UK - YouView, FreeSat or Sky?

[afd]

With Sky at the moment, fed up paying the Murdochs every month and got an old SD box with no ethernet. Looking to get a something HD. Sky will up my payments from £27 to £32 for a HD box, I can get a BT YouView Box for £5 a month or I can buy a YouView or FreeSat box outright for around £200 outright.
Anyone had experience of YouView or FreeSat? Sky boxes seem pretty user-friendly and reliable but don't really want to be paying more than £30 a month for telly. Have Netflix and don't find the time to watch that, not too bothered about the extra channels that Sky has just want something that works as well as Sky has for past few years.

 

[kolax]

I have Sky but only because I want Sky Sports. I also get Sky Go for free which I use a lot, and I have my internet with them.

If you aren't wanting to watch any of the non-Freeview channels, then why would you want to stay with Sky?

I don't have any major complaints about Sky. Their HD box is adequate (remotely record things from my iPhone) and the Sky remote itself is really simple and durable. Internet has always been reliable in my area (perhaps BT to thank for that) and they were able to give me a really attractive deal to stay with them when I called up to say I was wanting to switch to BT so I could also get BT Sports for free with their internet.

When, in the future, I can get on-demand TV from a service like Netflix - that includes Sky Sports in full HD - I'll cancel my Sky package. But we're a while away from that sort of scenario, so for the time being, Sky satisfies my needs really well.

 

[jondunford]

just spend £30 on an iTunes card each month and watch programmes whevever you want to and not when you are told to by the channel operators

 

[Goftrey]

I switched from Sky broadband/phone/TV over to BT earlier this year and man was it a good choice.

I could never justify paying extra £££'s a year on the exclusive Sky channels that pretty much makes Sky TV worth getting. And so then I finally came to the conclusion that yes there may be 100's of channels on Sky, but do I ever really watch them? My broadband was appalling too - speed and reliability wise.

I switched to BT & went with Infinity broadband (38mbps vs 0.5mbps was mouthwateringly good) and the baseline £5 a month YouView package. The YouView box is pretty much Freeview+HD with BT Sport knocked in for good measure (FOR FREE). It also plugs straight in to the included ethernet box for use with iPlayer/4OD etc.

I haven't missed anything by being with YouView. I find myself being more productive (no exaggeration) as I'm no longer finding myself wasting countless hours on appalling shows & flicking through channels. Being able to watch TV from last week on the big screen is a massive bonus for me too, and eliminates the requirement of sitting at the desk to catch up on TV. And after all of that if you REALLY want a few extra channels, just bung a couple of quid on the £5 a month and Bob's your uncle.

And above all, it's saving me £25 a month. It's a no brainer, BT all the way.