sky F1 changing to Sky darts for 1 month.... for my benefit.

[chojin]

Sky sent me a No reply email, hence im here, telling my that they are changing Sky F1 to Sky Darts for Dec to January, the f1 off season.

They worded it like they are doing me a favor......at no extra cost...

I have zero interest in darts,  Go pick another channel to pile that [Removed] on.

I pay every month for F1 i want the channel Im paying for

Moderator notes: Removed foul language 

[SKY1992bf]

@chojin  If you don't want to watch the darts then f1 content is still available via the on demand /catch up services 

[chojin]

Demand doesnt show all the races or all the sessions, theres still races ive missed.

and besides that isnt the point, they have removed a Channel i pay extra for and worded it like they are doing me a favor.

and replaced it with something completely unrelated to F1

[Daniel0210]

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@chojin wrote:
and replaced it with something completely unrelated to F1

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@chojin 

Just temporary for about 3 weeks as the email explains. iirc similar happened last year, this year Sky have sent out emails in advance. 

[xenon81]

Yes it happened last year. There is no live F1 to show after 7th December and the repeats that would fill the channel instead are all available to watch on demand. 

People often complain that there are too many repeats on Sky but when they temporarily replace a channel that would otherwise be showing nothing but repeats, they get complaints for that too.

[nolte]

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@chojin wrote:

Demand doesnt show all the races or all the sessions, theres still races ive missed.

and besides that isnt the point, they have removed a Channel i pay extra for and worded it like they are doing me a favor.

and replaced it with something completely unrelated to F1

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What races and sessions are missing from Demand?

I had a look through and on my Sky Q, there is a group called 'Weekend Wrap Up' and in this for the races I checked were

In Japan for example, there is race highlights, Ted's Notebook, chequered flag, full race, grand prix sunday, ted quality notebook, qualifying, practice 3,, the f1 show, practice 2, practice 1, team principal press conference, and drivers press conference.

Even if sky f1 was on the 4 weeks, i would surprised be covering all that content,

[SteveK23]

Couldn't agree more. We pay for motorsport related content. Imagine going to the cinema to watch a film which is changed halfway through. I bet there's nothing in your "contract" with the cinema that says that they have to show you the film advertised, but still..... It's a shameful way to treat loyal customers.

[Daniel0210]

@SteveK23 

You had posted in the 2024 thread on the temporary change to darts so it's been moved to the recent thread. 

[Jon+H.]

One could argue that if they're <temporarily> removing SkyF1, then they should <temporaily> stop charging one for SkyF1! (I don't have/pay for Sky Sports, I only have/pay for SkyF1).

I also get confused / annoyed during a race when they say "and we welcome viewers on Sky Sports Main Event" or whatever channel... have they paid for SkyF1 or are they getting it for free? If they've already paid for all of Sky Sports then they've already got the F1 channel so just change to the F1 channel rather than waiting for "main event" or whatever to show it. Like yesterday's race, it was half way thru the first lap when they joined, the first turn is when a lot of action happens and they missed it!

[MarkGoldsmith]

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@SteveK23 wrote:

Couldn't agree more. We pay for motorsport related content. Imagine going to the cinema to watch a film which is changed halfway through. I bet there's nothing in your "contract" with the cinema that says that they have to show you the film advertised, but still..... It's a shameful way to treat loyal customers.

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A film chaning half way through at the cinema isn't a comparison to what is going on as customers aren't losing access to F1 content. All the replays or short video packages they play on the F1 channel when there is no live F1 content is still all available to watch on-demand. You aren't losing access to the content that has been paid for, its just as there is no live F1 content they are essentially removing the Sky Sports F1 linear channel for a few weeks.

[MarkGoldsmith]

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@Jon+H. wrote:

One could argue that if they're <temporarily> removing SkyF1, then they should <temporaily> stop charging one for SkyF1! (I don't have/pay for Sky Sports, I only have/pay for SkyF1).

I also get confused / annoyed during a race when they say "and we welcome viewers on Sky Sports Main Event" or whatever channel... have they paid for SkyF1 or are they getting it for free? If they've already paid for all of Sky Sports then they've already got the F1 channel so just change to the F1 channel rather than waiting for "main event" or whatever to show it. Like yesterday's race, it was half way thru the first lap when they joined, the first turn is when a lot of action happens and they missed it!

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@Jon+H. - thats the primary purpose of the Sky Sports Main Event channel, it will show the big live sporting event happening at the time, be it Premier League, F1, NFL, Golf etc. The channel is 95% of the time showing the same sporting event that is being shown on one of the bespoke Sky Sports channels ( the usual exception is when there are multiple football matches being played at the same time and that is when Main Event will likely be showing a unique game). The purpose of the channel is for big sports fans who don't want to miss whatever the big sporting event is and don't have to keep changing the channel. Its also a benefit to businesses that have a license to show Sky Sports as it means that they can usually just keep their TV on Sky Sports Main Event to show whatever the big sporting events are.

[nolte]

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@Jon+H. wrote:

One could argue that if they're <temporarily> removing SkyF1, then they should <temporaily> stop charging one for SkyF1! (I don't have/pay for Sky Sports, I only have/pay for SkyF1).

I also get confused / annoyed during a race when they say "and we welcome viewers on Sky Sports Main Event" or whatever channel... have they paid for SkyF1 or are they getting it for free? If they've already paid for all of Sky Sports then they've already got the F1 channel so just change to the F1 channel rather than waiting for "main event" or whatever to show it. Like yesterday's race, it was half way thru the first lap when they joined, the first turn is when a lot of action happens and they missed it!

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Sundays particularly can be very hectic for sports going on at the same time.

So with some things over running, or overlapping, these things happen.

[chojin]

I dont have Sky Q, the F1 on demand shows a selection of races but not all.

The whole point of my complaint is I was sent a No reply email, given no way to voice my frustration at being charged for an F1 channel 

that isnt showing F1 yet im still paying for it.

either they dont charge me for that month or 3 weeks.....

or they show all the races on repeat during the off season.

[nolte]

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@chojin wrote:

I dont have Sky Q, the F1 on demand shows a selection of races but not all.

The whole point of my complaint is I was sent a No reply email, given no way to voice my frustration at being charged for an F1 channel 

that isnt showing F1 yet im still paying for it.

either they dont charge me for that month or 3 weeks.....

or they show all the races on repeat during the off season.

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What sky do you have? ie sky stream, sky glass, sky +HD?

The same weekend wrap up is available on sky go for 22 races. Qatar is not in the section, but the content is collated in a separate heading for Qatar.

[Marlu-Nyu]

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@chojin wrote:

Sky sent me a No reply email, hence im here, telling my that they are changing Sky F1 to Sky Darts for Dec to January, the f1 off season.

They worded it like they are doing me a favor......at no extra cost...

I have zero interest in darts,  Go pick another channel to pile that [Removed] on.

I pay every month for F1 i want the channel Im paying for

Moderator notes: Removed foul language 

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The Sky TV contract (example wording from the 2020 terms) states:

“Subject to condition 10.1, each of your TV services is a separate and variable service… we may vary, replace or withdraw: (a) any TV service; (b) any programming or channel (including varying the broadcast hours of a channel).”

The terms also allow Sky to:

• change or reduce the number of hours a channel broadcasts

• encrypt or unencrypt any channel

• vary or withdraw any channel or additional TV service

In other words, channels, their names, and the content shown on them are all classed as variable services, and Sky is allowed to modify them.

If a change affects the price you pay (for example, if a paid premium channel is permanently removed), Sky must notify you and adjust your subscription.

By taking out a Sky subscription, customers agree to these terms, which means temporary rebrands or content changes, such as Sky Sports F1 switching to Sky Sports Darts during the off-season, or Sky Cinema channels changing names, are permitted under the contract.

If Sky wanted to, they could change all their Sky Sports channels just to show live events only like what TNT Sports 5 - 10 do, and put all replays and other content on demand. As long as the price you pay doesn't change, Sky don't need to tell you.

This is the same with most TV providers, so even if you wanted to change provider, the "variable services" is still present.