BSkyB is abandoning the £10 subscription fee to the Sky+ digital video recorder. The fee had been levied to customers who did not subscribe to two or more premium channels. Originally the fee was charged to all customers regardless of which subscription packages they held.
It is hoped that that the removal of the fee will encourage take-up of the device, which recently topped the two million subscriber mark. Customers will now be charged £9.99 for the box. The £10 fee will now only be charged when subscribers are no longer receiving any Sky package and wish to continue to use the Sky+ functionality.
In addition to increased take-up, Sky will also be hoping to encourage subscribers to use the Sky Anytime service, which offers a limited on demand line-up through a reserved portion of the Sky+ receiver, including PPV movies.