Don’t overpay for Sky, Virgin, or BT TV – existing customers can haggle up to 50% off with just a phone call, new customers can slice chunks off if they sign up the right way.
With the cost of digital TV often £300-£600 if you add it up over a year, this step-by-step guide including best-buy comparisons will help you slash the cost.
Existing customers
Haggle down the existing price
It really works!
Before we get into the how-to, here are some successes to show you how easy it is:
Step 1: Calculate the real cost
If you have a subscription, multiply your package's monthly cost by twelve to establish the annual cost. Unpleasantly, it's likely to be £300 to £600. This isn't churlish anti-TV sentiment, but an elbow in the ribs to consider whether this huge sum represents good value. For some it might.
The costs don't stop there
Many people, especially Virgin Media users, also get a phone package with their TV - often a penalty, not a bonus.
These can be monumentally expensive, and substantially more costly than the cheapest providers (see Cheapest Home Phones guide).
For example, a 10-minute daytime Virgin Media call to a mobile averages £2.07, £1.26 on BT, and just 65p on cheap calls provider 18185. So don't believe the 'digital TV free with a phone service' hype. Effectively you're paying.
You can still cut the cost of calls though, use the Int CallChecker or UK Callchecker to find the cheapest providers that work on a Virgin line.
Step 2: Do a channel audit
The formal approach to examining your usage should be a sofa-side notebook, detailing the times and lengths of watched channels, yet that's nerdy. Scanning through the channels (with the family) should let you know which are important.
Remember, real past viewing habits are a better guide than guessing at future preferences. Most important is how often you really watch the premium sport and/or movie channels.
Step 3: Use the comparisons
TV providers' leaflets and brochures aim to corral you into a narrow range of categorised packages, designed to make you pick multiple (and therefore more expensive) options. Yet there's more flexibility on both price and package than they let on.
Before pushing for a better offer, arm yourself with the best deals and comparisons below, as these can often bite chunks out of the annual cost.
Treat the results only as a benchmark, as the comparison won't include the myriad of special offers pushed through letter boxes and stuffed in magazines (worth watching for).
Step 4: How to haggle
The obvious haggle start-point (you've little choice) is with the customer service operatives.
Ask about the cost of your package (or reduced package if the channel audit showed you're over-using) and see what deals are available.
Ensure they realise you've the opportunity to shift to a more competitive package elsewhere or Freeview, yet give them hope with "can you offer me a deal? I'd much prefer to stick with you".
If they're not willing to play ball, the powerhouse maneouvre is threatening to leave. Remember 'disconnections' is often internally named 'customer retentions' as that's their business aim, thus they've much wider discretion to give better deals, as ultimately their job is to keep your custom.
Add your haggle success or read others
Don't be ruled by pride
Remember this is a haggling – not a leaving – exercise. One danger is you threaten to leave, it doesn't improve the offer, and you feel embarrassed into actually leaving. Don't do this. Buy time to reconsider by saying "right, I'll think about this and get back to you".
Best Buys: For ne w customers
If you're a new customer or your haggle didn't give you a big enough discount, below are the current top deals.
Here, it's all about timing. Offers come and go so you need to grab them while you can.
Virgin, £60 off & £100 cashback
Plus free set-up (worth £40)
Virgin is offering new customers £60 off your first bill when you sign up online to a triple bundle* including TV, broadband and phone before 30 August. Plus you get free basic installation worth £40.
Even better, sign up via cashback site Quidco* and get £100 cashback on top (Topcashback is only offering £65).
Remember this type of cashback isn't 100% guaranteed, and Quidco takes the first £5/year earnt as an admin fee. Full details of this in the Top Cashback Sites guide.
What does the basic cost?
A basic Virgin package starts at £20/mth, plus you must take Virgin's line rental which is £13.90.
Factor in the value of the bill credit, £100 cashback and half price bundle for six months and over the 18 month contract it works out at £25/mth all in. For this you get 10MB broadband, weekend calls and the basic TV package.
Yet this isn't as good as past cashback offers of up to £150 and bill credits of £100, so you may be better waiting.
Sky+HD, £25 M&S; vouchers & £100 cashback
Plus free set-up and Sky+HD box
Sky is offering £25 in M&S; vouchers when new customers sign up for a Sky+HD package* before 11.59pm, 31 August 2011. Plus you get free set-up and a free Sky+ box (usually £30 each).
The Sky+HD subscription package costs an extra £10.25/month.
Even better, sign up via cashback sites Topcashback* or Quidco* and get around £100 on top.
Remember this type of cashback isn't 100% guaranteed, and Quidco takes the first £5/year earnt as an admin fee. Full details of this in the Top Cashback Sites guide.
What does the basic cost?
A basic Sky+ package starts at £19.50/mth, the HD package costs £10.25/mth (with three months free) plus pay an extra £12.25/mth if you get its line rental instead of using BT.
You also get a £10 bill credit in the first month.
Factor in the value of the vouchers and the £100 cashback and over the 12 month contract it works out at £30.75/mth including line rental.
Sky+, £25 M&S; vouchers & £50 cashback
Plus free set-up and Sky+ box (worth £30)
Sky is offering £25 in M&S; vouchers when new customers sign up for a Sky+ package* and get calls & broadband from Sky until 31 August 2011. Plus you get free set-up and a free Sky+box (usually £30 each).
Even better, sign up via cashback sites Topcashback* or Quidco* and get £50 on top.
Remember this type of cashback isn't 100% guaranteed, and Quidco takes the first £5/year earnt as an admin fee. Full details of this in the Top Cashback Sites guide.
What does the basic cost?
A basic Sky+ package starts at £19.50/mth, plus pay an extra £12.25/mth if you get its line rental instead of using BT. Yet factor in the value of the vouchers and £50 cashback over the 12 month contract and it works out at £25.50/mth including line rental.
Best Buys: For ex isting customers
Sky doesn't often offer deals to existing customers (unless you threaten to leave) so grab them when you can.
Upgrade to Sky+HD, £50 cashback
Plus free Sky+ HD box - must take a £10 HD subscription
Existing Sky customers upgrading from Sky+ to Sky+HD can get £50 cashback via a cashback site.
Both Topcashback*and Quidco* are offering around £50 cashback on top.
Remember this type of cashback isn't 100% guaranteed, and Quidco takes the first £5/year as an admin fee. Full details of this in the Top Cashback Sites guide.
To get the offer, click via the cashback site, log-in to your Sky account online and go to 'upgrades'.
Existing customer deals aren't as common as ones for new customers so this is a good opportunity to upgrade, but not the best offer it's ever run, plus it may be possible to beat this by haggling.
On top of the Sky+HD box to get HD you need to pay for a monthly HD subscription costing £10.25/month on a 12 month contract. Factor in the cashback and it costs £73 or £6.08/mth over 12 months.
Speedily check comparisons for bespoke bundles
The best comparisons
If you're looking for a more comprehensive package with certain add-ons, check the comparison sites to find the best deals. The best are Simplify Digital*, Uswitch* and Digital Choices*.
Simply enter the channels you're looking for (as established in step 2) and it shows the alternatives available in your area.
What about freeview?
Freeview costs from as little as £10 with no expensive installation costs. In its basic form you only get 50 permanent channels, less than other types of one-off digital boxes but sufficient for most.
Around 25% of the population cannot get Freeview because of their location (check at Freeview) which means you'll need to look at one of the other options.
Those over 75 and in receipt of certain benefits may be entitled to a free freeview box - click below for more info.
Are you entitled to a free freeview box?
You may be entitled to a free digital freeview box, plus help to install it, if you or your partner are aged 75 or over, on the following social security benefits:
Attendance Allowance, Constant Attendance Allowance (CAA) under the Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit scheme and CAA and War Pensioners Mobility Supplement under the pre-2005 War Pensions scheme; or if you, your partner or dependant child are registered as blind or partially sighted AND you are on Pension Credit, Income Support or income-based Jobseekers' Allowance.
For full eligibility details see the Digital Switchover Help Scheme page.
How to pick the right package
If you're not sure what extras you want, read these tips on what to watch for.
Only pick the channels you know you'll watch
There's no point paying colossal prices to have 'access' to channels you won't watch, so decide what you want and get the right package.
If you're a keen footie fan, only sign up to the sports channels for the football season. Cancel for the summer and you'll save a wad of cash. Some providers insist on 30 days' notice, so set a reminder to do it in time.
Are you locked in?
18-month contracts are common now and can protect you from future market price shifts. If you're moving soon, most providers will charge a fee or ask you to pay the remainder of the contract, a lot of cash if you're at the beginning of a contract.
Broadband speed & download limit
Internet speed is measured in Kb, the amount of information transferred per second. Basic broadband is 512Kb, nearly ten times faster than dial-up, yet 8Mb (c.8,000 Kb), a further 20 times faster, is common, and super-fast 24Mb is now available in some areas.
For those just doing basic surfing 2Mb is enough. If you download music and films (including programmes like iplayer) a faster connection of 8Mb may be better. Yet just because a package says up to 8Mb don't assume that's what you'll get; it depends on your line, so your speed may be much less. Check yours using the speed detector on Think Broadband.
When it comes to downloads, for most people 5-10GB will probably be fine for checking emails and surfing the net. If you download music, TV and films you'll need more. For more details on speed and downloads read the Cheapest Broadband guide.
Do you want to record programmes?
Get special equipment from your provider and you'll be able to record, pause and rewind digital TV programmes. This can add up to £150 on to the installation costs but you may be able to negotiate this.
The Sky+ box and Virgin's V+ cost around £150 for new customers, although the more expensive the TV package the more they're likely to discount this. It's possible to get freeview boxes with the ability to do this.
The Size of the Saving
Switching from Sky/cable to Freeview saves many £400 plus a year, enough to supplement the loss of movie channels with DVD rentals! However, even without ditching, the savings can be huge.
While filming one of Martin's TV programmes one family that followed this five step technique cut its Sky bill from roughly £50 to £25 a month, without losing any of the regularly watched channels, and pushing hard on the phone for a better deal. That's £300 a year.
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Digital Choices , Quidco , Simplify Digital , Sky , Topcashback , Uswitch , Virgin
"I rang Virgin Media, as I was being charged £38 month for broadband, TV and phone before call charges. I mentioned a family member had signed up to all three for only £30 a month. It immediately reduced my broadband costs by £10 a month, saving £120 a year."
"6 months half price everything and ESPN free for 3 months
reduced my broadband cost by a £5. Plus I got a free Sky HD+ box with free fitting."
"Last night I phoned up to "leave" Sky as we are moving house. We have been out of contract for some time, but never tried to get a deal before. Spoke to a helpful lady in retentions upgraded my package to everything and gave me a 50% discount on the whole lot for 6 months. I've gone from paying £40/mth to £24/mth and now I get the movies! Happy days"