Sky to hike broadband and TV prices from April – you've got 30 days to check if you can switch, save and cancel penalty-free

If you're affected by the changes, you'll be contacted from Wednesday 18 February and you'll see the price changes on your bill from 1 April.

Importantly, the right to cancel penalty-free now finally applies to Sky's satellite TV customers (those on Sky Q), following a lengthy legal battle between Sky and telecoms regulator Ofcom. We've more on Sky's TV cancellation rules below.

Exact increases vary by customer depending on your broadband and/or TV package – we've full details on the price changes below.

Who can cancel penalty-free as a result of the rises

If you're unhappy with the price hikes, you may be able to exit your contract with Sky penalty-free. Here are your rights if you want to leave Sky:

• Sky Broadband and/or home phone customer? You CAN leave penalty-free – even if you're mid-contract. If you're still in your minimum contract term, you have 30 days from the date you get the price rise notification to exercise your right to cancel.
  
  If you're out of contract, you can leave at any time, and there's a good chance you're paying over the odds anyway, so check if you can find a better deal – you don't need to wait for notification of the price hikes to do this.

• Sky Q (satellite TV) customer? You CAN leave penalty-free – even if you're mid-contract. As with broadband, if you're still in your minimum contract term, you must act within 30 days of getting the price rise notification if you want to leave. If you're out of contract, you can leave at any time.

• Sky Glass or Sky Stream customer? You MAY be able to leave penalty-free. Here, unlike the cases above, you ONLY have the right to cancel if you're outside your minimum term. If you're mid-contract, you can't cancel penalty-free.
  
  This is because Sky's Glass and Stream services, which are delivered over the internet, aren't covered by the same rules as broadband and satellite TV.
  
  Of course, it may still be worth trying to haggle with Sky (see more on this below). And some TV add-ons may have a rolling monthly contract, in which case you can remove them from your Sky package to avoid the hikes and cut costs.

If you have Sky Broadband AND Sky TV, and you signed up for them at the same time (in other words, you took out a bundle), Sky told us that you can cancel the whole package penalty-free – even if it includes Stream or Glass. However, if you signed up for each service separately at different times, you may only be able to cancel the broadband penalty-free (not your Stream or Glass plan).

Broadband, home phone and TV deals are postcode dependent, so to see the best deals available in your area and across all speeds, you'll need to enter your postcode on our Broadband, home phone and TV comparison or Broadband only tool. You can then compare current deals, and see if you can beat your new price.

Top current deals: Looking at broadband alone, right now, you can get speeds of up to 145Mb for '£19.37 a month' with Plusnet, or 150Mb for '£19.75 a month' with Vodafone. If you want higher speeds, you can also get 500Mb for '£21.75 a month' with Vodafone.

If you want to bundle your Broadband and TV, right now (postcode dependent) you can get speeds of up to 132Mb with Virgin Media bundled with Flex TV (gives you access to 114 TV channels) for '£30.99 a month'.

Want to stay with Sky? Try to haggle down the cost

If you'd rather stay with Sky or you can't leave penalty-free, haggling is worth a try – a MoneySavingExpert.com poll conducted last year found that 68% of broadband and TV customers who haggled with Sky were successful in negotiating a better deal.

If you're looking to haggle, it's best to call up Sky directly and tell it (politely!) that you're after a better deal. See our Broadband haggling guide for success stories and more specific tips on getting your costs down. If you're still not happy with your tariff after haggling, simply ask to leave.

Sky's price hikes differ from other firms

Since 17 January 2025, Ofcom has mandated telecoms firms to tell people of price hikes within their contract, in pounds and pence, before they sign up. If not, then they have to let people leave penalty-free if they put prices up unannounced.

Sky has always been the outlier here, saying it will take the latter route (with the exception, until now, of its satellite TV services – more on this below), as it is doing again now (whether this should be allowed is another question).

Because Sky's increases are a flat amount regardless of how much you normally pay, those on cheaper plans will see a bigger proportional rise versus those on more expensive plans. Inflation-linked rises work the opposite way – those on more expensive plans see bigger hikes.

This is different to the recent O2 case we've reported on. O2 came under fire late last year when it announced it would hike prices for more than 15 million existing customers by 40% more than they were originally told – something MoneySavingExpert (MSE) reported to the Government and to Ofcom. This ultimately led to the recent creation of the Government's new Telecoms Charter designed to prevent price hikes on price hikes.

Why some Sky TV customers CAN now cancel penalty-free

On top of Sky's different approach to price rises, our investigation last February revealed that the firm was exploiting a surprising gap in Ofcom's price rules, which saw it refusing to let TV customers leave penalty-free following mid-contract price rise announcements.

This centred around a long-running legal dispute between Sky and Ofcom over what the regulator's price rise rules apply to. Sky had attempted to argue that its satellite TV services were exempt because they amounted to content streaming.

However, despite various attempts to challenge Ofcom's rules, Sky ultimately lost its case and it must now let customers of its satellite TV services leave penalty-free when prices rise mid-contract. This doesn't apply to its internet TV streaming services: Sky Glass and Sky Stream.

How Sky's prices are changing

Sky has confirmed that millions of users will see prices rise from 1 April. Exact increases depend on your package, but some examples Sky has confirmed are as follows:

• Broadband: Most people will see a £3 a month (£36 a year) increase.

• 'Base' and 'Premium' TV packages: Increasing by between £1 a month (£12 a year) and £3 a month (£36 a year).

• Home phone: Will rise by £1 a month (£12 a year).

Only last month Sky announced that most Sky Mobile customers – including many who are mid-contract – will see prices rise by £1.50 a month from 14 February.

Which prices aren't changing? Certain TV add-ons – including HD/UHD, Kids, Multiscreen, Wholehome – plus Sky's broadband social tariff.

Some products have also included the increase in their price for new customers since 4 February, though Sky wouldn't give us a full breakdown of which products this includes (some newbies also get a 'price protection window' of 60 days after joining).

Commenting on the increases, a Sky spokesperson said: "These updates will allow us to continue investing in delivering fast broadband, the best entertainment and live sport, and services our customers can rely on, while managing rising costs faced across the industry."