Sky to hike broadband and TV prices by £67 a year – but you may be able to leave penalty-free

Below is a round-up of how Sky's prices are changing, when the increases take effect and what you can do about them.

If you're thinking of switching, use our Broadband Unbundled and Cheap Mobile Finder tools to compare the latest deals and see how much you could save. However, bear in mind that Sky's not the only provider hiking prices this year – BT, EE, Plusnet, Shell, TalkTalk and Three have all announced April price hikes of up to 14.4% for mobile and broadband customers, while Virgin Media is raising prices by 13.8% on average this spring.

Who's affected by Sky's price hikes

The price increase will affect most Sky broadband, home phone and TV customers in the UK. This includes those with bundled packages of more than one product as well as those with just the one product, such as broadband.

Those affected will see their price change on their bill from 1 April onwards.

However, the following customers WON'T see prices rise: 

• Sky Glass and Sky Stream customers who signed up on or after 18 October 2022. This includes where you took out an 18-month contract OR a monthly rolling plan on or after this date.

  If you took out a rolling monthly plan before 18 October 2022, you will still see prices rise (it wasn't possible to take out a longer contract on Glass or Stream before this date).

• Those on Sky's 'Broadband Basics' plan. This is Sky's social tariff for people on universal credit and other benefits.

How much prices will rise by depends on which Sky package you have – but the average will be 8.1%

Sky wouldn't confirm the individual price increases broadband and TV customers face, but said the average rise will be £5.60 a month or 8.1%. It will be writing to affected customers from Thursday 16 February to confirm their new prices.

Sky Talk home phone customers will see the following price changes:

• 'Pay as you talk' calls to UK landlines, mobiles and 03 numbers will rise by 3p to 25p a minute.

• The 'Evenings and Weekends' extra will go up by 75p to £5.75.

• The 'Anytime' extra will rise by £1.50 to £13.50.

• The 'International' extra will go up by £1.50 to £15.50.

Separately, the provider announced last month that Sky Mobile customers who are out of contract will see price rises of 9% on average from Tuesday 14 February – see our Sky Mobile price hikes MSE News story for more info.

You MAY be able to leave penalty-free

If you're not happy with the price hikes, you may be able to exit your contract with Sky penalty-free. But remember, there's no point leaving in a huff if your current deal is still the cheapest out there – so check rival providers' prices and remember many other firms are also raising prices.

Here are your rights if you want to leave Sky:

• Outside your minimum contract term for broadband, home phone and/or TV? You can leave penalty-free. To do this, contact Sky by phone on 0333 759 1230 or online. You'll need to give 31 days' notice for TV packages and 14 days' notice for broadband and home phone packages.

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

• Still in your minimum term on a Sky broadband and home phone contract? You can also leave penalty-free. If you're affected by these price increases, you CAN cancel without paying an early termination charge.

  Technically, you can only do so within 30 days of receiving official notification of the price increase, though there's no harm in calling sooner to see if you can haggle your bills down. Again, you can contact Sky by phone on 0333 759 1230 or online.

• Still in your minimum term on a Sky TV contract? Unfortunately you CAN'T leave penalty-free. You don't have the right to exit your contract penalty-free as a result of these price changes. Sky says this is because the terms and conditions for TV packages are different from those for broadband, mobile and home phone packages – in other words, you will have already been warned that prices could rise.

  However, if you're unhappy about the change it may still be worth trying to haggle with Sky (see more on this below). And some TV add-ons may have a rolling monthly contract, in which case you can remove them from your Sky package to avoid the hikes and cut costs. 

If you've a bundle that includes TV and broadband, Sky says you can generally cancel the broadband penalty-free, but not the TV. This may vary depending on when you signed up to the products though, so if you're unsure, check with Sky before cancelling.

Want to stay with Sky? HAGGLE – Sky's one of the top firms to negotiate a discount with

Sky came third for haggling with in our recent poll, with a whopping 84% of customers who tried it having some success. And the coming price hikes are a great opportunity to try to bag a better deal, especially if you have the right to leave penalty-free.

See our Haggle with Sky guide for full help, but here are a few tips to get you started...

• Benchmark the best deal elsewhere, so you ask for a realistic discount.

• Get through to the retentions (sometimes called disconnections) department. They have the most power to slash costs, as their job is to keep you.

• Use charm and be friendly. Aggression or anger will just put their back up.

• Don't panic if they call your bluff and say they'll disconnect you.

• If they won't slash the price, see if they can include any extras, such as a boosted TV package.

If you do haggle a better deal, always check the length of the new contract you sign up to and make sure you're happy being locked in for that long.