Where to get the very best sports deal this summer – making sense of the new price announcements from BT and Sky!

Earlier this year Ofcom ruled that Sky needed to sell on its Sky Sports channels to other broadcasters for slightly reduced prices.  This move has precipitated a major change in the sports TV market.

BT and Virgin Media have taken the bull by the horns and decided to re-launch their sports packages, with BT announcing its new pricing line up today.

But the market is very complicated and the packages available include broadband and home phone services too, so comparing apples with apples is tricky.  That is where our independent experts can really help!

Charlie Ponsonby, CEO of Simplifydigital comments:
“We woke up this morning and the market has just got a whole lot more complicated - BT, Sky and Virgin Media are engaged in a tit-for tat war to attract the armchair sports fan – the net result is that whilst there are some great new deals out there, finding the right one for you has just become a whole lot trickier.”

To cut through the confusion, we answer the key questions that armchair sports fans are asking.

What’s simply the cheapest way to get Sky Sports (on its own)?
If all you want is the Sky Sports Collection (Sky Sports  1, 2, 3, 4 and Sky Sports News)  for the 115 live FAPL games  – Virgin Media remains the cheapest place to buy it, at £26 per month for the Sky Sports Collection - with their basic home phone size(M) and TV size(M+) packages thrown in.  This price excludes line rental of £11.99 per month and there is a £35 set up charge. 

The cheapest way to buy the Sky Sports with Sky is £36 per month, for Sky 1 Mix and the Sky Sports Collection.  If you want, this comes with free Sky Broadband Lite (which gives you up to 20 Mbps broadband with a small 2 Gig usage cap) and Sky Talk Freetime which gives you free evening and weekend calls.

What’s the cheapest way to get Sky Sports, if I take my broadband and home phone bills into account?
If you take your broadband and home phone bills into account, BT has now become the cheapest place to get Sky Sports 1 and 2. 

But BT does not carry the full Sky Sports Collection (which includes Sky Sports 3 and 4), so you may not see all the live football on BT, if Sky chooses to move some games to Sky Sports 3 and 4. 

However, you can now get BT Broadband Option 2 (up to 20 Mbps with a 40 Gig usage cap), weekend calls plan, with Sky Sports 1 & 2 and ESPN for £29.98 per month, excluding line rental. 

But in addition to the fact that you will only get Sky Sports 1 and 2, there are some other drawbacks to the package.
 
First there is a costly £64.99 set up fee. Also the package comes with a 24 month contract.  In addition the included TV package is very basic (i.e. the Freeview channels), so you will not get popular channels like Sky 1, and you will not get any high definition (HD) channels. This compares to £36 for Sky’s most basic Sky Sports bundle deal (which does not include ESPN).  But, despite being more expensive, the Sky package has a number of attractions: it includes the whole Sky Sports Collection; there is no set up fee; you get a much wider range of basic TV channels with your Sky Sports; and you get a free Sky+ HD box, so that you can enjoy BBC and ITV in HD.

What’s the cheapest alternative, if you want all the football action available from Sky Sports and ESPN?
It is important to remember that ESPN will only have 23 Live FAPL games this season, with the other 23 games moving back to Sky Sports – taking the Sky Sports total games to over 100.

But if you do want ESPN and Sky Sports, at £29.98 per month, BT has now become the cheapest place to go, if you sign up to a 24 month contract.  But, as mentioned above, you will not get Sky Sports 3 and 4 with BT.

So if you want Sky Sports Collection (with all the Sky Sports channels) and ESPN, you need to go to Sky or Virgin Media. 

The cheapest package on Sky which includes Sky Sports Collection and ESPN, is £45 per month (excluding line rental).  This includes a free Sky+ HD box, as well as Sky Broadband Lite and Sky Talk Freetime thrown in, if you want them.

The equivalent package on Virgin Media is cheaper, costing £34 per month (excluding line rental of £11.99 per month).  For this you get Virgin Media TV size (M+) which gives a good range of channels including Sky 1 and home phone size (M) with free weekend calls.

What if I want Sky Sports in high definition?
Sky and Virgin Media are currently the only two places to get Sky Sports in high definition (but Virgin Media does not have Sky Sports 3 and 4 in HD).

Virgin Media offers the lowest price alternative.  Virgin Media TV (M+),  Sky Sports Collection, Sky Sports 1 & 2 in HD, and home phone size (M) costs £26 per month, excluding  line rental of £11.99 per month and there is a £35 set up charge. 

The cheapest package on Sky, which includes Sky Sports Collection in high definition costs £46 per month.  This gives you Sky 1 Mix and the full Sky Sports Collection in HD.  This package comes with a free Sky+ HD box. 

What if I want Sky Sports without a long contract?
BT has been clever in seeing the demand for non-contract Sky Sports packages.  Today’s announcement from BT includes the fact that the Sky Sports 1 & 2 packages are available to BT Vision customers on a month-by-month contract.

The expert’s view - The best way to get Sky Sports this summer
There are so many ways to buy Sky Sports now: standalone; with ESPN; as part of a broadband and phone bundle; long contract; no contract; free set up;  with HD; without HD – that it is impossible to say definitively where to go to buy Sky Sports. 

It really is a question of talking to an independent expert to match your household’s needs to the best option for you.

Charlie Ponsonby of Simplifydigital concludes:
“It is a hugely exciting time in the TV sports market, for the first time BT and Virgin Media are determined to give Sky a real run for their money.  But there is no clear cut winner here.  If anything the picture has become more complicated for consumers looking for the best deal”.