Ditching Sky TV

[altecsole]

Our Sky TV subscription is finishing in January and I'm considering cancelling and replacing with a Manhattan S4-R recorder. Most of the stuff we watch, and record, is terrestrial free to air channels, but we find that we spend more and more time watching catch up and streaming services. We have Netflix, which I'd have to pay slightly more for, as we currently pay through Sky. We also have Amazon Prime, obviously paid separately. We do get Disney+, Paramount+, and HBOMax free with Sky, but we don't watch them very often, usually only for the odd series, like Pitt. We tend to binge watch, so paying for a month's subscription, to watch a particular series, wouldn't be an issue. 

 

Has anybody else gone down this road and can feedback?

[ZeroHour]

We ditched sky for years and just had an Apple TV (a very good stream box over tv apps) until I got a deal a couple of years ago for a Stream + Broadband + Netflix that was cheaper per month (even with Netflix upgrade to 4k) than broadband + Netflix.

When we had the stream I have to say I wasnt that impressed. The UI wasnt bad but painfully slow and every rewind to the start it would cause it to open an app to do it and that took an age.

We though, never watch *live* tv as it were so we dont even have freeview setup.

[LeMarchand]

If you shop at Tesco or bank with Lloyds you may be able to get Disney through them (not the top tier). I'm sure there are other places that you can do the same. Apple seem to regularly do freebies, particularly for newbies.

[ITGuyNW]

I just have NOW tv now. If you cancel now and again you get better pricing, for example we watch a lot of sports and we get all that for £17 a month. I think in total was spend £30 for absolutely everything Sky.

 

We don't even have an aerial now, we just use a firestick and catch up services.

[altecsole]

I think we'd still want to series link and record programmes, so the Manhattan Freesat box looks like the best option. We have B4RN 1GB broadband, so I don't want to change that either. 

[MYK-IT]

If you've got access to an aerial, get one of these https://uk.webuy.com/product-detail/?id=STVBTRT1W387A (can get cheaper if you go for Grade B or C - all come with 5-year warranty).

 

Can be connected to (non EE) internet, although if using aerial make sure you power on with it connected first (so it defaults to Freeview channels, not IPtv).

 

Can also get the EE app to control (well last time I tried a few months back it worked anyway) without needing an account.

 

Nice EPG / Menu too with 1TB storage, series link etc.

[mrbios]

I ditched sky last year, after 17 years of being a subscriber. Ended up getting an AppleTV box and a nowtv subscription. It's been great. Only channel that is utter crap on streaming is ITV because their platform is a pile of junk, everything else has worked really well though. 

 

If you want a decent TV guide then EE have an option for that using the apple tv box.

[Davit2005]

Jus plan to start Netflix when a new series comes out, I still have not finished Stranger Things, lol.

 

I only watch YouTube or Prime. I don't pay for YouTube Premium. Stopped watching Main Stream Media during the pandemic, no iPlayer, no sky, no TV license required. Personally would not touch Sky with a barge pole, Sky News was the main reason why I stopped watching MSM during the pandemic.

Edited September 7 by Davit2005

[altecsole]

On 04/09/2026 at 21:26, MYK-IT said:

If you've got access to an aerial, get one of these https://uk.webuy.com/product-detail/?id=STVBTRT1W387A (can get cheaper if you go for Grade B or C - all come with 5-year warranty).

 

Can be connected to (non EE) internet, although if using aerial make sure you power on with it connected first (so it defaults to Freeview channels, not IPtv).

 

Can also get the EE app to control (well last time I tried a few months back it worked anyway) without needing an account.

 

Nice EPG / Menu too with 1TB storage, series link etc.

Ideally, I don't want to get an aerial installed, but thanks for the recommendation.

[altecsole]

On 04/09/2026 at 23:49, mrbios said:

I ditched sky last year, after 17 years of being a subscriber. Ended up getting an AppleTV box and a nowtv subscription. It's been great. Only channel that is utter crap on streaming is ITV because their platform is a pile of junk, everything else has worked really well though. 

 

If you want a decent TV guide then EE have an option for that using the apple tv box.

 

32 minutes ago, Davit2005 said:

Jus plan to start Netflix when a new series comes out, I still have not finished Stranger Things, lol.

 

I only watch YouTube or Prime. I don't pay for YouTube Premium. Stopped watching Main Stream Media during the pandemic, no iPlayer, no sky, no TV license required. Personally would not touch Sky with a barge pole, Sky News was the main reason why I stopped watching MSM during the pandemic.

Recording is required, I'm afraid - if only to be able to skip through adverts.