I've finally cancelled my Sky subscription!
Moving house means that, in many respects, I'm starting out with a "clean slate". So while I was going through my "to do" list, which includes updating my address with a bunch of services, one of the items on there was dealing with my Sky account. Was it really worth my while moving my Sky box and dish to the new house? After reviewing my usage and the "benefits" of having Sky I realised that I really didn't need it.
I'm also going to be "phone free". I don't need a fixed phone line anymore. I honestly can't remember the last time I used the fixed line in the current house and I think I got it disconnected a couple of years ago, though I honestly don't know, or care. I never use it.
So what will I be doing instead?
I don't really watch that much live television anyway. Apart from "current affairs", most of my TV consumption is TV shows.
RTE's Player has a lot of the content that I might want anyway.
With Netflix I'm able to watch what I want, when I want to. Amazon video is now available (sort of) here in Ireland and since I've got an Amazon Prime account I don't need to pay anything extra to get access to their non-restricted content. Hopefully they'll expand their offering to non-UK / non-US users in the future.
For films there's a reasonably good selection on Netflix and I supplement that with iTunes.
I am considering my options around Saorview and possibly FreeSat. A lot of televisions include Saorview or Freesat support "out of the box", though my TV doesn't. Since there's nothing wrong with the TV I don't see myself replacing it for now, though I might change my mind..
I've also got a very large collection of DVDs and Blu-Ray, so it's not like I'm short of content to consume!
I just got myself one of those Freesat/Soerview Amico Alien units which works extremely well. I have all the channels I need from all the main players. It has all the usual features – HD, record/playback, 7-day EPG and all the rest. It also plays media off my home network. And not a monthly subscription in sight.
All I have to do now is convince Herself we don’t need Sky any more. Unfortunately she prefers their remote control!
@Grandad
So do you have it hooked up to the Sky dish or something else?
Michele
It’s connected to the existing Sky dish. The only additional bit of kit was an aerial for terrestrial digital [I used an old VHF aerial which gives perfect reception!]. The physical installation was basically just switching over the two satellite feeds and the LAN. The box doesn’t have a HD so I just plugged in an external USB hard drive.
Setting it up was “interesting” to say the least. It took quite a while but I now have all the terrestrial channels and I set it up to receive Sky FTA channels [you can set it up to receive any of the UK regional areas]. There is a bewildering selection of satellites and providers Up There but I stuck with what I know. The whole thing is fully customisable so it only displays the channels I want it to display. No more wading through page after page of crud to find the channel I want.
Sounds good 🙂 I’m probably going to get a new TV as it’ll have the tuners built-in https://michele.blog/choices-choices-choices/