Sky satellite television

Available features: A mixture of satellite television, broadband internet and telephone calls.

Our option: Highest package for TV (Sky Sports, Sky Movies and all six entertainment channel bundles) with associated Personal Video Recorder (PVR), plus the Medium package for broadband.

PVR (SKY+)
Sky’s PVR should be on a par with Virgin Media’s V+ box, swallowing up 80 hours of normal-quality television. However, you only get to fill it with 40 hours of programming, as Sky saves some of the space for its own material (more on that later). If you want a bigger hard drive and have a shiny HD telly, it’s best to opt for a SkyHD box – effectively the next step up from our account – which allows you to store up to 30 hours of HD programmes or up to 80 hours of standard-def content.
The other area Sky+ fails compared to the V+ box is in how many channels it can handle at once. When you think about past recording techniques it seems churlish to complain that Sky+ can only record two programmes simultaneously, but V+ allows you to do that while watching a third channel. At least you can watch something else off the Sky+ hard drive while it’s busy filling up with new programmes.
The Sky+ box has really tested things a service point of view, but then we have been using it a lot longer than Virgin’s cable service. This being consumer technology (and essentially nothing more than a personal computer) a number of Sky+ boxes have died in our arms. However, as long as they were under warranty Sky has replaced them promptly.

On-demand
Sky offers a weekly catch-up service for TV programmes that have been on its channels, but it’s not properly on-demand as such. The programmes on its Sky Anytime service are automatically downloaded to your Sky+ box. On the plus side, you don’t choose a programme and wait for the internet connection to kick in before it hits your TV screen as you do with the V+ service. However, you can end up with a large amount of programming stored on your box that you didn’t ask for. Sky plucks the week’s catch-up telly from its range of channels, including Sky One, Sky News, its range of film channels, History and ESPN Classics, as well as kids’ stations like Boomerang, Nick Toons and Disney.
Sky’s other on-demand (but not really on-demand) feature is its Box Office film service. This offers more up-to-date films for a £3.95 fee. Rather than requesting a film and getting it delivered there and then, Sky has set aside a huge bunch of channels so you can duck into the start of a Box Office movie every 15 minutes.
Where the Sky service strikes back against Virgin is in its downloadable internet content. Subscribers are allowed to download content using Sky’s software that can then be taken with them on their laptop and played anywhere. This is especially useful if you subscribe to a premium service such as the movies channels. Sky also offers some content on your mobile phone, although due to problems setting up this service we have yet to test it.
A particularly handy on-demand service is the ability to record something on your Sky+ box while you’re not standing next to it. Setting up your details online means you can do this over the internet or using the browser on your mobile phone.

Broadband internet
Sky provides its own wireless router as standard to handle your Sky Broadband service. On the upside, you don’t need to add any extra kit to surf anywhere in your house (as you do with Virgin). It also takes all the hassle out of setting up your internet service. Security is built in because the only way you can see the password is if you have access to the router itself. That stops novice users setting it up without any security and having their Wi-Fi connection abused by the neighbours.
On the downside, being tied to Sky’s own box leaves you high and dry if you have a problem with it. We’ve been using the service for almost a year and two Wi-Fi boxes have already conked out. Not a problem, you’d think, as Sky could just replace it and you’re back up and running. But the replacement generally takes a week, leaving you without a home internet connection during that time.

Cost
Varied packages. £16 a month will buy you a standard television box (without PVR features), plus free regular evening and weekend calls (to numbers starting 01 and 02) and up to 2Mbps broadband. That reaches up to £50 a month for the maximum amount of television packages, unlimited UK evening and weekend calls and up to 8Mbps broadband.
A Sky+ PVR box costs an additional £149, although this may be discounted based on the amount of services you sign up for.
You will also need a BT line to keep your Sky services updated and to run broadband, which comes with its own line rental of £11 per month.
[Prices correct on 8 October 2007]

Overall
Sky has been a powerhouse broadcaster for some time, bolstering its subscribers by capturing top-quality content from the States and offering premium services such as Premiership Football. The company was in danger of falling behind technically because of its slow introduction of on-demand TV and internet services, but is now starting to fight back. Sky is cheaper to use if you already count a BT landline among your home comforts, otherwise it will set film and sport fans back a decent wedge.

Verdict: 8/10