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OT: ITVD sale

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Posted by: MrPhil

ITV Digital is up for sale and must be sold by Thursday. If a sale is not agreed by then, it faces being broken up and its assets sold.

The question, for those who subscribe to the service is, what will you do now?

http://eur.news1.yimg.com/eur.yimg.com/xp/reuters_ids/20020423/i/1611546632.jpg


Posted by: Tony Hoyle

Option 5 - keep the OnD box that I paid for back when OnD first started. It's a bit old but still works fine.


Posted by: misterbleepy

Option 6 - keep the Pace FTA box I bought a couple of weeks ago


Posted by: MrPhil

quote:
Originally posted by Tony Hoyle
Option 5 - keep the OnD box that I paid for back when OnD first started. It's a bit old but still works fine.


LOL- Yeah ive got one too, a first generation Philips. I assume thats what you have? £199 + £129 extended warranty (I WAZ DONE! :rolleyes: )

I didnt post that option as most people have probably got rented boxes.


Posted by: iankb

I got Sky Digital on the first day that ITVDigital were found to be in trouble. I didn't wait for the queues to start forming.

I reduced my ITVDigital package to the minimum, in the hope that I could hang on to the box for free-to-air.

I can't imagine that the receivers would expect more than the cost of the new FTA boxes - and my Pioneer box seems to run somewhat cooler than the new Pace, from what I hear.

Apart from the fact that my new Grundig digibox broke last night, I found the upgrade to Sky to be a good change. The box is faster to change channels, and you get a lot more choice for your money. I was going to change anyway, which explains why I made the decision so quickly.

Ian.


Posted by: Tony Hoyle

quote:
Originally posted by MrPhil


£199 + £129 extended warranty (I WAZ DONE! :rolleyes: )


You got the extended warranty??? :p :p

I had at one point *four* Dixons salesdroids trying desparately to sell me the extended warranty. They started at roughly what you paid, within 5 minutes they'd dropped it to £50 and increased it to 5 years from 2 years, and couldn't understand why I still wasn't interested :p

It was great fun... Pretending to consider their offer seriously then looking doubtful.


Posted by: woody

I also went for sky when ITVD went into admin. Someone is coming to get my ITVD box in 2 weeks.

Sky is a much better product in that you get more for your money. I asked ITVD CS when I canceled my account if I could buy the box, but they said the boxes were not for sale. (Who do they think will want it, they will not be getting any new subscribers.)

chris


Posted by: JoeBloggs

I wonder if we'll get to keep the boxes after they go into liquidation?

I've still got a minimum subscription just in case ;)


Posted by: Nishikigoi

quote:
Originally posted by woody
I also went for sky when ITVD went into admin. Someone is coming to get my ITVD box in 2 weeks.

chris


I recomend that you cancel the pick-up or just leave a note on your door to say your out or something, the pickup company are not going to get their money from ITVD so stall them & see what happens after a month! Just tell them you do shift work & the only time your in is between 1 & 4am Sunday mornings! You are not denying access to their STB, but they won't send anyone around!

I went over to Sky as news of problems started to flow, as you all say queues etc... Got a Panasonic STB & an invisible disk install right @ the top of my house. Well worth paying a bit to get a good install & a Panasonic STB, I paid £75 & was well pleased £50 if I went for the top channels, but that's not needed untill Elvis has left the building;) :cool: This was from a private installer in West London, first class job & I'm an NICEIC electrician who is not easily pleased:) (ask my staff):rolleyes:


Posted by: radish

I've only got ITVd cos there's no other choice. Cable around here is analogue (eurgh), and dishes are banned on my building. So it'll be some kind of FTA box, either my ITVd one or a new one.

I don't suppose they've figured out a way of getting Sky without a honking great dish have they? Some kind of little discreet thing? Guess not :(


Posted by: mrtickle

You can get dishes that look like flowerpots etc from specialist dealers, or you could have a patio mounted dish on a pole which is classed as temporary so shouldn't be banned. Unless you're not on the ground floor? :). Or vote with your wallet and move somewhere without restrictions.

Surely that cable company can't hold out from upgrading to digital for much longer?


Posted by: MrPhil

quote:
Originally posted by Tony Hoyle


You got the extended warranty??? :p :p

I had at one point *four* Dixons salesdroids trying desparately to sell me the extended warranty. They started at roughly what you paid, within 5 minutes they'd dropped it to £50 and increased it to 5 years from 2 years, and couldn't understand why I still wasn't interested :p

It was great fun... Pretending to consider their offer seriously then looking doubtful.


If I remember rightly, when I got it they (Currys) wouldnt sell it without the extended warranty. It was part of the deal. May have been something to do with interest free credit. It was a long time ago!


Posted by: Ian_m

See also

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....item=1725097448


Posted by: MrPhil

Looks like $ky Digital are set to be the winners all round in this fiasco. Seems Analogue terrestrial isnt very popular though. :D

Remember Sky, you will never (directly) get my custom. :p


Posted by: ALanJay

quote:
Originally posted by MrPhil
Remember Sky, you will never (directly) get my custom. :p


That is OK then they don't care provided you subscribe to their channels.

And has been said elsewhere the wholesale price for their channels is so close to the retail one that there is a lot of complaints about it.

:)

All good fun hey....


Posted by: woody

I read in todays Mirror, that there could be trouble selling ITVD as a going concern. But the value of each STB is £200, a bit over priced I think.

I had the £1 sky installation offer. Great job by the installer. I made him put the cable in the roofspace. I will downgrade my subscription afetr the first month, as I don't want the sports channels.


Posted by: MrPhil

The Daily Mail estimated that the STB`s worth collectively worth £80million! To whom I dont know, its not like they could be sold to the other digital terrestrial company, since there isnt one.

If anyone has any legal background, can you tell me where my parents stand having signed up (on my recommendation :( ) for a year up front, 8 months left to run. Its clear they wont be refunded if the company is closed down, but they still have the STB. Can they prevent the recievers from taking it back until they receive their money?


Posted by: ALanJay

Two things the £200 STB value and the £80 Million total seem to be amazingly high numbers and seem to have missed the point that Pace now have a cheap unit at £100 retail including VAT. So I can't imaging anyone paying that much when I'm sure if you went to Pace and asked for a million units you could deliver them to the end user for less than £60 a unit and then you get a brand new unit with better performace and no modem (which you really don't want in any case in my opinion).

As far as your legal position over ownership of the STB I'm not a lawyer so don't know but I think you would certainly have a case that you would NOT return their property until they refunded you your money.


Posted by: MrPhil

£200 is steep, not least because I bought my own outright when OnDigital launched, for £199. Are they claiming that these boxes havnt dropped in value in all this time! In that case Im off to EBay right now.

:D


Posted by: kmusgrave

But the £200 was supposed to be a subsidised price. IIRC they were selling the boxes for £400 without a sub at first.

Kevin


Posted by: ALanJay

But today Nokia are selling what is effectively the ITV Digital box for £150 as a free to air box and Pace have their cut down one retailing at £100. So the second hand value of the equipment to a new broadcaster has to be less than the cost of replacing the equipment. Don't forget you have to remove the VAT portion for the cost as far as the broadcaster is concerned.

Much more to the point the cost (and hassle) of collection for the Administrator would be substantial.


Posted by: radish

quote:
Originally posted by mrtickle
You can get dishes that look like flowerpots etc from specialist dealers, or you could have a patio mounted dish on a pole which is classed as temporary so shouldn't be banned. Unless you're not on the ground floor? :). Or vote with your wallet and move somewhere without restrictions.

Surely that cable company can't hold out from upgrading to digital for much longer?


Even I'm not TV obsessed enough to move house to get more channels! I'm on the 4th floor, so no patio. But there is a balcony, however I think if I got a normal minidish and stuck it on a pole I would at least be charged with taking the pi** :) The fact is it's a joint leasehold, and so it's my neighbours I'd upset by "bending" the rules, and I don't want to do that. The flower pot on the other hand sounds very interesting, I could happily stick that amongst my existing collection without anyone noticing! Any links or contacts or anything you could help me with?

"That cable company" is NTL, they are also *ahem* cash-challenged, and AFAIK have said they are doing no more digital upgrades. I mean, who in docklands would want digital cable? It's such a technophobic backwater ;)


Posted by: chimaera

I just signed up on Sky's web site, which claims that it will be installed one week from today. We will see, as I should think they are a bit busy at the moment.

If I have got this right, you can pay £70 installation and choose the package you want. Or, you can pay £1 and have the lot, then after one month, change your package to the one you wanted in the first place.

I still have a dish from the analog service which I had put up 10 years ago. What is other people's experience with the installers, are they generally amenable to taking these down at the same time as putting up the new one?


Posted by: Richardr

quote:
Originally posted by chimaera
I still have a dish from the analog service which I had put up 10 years ago. What is other people's experience with the installers, are they generally amenable to taking these down at the same time as putting up the new one?


Usually yes - in fact they will probably put the new dish in its place, and re-use the cabling.


Posted by: mrtickle

The old dish belongs to you - don't let them take it away. You can flog it at a car boot sale, it's not worthless. Or, insist that they use it and not the minidish (in which case, the minidish is also yours to sell, it's part of the deal) as it's a bigger dish and you'll get a better signal with far fewer dropouts when it rains!

Erm not sure of flowerpot links but I'll have a dig :)


Posted by: woody

quote:
Originally posted by chimaera
I just signed up on Sky's web site, which claims that it will be installed one week from today. We will see, as I should think they are a bit busy at the moment.

If I have got this right, you can pay £70 installation and choose the package you want. Or, you can pay £1 and have the lot, then after one month, change your package to the one you wanted in the first place.

I still have a dish from the analog service which I had put up 10 years ago. What is other people's experience with the installers, are they generally amenable to taking these down at the same time as putting up the new one?


I signed up and had the same installation. The date I requested the installer turned up and installed the system. 2 days later a letter from sky came informing me of the date for installation, and 10 days later the contracts to sign and return.

As for the change of channels. This is correct. I sent SKY CS a email to confirm this and they did.

chris

chris


Posted by: Nishikigoi

Buy a satalight mag & lok @ the adds, you will find a globe dish & flower pot. Or just can an independant installer


Posted by: mrtickle

Here's one:
http://www.digicams-uk.com/category20_1.htm

It's a bit pricey, but that's the price you pay for living in such restrictive conditions in the first place I suppose ;)


Posted by: radish

quote:
Originally posted by mrtickle
Here's one:
http://www.digicams-uk.com/category20_1.htm

It's a bit pricey, but that's the price you pay for living in such restrictive conditions in the first place I suppose ;)


Thanks - looks interesting. I'll have to get a compass and see where it could go...


Posted by: filbert

Have you looked at the terms and conditions of the £1 install? Specifically :

Installation Offer - Terms and Conditions

Standard installation of your Digital Satellite System costs £1 if you select Sky World with Family Pack. If you choose any other package, standard installation will cost £70. If you end your subscription contract, or otherwise break the terms of it, in the first 12 months of your subscription, you will be liable to pay to Sky the balance between what you have paid for standard installation and our current full standard installation of £100.


There is an opinion on the net that this means that dropping down to the lower package at any time in the 1st year would break these t+c's. You would therefore get a bill for £99 at the end of the year. So either check this with Sky or make sure you take account of it in your budgeting.


Posted by: iankb

I subscribed to Sky under the £1 offer.

As you go through the subscription process on the Web, it actually states that you may reduce your package after the first month. No problem :)

Ian.


Posted by: mrtickle

quote:
Originally posted by filbert
Have you looked at the terms and conditions of the £1 install? Specifically :

Installation Offer - Terms and Conditions

Standard installation of your Digital Satellite System costs £1 if you select Sky World with Family Pack. If you choose any other package, standard installation will cost £70. If you end your subscription contract, or otherwise break the terms of it, in the first 12 months of your subscription, you will be liable to pay to Sky the balance between what you have paid for standard installation and our current full standard installation of £100.


Of course - you have to subscribe for a year.

quote:

There is an opinion on the net that this means that dropping down to the lower package at any time in the 1st year would break these t+c's.


As already stated, that opinion is complete rubbish. That paragraph is referring to what happens if you end your contract, not if you change the package. You can change your package at any time after the first month (as many times as you like, but you have to pay for full months each time - no changing up to watch 1 film and expecting to pay 1/30th of the charge, unfortunately!)

quote:

You would therefore get a bill for £99 at the end of the year.


If it was true, which it isn't, that wouldn't happen - Sky would say "you can't change your package" when you phoned up to change it and you'd know straight away, not at the end of the year.

Also, you'd get a bill for a lot more than £99 - It'd be £99 for the installation charge owing, plus [(£37 - x) * 12] where x is the price of the cheaper pacakage you subscribed to!

When the boxes weren't free, shortly after launch in 1998 I remember seeing offers in Dixons etc [shudder] where you'd get a free/cheap box if you subscribed to the most expensive package for a full year with no changing allowed. It worked out far more than paying the standing installation charge at the time plus being on the normal packages, unless of course you really did want every channel.

HTH


Posted by: chimaera

Just to follow up on my earlier post, I signed up on the web site last Thursday for the £1 offer, and it was installed this morning. The analog dish was removed, and the existing cable and mounting bracket were re-used, so the installation only took about 20 minutes total. The STB is a Sony VTX-S760U, which is very flat, and worth £1 of anyone's money. The installers told me that they were normally given Grundig or Pace units, but these were out of stock. They said they almost never got Amstrads nowadays.


Posted by: mrtickle

You were very lucky to get the Sony box, well done! :D
Pity you let them take your analogue dish away. It belongs to you - you could have sold it etc.


Posted by: chimaera

Don't worry, I've still got the old analog dish in my shed for now. I don't think they would have taken it away anyway, as they only had a small van filled to the brim with new equipment. They said they are working 7 days a week at the moment too.


Posted by: mrtickle

good stuff. I bet they'll be flat out for a while now. Sky have spent the last year laying off installers.


Posted by: chimaera

This may have been posted elsewhere, but it made me smile anyway...

http://www.ventingmyspleen.com/ITV%20Digital%20Live.htm




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