It's fair to say the live sports calendar is looking a little threadbare, which isn't surprising given world events – but it does mean many of you might be looking to get some money back for your BT Sport or Sky Sports subscriptions.
The good news is that both pausing your subscription or getting a two-month refund is relatively straightforward, depending on your chosen platform.
BT Sport and Sky Sports have announced ways for subscribers to avoid being charged during this non-sporting period without the usual live events, such as Premier League football and Formula One racing.
If you get the sports channels through another service or broadband bundle, then you should be covered too. Virgin Media has revealed how to pause subscriptions if you subscribe to the likes of Sky on its platform, while TalkTalk has done the same for those who signed up to BT Sport with one of its boost add-ons.
Ready to get cracking? Here's how to pause your subscription or get a bill credit, depending on the service you get BT Sport or Sky Sports with.
Sky subscribers
- You can now "pause" your Sky Sports subscription while retaining access to all the channels "until the action resumes"
- If you pay for BT Sport through Sky, you can do the same for that subscription
Sky Sports with Sky
If you subscribe to Sky Sports through Sky then you can now "pause" your subscription "until the action resumes". To do this, head to Sky's pause sports page.
According to Sky, all 11 Sky Sports channels plus your recordings will remain available for you to view during this pause.
Slightly less clear is what Sky means by "when the action returns". We asked Sky about this, and it said that's as clear as it can be at this stage, but when this happens your Sports subscriptions will restart automatically.
BT Sport with Sky
If you pay for BT Sport through Sky, you can also pause your BT subscription at the same pause sports page.
Handily, if you have subscriptions to both BT Sports and Sky Sports and follow the process above from today, then both subscriptions will be paused at the same time. If you paused your Sky Sports subscription before April 2, though, then you'd need to follow the process again to do the same for BT Sports.
Now TV subscribers
At the moment, Now TV has taken something of a holding position in terms of Sky Sports refunds, which might be a little frustrating if you paid for a month's pass for March or April. It gave us the following statement when we asked about refunds or credit:
"We recognize that it is a fast-moving situation and we are working at speed to ensure we continue to deliver for all of our customers. A number of sporting events have been postponed, but not cancelled, so we expect to be able to show these when they are rescheduled. Therefore, our sports schedule is likely to look different for a period of time. As more information becomes available, we will continue to provide updates to all of our NOW TV customers."
We'll update this page when we hear anything else official, or you can keep an eye on its Coronavirus holding page.
- Looking for Sky Sports deals? Check out our best Sky TV deals guide.
BT subscribers
- If you pay for BT Sport directly with BT, you can get a two-month bill credit for the service – or donate the equivalent to the NHS
BT Sport with BT
If you get your BT Sport subscription through BT, then you've got a three different options.
Firstly, BT says it can apply a two-month credit to your account as a "goodwill gesture" if you follow the process on its BT Sport support page. You'll just need your BT account number, which will be on your bill or in your My BT account, and BT says it will extend this credit automatically should there continue to be "no live sport on BT Sport in June".
If you've already claimed one month of credit with BT Sport from its previous offer, then it says it'll automatically credit a second month to your account.
Alternatively, you can also donate the financial equivalent of your two-month BT Sports credit to the NHS by following the same BT Sport support link above.
The final of BT's three options involves switching your TV package, if you're an existing subscriber. If you upgrade your package and are happy to renew for 24 months, then you can get three months of BT Sport for free. This option is also on the same BT Sport support page listed above.
Sky Sports with BT
We asked BT about customers who watch Sky Sports through BT TV and it told us: "BT Sport customers who have Sky Sports added as a bolt-on can request a bill credit, but they would have to call us in order to do so."
That's somewhat unhelpful given that there's a message on BT Sport's support page that says "please don't try to call us", but it may be your only option in this case.
Virgin Media and TalkTalk subscribers
- If you subscribe to Sky Sports or BT Sports through Virgin Media, you can now pause your payments while still receiving the same channels
- TalkTalk TV customers who added 'Sky Sports boost' to their package can also apply for a free credit
Virgin Media customers
If you subscribe to BT Sport or Sky Sports via Virgin Media, then you'll be able to pause your subscription with its online form.
Virgin says that you'll still be able to watch the channels you've paused, you just won't be charged for the time being. Like Sky, it'll automatically restart your payments when the live sport resumes and will let you know when that happens.
To qualify for the pause, you need to have been a Sky Sports subscriber on 19 March 2020 or a BT Sport subscriber on 22 March 2020. If you signed up after that, you might not be eligible.
TalkTalk customers
If you have a TalkTalk broadband or fibre package and signed up for the 'Sky Sports boost' on its TV service, then you can also pause payments for this service while receiving all of the channels.
TalkTalk officially confirmed in its forums that an email was sent to 'Sky Sports boost' subscribers with a form – fill that out and it will add a credit to your account "for the month". TalkTalk added that "this will be reviewed again after that time".
While you may well see a charge on your current bill after submitting the form, TalkTalk says this will be because your billing run may have already been produced, but that credits will definitely be added.
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