Pay TV subscriptions – one in five want out – do you?

The research comes from Freesat, the free-to-view digital TV service from the BBC and ITV.

And although it has a vested interest in publishing this data, it does seem that in these austerity-hit times many of us are looking at our pay TV contracts – do they actually represent value for money?

Even minimum subscription contracts to Sky or Virgin are likely to set you back £1000+ over a five-year period (and a whole lot more if you get the premium sports and film channels). There’s certainly a lot of money to be saved by switching to Freeview or Freesat services.

Sure, you won’t get access to the pay-channels, but how often each week do you actually tune into them? Separate research by the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board found that around 60% of Sky subscribers only watch the free channels. So you could be paying a lot to access hundreds of channels when you’re only watching a few of them.

But why are people sticking with their unwanted TV contracts? Freesat’s research suggests that inertia is one of the main reasons – they want out but just never get around to doing anything about it. Meanwhile the direct debits keep draining funds from their bank accounts each month.

Does this strike a chord with anyone out there? Do you want to get out of your expensive TV contract but haven’t found time to do it? Or maybe you think your TV subscription is worth the price you pay each month.