Metropol

Well I settled down in front of the TV this afternoon with the obligatory glass of wine to watch Graham Norton Uncut from last night, only to find the message "Playback not allowed" on my Sky+.

It was working ten minutes before because I'd paused the news while I answered the phone. A call to Sky Customer Services revealed that I owed them £10 and so they were in the process of blocking my channels and removing all functionality.

This was rather surprising, as Sky rang me on Friday evening and I re-confirmed my new bank details to them (Woolwich have now merged officially with Barclays and my account has shifted 200 yards down the road and I have a new sort-code and account number - which seemed to have confused Sky, even though all the other direct debit payees managed the transition without a hitch).

After paying what suddenly became a £29.00 outstanding balance, I informed Sky that I was changing to "FreeSat" and didn't want to subscribe to their channels anymore, I simply wanted Sky+ for £10 a month.

I was duly transferred to some guy who eventually gave me £30 if I stayed on the minimum package. Overall a good result methinks, but I'm still rather annoyed that I had my viewing messed about with.....and of course now I am on my third glass of wine and still can't watch Graham Norton yet.#

Perhaps I should've held out for a version 3 Sky+ box so I could get "Anytime TV"

I've done something quite drastic - I've got rid of my telly!

I hardly ever watched it, so I sold it to my mate. If I want to watch a DVD, I'll watch it on my widescreen computer monitor on the coffee table. It does the job.

I'm out working or drinking every evening, so I don't miss the brain-rotting box a bit.

Good lord, first you spend a bomb on HD then you throw it all away! I can see your logic though. It's all changing these days, sonny.

Re: The original post - if you weren't planning on ditching sky then you're just getting free money! Go for it, unless you think retentions will give you a better deal...

Sput wrote:Good lord, first you spend a bomb on HD then you throw it all away! I can see your logic though. It's all changing these days, sonny.

I was pricing it all up, and decided not to hand over a grand and a half of my hard-earned prostitute money to Sky.

So I got rid of my big old CRT telly in the corner of my lounge. There's still a television stand shaped mark in the carpet, but I don't miss it.

Music/radio is more enjoyable than having a telly box filled with adverts, sex chat channels, Graham Norton and Maddening McCann.

That's puntastic! Yesterday, just when i thought the story couldn't get any less dignified or more ludicrous, i spotted "McCann family to meet pope" on News online.

You couldn't make it up.

The whole story is getting ridiculous.

I was in a petrol station earlier, and the facia board above the cigarette shelf behind the counter had 7 posters of MM. Apparently you can even BUY car stickers with her face on.

Well at least the news of the world didn't make things look silly by erecting a massive inflatable billboard on a beach, 1/4 of which is their own logo.

Oh...

Jamez wrote:I've done something quite drastic - I've got rid of my telly!

I hardly ever watched it, so I sold it to my mate. If I want to watch a DVD, I'll watch it on my widescreen computer monitor on the coffee table. It does the job.

I'm out working or drinking every evening, so I don't miss the brain-rotting box a bit.

If i lived on my own i'd get rid of the tvs in my house. I hardly ever watch TV. I catch up with the soaps via all the magazines. The news i can catch up with online and movies i'd watch on my pootah. And the sat evening programmes i could easily live without.

I really object to a tv in the bedroom, i hate it and it is the bone of contention between Mr H and myself. I've lost count of the times i've been woken up in the early hours by bombs and gunfire from Mr hellfires Vietnam vids.

The Tv takes up too much space and i spend over £100 a year for the pleasure of owning a tv a rarely watch.

I hope (James & Lorna) that you realise you still need to pay for a TV Licence if you intend to watch DVDs on your 'puter!!!

It would be naughty not to!

No you don't. Although you do need to if you watch streaming video from the BBC's site.

Are you sure, I stand corrected if so Sput.

EDIT: IIRC, people simply with a DVD or Video player had to buy a licence in the past as they had pseudo "TV Equipment". I think a 'puter that plays DVDs now counts as that - whether you use it for that purpose or not.

And it has nothing to do with whether you pick up a broadcast signal, from BBC or anyone else.