topic Re: Why bother charging for UHD/Atmos and Add Skipping extras? in Sky Stream

Why bother charging for UHD/Atmos and Add Skipping extras?

gmhaggis — Sat, 13 Apr 2024 12:46:49 GMT

Why do Sky even bother with charging for the UHD/Atmos and Ad skipping packages? I have had them both for 3 successive free offers. Now being offered for a 4th time!! Not complaining, but they obviously dont see them as premium extras if keep offering for free!!

Just to add, unless you have sports or Sky movie packages, not worth paying for the UHD/Atmos. It doesnt effect availability in the non-Sky apps such as Disney+, Netflix... Also the Ad Skipping isnt available in all apps and for this it is, has very ropey behaviour..

Re: Why bother charging for UHD/Atmos and Add Skipping extras?

Padam_Padam — Sat, 13 Apr 2024 14:51:54 GMT

@gmhaggis
I did the same during my time with Stream. I had ad skipping & UHD/Atmos free for over 9 months before I quit. The 2 or 3 months free would always reappear on the MySky app the day after the previous offer ended.
You just need to remember to cancel the offers every time but that's not difficult to do on the app.

Re: Why bother charging for UHD/Atmos and Add Skipping extras?

Luke-Cal — Sat, 13 Apr 2024 15:17:33 GMT

That's interesting to know, I've got add skipping for 2 months free that has just come to an end, might cancel it and see if they offer it again 😀

Re: Why bother charging for UHD/Atmos and Add Skipping extras?

TheMoxhams — Sun, 14 Apr 2024 11:33:20 GMT

Did you have to pay for it initially before you got any deals?

Re: Why bother charging for UHD/Atmos and Add Skipping extras?

lettice — Sun, 14 Apr 2024 12:06:36 GMT

@TheMoxhams wrote:
Did you have to pay for it initially before you got any deals?

My first month on getting Sky Stream was the £5 paid for option, had no choice not to have it.

I cancelled it on day one after I activated my Sky Stream and have since had the two months free offer. Cancel it in your managed packs within the second month, so you do not get charged for the next available month and may show in your managed packs as another free month or two month option.

Re: Why bother charging for UHD/Atmos and Add Skipping extras?

Anonymous — Sun, 14 Apr 2024 13:11:25 GMT

The existing customer deals are not account specific online, they are available to all customers, the length however will vary dependant on your VIP status normally between 2 and 4 months. Check the link https://www.sky.com/deals

Re: Why bother charging for UHD/Atmos and Add Skipping extras?

Dominic332 — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 17:14:54 GMT

Hi everyone, im new to SKY i joined in June this year, quick question reguarding ad skipping i took out a two month offer just wondering, if lets say someone cancels the offer before offer end date do you still have ad skipping functioning up to offer end date?

Re: Why bother charging for UHD/Atmos and Add Skipping extras?

Mister_Dalek — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 17:57:09 GMT

@Dominic332 wrote:
Hi everyone, im new to SKY i joined in June this year, quick question reguarding ad skipping i took out a two month offer just wondering, if lets say someone cancels the offer before offer end date do you still have ad skipping functioning up to offer end date?

Yes. Then check the MySky app after the offer ends and the offer should re-appear. Re-apply it and repeat...

Re: Why bother charging for UHD/Atmos and Add Skipping extras?

GRS67 — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 13:24:32 GMT

Just bumping up this thread with a question re the 'Free Add on trials'

Does the free add on end at a specific time

For eg after does it expire after midnight on the expiry date?

With regards to the original post do the free offers re appear after you stop subscribing?

Re: Why bother charging for UHD/Atmos and Add Skipping extras?

MarkGoldsmith — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 13:28:07 GMT

@GRS67 wrote:
Just bumping up this thread with a question re the 'Free Add on trials'

Does the free add on end at a specific time
For eg after does it expire after midnight on the expiry date?
With regards to the original post do the free offers re appear after you stop subscribing?

The key thing is that in theory the free offers could stop appearing at any time.

Personally when I've gone through periods of cancelling UHD add-ons I've always subsequently seen offers for a few month free for it appear in my account, but there is no guarantee that it will keep happening indefinitely.

Re: Why bother charging for UHD/Atmos and Add Skipping extras?

BenJoBanjo — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 13:29:18 GMT

@GRS67 wrote:
Just bumping up this thread with a question re the 'Free Add on trials'

Does the free add on end at a specific time
For eg after does it expire after midnight on the expiry date?
With regards to the original post do the free offers re appear after you stop subscribing?

As with most other services on Sky, it requires that you give 31 days notice.

What I do was set an alert 31 days before the free period was due to end. On that day, give 31 days notice to cancel, normally via the MySky app. Wait for the 31 days to elapse. On the first day after the UHD/Atmos or ad-skipping ends the offer would reappear in the MySky app. Reapply it (activation was always nearly immediate) and repeat the same process.

Re: Why bother charging for UHD/Atmos and Add Skipping extras?

GRS67 — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 13:43:58 GMT

Thanks for the heads up as I wasn't aware of the 31 day notice period

If the add on is cancelled 31 days before the expiry date will it still work up to the expiry date or will it stop working as soon as you stop it?

TBH I want to keep UHD and am willing to pay for it BUT if the option re appears to select it for Free obviously I'll choose it

Re: Why bother charging for UHD/Atmos and Add Skipping extras?

GRS67 — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 13:51:27 GMT

Can the add on be cancelled directly from the App or do you need to contact Sky?

Re: Why bother charging for UHD/Atmos and Add Skipping extras?

MarkGoldsmith — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 14:00:42 GMT

@GRS67 wrote:
Can the add on be cancelled directly from the App or do you need to contact Sky?

You can do it via the My Sky app or via a web browser

Re: Why bother charging for UHD/Atmos and Add Skipping extras?

GRS67 — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 14:05:07 GMT

"You can do it via the My Sky app or via a web browser"

Once cancelled will you be able to get the add on for the remainder of time until the expiry date?

Re: Why bother charging for UHD/Atmos and Add Skipping extras?

BenJoBanjo — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 14:26:43 GMT

@GRS67 wrote:
"You can do it via the My Sky app or via a web browser"

Once cancelled will you be able to get the add on for the remainder of time until the expiry date?

The add-on continues until the end of the original free period after cancellation. It tells you on the MySky app or on your account on the website when it expires.

Re: Why bother charging for UHD/Atmos and Add Skipping extras?

leaky74 — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 15:58:06 GMT

I get the bandwidth argument. It does feel a bit sketchy though to have to pay an aditional amount to basically unlock glass functionality. If it were just buried elsewhere in the cost, I'd care less. It's something about it being itemised that makes it seem a bit stingy on Sky's part.

Re: Why bother charging for UHD/Atmos and Add Skipping extras?

BenJoBanjo — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 16:53:27 GMT

@leaky74 wrote:
I get the bandwidth argument. It does feel a bit sketchy though to have to pay an aditional amount to basically unlock glass functionality. If it were just buried elsewhere in the cost, I'd care less. It's something about it being itemised that makes it seem a bit stingy on Sky's part.

It's not really unlocking functionality of the Glass TV, you can still get watch native UHD content with Atmos from third party apps and external devices connected via HDMI without paying for the UHD/Atmos add-on.

The add-on only gives you access to the live UHD Sport channels and the UHD/HDR on demand streams of Sky's own on demand content. Many customers are quite happy with the upscaling capability of Glass and just stick with HD anyway. Glass has never been the best at HDR either so the difference between the SDR and HDR versions of some content is negligible. Same with Atmos really - there's a limit to how different things will sound on the built-in soundbar. Most average listeners would struggle to tell the difference between an Atmos and a 5.1 soundtrack on Glass. It's worth experimenting to see if you can tell the difference...and if you think it's an additional service that's worth paying for (or getting an offer on).