BIG FREEZE FREEZES OUT SKY TV CUSTOMERS (From News Shopper)

BIG FREEZE FREEZES OUT SKY TV CUSTOMERS

10:30am Sunday 5th February 2012 in Opinion & Blogs

THE BIG Freeze has left hundreds of people in Greater London without their beloved Sky TV.

Waking up to the sub temperature morning of 5th February, many people looked out their windows to see a blanket of snow.

First met with joy, it soon turned to frustration when they realised their Sky channels were out of bounds.

Derek Francis, 79, of Eltham, said “I woke up expecting to stick the TV on, but three hours went by before I could watch anything at all.”

Despite being able to watch the terrestrial channels, paying customers were unable to watch the channels that they desired.

Jade Cassidy, 25 from Blackfen said “I understand that the weather can affect the signal, but still, I pay good money and when it is unavailable like this, it is very frustrating.”

The snow has also caused havoc on the roads, with people being advised only to drive if necessary.

Sky TV packages can cost over £100 per month, and customers were feeling conned by the broadcasting giants.

However, people opting for the much cheaper digital TV free view option were left unaffected by the drastic change in weather.

Local residents were also taking radical measures to get a signal by climbing onto their roofs and clearing their Sky dish of the inch of snow.

Sky claims on their website that “Snow, gales and other extreme conditions can affect Sky services in a number of ways.

“Heavy rain and storms can interfere with the signal from our satellites to your dish, and any problems that do occur when the weather is very poor can prevent our engineers from carrying out repairs as quickly as we would normally expect.”

However, customers didn’t find this excuse good enough.

Tom Emmans, from Welling, said” It’s ridiculous in this modern age that as soon as a snow flake touches the ground the country comes to a standstill.”

Sachin, a technical advisor for Sky said “Once the weather clears the service should resume back to normal.”

This will frustrate many people if the bad weather is in for the long haul.

Sky customers could be without the services for a number of days.