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Have you paused your TV sport payments?

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Profile photo of Hannah Downes Hannah Downes Consumer Rights
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Are you still paying a premium for live sport even though there’s none on? Did you know you don’t have to? Here’s how to pause your sport payments.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought sporting fixtures around the world to a halt.

As a result, we’ve heard from a number of you who are looking to pause your TV sports packages until events are back up and running.

After all, you wouldn’t pay for a cinema channel that isn’t showing any films, so why should sport be any different?

Fortunately, Sky, BT and Virgin Media are offering a way around it. Were you aware?

Get all the latest news and advice from our coronavirus hub

How to pause Sky Sports

You can pause your Sky Sports package online and still have access to all 11 Sky Sports channels, plus your recordings.

Your payments will automatically resume once fixtures have restarted.

How to pause BT Sport

BT Sport is giving customers three options:

⚽ You can donate the cost of one month’s BT Sport to support NHS staff

⚽ You can claim one month’s credit back (it’ll be taken off your bill)

⚽ If you’ve got fibre broadband, you can sign up to a new package and get BT sport free for three months

You can visit this page to enact one of these options.

How to pause sport with Virgin Media

If you get Sky Sports and/or BT Sport via Virgin Media, you can pause your payments on Sky Sports and BT Sport online.

You’ll still be able to watch the channels you’ve paused, but won’t be charged.

Your payments will be restarted automatically and they’ll let you know when this is due to happen.

Have you paused a regular payment?

We’re keen to hear from anyone who has had trouble pausing regular payments for services that can’t be accessed or used in the same way due to the current situation.

If a service you pay regularly for could no longer be delivered due to the pandemic, would you contact your service provider, or expect them to contact you?

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Whether it’s for TV services, gym memberships or nursery services, let us know in the comments if you’ve had problems stopping a regular payment.

Comments
46
russ says:
4 April 2020

Can’t do anything about BTSport if it’s provided through another supplier, such as Plusnet, despite them being owned by BT!

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Jade says:
9 April 2020

We have Sky Sports with Virgin Media And we’re currently got a deal, which we intend to remove as we took it out at a lower price but won’t keep it beyond that. We want to ‘pause’ sky sports however we don’t want to end up paying for Sky Sports for an additional few payments at a higher price. Can you clarify what will happen with Virgin Media if you pause the sky subscription. Will we be able to come to the end of our original deal Or will we have to continue the missing payments from the ‘pause’? My partner only has it for football so those additional Payments will be when there is not football season so pointless to us and we may aswell continue to pay now and still have the right to remove at the anniversary / end of the deal? Thank you in advance for any support and advice you can give !

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Martin says:
9 April 2020

I had no problem pausing my Sky Sports subscription and even received an email from them today confirming that no payment would be taken.

However I am frankly disgusted by BT’s stance and woeful customer service and have no wish to renew my Sport subscription when it expires. The problem I have is finding when that is. I can find no indicator on my online account or in any email confirmation from them. And I’ve given up trying to phone them! Have you any suggestions how I can find out?

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Mark Carter says:
14 April 2020

English heritage refuse point blank to suspend payments. They have given us 3 months extended membership at end of 12 month contract but still expect us to pay at moment. National trust however have suspended payments and given 3 months extended membership

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John Ward says:
15 April 2020

Mark – One is a government department while the other is a charity. I think that explains the position.

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N P H says:
17 April 2020

Historic England is a government body but English Heritage is a charity and independent from government.

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John Ward says:
18 April 2020

Thanks for the correction, NPH.

If English Heritage is now an independent charity perhaps we should expect it to behave like one and be fair to its members.

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Claire says:
28 April 2020

I rang sky in march to pause sports package but was told on phone that I couldn’t pause. I was told I needed to cancel and then start a new package when it was to resume. I had a good package and didnt want to loose it so I’ve kept it. The next day the option to pause came on the sky app so I rang to query this but unfortunately the call centre wasnt taking calls.
I’m now confused and reluctant to pause incase I loose my current package. Also if it does just pause and then start up again I’ve gone a month without discounted price. I’m unable to speak to anyone at sky.

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Hannah Downes says:
4 May 2020

Hi Claire, Sky Sports are now allowing customers to pause their subscriptions online, so you don’t have to call up. You can do this here: https://www.sky.com/help/articles/pause-sky-sports

It should only pause your package, rather than cancel it, but I’ve got in touch with Sky Sports to double check.

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Nads says:
5 May 2020

I have now paused my virgin media sports twice and am still being charged. I can not get through on the phone, and can not find where to email, as it’s set questions which dont cover this. Totally frustrating.

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Andy says:
5 May 2020

I have paused my Sky Sports and BT Sport payments with VM. Very easy to do and I have been told it will go back to previous cost when football returns. Hope it’s soon!

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StephenHicks says:
5 May 2020

I am trying to contact VM because my contract ends this month and my negotiated discount has been removed. I have spent over ten hours on web chat/text and got nowhere – that is after an initial automated response, the conversation goes silent. I can’t be alone; VM should suspend removing discounts if they are not able to allow customers to negotiate.

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Sue Donnelly says:
6 May 2020

Cancelled Sky Sport and BT Sport online with VM, still being charged and no response from VM. In fact my monthly payments have increased!

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Graham H says:
4 July 2020

thought I had paused Sky Sports on Virgin media, they hadn’t activated at their end, basically told that their failure is my fault and tough luck…. refused to do anything about it…… BYE BYE VM, after 10 years, your customer service sucks.

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Stephen says:
9 July 2020

After pausing my subscription with virgin media they have now reinstated the package and charge me a reactivation fee for doing nothing is this correct and legal?

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Geoff says:
18 July 2020

I have also been charged by Virgin for reinstating my sports package. I think that after 20 years it’s time for me to seek a new provider. Virgin are always keen to issue a good deal, but the charges just creep up & up during the course of the year.
The £12.92 charge is the last straw,time to start watching live streams again methinks.

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