OT - The Ashes

[Andy_Faber]

I have a RamsTV subscription but that does not include Sky/BT etc televised games. I still get to see those games though

The current government and the owner of Sky believe in market forces. Just maybe. If people stopped their subscriptions to Sky and all bought "sticks" or watched Mobdro or similar, income would fall and force subscription charges to drop too.

....or Sky would make a few thousand fellahs redundant and their customer service worse. THAT'S the issue....

[roger_ramjet]

I think the relevant point is that the subscriptions are not excessive in the overall scheme of things. There are so many different packages around but I probably pay about 50 quid a month for Sky HD and BT (its all part of a bigger bundle including phones, internet, several boxes etc). Ok there are some marquee events (mostly boxing) that are pay per view on top, but Im not interested in them anyway. So for 50 quid I get

Cricket tests/one day/T20i England home and away, domestic England, IPL Ram Slam, Big Bash etc etc
Football PL, EFL CL plus football from all over the world
F1, NFL, College Football & Basketball, Baseball
plus plus plus

For £50

Whereas one day at a test match, lets think - say Lords

Ticket 75
Travel 15

Beers £ 5-6 each, food take your own otherwise excessive price. I usually reckon on a day at the test match costing me £ 125-150 and for that I may get 20 overs of dull play before it rains just after I have had the minimum play to get a refund

Football: One PL game - tickets £ 40-50, travel 10-15 minimum
A home game at Derby for me would be £ 25 or more for ticket plus maybe £ 40+ for travel


So, sorry, whats this about excessive Sky/BT subscriptions? Give me a break. of course we would all like it for free on BBC, but how many of us would complain if the TV licence went up to £ 500-600 in order to finance it being on "free" TV? there is no such thing as a free lunch... But really is £ 50 a month too much to watch all that stuff? consider all your other expenses and then assess value for money

[Andy_Faber]

I think the relevant point is that the subscriptions are not excessive in the overall scheme of things. There are so many different packages around but I probably pay about 50 quid a month for Sky HD and BT (its all part of a bigger bundle including phones, internet, several boxes etc). Ok there are some marquee events (mostly boxing) that are pay per view on top, but Im not interested in them anyway. So for 50 quid I get

Cricket tests/one day/T20i England home and away, domestic England, IPL Ram Slam, Big Bash etc etc
Football PL, EFL CL plus football from all over the world
F1, NFL, College Football & Basketball, Baseball
plus plus plus

For £50

Whereas one day at a test match, lets think - say Lords

Ticket 75
Travel 15

Beers £ 5-6 each, food take your own otherwise excessive price. I usually reckon on a day at the test match costing me £ 125-150 and for that I may get 20 overs of dull play before it rains just after I have had the minimum play to get a refund

Football: One PL game - tickets £ 40-50, travel 10-15 minimum
A home game at Derby for me would be £ 25 or more for ticket plus maybe £ 40+ for travel


So, sorry, whats this about excessive Sky/BT subscriptions? Give me a break. of course we would all like it for free on BBC, but how many of us would complain if the TV licence went up to £ 500-600 in order to finance it being on "free" TV? there is no such thing as a free lunch... But really is £ 50 a month too much to watch all that stuff? consider all your other expenses and then assess value for money

Agreed RR, subscription TV sport is great value for money.

Sometimes its even better than being there, F1 being a great example, rugby being a surprising addition to that list after going to my first live international the other week.

I recently cancelled my £72 Sky sub and get almost the same viewing experience for about £20 a month using BT/Eurosport/Now and free to air. The only big miss is NFL but at least I can get up on a monday am now