Downgrade to Sky Essentials on Sky Q

[MaxxHaze]

Hi, I currently have the Signature package on Sky Q and I am outside of any minimum contract term. I've been looking at cancelling Sky Signature to save money but just found out there's the Sky Essentials/Sky Q Lite basic package below this.

Can I downgrade to Sky Essentials/Sky Q Lite or is this only available to new customers? I can't seem to find the answer.

Also, if I can downgrade, what channels would I get, would I still be able to record etc. and what would be the monthly cost?

Thanks in advance. 

[PandJ2020]

Essentials is basically Freeview channels with recording capability.

I think it's around £15pm.

You may be better off long term considering a FreeSat recorder.

[Doc5907]

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@MaxxHaze wrote:

Hi, I currently have the Signature package on Sky Q and I am outside of any minimum contract term. I've been looking at cancelling Sky Signature to save money but just found out there's the Sky Essentials/Sky Q Lite basic package below this.

Can I downgrade to Sky Essentials/Sky Q Lite or is this only available to new customers? I can't seem to find the answer.

Also, if I can downgrade, what channels would I get, would I still be able to record etc. and what would be the monthly cost?

Thanks in advance. 

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@MaxxHaze if you are outside of 18 month contract term then you will be able renegotiate a new package which I believe will include the Sky essentials.

i understand the price of the Sky essentials package is £15 but you will need to call Sky to confirm (things constantly change).

Details of channels below..

https://www.sky.com/help/articles/tv-essentials

[SlenderRobert]

@MaxxHaze 

Negotiate, negotiate, negotiate.

Essentials can be got for £5pm. I know more than one person who asked to cancel their subscription completely once out of contract then were offered this deal. 

[Lisa-P1987]

One big thing to be aware of with Essentials is the loss of On Demand/Catch Up and Sky Go. 

In Catch up all you'd get is BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 catch up content in SD. 

And Sky Go changes to a limited service. 

If you have anything like Netflix through Sky, you'll need to start paying through Netflix as it is not part of Essentials, as with any other 3rd party apps. 

So moving to Essentials isn't always the best option. Re-negotiating your package cost on Signature is a better move, there are offers out there that can reduce this pack down to even £15. So definitely worth having the convo with our value team before making the move to Essentials. 

Also all recordings you have had, downloaded content etc, if you no longer have the channel, these will not work. So that is another thing to remember when looking at the channels you would be keeping with Essentials. 

[MaxxHaze]

Thanks for the swift advice, much appreciated. 

I'll give Sky a call and see what deal I can get. 

I did consider cancelling all together and getting a Freesat 4k box but the £240 cost puts me off. I was just thinking its easier and cheaper to stay with Sky but on a basic package. I'd be able to keep the functionality of the box which is really good.

Loosing box sets and catch ups is no problem as we never watch them and we can always go through BBCiplayer, ITVx etc. on a Firestick.

The main loss for me is multi room as I won't pay £15/mth anymore for this. Also loosing Sky Sports News is a big one but then again a cheap way of getting this is via the SSN app that you get through Now TV on a £5 Hulu sub. 

[MaxxHaze]

Forgot to say, is there much difference between the Sky Essentials and Freesat channels? 

[PandJ2020]

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@MaxxHaze wrote:

Forgot to say, is there much difference between the Sky Essentials and Freesat channels? 

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All channels here: https://www.freesat.co.uk/channels

[TimmyBGood]

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@MaxxHaze wrote:

I did consider cancelling all together and getting a Freesat 4k box but the £240 cost puts me off.

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That would presumably be for a current Freesat recorder: these are rather expensive, particularly as no Freesat actually broadcasts in UHD.  Previous generation HD models can be found at much lower prices, but would need a Q LNB on the satellite dish swapping out.