A Tale of Two Sky Offers

In its relentless push to make us give them a sizable amount of cash each month, this week Sky slipped out two new packages.

The first - quickly dubbed 'Sky in a box' sees Sky putting physical boxes in stores and supermarkets - no doubt placed strategically next to the Freeview recievers.

It's £39.99 price for a box which, once you've phoned up Sky, will include up to two months free subscription and installation of a digi box. Which on the face of it looks rather good and should no doubt see a few flying off the shelves, although how many people will take one home only to find that the sting in the offer is a minimum 12 month subscription is another matter. The Media Guardian suggests that the 'offer' is aimed at the Christmas gift market - nice gift if you find out a friend or family member has spent £39.99 not realising that it's going to commit you to spending around £150 yourself.

One can only hoping the small print is on the packaging clear enough but given the pack will only be sold (initially anyway) in Argos, Woolworths and Tesco Extra, there won't be any staff around to give you any advice. Argos's website for example, makes no mention of the minimum subscription.

In contrast the second offer has had a launch that was all together lower key. Sky's free satellite service sees the box, installation and a viewing card for £150 - and subsription free. It's only available directly from Sky and has been launched with little fanfare and so far, it seems that Sky will put in just as much effort as it did promoting its previous subscription-free package which came in at £120 and was for many years, promoted only via the small print to their terms and conditions.

Incidentally if you're wondering about the £30 price hike - well the new one package comes with a viewing card, previously absent.