UK Satellite TV subscribers should read this

If you are one of the 7 / 8 million or so people who give money to Rupert Murdoch on a monthly basis, by means of a subscription to his Sky television you may want to stop for a moment and think.

Ask yourself these questions:
1. Do you know who Rupert Murdoch is? If not, go and do a google search on him, and read everything to do with him and his empire.
2. Do you know how big his empire is? He now controls half of the worlds media through his publications and networks, ALL of which have a conservative / right-wing agenda.
3. Do you vote for political parties "to the left" in the UK? i.e. Labour If so, why are you subscribing to Sky? He is donating to conservative parties the world over? One of his former editors, Andy Coulson is now Director of Communications in 10 Downing Street. I get the impression he is very chummy with David Cameron, as Cameron was the one who hired him.
4. If you really despise the Conservative party and what they stand for, why do you have a Sky dish?

There is one thing which is fuelling Rupert Murdoch and his massive empire, and that is greed. He lives for money and power. In order to break into the American market, he had to give up his Australian citizenship, which he did without the blink of an eye. He is taking your money in the UK and presenting you with American programmes which have already been paid for in the US.

Now forgive me for painting a dark picture of this man, but it's all true, he has a hidden agenda and is using his outlets to influence politicians.

Now here's the best bit.
If you subscribe to Sky, and you like the idea of keeping Sky but only pay half the price, here's what to do. Just simply call your Sky customer hotline and tell them you want to cancel your contract. Here are some excuses you could use, which are all valid:

1. You had satellite TV many years ago, and back then if you paid a subscription, the channels would be free of adverts. The difference now is you are paying a subscription fee and yet all the channels are FLOODED with adverts. "I thought the adverts paid for the programming?"

2. You are finding it increasingly difficult to "settle in" with the programmes as there are too many ad-breaks. 5 minutes into a programme, the titles have barely finished and you are into an ad-break.

3. Heavy handed sales and marketing on behalf of Sky. Why are you constantly cross-promoting other Sky channels on your platform? Sky this, Sky that, Sky HD, Sky HD1, Sky +1 etc etc

4. There is a distinct lack of British programming on Sky. Nearly all the programmes are from the USA. The BBC Director General, Mark Thompson recently said Sky does not produce home-grown programming, and he is right. It's all American rubbish. At least the BBC use the licence fee to produce British programmes.

5. General low standard / quality of the few British programmes which are home produced. You are not interested in watching lager louts on holiday in Ibiza etc etc. We already know how annoying they are.

6. Too many repeats. How many times does one have to see an episode of the Simpsons before a new episode is transmitted? To make matters worse, when you do show a new episode, you block half the screen with a "ALL NEW" banner under the Sky logo. Very annoying. Even my son says, Oh mum / dad, we've seen this one already.

7. Wait a second, all the big blockbuster series such as 24, X-Files, Simpsons etc 20th Century Fox productions. (Which is owned by Rupert Murdoch) Have they not already been paid for in the US? Why are we having to pay for them again? On top of that, you interrupt the programmes with ad-breaks! Should be no need to advertise if the programmes have already been paid for in the US. Just looks like Sky is being greedy. Which Rupert Murdoch is.

8. Sky is misleading the public, when it says "see it before the BBC". Of course, Sky will always be able to show a programme produced by 20th Century Fox before the BBC, because Sky is part of 20th Century Fox. Surely it will always be able to show a programme before any other terrestrial broadcaster because it "owns" the programme anyway. Maybe it's time to stop boasting, and start telling the truth.

9. You are not happy with the Sky boss, James Murdoch coming to Britain and stating the BBC with it's government sponsored "free news" is strangling quality journalism in Britain. Afterall, Sky is part of a group which publishes The Sun and News of the World!! News of the World, quality journalism? How patronising can this man be? How stupid does he think we are? Very, it seems.

10. You are beginning to see Sky as just another outlet for Rupert Murdoch to force his American programming and political viewpoints on us. They are taking your hard earned cash and not making British programmes with it. The company is only interested in getting your money.

11. You have voted for the Labour party all your life, and were completely unaware of the hidden agenda.

I promise you, you will hang up after speaking to an adviser and will only pay half of what you are paying now.

How do I know this? Because I know 3 operators in a Sky customer service call-centre, and they have all been trained to keep you signed up. "If they [the customer] threaten to leave and want out, we [sky] just offer them the same package for half the price, and that usually shuts them up".

So that's it, call them, threaten to leave, and save money.

It will make me very happy to hear the Murdoch empire has taken a hit in satellite subscription fees.

It would also be great to get your feedback as well and see how much money you will save.

Peace.

"Love Sky, Love the Conservatives".

So if I voted conservative and hate labour I should get sky? Cool, thanks for the tip!

Guess I'm switching providers.

reply to post by Thistled


I had Sly TV (Sky) for some time, but cancelled it years ago due to being fed up to the back teeth of the MASSES of adverts, 5 minutes into a show, then at 15 minutes then at 30 minutes then again at 40 minutes.

I was sick and tired of shelling out a bloody fortune every month to sit there and be subjected to adverts on top of adverts.

I told them so when i cancelled too, and yes, the did try to make me an offer, and got quite heavy when i didn't go for it. I ended up telling them to go F themselves, and got Freeview.

Best thing TV wise, i ever did.

I wasn't particularly political about my reasons for canceling Sly TV, although i did harbour resentment that the top dog running the company was running a virtual monopoly on the worlds media.

So yeah, my experience is pretty much exactly what you said mate.

Cheers.

well theres not much competition out there buddy.

Virgin TV, half the channels, a quarter of the hd channels and now they are dropping channels such as the MTVs etc so they can add new channels to there lineups.

Sky just keep adding channels to there EPG without removing channels to save space.

I agree the advertising on ALL tv channels wether sky, terrestrial or freeview is overwhelming. But hey, id rather have a Sky + HD box series linking all my programmes so that i can watch at my leisure and fast forward the advertising (similar to Tivo for you yanks)

All movies channels are free of advertising once the movie starts which is a lot more than can be said for ITV and there 20 adds per movie.

As for Murdoch, well he only owns 39% of Sky and is currently looking to aquire the other 61% from shareholders, whom have now refused offers on the share price of £7 per share. Shares are currently around the £7.06 mark with city analysts expecting a buy price of between £8.20 and £11. The board are not giving in to a weak share price so unless the price is upped then Sky will remain public.

why does murdoch now want sky?? Well the R&D on new tech such as HD and 3D is now finished and with no investments planned sky is now one huge cash cow. Having passed the 9 million subsribers and on target to hit 10 million then all you need to do is the maths on the £70 per month top subscription package.

[edit on 4-9-2010 by zeetroyman]

I've done that before, said i was going to cancel my account as i was trying to lower my bills (i honestly was too), and they offered it to me for £6 a month for a year instead of £20.

I won't get rid at the moment, theres a lot i enjoy on there, documentaries and the likes, and i don't like watching the same documentaries on a small computer monitor before anyone suggests it.

I'm certainly not going to feel any guilt for having Sky, i bet everyone here feeds into the bigger organisations somehow in their life.

CX.

I did what was suggested, was fed up of being an early adopter and paying to move to the latest thing, digital, Sky+, HD, etc. I threatened to reduce my subscription to a lower level, no offers. Not a thing, they reduced my package on the spot, thus ended the Sky Sports subscription. A month or two later I rang again, and threatened to reduce the level of subscription again. This time the movies went!

I won't be ringing again, I rather enjoy the documentaries, and other channels.

I suspect there is a FOAF thing going on here, my experience is that Sky take you at your word and cut your package on the spot!

I've not watched television for over one year; in fact, I no longer have a television in my apartment. I never buy a newspaper or magazine (tho I may read one purchased by someone else). So instead of paying 50% less for rubbish, just don't pay at all.

i rang up to cancel my sky subscription to move to virgin (all the same channels im getting now with sky plus a few extra i dont have, and hd which i dont have for a cheaper price) and told sky why i was leaving and they just said..'okay your subscription will end on this date ....'

i honestly dont think sky care about existing customer anymore as they seem to be pulling new ones in all the time so its no great loss to them if you leave

Not for nothing I'm Libertarian but I found your conservative bashing very idiotic. The reason the world over is having so much trouble is because the USA moved away from being a free capitalist society, as did the UK, to a nanny state of left wing progressives. You may even call them communists or marxists... What is so wrong about small government?? Thats what conservatives believe in.. You know, government not being the 300lb elephant on your back.. It's the progressive democrats who regulate everything to pieces causing manufacturing to move to china, where virtually no regulation exists turning the populaces into consumers solely.. Just like "global warming" lead by al gore the progressive democrat trying to regulate all aspects of carbon emmissions.. When do people actually start learning history around here?? Rupert Murdoch is a bad guy because he puts his own influence into his programming stations, yeah fine,.. He's not a bad guy because "hes a conservative."

Socialism doesn't work, it never has, and it never will.. Revamping health insurance to a single payer system will consolodate control to the government in the USA allowing more regulation and taxes. I know you guys have this same crap in teh UK all over.. Closed circuit TV is rampant there and it's getting just as bad here now. The US is allowing illegal immigrants to get drivers licenses and offer free GPS systems to get safely into america are all offered by liberal progressives.. That's right our government helps people illegal enter our country so they can mooch off the system of welfare the PROGRESSIVES have setup, and the rest of us pay for it in taxes..

The only thing that has worked for sure is unregulated capitalism, which made the USA the fastest growth to power in world history. That power is being hijacked by the progressives both conservative and liberal because the progressives with power are out for themselves like one big happy royal family. We get to be the peasants and told when to eat when to sleep when to work and so on...



[edit on 4-9-2010 by Raphael]

Frack Sky TV and Murdock!!!

Use Bit Torrent and download your American TV shows, which as OP states, are bought and paid for in America when shown on Sky TV.

Just use freeview and hook your PC up to your TV, or view files on PC, or burn to DVD and watch via DVD player, whatever, most popular TV shows we like in England and sister states of the UK are uploaded on Bit Torrent, well seeded so they download at decent kilter.

Stick to Freeview, download the rest, your conscience dictates whether a film should be downloaded or not, but the way i see it, if it's aired to TV anywhere in the world, it is fair game for being downloaded and anti piracy idiots have a frackin' cheek trying to assert TV programmes should be a copyright infraction if less than broadcast quality digital copies of TV shows or aired to TV films are shared on P2P.

I agree with OP, this is my solution i suggest one employs if OP's post strikes a few chords with you.

If you don't know how to proceed with BT, Wikipedia is a starting point, clients are Azureus Vuse for people with decent spec 'puters and Utorrent for any with less than decent system resources as it's C++ coding not java like Vuse so not system hungry. Pirate bay, eztv.it and newtorrents.info are a start for TV shows, etc, etc, pirate bay has a good forum to help with questions so do other trackers and Vuse and Utorrent have user forums for advice as well.

[Vuse is best used in "Classic Interface". Goto, tools menu -> Options, select Advanced User, -> Interface -> Start and just below centre left of page is UI Chooser, select Classic and Save, bottom left.]

Bit Torrent also allows American viewers to view UK shows as well, in fact Bit Torrent has people who download shows from many other different countries, even has subtitles dedicated to released encodes of shows catering for many main languages around the world, for shows you cannot find the same with a TV, it opens up Western TV shows to the whole world, the TV shows we in English speaking countries enjoy, avalable for viewing with so many countries translated into subtitles usually a day or so after airing in the USA/UK or wherever, same as European/Indian etc shows are usually translated to English so we can enjoy the offerings of other cultures as they can ours, not everything is available but so much is.

It isn't about denying corporates their profits so much as not accepting their greed, the fact they lie through their hind teeth to manipulate governments and con politicians etc, proves they deserve people, especially the poorer in society, denying those like Murdock some of their con artist profiteering.

Take the piss anyway, Sky do. I did as is only prudent and wise, and cancelled my Sky subscription when i bust my wrist and had to resign work in late 2005, they even called me 2 weeks after i cancelled asking why i was an unhappy customer and tried to incentivise me to resubscribe, didn't seem to compute with them that i was now on basic state benefit so subscription TV wasn't an option.
Then, 5 months later i get letters from a debt collector demanding £79 because i owed Sky 3 months subscription (+ costs), i got onto Sky and said if they check the ruddy dates, i wasn't able to use my decoder because the account was closed and final bill paid, after several more calls they cancelled the debt collector and said sorry.

then for 2 years, every couple of months, i had sales people calling me and every time they used the same manipulation, asserting i still owed money and if i resubscribed they would cancel the debt, which i didn't owe them and had already sorted it out, to do it again, and again, about 5 times i had the same BS of having it out with salespeople and managers, really pissed me off, last was about July 2008.

Dunno if anybody else has had similar, but i experienced them as disingenuous tossers, and then some.

Even if i did decide to get subscription TV again, it'd be Virgin i use, not that oik Murdock, he disgusts me, the way he manipulates the general public and government here.

Sky, never again man.

Bit Torrent isn't all about stealing music and brand new films so depriving primary profit uptake, i frown on Cam piracy myself, but TV shows should be no business of anti piracy, period.

Bit Torrent is the answer to the OP's issue!!!

Peace.

[Happy to advise further about using Bit Torrent, just message me.]



[edit on 4-9-2010 by DeltaPan]

Am I being naive when I say that I thought that sky news was a fairly well balanced news channel for a mainstream media news outlet? I didn't notice any leanings to the left or right where politics are concerned? Granted it doesn't touch on the subjects that get covered here on ATS but what media news channel does?

I'd say that, when reporting, Sky News is certainly less biased than say the BBC. However, the problem is more to do with what the choose to report on. And these days it tends to be fluffy crap that is of no use to anyone, fear/hate mongering or a kind of weird voyeurism (eg. Moat suicide).

Originally posted by DSSONE
I'd say that, when reporting, Sky News is certainly less biased than say the BBC. However, the problem is more to do with what the choose to report on. And these days it tends to be fluffy crap that is of no use to anyone, fear/hate mongering or a kind of weird voyeurism (eg. Moat suicide).

Exactly! 'What they choose to report on' I think the masses who have the news on would switch off if it covered a subject that's 'stoopid' and they can't have that. It's a bit like when the mainstream news stations actually cover a news story about anything to do with ufo's for example the newsreaders can't help but deliver it with a tongue in cheek style as if to lend no seriousness to the subject like they're really saying "were covering this story because it's causing a bit of a sensation but you can switch off now because it's a joke subject" then following up with a patronising grin. This happened a few years ago with that scottish town i forget the name being a ufo hot spot for a period.