HD charges for Sky Q subscription why

[T2K]

I am a long term subscriber to Sky and have a Sky Q box but my bill has all these added extras for HD Sprts HD £4 Sky HD £9 Ultra HD £4

I find it unfair that we have to pay for HD when this is the now the normal broadcasting format. The BBC do not even broadcast in SD on Sky. All the filming is done in HD or probably better. New customers do not get this charged so why do I.

[xenon81 · Accepted solution]

Sky seem to have been wrongly telling some customers that they need to pay the HD fee to continue to receive the BBC but this is incorrect. You don't need to pay the HD charge for HD versions of BBC (or ITV, Channel 4* and Channel 5).

* E4, More4 and Film4 are not included - the HD charge still applies for those 

[T2K]

But why do they charge extra for HD. Does it cost them more for me to recieve this format. It should be all included in Sky TV package as the normal broadcast format. They dont use seperate cameras for SD. It is just another way existing subscribers subsidise new subscribers 

[Laing1]

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@T2K wrote:

But why do they charge extra for HD. Does it cost them more for me to recieve this format. It should be all included in Sky TV package as the normal broadcast format. They dont use seperate cameras for SD. It is just another way existing subscribers subsidise new subscribers 

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@T2K It actually does cost Sky more to broadcast in HD as it costs more for the extra bandwith of the satellite than it does in SD and even more for UHD 

[TimmyBGood]

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@T2K wrote:

 Does it cost them more for me to recieve this format. 

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Yes: that's inherent to the nature of satellite transmission, where channels pay for data volume transiting the ground stations and orbital platforms (which are not owned or run by Sky)

This is a significant factor behind the BBC and ITV decisions to stop duplicating broadcast in SD too, as they need to save money in a time of declining public funding and advertising revenue.

[T2K]

@Laing1 That is interesting so why dont they stop SD like the BBC. Do you feel £15 is a fair charge for HD.

[PandJ2020]

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@T2K wrote:

Do you feel £15 is a fair charge for HD.

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The undiscounted list price is £9...

[MightyQuinn]

Hi @T2K   

You are paying way too much. You need to call Sky and negotiate same discounts. For example I pay £5 for Sky HD and £2 for Ultra HD. Note you can ignore the Sky Sports HD, which is a legacy bill breakdown and is compulsory as you cannot get Sky Sports in SD only.. Another example, I pay £21 for Sky Sports Complete, which is shown on my bill as Sky Sports Complete £19 + Sky Sports HD £2 = £21.

They cannot stop transmitting SD, even in 2024, as there are many subscribers that don't have HD TVs. Also, they would lose the income from hosting SD channels (something like 66% of their EPG). 

[T2K]

On My Bill before discounts Sky HD is £9 and Sky Sports HD is £6 and both listed separately. I did negotiate discounts in Sept 

My Bill is as follows for Jan to Feb

Sky Signature   £23.00

Sky HD  £9.00

Ultimate TV Add on  £7.00

Sky Sports - Complete Pack £20.74

Sky Sports HD  £2.00

Multiscreen  £15.00

Ultra HD  £3.00

See It First £0.00

Broadband 35Mb  £26.50

Total £106.84

The problem with Sky discounts is they have to be asked for and customers will end up paying at different rates so you are never sure you are getting a good deal.

So is this a good deal?

[GJ84B]

But they'r ebraodcasting it anyway. They're not gonna stop broadcasting HD and save money if 1 or many people cancel the HD subscription!

I think it' a bit of a joke that they add this onto the normal subscription, surely 90% of people have HD tvs now. Fair enough charge for for UHD (although things that are UHD only don't work on our extra box though as the TV isn't 4K, which is another joke)

[GJ84B]

It's ok, but after the last price rise i rang up to threaten to cancel to get a discount and have HD for £7, multiscreen for £5 and UHD for £2, so you could probably call them and make a bit of a saving (although i think i was past the initial 18 month contract so that might have helped)

[TimmyBGood]

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@GJ84B wrote:

I think it' a bit of a joke that they add this onto the normal subscription, surely 90% of people have HD tvs now. 

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A rough calculation suggests the HD supplement brings in at least £750,000,000 a year for Sky: to bundle that into the baseline subscription would have a real impact on subscribers who currently choose not to pay it.

All the HD television sets are upscaling broadcast SD to HD anyway, and apparently that's fine for millions of households.

[Colin0000]

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@T2K wrote:

On My Bill before discounts Sky HD is £9 and Sky Sports HD is £6 and both listed separately. I did negotiate discounts in Sept 

My Bill is as follows for Jan to Feb

Sky Signature   £23.00

Sky HD  £9.00

Ultimate TV Add on  £7.00

Sky Sports - Complete Pack £20.74

Sky Sports HD  £2.00

Multiscreen  £15.00

Ultra HD  £3.00

See It First £0.00

Broadband 35Mb  £26.50

Total £106.84

The problem with Sky discounts is they have to be asked for and customers will end up paying at different rates so you are never sure you are getting a good deal.

So is this a good deal?

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It's not particuarly good I'm afraid, if you check your future bills you're likely to see another £5.50 I think added to that.

[PandJ2020]

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@Colin0000 wrote:

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@T2K wrote:

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It's not particuarly good I'm afraid, if you check your future bills you're likely to see another £5.50 I think added to that.

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Anecdotally it's not 'bad' either given the recent reports on available discounts.  (Realistically you'd struggle to get it near 20% cheaper)

[GJ84B]

I'm not suggesting they bundle it in and charge everyone more, it should just be standard or cheaper at least and they don't necessarily need £750m a year extra do they?!