Sky to hike TV and broadband prices from April

Last week, MoneySavingExpert.com revealed that the telecoms giant had updated some of its website terms and conditions to say prices would be increasing from Monday 1 April, and it's now confirmed exactly what will change.

Customers with Sky Entertainment, Sky Fibre Broadband and Sky Talk Anytime will see an increase of £2/month for each service.

A customer with multiple affected packages could see a rise of up to £8/mth, although Sky says the average increase is £3.50/mth, or 5.1%.

It comes after Now TV, which is owned by Sky, increased the cost of its Sky Sports passes last week. The last major Sky price hike was in February 2018.

How are Sky's prices changing?

Here's what's changing from Monday 1 April:

• Sky Entertainment is increasing by £2/mth, from £20/mth to £22/mth if you're in contract, and from £25/mth to £27/mth if you're out of contract.

• Sky Cinema is increasing by £1/mth, from £10/mth to £11/mth if you're out of contract (if you're in contract, it won't increase).

• Sky Broadband will increase by £1/mth across all packages (for those in and out of contract).

• Sky Fibre Broadband will increase by £2/mth across all packages (for those in and out of contract).

• Sky Q Multiscreen is increasing by £1/mth, from £12/mth to £13/mth (for those in and out of contract).

• Sky Talk Evening and Weekends will increase by £1/mth, from £4/mth to £5/mth (for those in and out of contract).

• Sky Talk Anytime will increase by £2/mth, from £8/mth to £10/mth (for those in and out of contract).

Sky Sports, Sky Go, Sky Box Sets, Sky HD, Sky Voicemail, Talk International, in-contract Sky Cinema and Sky Kids will not be increasing in price.

Mid-contract? You MAY be able to leave penalty-free

If you're not happy with the price hike, you may be able to exit your contract with Sky penalty-free. But there's no point leaving in a huff if your current deal is still the cheapest out there – so check rival providers' prices using our Broadband Unbundled tool, and remember other providers also increase prices from time to time.

If you do decide to quit your Sky contract, it's important to note:

• If you're outside your minimum contract term for TV, phone and/or broadband, you can leave penalty-free at any time – to ditch your contract, just speak to a live chat adviser or call 03300 413 018 and give 31 days' notice for TV packages, or 14 days' notice for broadband and phone packages.

• If you're still within your minimum term for a Sky broadband or phone contract and are affected by these price increases, you CAN cancel it without paying an early termination charge.

  Bear in mind that even if you ARE able to leave your contract penalty-free, you'll only be able to do so once you've received official notification of the price increase from Sky – it'll be writing to all customers from Thursday 21 February. Once you have received notification, you must call Sky within 30 days if you want to ask to leave penalty-free. Sky says you can do this no matter when you first took out your contract.

• If you're within your minimum term for a TV contract, unfortunately you CAN'T exit it penalty-free as a result of these price changes – although you may still be able to try to haggle with Sky if you're unhappy about the change. You could also remove any unwanted monthly add-ons, such as Sky Box Sets, to reduce your costs.

  At the very least, make sure you use the price rise as haggling ammunition when you come to the end of your contract.

Sky says that if you have a bundle that includes TV and broadband, you CAN cancel the broadband element – although you won't be able to exit the TV part penalty-free.

Regulator Ofcom says if you're unhappy with the price hike you should complain to Sky, then escalate it to Ombudsman Services if necessary – see our How to Complain guide for help.

Haggle, haggle, haggle (and if you're out of contract, consider switching)

If you're out of contract there's a good chance you're paying over the odds, so check if you can find a better deal using our Broadband Unbundled tool – you don't need to wait for notification from Sky of the price hikes to do this.

Alternatively, if you want to stick with Sky you're in a great position to renegotiate a better deal (you can try this if you're still in contract too, though your bargaining position won't be as strong). Our poll in September 2018 found 85% of Sky customers who tried to haggle got a discount.

Check out our Sky Haggling guide for full help and tips on how to do this.

If you do haggle a better deal, always check the length of the contract you're signing up to – a lot of Sky contracts are now for 18 months, so make sure you're happy being locked in for that long.

What does Sky say?

A Sky spokesperson said: "We try to keep costs down and provide greater choice for our customers to pick the package that best suits them.

"We know price increases are never welcome, but we hope customers can see that our innovation, great content and our industry-leading customer service provide good value."