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Around a Quarter of Sky and Virgin Media Users Pay £100+ Monthly

Friday, Sep 21st, 2018 (9:13 am) - Score 27,738

A new survey from Which? has questioned 3,400 UK people about their triple-play bundles (TV, phone and broadband) during July 2018 and suggested that consumers may not be “getting value” from their packages. Cheaper options exist but it’s not always about the price.

The research found that TalkTalk and Plusnet ISP customers “tend to pay the lowest monthly fee” (most subscribers spent under £50 per month), while 41% of BT users paid between £50 and £75. Meanwhile it probably won’t come as too much of a surprise to learn that subscribers to Sky (Sky Broadband) and Virgin Media pay the most, with around a quarter at both in the £100+ bracket (see below).

which_broadband_tv_bundle_costs_2018

At this point Which? acknowledges the elephant in the room by saying that “what’s included in a TV and broadband package obviously varies,” although their report then largely seems to ignore this critical factor by only focusing its public analysis upon price. This is a bit like comparing different models of car by only talking about how much they cost (one piece of information is little use without the other).

Both TalkTalk and Plusnet are budget ISPs that typically offer fairly basic bundles, often with paid upgrades available for premium TV channels etc. By comparison Sky and Virgin tend to be viewed as the market’s premium providers of Pay TV content and have some of the widest content / service selections. Not to mention Virgin’s distinctly faster cable broadband network and the issue of 4K (UltraHD) support.

Suffice to say that gauging the comparative value of different packages, channels and service features (particularly at the top end), is likely to be an exercise in frustration. Matters of personal preference may also weigh more heavily than the desire to save a little money. Make of this what you will.

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Mark-Jackson
By Mark Jackson
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook and .
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58 Responses
  1. Avatar photo Sky says:

    £100+ a month could be well better off with something else, don’t pay to greedy sky or virgin media. Their business of TV are pure greedy and don’t worth it to be honest with those bill £100 or more. Madness rip off Great Britain.

    1. Avatar photo June Page says:

      That’s OK if you are closem to your contract ending otherwise its costly to end it early.

    2. Avatar photo Simon says:

      Whatever you say Max – whatEVER you Say 🙂

    3. Avatar photo un4h731x0rp3r0m says:

      Maybe people are happy to pay what they are paying be it the low or higher end and your opinion as is often mental max does not matter.

    4. Avatar photo Leighton Lewis says:

      Your absolutely spot on indeed,
      It is daylight Robbery,
      These Extortionate charges needs to be Regulated.

    5. Avatar photo Susan wellington says:

      I’m with Virgin and pay £111 a month that’s with a discount but now I have cancelled the whole package as my hubby passed away 3 weeks ago and I can’t afford it now both sky and Virgin are ridiculous prices

  2. Avatar photo My Own Opinion says:

    “£100 plus a month. That money could be better spent on something else. Do not pay greedy Sky or Virgin Media. Their business of TV is pure greed, and not worth it to be honest. With those bills that are £100 or more. Madness, rip-off Great Britain. “

    People have a choice, and if they want to pay that amount of money, then, it’s their choice. If people can’t be bothered to shop around for the best price, then it’s their choice, or they just can’t be bothered.

    1. Avatar photo Jason Kelly says:

      Let’s face it there isn’t really anything better than a full skyq package. At £85 a month for movies, sport, entertainment, catch up and 4k content. There isn’t anything cheaper around…

  3. Avatar photo Meadmodj says:

    Most content can be accessed cheaper and people could have more flexibility of what they paid for if they used their Smart TV, Blue-ray Players or TVtop/Streaming devices. However the VM TIVO and Sky Q products offer most customers what they want, the single remote solution, not to be underestimated.

    1. Avatar photo Laurence "GreenReaper" Parry says:

      Smart TVs are only useful for that if the manufacturer is willing to keep them up to date. Samsung’s 2016 models are already obsolete for UHD on the BBC’s iPlayer because they seemingly aren’t willing or able to do the work to upgrade the streaming modules to 2017 standards – or to just give it the 2017 OS instead.

      From a financial perspective, I get it – it’s extra work for which they don’t get paid an ongoing fee And maybe there would be compatiblility issues, too. But these have been solved by others. They’re going to be outcompeted by streaming device providers until they treat it as more of a living platform.

  4. Avatar photo Tim says:

    That is crazy. I only had Sky while it was free and then discounted. Never paid full price for any of it. If you say you’re going to cancel they discount it.

    But since Sky Q’s launch the discounts have become harder to get and it just isn’t worth the money anymore.

  5. Avatar photo Trevor Harris says:

    I have had Sky for about more than 15 years. Sky provides services not available anywhere else. I get premiereship football, Test Cricket, and F1 in UHD. The football also has Dolby Atmos sound. The Skyq box is far superior to anything else. Can record up to 6 programs at a time. I have 2 mini boxes one in my office and one in the kitchen. I can also watch on up to two tablets. I make sure I get all the special offers available. The quality of programs on the so called free channels has been deteriating quickly. BBC and ITV do alot of repeats even prime time. Sky is expensive but for me it is worth it.

    1. Avatar photo spurple says:

      Agree. I have the option of Freeview, BT, Virgin and of course all the other streaming TV services in the Uk and have tried most of them. Nothing even comes close to what Sky has built with the Sky Q platform. The only notable absence from their box has always been Netflix (and maybe Amazon video in the future), but that is being fixed.

      Do I wish it was cheaper? yes, and to that end, when I get tired of paying, it will be a painful sacrifice to drop it, but for now, praise where due.

      Prices can only go down with competent competition.

    2. Avatar photo Chris says:

      The BBC isnt free its £12+ per month.

      You do get quite a few channels on tv, radio and internet though.

      I listen to the radio, surf their website and watch their tv channels but don’t think it’s value for money mainly because of its political bias.

    3. Avatar photo James Fullerton says:

      Ok,but how much do you pay per month,I know what I would like to see ,forget these 12 or 18 monthly contracts,1 off yearly payment say between £600 to £700,for everything,and get rid off the dead wood that take obscene salary’s

    4. Avatar photo dean says:

      “forget these 12 or 18 monthly contracts,1 off yearly payment say between £600 to £700,for everything”

      Errr if you pay a Yearly price then surely you are still committing to 12 months of service?

    5. Avatar photo un4h731x0rp3r0m says:

      Ban the yearly contract but pay a years worth at a time. Well its a novel approach to be polite. I can not see it passing the eagle eyed that can count to 12 and beyond though.

  6. Avatar photo Spiderpig says:

    Plusnet and TalkTalk specifically target cost conscious customers, with BT’s Plusnet acquisition specifically designed to meet that segment’s needs; Virgin made it clear a number of years ago that they were focused on high value customers, which was one of their main reasons for dropping the off-net Virgin.net customer base. As for Sky, they have built their brand around premium content, delivered in a premium way – it’s why NowTV exists for the cost conscious.

    It’s hardly surprising, then, that their customer bases and spend reflect this strategy.

  7. Avatar photo Stephen Conroy says:

    I have Sky Entertainment, all sports, all in HD, phone and unlimited non fibre broadband. My total bill a month is £57. Sky are always fluid with their offers. Now at full price it would be £99. I would cancel or switch.

  8. Avatar photo Mike says:

    I know people that have VM for internet and Sky for TV, makes it even more expensive but they swear by it.

    Parents have Sky Q and they love it despite the arm/leg cost per month even though free p2p/stream based alternatives are available.

    1. Avatar photo Chris says:

      We have Sky q and vm.

      Some people are fine with vm’s picture quality ive always found it to be lousy hence having sky.

      We only got vm as work where offering a great deal on vm 70mbs + tv + phone for ~ £20 which was cheaper than sky’s offering. The old and new vm TiVo boxes are both still in their boxes.

      If I could get a decent fttc speed I’d ditch vm entirely.

      There are often good reasons to take both.

    2. Avatar photo dean says:

      “If I could get a decent fttc speed I’d ditch vm entirely.”

      Did you not say you were ditching them a week ago and going back to BT and claimed BTs speed would be better LOL

    3. Avatar photo un4h731x0rp3r0m says:

      Was you not worried about costs and things being a rip off also but now you say you subscribe to more than one provider also?

  9. Avatar photo GT says:

    I have to admit that our Sky bill was the other side of £100. We have Sky Q, Sky Fibre Pro, Line rental and we did have some addons for the telephone that we actually dropped (saved £10 a month by cancelling Sky Talk Anytime and 1571, everyone in the household has mobile phones with unlimited minutes, what’s the point of making outgoing calls on a landline anymore?)

    And we got Sky to discount the fibre £9 so we’re down to £96 a month.

    I watch F1 so was told it was pointless touching TV as I’d lose out the F1 from the HD legacy package we have – it’s £18 a month for F1, so we’ll leave it where it is.

    I have to admit, whilst it is expensive, Sky Q TV is superb, can record multiple things, the box was a bit patchy to start with as we were very early adopters, but seems to be better now.

    You get what you pay for at the end of the day, and Sky Q is, as another commenter pointed out, a premium product – and it certainly feels that way.

  10. Avatar photo FullFibre says:

    I wouldn’t consider paying anywhere near £100 if the upload speed wasn’t 50Mbps+.

    Virgin Media don’t even offer more than 20mbps on their FTTP lines, it’s madness and for that reason they should be ignored as a provider when considering rollout of new services to an area. Their not fit for purpose and never will be.

  11. Avatar photo Sky customer says:

    Sky Q are rubbish box. Worse ever. Sky+ HD box is much better than sky Q box.

    1. Avatar photo Stophiding says:

      Incorrect.

    2. Avatar photo Simon says:

      Just use the 1 name Max – everyone knows it’s you anyway!

    3. Avatar photo Chris says:

      The sky Q remote sucks. Lost count of the number of times if I’ve picked it up and it’s changed the channel that I’ve rewound a bit and then lore turns to real time when tuned back. Yes ive turned the touch sensitivity off! The previous remote was better plus the old sky ui was better. Pressing play whilst watching tv would take you to the last recording you where watching, was often a quick way to get to the recordings page, now it just pauses

      There are many other things the previous ui and remote where better at, it’s a shame the previous remotes don’t work with Q

  12. Avatar photo Simon Parker says:

    Seems like a lot when Netflix is only 7.99 and no adverts or contact? People more money than sense.

    1. Avatar photo GT says:

      Can I get F1 on Netflix? No.

    2. Avatar photo NeoWasntTheOne says:

      @GT You can get F1 with NowTV (which is Sky owned) and by using the passes available from a well known auction site it works out to be about £3 per race weekend. As some months only have two races per month, that works out to be £6 per month. This is far cheaper than paying Sky directly and I have contacted NowTV to make sure it’s above board and legal and it is.

    3. Avatar photo Gary's Barlows estranged twin says:

      Where do I find the football on Netflix? Or the HBO shows?

    4. Avatar photo Chris says:

      @NeoWasntTheOne

      Is that just sat & sun or does that cover practice 1 & 2 too?

    5. Avatar photo NeoWasntTheOne says:

      @Chris That covers Practice 1/2/3, Qualifying and the race it self.

    6. Avatar photo GT says:

      @NeoWasntTheOne

      I didn’t know that option existed. Is it HD?

    7. Avatar photo NeoWasntTheOne says:

      @GT Yes it’s HD, sadly it’s not UHD, but I have got my TV to upscale it to 4k without any issues, but the HD is more than good enough.

    8. Avatar photo dean says:

      “@GT You can get F1 with NowTV (which is Sky owned) and by using the passes available from a well known auction site it works out to be about £3 per race weekend. As some months only have two races per month, that works out to be £6 per month.”

      Id like to know what pass you are actually referring to as looking at
      https://www.nowtv.com/watch-sky-sports-online
      Gives no indication on any sky sports passes available for the figures you claim.
      A weekly pass is £12.99 and a monthly pass is £33.99
      No idea where or how you work out figures of £3 and £6 nowhere on the famous auction site you claim has anything significantly cheaper either.

    9. Avatar photo NeoWasntTheOne says:

      @dean I’ve noticed that you’ve trolled everyone’s comments on this topic

    10. Avatar photo un4h731x0rp3r0m says:

      As an owner of a nowtv box which i only buy any passes for when their is the odd event on which i or a family member has an interest in (Tennis final being the last for some event the other half wanted to watch) i would also like to know how you are able to purchase at the prices you mentioned. NFL has recently started and i know one other family member which would like to see the odd game of that for the teams they take an interest in.

      I have scoured ebay this morning and can not see anything for Sky Sports which comes close to what you mentioned.

      I wonder based on the £3 and £6 per month/race prices you mention if you are/were you confusing the Sky Sports MOBILE monthly pass at a cost of £5.99 per month which only allows to you watch 4 Sky Sports channels on the mobile phone app?

      If you are not then i would greatly appreciate pointing in the right direction of being able to legitimately buy Sky Sports passes for a cheaper priced then the stated RRP.

      Kind regards, and hope you can help.

    11. Avatar photo un4h731x0rp3r0m says:

      So i assume you can not clarify where to purchase for the prices you stated?

  13. Avatar photo Andrew Rothwell says:

    I left Virgin last month after over a decade as with the latest price rise my bill topped £90.00 and that was with a customer loyalty discount.
    I have since swapped to Sky which for the same package (phone,broadband,TV XL) which costs £54.00 per month.
    What I would suggest is at the end of the contract find out about cheaper and better deals.

  14. Avatar photo Allan says:

    Sky is so worth the price no matter what you have football and all other sports and if u don’t like sport then it will definitely be cheaper

  15. Avatar photo Phillip Gwynne says:

    we Pay £28/month for EE upto 17mbps broadband (lately struggles to get above 12), and then £13 line rental. Can’t remember off top of head how much for Sky, but around £50 as comes
    With multi room n sky sports. Unfortunately BT don’t have any interest in rolling out fibre to an exchange with 3,000 and growing properties. So only chance for decent Broadband is selling little body parts on a monthly basis and go with Virgin media and prey they don’t hike prices too much.

  16. Avatar photo Mart says:

    I think that maybe sky employees are posting today?

  17. Avatar photo Samuel Dunbar says:

    My daughter is with sky and her broadbands running at 3mb lol wooopie doo ,I’ve always been with virgin and theve been quite flexible with me ,and I’ve been quite happy with the service provided ,I wouldn’t touch sky with s barge pole internet wise

    1. Avatar photo Mike says:

      Likely due to be stuck on a long ADSL line which isn’t Sky’s fault.

    2. Avatar photo GT says:

      Aren’t you lucky you can take advantage of Virgin Media?

      Many of us can’t because VM don’t have services everywhere. So a lot of us are stuck with FTTC or worse, ADSL. If 3Mb is all the line will do for your daughter, then sadly that would be the same regardless of supplier.

  18. Avatar photo Track Robber says:

    There is more to life than sitting watching television for hours on end in order to justify these exorbitant fees. Life is for living. Imho.

    1. Avatar photo un4h731x0rp3r0m says:

      Indeed so much more to life… Like coming on to a web site and rather than watching the expensive TV content, spend time typing and moaning about what is on it. Bitter, whinging and moaning. That is far more productive and a better way to spend your time than relaxing and being entertained. Thank you for that insight.

  19. Avatar photo Track Robber says:

    There is more to life than sitting watching television for hours on end in order to justify these exorbitant fees. Life is for living. Imho.

  20. Avatar photo Gerry says:

    I pay £4 per day for the full virgin package. All the movies, soaps, docs, football and wireless that a family of 6 adults can use. It’s relative cheap if you break it down

  21. Avatar photo Jazzy says:

    I renegotiate my contract every year (last time they gave me the deal for 2 years)

    I have fibre pro, line rental and basic sky channels (no movie and sport) for £52 a month. I get my line rental half price and my fibre max is discounted by £7.50. I also have 1/3rd of all tv packages for life (which was an offer a few years back). It pays to haggle with them. I also have free sky go (top level of it) which they added in last year for nothing

  22. Avatar photo TheMatt says:

    my neighbour is paying VM over £110 a month .. one box in the lounge, one box in the bedroom, full package including some sports and movie channels and full phone package. His house is empty during the day and he says he watches TV for about 2-3 hours at night and about 5 hours a day on a weekend.

    Then he came over to my place. Amazon prime video and Netflix, watch what I want when I want not when a broadcaster says I can watch it.. and my VDSL for £30 a month… total cost for all = £41 a month for TV and broadband .. oh and he’s paying for a TV license and I’m not … so his total per year is £1470 and mine is £492 and is it really worth it ????

    Needless to say my neighbour is cutting the cord next month.

    1. Avatar photo Craig Richmond says:

      Why what is your tv setup?

  23. Avatar photo Panda says:

    Wow so many people paying so much money I would never ever pay these prices especially when there are cheaper alternatives I currently receive all the sports and movie channels and I pay a fraction of what guys do

  24. Avatar photo Blackknight1989 says:

    Love sky q wouldn’t be without it now.

    I bet these moaning will easily piss away £100 a month on fags and booze… Never moan about that do they. Enjoy what you want. YOU earn the money and spend it as you please. simple

Comments are closed

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