Sky TV customers to be hit with price hikes

The TV giant says customers whose prices will be hiked are those who joined after 1 September 2014, and some of those who joined before 1 September who are no longer in their minimum contract period – which is usually the first 12 months of their contract.

However whether or not your price will rise depends on which bundle you have and when you joined Sky. The provider last upped prices in September 2014 and customers in their minimum term can only be hit with hikes once a year (see the Sky TV customers face £30/year price rise MSE news story).

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Customers who signed up before 1 September 2014 who are still within their minimum contract period will be hit with the price rise once their minimum contract ends.

Those within the first 60 days of their subscription are protected from the hike during this time period, although as soon as it's over their subscription may increase too depending on their package.

Letters outlining the price changes will be sent to affected customers from 1 April.

Sky wouldn't tell us how many customers are affected but it has given us a breakdown of which packages will rise in price:

Who's affected?

Can I leave my contract penalty free?

If you're mid-contract, you won't be able to leave Sky penalty free as Sky says its terms and conditions allow it to raise prices once within a 12 month minimum contract term up to a maximum of 10%.

Anyone coming up to the end of their contract can give 31 days' notice before the end of their contract to cancel penalty free. If you're out of contract you can also give Sky 31 days' notice to cancel your subscription without being charged.

As the price rise only affects standalone TV packages and not landline or internet deals, regulator Ofcom's ruling allowing customers who signed up on 23 January 2014 onwards to leave their contract penalty free if a provider ups prices mid-term and hadn't warned you about the rise when you took out the contract, doesn't apply in this case.

'We work hard to make Sky the best value entertainment choice'

A Sky spokesperson says: "We work hard to make Sky the best value entertainment choice for subscribers. This year we'll bring our customers even more of the TV they want to watch, including the best US shows and unmissable British drama.

"Meanwhile Sky Sports will offer an unrivalled choice of top quality sport. We'll also bring more of the shows everyone's talking about on Sky Box Sets. On average, bills will rise by less than £3 per month."