Sky – The UK’s Favourite TV Provider

Why choose Sky?

Sky is the UK’s favourite pay-TV provider with more than 10 million subscribers enjoying the largest selection of channels of any broadcaster. But there is so much more to Sky than just TV, including home phone services and a broadband network that boasts more than 3.3 million subscribers.

As a Sky customer you can get:

• More TV channels than with any other provider - more than 400
• The UK’s largest selection of High Definition channels
• Exclusive access to Sky Atlantic, Sky Sports F1 HD & the UK’s only 3D channel
• Free Sky+ box with all TV subscriptions
• Totally unlimited downloads with Sky Broadband Unlimited and Sky Fibre Unlimited
• Free and unlimited access to the Cloud Wi-Fi network for all unlimited broadband customers
• A free wireless router with all broadband packages
• Access to Sky Anytime+ TV on-demand
• Watch on tablets, laptops and selected smartphones with the free Sky Go app
• Unbeatable broadband customer satisfaction according to Ofcom
• 12 month standard contracts
• Installation usually within just two weeks of ordering

The UK’s No. 1 pay-TV provider

Sky was the first company to bring subscription TV to the UK, and they’ve led the pack ever since. Today more than 10 million people subscribe to one of Sky’s TV packages and enjoy access to more channels than are offered by any other provider, including the exclusive Sky Atlantic, Sky Sports F1 HD and the only dedicated 3D channel

When you join Sky TV you’ll be provided with the exclusive Sky+ box. This is a combined satellite TV decoder and digital TV recorder. It can pause and rewind live TV, and record up to two channels at the same time – even while you're watching something you recorded earlier. Plus, you can use it to schedule the recording of every episode of your favourite shows using the Series Link function, and protect your kids with the inbuilt parental controls.

On-demand TV whether you're home or away

Sky also provides some of the best on-demand TV content in the UK, and across a range of three different services. All TV customers can access Sky Anytime through their Sky+ box for a second chance to watch the best of the previous week’s Sky TV (exact content depending upon your TV subscription).

Plus, if you connect your Sky+ box to your broadband router you’ll be able to enjoy the Sky Anytime+ TV on-demand service. With Anytime+ you can stream hundreds of hours of top quality TV, include full series box sets. And, if you're a Sky Movies subscriber you can watch any of the 500 on-demand movies whenever you like – and, if you subscribe to the Entertainment Extra pack, you’ll have a large library of kids shows and documentaries too.

You can even enjoy Sky TV when you're away from home with the free Sky Go app. If you’ve got an iPhone, iPad, laptop, Xbox 360 or the right model of Android smartphone you can watch a wealth of Sky TV based on your subscription wherever you are in the UK and Ireland. Sky Go is available to each and every Sky TV customer, and at no extra cost.

The home of truly unlimited broadband

Sky TV, broadband and phone bundles include weekend calls and free Sky Broadband Lite broadband which comes with a free wireless router, a 2GB monthly usage allowance and a download speed that’s as fast as your home phone line can support – and if you want a more complete broadband service Sky can deliver that too.

Sky Broadband Unlimited is totally unlimited home broadband, and it’s available whether you want Sky TV or not. It has a truly unlimited monthly usage allowance that is not restricted by a fair usage policy so you really are free to download as much as you like each and every month. Plus, there’s no traffic management that many providers use to reduce the speed of serious web fanatics at peak time. Plus, you’ll be able to keep online when you’re out and about thanks to free and unlimited public Wi-Fi access at hotspots belonging to The Cloud network.

You can also get fibre optic broadband from Sky. If you live in a Sky fibre area you can subscribe to one of two Sky Fibre Unlimited packages, whether you want Sky TV or not. Both come with a free wireless router, totally unlimited monthly downloads and unlimited access to The Cloud Wi-Fi network - plus you have a choice of two super-fast speeds in upgraded areas.

Switch to Sky for unbeatable customer service

Sky wants to make the process of switching to their broadband as quick and easy as possible, and once you have you’ll be able to enjoy better customer service than with any other provider.

A dedicated team of customer service advisors has been created, The Switch Squad, with a mission to make it easy for you to switch your broadband and calls from your current provider to Sky.

The Switch Squad can usually move you to your new broadband and calls service within two weeks of your order being confirmed, and on the day your new service goes live they’ll strive to make sure that you’re only without internet access for a few minutes. Plus, in most instances, they can arrange for you to keep your existing phone number, or assign you a new one if that isn’t possible.

Once you’ve made the switch you’ll be able to enjoy the ‘best overall customer service’ compared with the rest of the UK’s top four broadband providers, and that’s according to Ofcom’s Customer Service Satisfaction Levels Report (December 2012). The report also found that “Ratings for [Sky] advisors are above average and have increased since last year, as has satisfaction with the time taken to handle issues.”

Sky Reviews

About Sky

The subscription television company Sky, also known as BSkyB or British Sky Broadcasting, has been operating now for more than two decades. In that time they have been providing subscription satellite TV and digital television services to the British public non stop, bringing the latest technological innovations and TV broadcasting trends into British homes as well as promoting Sport, Movies and imported American TV shows to a new viewership.

Sky also offers broadband and phone services and have championed the digital switchover. It's easy to look at a huge corporation as it is today and see the obviousness of its success, but if we take a look back at the history of Sky we can see how the evolution of satellite television has been an interesting and not necessarily straightforward one.

The Beginnings

Sky is a subscription TV services that uses satellites in order to broadcast its programming. In 1989 the first of the Astra satellites was placed in orbit and Sky's revolutionary service began. The 1990s saw this first lone satellite being joined by several more. These early years saw financial problems, with the News Corporation owned Sky Television, controlled by Rupert Murdoch, merging with British Satellite Broadcasting in November of 1990, an allegiance which confirmed the company's continued operation and which is still strong today.

The main benefits of the merger for Sky was the acquisition of more advertising contracts, which in their early days were hard to come by and the cause of the financial troubles in the first place. This merger also formed the main Sky network of channels that exists today, with Sky Sports and Sky Movies resulting from the deal.

The Digital Age

In 1997, the satellite Astra 2A was launched to support digital broadcasting and by 2001 Sky had discontinued their analogue service in favour of digital TV. Digital technology brought with it the potential for hundreds of TV and radio stations to be broadcast to an ever-expanding customer base. Initially this service was branded as Sky Digital, although this name is no longer used. 2001 also saw another innovation, the Sky+ service which is still around today, consisting of a set top box with a built in hard drive which allowed customers to record and store programs without the need for tapes or DVDs.

Sky+ has grown in popularity and decreased in price, and set top box hard drive recorders have also been made by third party companies and copied by other subscription TV services.

Sky TV Today

Since the launch of its Sky+HD service in 2006, Sky has continued to offer the most comprehensive and flexible selection of digital TV channels and telecommunications services to old and new customers alike. Though their sports coverage has been somewhat diminished from the days of its early dominance, you should still expect that any new product introduced by Sky will in the coming years become adopted and adapted by other companies looking to emulate their success.

Sky have also recently moved away from their satellite roots and into the world of online on demand television services and channels, offering live TV without the need for a satellite dish, and with over 1 million customers signed up to their Sky broadband service this is surely a good move.