Consumer group slams Sky for double charge

SKY customers are being hammered with a double payout for the same service after the digital operator blamed a hike in fees on the addition of RTE, Network 2 and TG4 to its stable, while viewers continue to pay a licence fee for those channels.

Sky has sent a letter to its customers advising them of an increase in charges from September 1. According to the letter, the cost of a basic digital package, which also includes Sky Sports and Sky Movies, will rise from 45.71 to 60.

The letter says: "Our costs have risen as we continue to invest in original programming and we have added great channels like RTE One, Network 2, TG4 and TV3".

However, a spokeswoman for Sky Digital said the monthly package was only increasing from 53 to 60 as the company attempted to bring Irish prices in line with those charged in Britain. She was unaware of the contents of the letter.

"Sky has brought the package price in line with the price being paid by UK customers. Customers in Britain have already seen an increase last January from £34 to £37, so Irish viewers are now being brought into line with that by the increase," the spokeswoman said.

Chairman of the Consumers' Association of Ireland Michael Kilcoyne has slammed Sky Digital's decision to hike its prices by 13% from 53 to 60 and said viewers were being penalised twice.

"A lot of people were sucked in with the news that they would be showing the Irish matches and now they are jacking up the prices. They think that just because they have a monopoly they can do what they like," he said

Mr Kilcoyne said Irish viewers were being penalised twice because of two price hikes in the television licence and in the Sky service.

"Consumers have already had an increase with the television licence hike. Now we have Sky shoving their prices up by at least a whopping 13% when inflation is running at just one-third of this.

In a separate development, Sky has been blamed for yesterday's technical difficulty which denied thousands of fans the chance to see the first live Premiership match of the season between Aston Villa and Liverpool.

Chorus, the cable operator which transmitted the match, said viewers will be refunded and the company is to send a letter of explanation and apology to each customer.

Head of customer operations Stephen Ruschitzko said. "The switch-over to Sky started at 12.30pm with a preview of the game. But at about 1.50pm all pictures were lost. This was not a Chorus problem, it was a Sky problem and they admitted as such to us."