Sky Sports customers: pause your subscription by phone or online

Subscribers can now freeze their sports package online as well as by phone, hopefully making the whole process easier. Here’s all you need to know.

Sky Sports customers can pause their subscription without incurring any fees.

The media giant initially stated it wouldn’t be cutting any costs for Sky Sports subscribers despite the fact that most televised sporting events have been postponed or cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic, a situation which could potentially continue for months.

The decision unsurprisingly drew widespread criticism – not least because it coincided with the latest round of painful Sky price hikes.

In response, the firm has now made a small concession, allowing customers to ask Sky to pause their monthly subscription.

Initially, it forced customers to do so by phone (at a time when it was running a reduced call centre team), which led to huge waiting times and many customers reporting that they'd simply been disconnected.

Now, it is allowing customers to do so online as well, easing the burden on the call centre and hopefully making the process far easier.

We'll run through both options in a bit, but first, let's explain exactly what you're signing up for when you pause your subscription. 

What does pausing my subscription entail?

It means you'll no longer pay for your sports package while most global sporting events are on hold.

However, you'll still be able to access Sky Sports channels and your recordings.

When you pause your subscription, the discount will apply from that day and will appear on your next bill.

Sky said it will automatically reinstate your Sports subscription when sporting events return.

Search for a cheaper broadband deal with Broadband Genie

Pause Sky Sports by phone

As we mentioned earlier, you initially had to cancel by phone and the waiting times were awful: many people posted on Twitter about waiting more than an hour to get through, while others were simply disconnected.

Thankfully, call waiting times appear to have dropped recently so it should be slightly easier than when the pause was first announced last week.

Just make sure you have all your information to hand before calling as you'd have to have to call back...

Pause Sky Sports online

In theory, pausing Sky Sports online should be fairly straightforward. 

You simply head over to this page, follow the instructions and you'll be done in a few clicks.

Remember to confirm the cancellation (see screengrab below) or it won't go through.

We say that online pausing should be simpler in theory but, in practice, it seems some people have been hitting a few snags here as well.

Various customers have taken to Twitter to say they received an error message when trying to pause their package, leaving them unsure as to whether their package is paused or not.

We have seen many others saying the process worked fine for them so it seems to be something of a lottery at present.

@SkyUK been trying to pause my sky sports subscription ever since it could be done online. Have tried all times of day and night. Keep getting this message!! Why not pause all accounts automatically? Thinking of cancelling whole sky subscription over this!! pic.twitter.com/gnuB3tOiMw

— Cheeseandpickle (@Cheeseandpickl2) March 24, 2020

What about BT Sports?

For those with BT Sports subscriptions, the company does also allow you to pause your package, but it has been far less clear on how to do so.

All we can share is the following statement BT released:

"We understand that this is a difficult time for customers and if they wish to discuss their BT Sport contract or other options, would ask they give us a call.

"Alternatively customers on our new flexible TV package can pause their Sport subscription and switch to a different pack should they wish – more details can be found on bt.com/tv."

Are you a Sky or BT Sports customer? Have you managed to pause your subscription? Let us know in the comments section below.