Sky has revealed the basic pricing information for its Sky Q service, and at first glance it’s looking surprisingly reasonable.
Sky unveiled its next-generation TV service, Sky Q, back in November. Since then we’ve learned plenty about the service, and have even spent some time with the Sky Q box and remote itself.
Arguably the biggest piece of information remained elusive, however: the pricing. Just how much would it cost to subscribe to Sky’s vision of the future of TV?
Sky has just answered that very question: following a £99 set-up charge, prices will start from £44 per month. There is no initial hardware fee.
Sky has achieved this by retaining ownership rights of the Sky Q Hub. You’ll essentially be renting the box off them.
Watch our hands-on video with Sky Q’s new UI:
If you’re wondering how the costs will compare to the existing Sky service, Sky says that “the typical monthly cost for existing Sky customers will be around £14 extra compared with their current Sky package.” What’s more, for the first time ever Sky will be providing service and mechanical fault repairs free of charge.
The Sky Q service goes on sale from February 9, with home installations beginning at the end of the month. You can pre-register using a flashy new Sky Q website.
Many had feared that Sky Q would be prohibitively expensive because of its sophisticated Sky Q Hub, which is capable of 4K and multi-room output. The Sky Q service will also feature a flashy new UI and an advanced Bluetooth remote. There’s also the matter of the Sky Q Mini multi-room boxes themselves, if you want to go all-in with the Sky Q ecosystem.
Of course, we still need the precise details on how much a fully specced-out package including several Sky Q Mini boxes will cost, but this doesn’t seem to be too bad for starters.
Reaction to Sky Q price reveal
We’ve been scouring the interwebs for people’s reactions on price announcement. Here’s what we’ve found so far. Share what you think in the comments below.
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Here’s what Andy, Deputy Editor on TrustedReviews, had to say:
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In other news, Sky has just supplied its financial results for the latter half of 2015. The company labels its late 2015 performance as “excellent,” with 337,000 new customer, five percent revenue growth to £5.7 billion, and 12 percent operating profit growth to £747 million.
Tell us what you think of the price below, and read our Sky Q hands-on for our first impressions of Sky’s impressive new service.
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How do you feel about the price? Share your thoughts in the comments below
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
