Hundreds of thousands of Sky broadband and TV customers will see their bills increase from April.
Over the past two years households have been faced with ever-increasing prices for all sorts of things from health insurance and road tolls to food and electricity costs.
And unfortunately, broadband and TV customers haven't been spared from the price hikes either with Sky joining the increasingly long list of providers to announce an increase in the cost of their services.
What’s happening with Sky?
Sky is hiking the price of many of its broadband and TV packages for its existing customers from April.
It says the average price increase will be 4.1% or €4.32 per month. Though some hikes will obviously be higher. However Sky is capping the increase at €8 per month. And the increase is smaller than the 6.7% hiked being faced by customers in the UK.
Last April, Sky hiked it plans by an average of 5.1% or €4.51 per month. But before that, Sky hadn't increased its broadband prices since 2018.
Not all Sky customers will pay more though – the price hike doesn't affect fibre-to-the-home broadband, Sky Glass or Sky Stream customers. And the cost of Sky Sports and Sky Cinema will remain unchanged too.
Of course, Sky isn’t the only telecoms provider that’s been upping its prices of late…
Price hikes across the broadband and TV sector
Since 2021 many of the main telecommunications providers have ‘mysteriously’ started copying each other.
In 2021 Three announced that it would increase the monthly charge on its billpay plans by 4.5% every year, in April, for new customers and those upgrading or signing new contracts. And in 2022 both Vodafone and Eir announced that they will increase their plans by the rate of inflation PLUS an additional 3% every year, taking effect every April too. This means price hikes of around 8% are due to be implemented by both providers in a few weeks' time on the back of price hikes of a similar magnitude last April.
Sky, in fairness to it, hasn't introduced these inflation-busting price hikes. For now at least.
Speaking about the news, a Sky spokesperson had this to say:
“Our aim is to always keep costs as low as possible, while providing the best choice and services for our customers. However, the costs of providing services have continued to increase significantly, and it is affecting the entire industry. Where possible, we absorb those costs to limit the impact to our customers. We know price increases are never welcome, particularly in the current economic landscape, but we hope our customers can see that we continue to deliver the most innovative products and best entertainment experience.”
What are my options?
You could always try haggling with Sky or perhaps accept the price hike but negotiate an upgrade for accepting it.
Sky is definitely one of the better companies for treating its existing customers well so you may be able to come to some type of agreement.
However, the best thing is to switch and save!
Switch to the best broadband and TV deal on the market
The prices that the main broadband and TV providers offer new customers have remained relatively steady over the past few years. This is in stark contrast to the prices for existing customers which have increased by more. So there really is a lot of value to be had by switching.
Head over to our broadband comparison page to discover the best deals on the market for you.
Simply enter your address or Eircode and we'll show you all the deals available in your area, which you can sort by price or speed.
And remember on bonkers.ie we also offer a range of services that will help you cut the cost of your energy bills, banking fees, mortgage payments and insurance costs.
Find out more
If you're thinking of switching broadband or TV provider, check out our guide that highlights the most important things to keep in mind when changing.
Also, Sky recently launched a great new service called Sky Stream, which you can read about here.
And before that it introduced Sky Glass. Check out our review of the service here.
Get in touch
Will you be affected by Sky’s price hike announcement? Let us know today, you can send us a message on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
