television was a travesty. A similar thing also happened to the Ashes (cricket) and F1, although with regards to F1, C4 still retain some rights to show a handful of the races and qualifying. Its no surprise that F1 viewership is going down and football is lucky in that it already has a core set of fans who will watch it regardless.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rood

Coxy

Full Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2006
Messages
3,222
Location
Derby
Illegal streaming + other companies being better.
the reason why illegal streaming got so massive is because sky's prices were so high.

I wouldn't dream of subscribing at these prices - especially when you don't get the whole package so to speak.

Also, not reducing your price when you lose rights, is disgusting.
 

balaks

Full Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2014
Messages
15,335
Location
Northern Ireland
Supports
Tottenham Hotspur
I havent had Sky for about 10 years and I don't miss it at all - I do enjoy not having to spend such ridiculous amounts of cash on it. As others have said I can watch every game I want online anyway so it's a no-brainer.
 

AndyJ1985

New Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2016
Messages
8,954
Only time I've ever had Sky is years ago when living with my parents. Would never waste my own money on that overpriced shite.
 

SSSSnake

Full Member
Joined
Sep 4, 2008
Messages
3,578
I couldn't live without sky sports personally. Been quite happy with the amount of United games on lately. Managed to get a really good deal. £54 for all channels minus kids shows for 24 months. I can live with that.
 

2 man midfield

Last Man Standing finalist 2021/22
Joined
Sep 4, 2012
Messages
45,670
Location
?
BT is much better all round if you exclude the odd Monday night football, which is often a decent watch.
 

Adisa

likes to take afvanadva wothowi doubt
Joined
Nov 28, 2014
Messages
50,315
Location
Birmingham
Cancelled long ago. It makes no sense paying so much and still have having to stream so many games.
I get access to more games across more leagues in Nigeria than I do in the UK.
 

Flying_Heckfish

Full Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2009
Messages
4,875
Location
Hand in Glove
I think removing CL football from FTA (free to air) television was a travesty. A similar thing also happened to the Ashes (cricket) and F1, although with regards to F1, C4 still retain some rights to show a handful of the races and qualifying. Its no surprise that F1 viewership is going down and football is lucky in that it already has a core set of fans who will watch it regardless.
If sky can get the CL again I imagine they'd stick at least one game on Sports Mix, which was/is on free view I think.

Would be so much easier if BT and Sky could both have the rights, then there would be actual competition.
 

Mb194dc

Full Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2015
Messages
4,595
Supports
Chelsea
The league have got too greedy, it's more expensive but the actual product has got worse too IMO.

Few years ago you got La Liga, the UCL and the EPL on Sky for the a fair bit less than they charge now. Viewing of live sport generally is declining, lot of people don't have the attention span anymore, streaming services and other kinds of entertainment is taking over. BT haven't been doing great either, wondering if they'll stay in the market long term. I can only see the UK TV rights reducing in value now for the foreseeable future.
 

WR10

Correctly predicted France to win World Cup 2018
Joined
Jul 19, 2009
Messages
5,644
Location
Dream
On a side related note - has anyone been paying attention to Gary Neville lately? He seems to have absolutely lost it after that outburst of support for Mourinho on tv. He usually has a knack for saying the right things but I remember his commentating on the United v Chelsea game completely absurd. He was saying things taking him down completely wrong avenues. His pundit work has been the same. He’s lost that logical knack and seems to be shooting from the hip with no emotional filter anymore. Rather odd
 
Status
Not open for further replies.