As at June 2010, a full subscription to Sky, including HD, costs £58.50 a month - that's £702 a year. Even a cheap subscription to Sky+, excluding the movies and the sport, costs £18 a month - that's £216 a year. And all those costs are on top of the TV Licence fee, a charge of £145.50 which pays for the BBC domestic services and some S4C programmes.
After you've been with Sky for a number of years, you can miss the advances on other platforms. And the benefits of Sky+ - one touch recording that records every single episode - are often cited as a good reason to keep Sky+, and the accompanying fees.
In fact, you can get rid of Sky and still retain a large choice of channels - as well as all the benefits from a hard-disc recorder like Sky+. Here's what to look for.
Have you got anything else from Sky?
By offering a bundle including broadband internet and cheaper phone calls, Sky aren't just competing with Virgin Media's cable television - they're also making it harder for you to move away from Sky. If you went the whole hog and got broadband and telephone calls, you'll need to think about what you do there.
What channels do you watch?
Pop into the bit of the Sky EPG that has your recorded programmes, and take a look at your most-watched channels. If they're mostly Sky brands, particularly Sky Movies or Sky Sports, you're better off staying put with Sky. The channels are available through Virgin Media, but you'd be swapping one large monthly fee for another; fairly pointless, unless you really hate the Rupert Murdoch empire (and even then, he'd still be getting some of your money).
Make your choice of platform
You've got three choices.
FreeSat From Sky is what you'll get if you simply cancel your Sky subscription completely, but keep your Sky box. By and large you get all of the free-to-view channels available on satellite. However, your Sky+ box will stop recording - the Sky+ service is actually a £10 monthly cost, incorporated into most Sky bundles. If you think £120 a year is a good deal for this functionality, then that's fine. We'd probably caution against it.
Freesat is the confusingly similarly titled free satellite service, which is operated as a joint venture between the BBC and ITV. Freesat uses your existing satellite dish, so you can simply unplug your Sky box and plug the Freesat one in. It, too, picks up the free-to-view channels available on satellite. Media UK lists channels available on Freesat. There are no subscription costs at all with Freesat, so once you've bought the box, you're sorted. A typical Freesat box will offer both HD and SD pictures, and an integral hard-disc recorder. Some boxes also include access to services like the BBC iPlayer for catch-up TV. A box will cost you around £250: browse through Amazon's Freesat HD recorders
.
Freeview is television through your aerial, rather than through your satellite dish. Accordingly, this picks up a different, and smaller, choice of channels - we list channels available on Freeview. So: why on earth would you want it? For a few reasons. First, you still get many of the decent channels that you're probably watching: Dave, in particular, is a channel which is paid-for on satellite but free on Freeview. You can also get HD: though you'll be limited to five channels (and only three are broadcasting at the moment), and HD coverage isn't yet available across the country. And because it works through your aerial, it doesn't matter if one of the reasons you'd like to ditch Sky is because the dish looks ugly or has stopped working properly. Freeview HD recorders are a little more expensive than Freesat ones (because they're brand new), and Amazon has a good list of Freeview HD recorders
. By the way: Freeview itself is free; if you want to add more channels, you can get something called Top Up TV, which gives you some of the channels you'll recognise from Sky, but many of them only broadcast in the middle of the night or early mornings for you to record.
Other things to watch out for
Want Dave, 4 Music, Virgin 1 or Channel 4 HD? These are paid-for on satellite, but free on Freeview.
Want Sky News? Don't go for Freesat - it's not on the official channel list. (You can tell your Freesat box to tune in, but it's a fiddle, and it won't work perfectly).
Want Sky Sports News? You're stuck wherever you go; it disappears from Freeview later in 2010, to become a paid-for channel only on satellite and cable.
Want radio? The most choice is on FreeSat From Sky; and comparatively few on Freeview (though you still get all the national BBC channels there).
Want a clear user-interface? The Sky EPG is recognised as one of the cleanest in the world; and you'll spot less control from Freesat and certainly Freeview about how consistently different manufacturers' boxes work.
Want lots of red button goodness? Dabblers with the red button will find the most choice on FreeSat From Sky. Freeview itself has less space for that kind of thing, and therefore less content. You're unlikely to get any clever red button things from anyone except the BBC on Freeview.
Want lots of HD? There'll (eventually) be more HD channels on Freesat than Freeview; and the picture quality is technically better on satellite as well, not that we believe most viewers would notice.
However you do it, junking the Sky box might end up being a good money saver. You'll easily save a couple of hundred pounds a year, maybe much more - and speaking from experience, it's unlikely you'll miss most of the choice of Sky. Good luck - and happy choosing.