Sky to hike TV & broadband prices by 6.7% in April
Sky TV and broadband customers are set to see their bills increase by an average of 6.7%.
For a customer currently paying around £50 a month for these services, this could work out to an extra £3.35 a month or £40.20 a year.
It represents another painful blow to loyal customers who were hit with the highest-ever annual hike of 8.1% last year.
The hike will kick in on 1 April and will apply to the vast majority of TV and broadband customers, with only those who are on Sky’s social tariff and those who are identified as vulnerable being spared the increase.
Sky said it will start notifying its customers of the price increase this month.
Switch to a cheaper deal
If you're among those affected, you might want to fight back. There are thankfully loads of options available to you, which we'll run through in this piece.
The first, and perhaps most effective, option you will have is to ditch Sky and switch to a cheaper rival deal.
It's well known that telecoms firms offer their cheapest prices to new customers so there's every chance you could save big by doing so – especially if you've not switched for a few years.
Importantly, price comparison site uSwitch notes that even customers who are mid-contract will be able to leave penalty-free provided this is done within 30 days of being notified of the hikes.
Of course, not everyone will choose to take the nuclear option: you might live in an area where it's not easy to switch as rival providers don't operate there, or you might simply not want to go through the hassle of getting set up with a new service.
Whatever the reason, you do have options to reduce your Sky bill.
Do you really need the whole bundle?
The full Sky package has so many channels, and chances are you only ever watch a tiny fraction of them.
It’s quite easy to remove or cancel certain packages from your account. Go to My Sky on TV or Broadband & Talk (depending on what you want to amend) and sign in.
Then select the product you would like to remove from the Your Package section. Just follow the links to make the changes.
Even if you only have a phone and broadband package, go through your bills to see how much of your free calls allowance you actually use. There could be an opportunity to move to a cheaper call package.
Use one-off Now TV passes
Alternatively, you could ditch the Sky TV part of your package and use Now TV passes when you want to watch popular series such as Game of Thrones or catch up with sports.
Now TV passes allow you to stream Sky services on multiple devices via an app or set-top box.
There are four NOW TV passes to choose from: movies, entertainment, sports, and hayu (for reality shows).
The Entertainment Pass normally £9.99 a month and provides access to a host of box sets and pay TV channels which aren’t on Freeview, while the Cinema Pass also costs £9.99 a month and offers access to loads of movies, including new releases.
However, at the time of publishing Now TV is currently offering a deal where each service costs just £6.99 for the first six months, rising to £9.99 thereafter.
Alternatively, you can sign up for a combined package for £13.99 a month for six months, followed by £19.98.
Sky Sports day passes start at £11.98 on NOw TV, while a month’s pass is £34.99.
Haggle!
In short, haggling is the best thing you can do to get a cheaper deal with Sky. All you have to do is call 03337 594 464.
If you’re not confident speaking on the phone, it’s worth noting down what you’re going to say, taking every possible outcome into account.
Have some negotiating phrases ready and use past problems as ammunition.
Try to avoid calling at peak periods like Mondays, lunchtimes, weekends and just after work. You want to get as much time with the operator as possible, so call when it’s quieter.
There are three sure-fire phrases to getting you a better deal: ‘I’m leaving’, ‘I’m paying too much for my current package’ and ‘x offers a similar deal cheaper.’
To back up your argument, check the best buys on the market right now to see if you can genuinely get a better deal elsewhere. You can start your search at BroadbandGenie.
The main aim is to get through to the retentions department (more commonly known as ‘disconnections’) as they have a lot more power to give you discounts than the customer service team do.
Be charming. Acting rude or entitled will put the operator on the defensive, meaning that you’re less likely to get a better deal.
You don’t necessarily have to go with the first offer either, giving you wiggle room to haggle even more!
That said, try not to push the operator too much as it’ll ruin your hard work. Listen out for verbal cues like defensive language, hesitation and impatience.
If they call your bluff, say you need to check with your partner/flatmates/parents first. You’ll hopefully speak to someone different next time.
And if they go silent, wait for them to fill in the gap.
They’re hoping that you’ll accept the price to end the silence, so don’t give in. Our editor previously saved £240 just by threatening to leave for a cheaper deal.
Find out more at How to haggle and save a fortune.
Ask for extras
Ask if they can chuck in any freebies such as free calls or extra channels, particularly if they can’t bring your cost down.
Have a go at blagging movies or an extra sports channel on top of your current deal.
Be prepared to leave to get what you want
If you don't get a decent offer, then you might be better off simply leaving, as long as you won't have to pay any exit fees of course.
Leave it a little while, and you will likely be contacted by Sky with some sort of return offer. These vary by customer, but we've heard tales of people being offered up to 75% off for a year.
If that fails, you can switch to a rival and bag some cashback as an added reward for going through the hassle of a switch.
At the time of publishing, you can pocket up to £85 when you take out a Virgin deal through Quidco.
Cheap broadband: compare deals in your area today
Add more services
Add more? Isn’t that a bit contradictory?
Sometimes taking multiple services from one provider can reduce your bill.
For example, if you just have broadband with a provider then chances are it's more expensive than if you have a phone and broadband package.
If you do decide to add more services, aim for an upgrade offer rather than just adding a service to your current package.
By just adding a service the standard price will likely apply, meaning that you lose out on substantial savings.
As always, haggle – see if you can get the extra services at a better price than advertised!
You can check Sky's full range of products and offers here.
Of course, the downside to signing up to more packages and products is that you'll likely be particularly hard hit when the next round of price hikes rolls around (assuming you're out of contract).
*This article contains affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission on any sales of products or services we write about. This article was written completely independently.