There’s several occasions during the year that I really miss having Sky TV: the All Blacks season, the NBA Finals, and cricket season.

As a result I’m becoming quite out of touch with sport, which makes a Sky subscription very tempting at certain times of the year. However, I’ve been refusing to subscribe for a few reasons:

1. The subscription options are poor. 90% of the reason I would subscribe to Sky is for sport, yet I can’t just pay for the sports channels.
2. It’s expensive, in my case. To subscribe to basic high-definition Sky with just sport, it’s over $90 per month. That’s a lot for a few extra hours of TV per week.
3. Nothing is negotiable. You can’t customise anything. You can’t “install” it yourself. You can’t get out of any fees.

The last one – nothing is negotiable – is the kicker for me. Sky won’t let you customise your subscription package to get rid of all the crap channels you don’t want. They won’t waive the joining/installation fee even if your residence is Sky-ready and you’re smart enough to plug in a decoder all by yourself. And, if you join whilst they’re running a “special deal” (at the moment it’s “only” a $50 joining fee for My Sky HD) then you’re tied in to the service for 12 months.

Personally I don’t think joining fees and minimum contracts are acceptable when it’s clear that they exist only for bonus profit. Sky has nothing to lose by allowing me to subscribe with no joining fee and no minimum term (perhaps with a 28-day notice of cancellation).  The fact that they outright refuse to negotiate is why I’m not going to be giving them any of my money any time soon.

Then again… I’ll still be missing it when the New Zealand/West Indies test match is on next weekend.