JCRs to challenge Sky over rate hike
BSkyB has told colleges that they will no longer be eligible for special contracts that allow them to ‘turn off’ their subscription during vacations.
Oxford colleges are cutting their subscriptions to Sky TV due to rocketing prices. Sky has previously allowed Corpus, Brasenose, Keble and Trinity to disconnect from Sky during the vacations, halving the fee of £2880 for an annual business subscription. However, as colleges switched off at the start of this long vacation, Sky informed them this would no longer be allowed.
Instead they will have to subscribe to a standard 12- month contract, which will not allow them to disconnect at short notice. Colleges currently have to pay just under £240 for each month of a mixed-programme package with Sky. Paying over the summer vacation would mean an increase in costs of £1600, putting the service out of the financial reach of most JCRs. Corpus JCR President Dave Holtman said, “We’re switching off Sky, because the financial burden is too great.
Holtman argues that Sky stands to lose much more business through colleges disconnecting entirely than by allowing them to disconnect throughout the summer vacation. The company would lose £3,000 per college if students choose to change to a different provider However, a spokeswoman for the company said: “Sky will not change our contract with them. “The original arrangements were anomalies, which have now been corrected.
Brasenose Treasurer Benjamin Ford said they will take the new one-year contract, but added that the JCR will struggle to find the extra funds to cover the increase. “We will not be able to maintain Sky at current rates unless we introduce a subsidy on people’s battels to cover it. This currently remains an option.” He suggested Sky might “change their stance if this was a wider issue amongst other universities.
Collegiate universities such as Oxford are by their nature more likely to suffer from strict contractual obligations - JCRs represent small bodies without the resources of an entire student union. But the possibility of the colleges uniting against Sky is already being discussed. Keble JCR President Eve Bugler has contacted all JCR presidents, asking if there is support for such an initiative.
At a meeting of Prescom, the committee for all JCR Presidents, OUSU President Emma Norris was asked to investiage the possibility of a discounted University-wide subscription. In the event that unified action against Sky proves unsuccessful, colleges will just have to find other ways around the increased cost.
A motion was passed last Sunday at Trinity to have Sky in the Bar, sharing the resources of the JCR and College, whilst University College already has an arrangement where the MCR and JCR have joint use of Sky in their bar, splitting the cost of the fixed annual rate. The Oxford Student understands that some colleges may fraudulently declare themselves to be individual users rather than business accounts, slashing the monthly charge from £240 to £35.
Corpus is already looking at other options, including Freeview and Digital TV, and a motion in a Trinity meeting a week last Sunday proposed buying a Freeview box. Sky did not wish to comment on any suggestion they should charge educational institutions less, saying: “The terms and conditions are clear, and the colleges have signed up to them.” They refused to comment on the possibility of a potential protest by several universities.
27th Oct 2005