Virgin Media joins Sky in increasing prices

Virgin's latest price hike comes just months after Sky also increased their customer's prices.

In the past week, customers of Virgin Media will have been contacted regarding rising prices. It's estimated Virgin's price hike will translate to an average of £2.20 a month for TV & broadband customers, although some people have reported rises of as much as £4.

Back in April 2018, Sky also increased their TV prices for existing customers by an average £1.50 a month. Sky broadband also went up too, by around £1.01 a month.

But while prices are going up, both Sky and Virgin Media have also been busy announcing additional features soon to be introduced to their services.

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The Virgin difference

Virgin Media has recently announced it will bring more 4K programming to its current platform, and also that more content will be available for downloading via its TV Go app.

And as for the price hikes, Virgin are blaming a rise in the cost of business rates charged for broadband. Virgin also said network usage had increased by almost 40% year on year, as more of their customers were upgraded to 350Mb speeds.

While, the "majority of its customers" are likely to experience some degree of price increase, as the nation's fastest broadband supplier, Virgin Media will undoubtedly be hoping its customers are prepared to pay the additional fees.

Feature packed Sky

Alongside Sky's previous price increase announcements in April, the provider also lessened the blow by providing information regarding new features in the pipeline for their customers.

Sky also indicated that more 4K content would be provided, as well as the possibility to watch Netflix direct from set top boxes.

More recently the company also announced a number of forthcoming features, including:

• Voice control: With so many homes starting to realise the potential of voice control, Sky are planning a 'hands free' TV experience. Using the next generation of voice activation, customers could be entirely controlling their Sky Q box via voice, ending the search for the remote control for good.
• Personal profiles: Improved personalisation could make it easier than ever for customers to find their next favourite show. A kids mode will prevent younger members of the family from accessing inappropriate content too.
• HDR: High Dynamic Range (HDR) is planned for introduction in 2019, which will boost the quality of the 4K images even more. With Sky planning to double the amount of content available in Ultra HD, that's good news for those who've invested in a great TV.
• Dishless service: Sky have also mooted that they are planning to launch a service which will bring TV to homes via their broadband connection. This could end the need for dishes on homes, and also secure Sky more full-service contracts from their customers.

Although there are no fixed dates on the launches for any of these services, it's clear that Sky are focused on growing their customer base.

The company has also said it will be investing heavily in broadband capability, in a bid to boost speeds through more fibre installations.

The price hike get-out clause

Customers who have had their prices hiked mid-contract should be aware that they are eligible to leave, should they wish to, without penalty from the provider.

For over four years now, clarification has been in place by Ofcom which indicates customers have the right to leave their provider, free of charge, if a price increase leads to 'material detriment'. This is interpreted as any price increase or contract change.

Other providers are maximising the potential for customer satisfaction by introducing fixed price deals, which promise no hikes or contract changes for the life of the agreement. TalkTalk was the first to do this, as well as to launch a 30 day 'Great Connection Guarantee', which ensures the service is fit for purpose before customers become tied in.