Sky Sports is allowing customers to pause their subscription free of charge, after coronavirus shutdowns cleared its broadcast schedule.
Among events slated to be aired on Sky Sports, every Premier League match has been cancelled until April and the England cricket tour of Sri Lanka has been called off.
Sky initially said disappointed customers would have to pay a penalty to cancel their subscriptions before their contracts were up. Some customers reported they were quoted upwards of £60 to scrap their subscriptions.
Now the telecoms giant has reversed that decision and will allow customers to hit pause on their subscriptions without charge. Customers won’t be issued refunds for any matches they’ve already missed.
"While we expect that many of the recently postponed sports events will eventually go ahead, if you wish to pause your sports subscription in the meantime you will not be charged a fee to do so or be held to any notice period,” the company said in a statement released Tuesday.
To place their subscriptions on hold, customers will need to contact Sky directly on 0800 151 2747. This can’t be done online. However, the Sky call centre is reportedly fielding unusually high volumes of calls and customers are reported significant wait times.
While sports have been called off, Sky is also releasing contents and perks to help entertain customers stuck inside during a lengthy self-isolation. Sky Go Extra, which gives subscribers access to Sky TV on three screens simultaneously, will be available to all customers for free.
Sky will also be releasing movies through Sky Store on the same day as their global premiere. This includes Emma, The Invisible Man and The Hunt, which hit theatres in the last month.
Last month Sky spared Sky Sports subscribers from price hikes that will increase the cost of most of its broadband and TV packages by an average of £36 a year.
BT’s rival sports platform hasn’t offered customers similar concessions during the pandemic. Customers will have to pay hefty cancellation fees to cancel BT Sport.
In a statement, BT said: “We apologise to customers about the changes to the BT Sport schedule this month due to the impact of Covid-19.
“The situation is evolving rapidly and we are working with the leagues to continue to broadcast live sport wherever possible and broadcast games when they are rescheduled over the coming months.
“We will continue to broadcast a wide range of BT Sport content including films and documentaries and we will update our customers as we have a clearer view of the remainder of the season.”
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