Bob M.

I had Sky Plus installed in November last year, the contract was to include T.C.M. and a couple of kids channels for when the grand children come round. I have been watching T.C.M. since the instalation. Today I switched on to watch an old Henry Fonda movie and found an on screen message telling me I needed to upgrade my package to enable me to watch T.C.M. at a cost of £1.00 extra per month. They have moved T.C.M. to another package, meaning I have lost that channel and am unable to view. They have not reduced my monthly payment nor have they replaced the lost channel with anything else. I feel that I have been conned by Sky. They have renaged on the original contract that I took out with them and say that they have "get out clauses" written into the contracts to allow changes like this to be made. So, if Sky feel like making another few million pounds every month they can swap the packages around a bit and get their customers to pay an extra £1.00 per month to "upgrade".
Am I alone in my anger and frustration or has this affected others?
I gave thirty days notice to cancel my subscription to Sky.

"How about dat, a? How about dat?

Sgt Dudfoot

You're certainly not alone in your anger. Yet another step towards the American way of commercialised television. In fact we're nearly there. And some people want to abolish the TV license!? What would TV be like then??

Carmel

when we all go Digital we are still going to have to pay for a television licence and pay for extra channels that we want the cost of watching television is getting ridiculas and we all still pay we should be able to cancel television stations and watch DVD's but we cant if we have a tele we still have to pay for the licence, as my friend said to the tv licence people that called he said he had no tele and they said well why is there an ariel connected into your living room and he said i have milk on the doorstep doesn't mean i keep a cow.that was one in eye for them.

Live each day to the full because one day it will be your last.

DB7

No, Sky have moved (or TCM requested) TCM to the Style and Culture (??) Mix. Meanwhile, Movies24 is part of the Variety Mix.

Maybe S&C subscription is poor and they're hoping to increase take-up by putting a film channel into the mix. But surely this will be bad for TCM's advertisers being seen by lesser viewers.

MrT

If you've had TCM for three months you'll have just about seen the entire TCM catalogue, so you might as well cancel Sky. Sky is just one big rip off and things are unlikely to change until most of their viewers realise this and dump them.

Mike (MrT)

Steve Crook

You can still have an aerial on the roof but as long as you disconnect it totally inside the house so that you can show that the TV can't be connected to any outside source (aerial, cable or satellite) then you don't have to pay the TV license. It is only for receiving broadcast TV.

But you must still expect a few visits and letters from the license authorities because they find it very hard to believe that anyone can live without broadcast TV - or without any TV at all

Steve

rskershaw

Exactly. Ted Turner has the copyrights to God knows how many films, yet TCM shows the same limited amount of films throughout the year, every year. TCM is also sponsored by advertisments, so why are viewers expected subscribe anyway? But UKTV (Gold and all its sisters) is surely the biggest con? Partly owned by the BBC, and commercially sponsored, this channel makes us pay to watch repeated BBC material that we have already paid for through our TV licence.
As for SKY, I don't think viewers will or can just dump it. It has always been the UK's technological market leader (e.g. first to go digital; recordable TV set top boxes; HD) as well as having an almost monopoly on any serious sporting event.
Thankfully, I live in an apartment block which is not allowed to have sat dishes screwed to the outside walls, so no Murdoch Empire here. Not that I'd have it if it was allowed

rskershaw

Bugger, I read The Times

Steve Crook

The Times, The Sun and other titles in the Murdoch stable often run plugs for the wonderful things available on Sky. And somehow forget to mention that they are available in other ways, often cheaper

Steve

JamesM

For the bulk of his films, he only hold copyright in the US. All the RKO films, for example, are owned by Universal in Europe.

Joe Fraguela

This has also been a major gripe for me for years the endless recycling of the same films on Sky, TCM, Film 4 etc. I e-mailed TCM some months ago, a reply which I eventually received was less than satisfactory and didn't really explain why they show the same films.

Steve Crook

I think James has just given you an answer before you posted the question
But that doesn't explain why there are so many repeats on the other film channels - unless they just don't want to pay out for the rights

Steve