BoxRec

If like me you have SKY Sports, and somehow always manage to get suckered into buying the PPV's on SKY Sports Box Office, you'll know it's an expensive game. There's nothing worse than seeing £16.95 extra on your next bill and feeling dirty, like you really let yourself down. Here's some friendly advice, in the style of Martin Lewis, on how to claw some of that money back and give SKY a low blow that shows them your in charge of your wallet

Now the following won't appeal to everyone and depends on what sports you follow on SKY Sports. For me personally it's boxing, football and a bit of tennis. Those on the site who are froogle, or read through their T&C's, will probably already be fully aware of where they stand by cancelling SKY Sports for a short period. For those who are not already aware you can cancel your subscription to SKY Sports by giving SKY 30 days notice. This doesn't matter if your in or out of a 12 month contract period. Cancelling SKY Sports or adding SKY Sports to your subscription won't effect your current position in anyway and won't result in a new contract term.

This year the English Premiership finishes on the 15th May and doesn't return until the 13th August. That's almost 3 months with no Premiership football. The Football League however continues of for another 2 weeks with all the various play-offs screened on SKY Sports. If your football daft, and watch other sports on the side, why pay for SKY Sports for nearly 3 months when your hardly going to be watching it or possibly away for a couple of weeks for your summer holidays? With a SKY Sports subscription costing roughly £25.00 per month, just over £30.00 per month if your watching in HD, you can save yourself nearly £90.00! The biggest and best sporting action in the summer tends to be on free to air tv anyway:

18th May - UEFA Europa League Final - Free on BT Showcase
21st May - FA Cup Final - Free on BBC One
21st May - Scottish FA Cup Final - Free on BBC One
22nd May - England v Turkey - Free on ITV
22nd May until 5th June - French Tennis Open - Free on ITV4
26th until 27th May - Dubai Duty Free Darts Masters - Free on ITV4
27th May - England v Australia - Free on ITV
28th May - UEFA Champions League Final - Free BT Showcase
2nd June - England v Portugal - Free on ITV
10th June until 10th July - UEFA EURO 2016 - Free on ITV and BBC
13th June until 19th June - Queen's Club Championships - Free on BBC
17th June until 19th June - F1 European Grand Prix - Free on Channel 4
17th June until 19th June - Auckland Darts Masters - Free on ITV4
25th June until 26th June - Shanghai Darts Masters - Free on ITV4
27th June until 10th July - Wimbledon - Free on BBC
6th July until 7th July - Tokyo Darts Masters - Free on ITV4
22nd July until 24th July - F1 Hungarian Grand Prix - Free on Channel 4
5th August until 21st August - 2016 Summer Olympics - Free on BBC

It's great we're getting all this sport free but what about the boxing? So far no summer dates confirmed by SKY. June, July and August aren't usually busy months. We can only go on what has been broadcast in recent years:

20th June 2012 - Prizefighter
7th July 2012 - Kell Brook Vs. Carson Jones

29th June 2013 - Anthony Crolla Vs. Gavin Rees
7th July 2013 - Kevin Mitchell Vs. Sebastien Benito
13th July 2013 - Kell Brook Vs. Carson Jones II

27th June 2014 - Ricky Burns Vs. Dejan Zlaticanin
12th July 2014 - Tony Bellew Vs. Julio Cesar Dos Santos

26th June 2015 - Callum Smith Vs. Christopher Rebrasse
18th July 2015 - Scott Quigg Vs. Kiko Martinez
1st August 2015 - Luke Campbell Vs. Tommy Coyle

So cancel your SKY Sports during this period and your probably going to miss 2 or 3 fight nights. Well worth up to £90 in your pocket. PPV's for the year covered.

Great post

Thanks for the info. I hadn't realised that the CL and Europa finals were free to air. I think the football on Sky has been pretty poor actually since BT hit the scene. Their coverage over the festive season there was pish poor! All championship games. Their boxing coverage for Sky Sports is woeful of late. Hearn has a large stable, if they brought in Hatton and some other smaller promoters they could easily make a dedicated boxing channel similar to their F1 channel. It costs a fortune if you're a boxing fan. I can take or leave the football personally and catch highlights but I hate missing any boxing. They have boxing fans by the short and curlies!

Good post this. I've thought about doing the same thing over the years, but have been too lazy to carry it out.

I've not had sky or bo nation for well over two years and I still manage to see all the fights I want. I'd advise anyone paying for sky in anyway to stop and look at the other options available. They don't have planners etc but at least you don't not have to pay the price of a bloody car or holiday home to watch telly

great post. so with 30 days notice, do you cancel 15th April, which means you get Sky sports until 15th May ? ie end of premiership...

Tomasino wrote:I've not had sky or bo nation for well over two years and I still manage to see all the fights I want. I'd advise anyone paying for sky in anyway to stop and look at the other options available. They don't have planners etc but at least you don't not have to pay the price of a bloody car or holiday home to watch telly

What is it you use? A mate of mine had some box fitted that goes through his dish. Gets everything. All the PPVs, normal Sky, BN and all the 3pms in the football. Good investment in the long run.

Stuarty30 wrote:

Tomasino wrote:I've not had sky or bo nation for well over two years and I still manage to see all the fights I want. I'd advise anyone paying for sky in anyway to stop and look at the other options available. They don't have planners etc but at least you don't not have to pay the price of a bloody car or holiday home to watch telly

What is it you use? A mate of mine had some box fitted that goes through his dish. Gets everything. All the PPVs, normal Sky, BN and all the 3pms in the football. Good investment in the long run.

What's your mate got? I've got Kodi but it gets a bit tedious having to search for decent streams all the time which is why I haven't cancelled Sky Sports yet. My Tivo bill is ridiculous though, definitely need to do something.

danamba7 wrote:

Stuarty30 wrote:

Tomasino wrote:I've not had sky or bo nation for well over two years and I still manage to see all the fights I want. I'd advise anyone paying for sky in anyway to stop and look at the other options available. They don't have planners etc but at least you don't not have to pay the price of a bloody car or holiday home to watch telly

What is it you use? A mate of mine had some box fitted that goes through his dish. Gets everything. All the PPVs, normal Sky, BN and all the 3pms in the football. Good investment in the long run.

What's your mate got? I've got Kodi but it gets a bit tedious having to search for decent streams all the time which is why I haven't cancelled Sky Sports yet. My Tivo bill is ridiculous though, definitely need to do something.

I'm not sure the name of it mate. I'll ask. Sports Devil rings a bell? I have Kodi for my fire stick but it's only movies and TV shows I get, zero sports. My bill is the same. I'm with Virgin and I cancelled Sky and kept BN. I use my brothers SkyGo if there's boxing on at the moment. Just watch it on the iPad. Not really the same but it'll do for now. I keep meaning to get a now TV box and just get a day pass for when there's boxing on but I've never got round to it.

MightyWarrior wrote:great post. so with 30 days notice, do you cancel 15th April, which means you get Sky sports until 15th May ? ie end of premiership...

That's correct. SKY Sports will stay on for 30 days from the point you call to cancel. When calling to have it added back on it's usually available to watch within minutes of making the call. SKY might offer you SKY Sports for half price for 3 months, during the summer months, if you tell them it's because the football season is ending. Remember if you do cancel you'll still be able to watch SKY Sports News.

Anyone know if you can cancel the Sports package online? I can't see the option, guessing they make you ring up and argue about it

Stuarty30 wrote:

danamba7 wrote:

Stuarty30 wrote:
What is it you use? A mate of mine had some box fitted that goes through his dish. Gets everything. All the PPVs, normal Sky, BN and all the 3pms in the football. Good investment in the long run.

What's your mate got? I've got Kodi but it gets a bit tedious having to search for decent streams all the time which is why I haven't cancelled Sky Sports yet. My Tivo bill is ridiculous though, definitely need to do something.

I'm not sure the name of it mate. I'll ask. Sports Devil rings a bell? I have Kodi for my fire stick but it's only movies and TV shows I get, zero sports. My bill is the same. I'm with Virgin and I cancelled Sky and kept BN. I use my brothers SkyGo if there's boxing on at the moment. Just watch it on the iPad. Not really the same but it'll do for now. I keep meaning to get a now TV box and just get a day pass for when there's boxing on but I've never got round to it.

with kodi there's lots of different "builds" i've had it for a couple of years now and i've just realised you can get a lot more working channels than i thought stuff like sportsdevil is ok but there are much better ones "operation robocop" has premier league pass which shows every single premier league match in full HD or "money sports" which has every channel out there . if you look on youtube for "The Beast Build" it will show you how to really get the best out of kodi and it's not that hard to do and takes about 15 minutes .

Fantastic post mate. Once paid two ppv in one month. Got a fire stick now couldn't afford ppv anymore

chad wrote:

MightyWarrior wrote:great post. so with 30 days notice, do you cancel 15th April, which means you get Sky sports until 15th May ? ie end of premiership...

That's correct. SKY Sports will stay on for 30 days from the point you call to cancel. When calling to have it added back on it's usually available to watch within minutes of making the call. SKY might offer you SKY Sports for half price for 3 months, during the summer months, if you tell them it's because the football season is ending. Remember if you do cancel you'll still be able to watch SKY Sports News.

thanks mate, yes whenever I've cancelled before, I usually take them up on the half price deal - but won't be doing that this time

stevedoc wrote:

Stuarty30 wrote:

danamba7 wrote:
What's your mate got? I've got Kodi but it gets a bit tedious having to search for decent streams all the time which is why I haven't cancelled Sky Sports yet. My Tivo bill is ridiculous though, definitely need to do something.

I'm not sure the name of it mate. I'll ask. Sports Devil rings a bell? I have Kodi for my fire stick but it's only movies and TV shows I get, zero sports. My bill is the same. I'm with Virgin and I cancelled Sky and kept BN. I use my brothers SkyGo if there's boxing on at the moment. Just watch it on the iPad. Not really the same but it'll do for now. I keep meaning to get a now TV box and just get a day pass for when there's boxing on but I've never got round to it.

with kodi there's lots of different "builds" i've had it for a couple of years now and i've just realised you can get a lot more working channels than i thought stuff like sportsdevil is ok but there are much better ones "operation robocop" has premier league pass which shows every single premier league match in full HD or "money sports" which has every channel out there . if you look on youtube for "The Beast Build" it will show you how to really get the best out of kodi and it's not that hard to do and takes about 15 minutes .

Interesting. I'll do this later. Just got the standard TV Addons build at the mo but downloaded Exodus to replace Genesis.

With sports on Kodi, can you only watch live steams or can you also watch recorded programs? The main thing stopping me from cancelling Sports is not being able to record and watch the next day, especially for international shows but also domestic cards when you're out on the Saturday night. Monging on the sofa with my feet up, cuppa tea and the boxing from last night is the perfect hangover cure!

danamba7 wrote:

stevedoc wrote:

Stuarty30 wrote:
I'm not sure the name of it mate. I'll ask. Sports Devil rings a bell? I have Kodi for my fire stick but it's only movies and TV shows I get, zero sports. My bill is the same. I'm with Virgin and I cancelled Sky and kept BN. I use my brothers SkyGo if there's boxing on at the moment. Just watch it on the iPad. Not really the same but it'll do for now. I keep meaning to get a now TV box and just get a day pass for when there's boxing on but I've never got round to it.

with kodi there's lots of different "builds" i've had it for a couple of years now and i've just realised you can get a lot more working channels than i thought stuff like sportsdevil is ok but there are much better ones "operation robocop" has premier league pass which shows every single premier league match in full HD or "money sports" which has every channel out there . if you look on youtube for "The Beast Build" it will show you how to really get the best out of kodi and it's not that hard to do and takes about 15 minutes .

Interesting. I'll do this later. Just got the standard TV Addons build at the mo but downloaded Exodus to replace Genesis.

With sports on Kodi, can you only watch live steams or can you also watch recorded programs? The main thing stopping me from cancelling Sports is not being able to record and watch the next day, especially for international shows but also domestic cards when you're out on the Saturday night. Monging on the sofa with my feet up, cuppa tea and the boxing from last night is the perfect hangover cure!

there's some replays but not that many but most of the shows are repeated the next day any ways here's a link i haven't tried this exact one but it looks the same and works on any device but is especially good on firestick ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVyNISBZvfA

stevedoc wrote:

danamba7 wrote:

stevedoc wrote:
with kodi there's lots of different "builds" i've had it for a couple of years now and i've just realised you can get a lot more working channels than i thought stuff like sportsdevil is ok but there are much better ones "operation robocop" has premier league pass which shows every single premier league match in full HD or "money sports" which has every channel out there . if you look on youtube for "The Beast Build" it will show you how to really get the best out of kodi and it's not that hard to do and takes about 15 minutes .

Interesting. I'll do this later. Just got the standard TV Addons build at the mo but downloaded Exodus to replace Genesis.

With sports on Kodi, can you only watch live steams or can you also watch recorded programs? The main thing stopping me from cancelling Sports is not being able to record and watch the next day, especially for international shows but also domestic cards when you're out on the Saturday night. Monging on the sofa with my feet up, cuppa tea and the boxing from last night is the perfect hangover cure!

there's some replays but not that many but most of the shows are repeated the next day any ways here's a link i haven't tried this exact one but it looks the same and works on any device but is especially good on firestick ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVyNISBZvfA

just remembered that prem pass does it live and on demand .

stevedoc wrote:

danamba7 wrote:

stevedoc wrote:
with kodi there's lots of different "builds" i've had it for a couple of years now and i've just realised you can get a lot more working channels than i thought stuff like sportsdevil is ok but there are much better ones "operation robocop" has premier league pass which shows every single premier league match in full HD or "money sports" which has every channel out there . if you look on youtube for "The Beast Build" it will show you how to really get the best out of kodi and it's not that hard to do and takes about 15 minutes .

Interesting. I'll do this later. Just got the standard TV Addons build at the mo but downloaded Exodus to replace Genesis.

With sports on Kodi, can you only watch live steams or can you also watch recorded programs? The main thing stopping me from cancelling Sports is not being able to record and watch the next day, especially for international shows but also domestic cards when you're out on the Saturday night. Monging on the sofa with my feet up, cuppa tea and the boxing from last night is the perfect hangover cure!

there's some replays but not that many but most of the shows are repeated the next day any ways here's a link i haven't tried this exact one but it looks the same and works on any device but is especially good on firestick ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVyNISBZvfA

Nice one mate

Excuse my ignorance but actually is kodi and is it reliable? I'm assuming its a downloadable program rather than buying a box to have to plug in.

All i do know is i'm sick of giving sky my money each month...

jaymitch81 wrote:Excuse my ignorance but actually is kodi and is it reliable? I'm assuming its a downloadable program rather than buying a box to have to plug in.

All i do know is i'm sick of giving sky my money each month...

https://kodi.tv/about/

What are the costs of Kodi; is there a subscription cost along with the cost of the firestick or Android box?

MarkMcBurney wrote:What are the costs of Kodi; is there a subscription cost along with the cost of the firestick or Android box?

Nope. F all. I haven't even got a firestick or android box. Just downloaded it on my Nexus 7 tablet which I already had so didn't cost me anything really.

Someone needs to put an idiot's guide to Kodi on here.

Boxerbeetle wrote:Someone needs to put an idiot's guide to Kodi on here.

kodi is an app so just type in kodi app on your laptop or tablet and it will come up , but this will just give you the basic app you then need to do a little tinkering with it there's loads of clips on you tube that show you how to do it the one i posted above is an easy to follow way of doing it .
the amazon firestick is a good way to use it as you just stick it a hdmi socket on your tv and away you go .

Boxerbeetle wrote:Anyone know if you can cancel the Sports package online? I can't see the option, guessing they make you ring up and argue about it

No,you have to phone them but be aware they won't let you cancel easily,you'll be on the phone for ages arguing the toss.