Sky creates 1,000 jobs - still charges the earth for HD sub
By Benny Har-Even in Editorial
Earlier this week Sky announced that is would be creating up to 1,000 jobs as it expects to an upsurge in interest in its HD television service – clearly some good news in a country that’s rapidly becoming a sea of unemployment.
Off the back of that, to help encourage that interest it’s lowered the cost of its Sky HD box to £49.
When Sky first launched its HD service in May 2006, it was charging £299 for the box, and more recently it was asking £149 or even £99, depending where you shopped. Less than fifty quid then seems a pretty good deal and means that its HD box is now cheaper than its standard Sky+, which is still £99.
Of course Sky isn’t just doing this out of the kindness of its heart – it’s clearly trying to fend of competition from the FreeSat service that launched last year – through which customers can view HD content, currently limited to BBC and ITV. The FreeSat+ PVR box, that offers equivalent functionality to the Sky+ HD box, is still at £299, so again the Sky HD box deal looks pretty good.
However, I’d just like to point out, in case it’s escaped anyone’s attention, that the cost of Sky HD is not really the box. (Certanily not for Sky, who probably pay mere pennies for it). The cost, of course, is the monthly subscription charge, which is quite simply huge.
Sky charges an extra £10 a month for its HD service on top of your existing package. Now in my view there’s little point getting Sky HD if you don’t get the Sports and movies package – as otherwise you might as well stick with Freesat. I currently pay £16.50 for my standard Sky package – (Variety + Kids), but if I wanted to go HD, with Sports and Movies, that would go up to around £52 a month. So, forgive me for not getting too excited at Sky dropping the price of its box.
If you plump for the £300 FreeSat+ box, plus installation (£80) you’ll have paid the same as a full Sky HD installation in seven months – and after that, you saving – ‘cos it’s FreeSat see – no monthly cost. Now I’m not knocking Sky’s comprehensive HD package, and indeed if you’re willing and able to pay then fair do’s, you’re getting the best HD content available in the UK – but darn, it’s pricey.
I just wanted to point that out.
So while Sky may have created 1,000 jobs, I doubt anyone taking those jobs will be earning enough to actually afford a Sky HD subscription.
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