Has anyone else that uses Sky broadband, noticed a change in icon on the toolbar which denotes your type of connection? Mines changed today to a plain square with a trident shape forming one side, and theres a red cross over the square - yet Im properly connected . The old lighthouse shape icon only showed a red cross when I wasnt connected .

Best icon for Sky would be a human hand, extended with cupped fingers as if in expectation of more cash!

Ha! Ha! Yes, they do seem expensive on the face of it, but I was looking at my bill last night , and once Ive cancelled multiroom which Im about to, I'll be getting all the Sky channels I want , plus unlimited Broadband and calls , for £47 a month so not sure really how that compares for all in one packages as havent seriously compared for a while , and you hear such tales about people being left disconnected for weeks when they change supplier .

And that is where one problem lies, they are using their dominant/monopolistic position in the satellite TV market to undermine other unrelated businesses (broadband/phone).

As a near monopoly they should be under strict control to ensure fair competition.

Do I gather Im being ripped of somewhat DD compared to others ?

That is not what I was implying, however in the long term Sky is planning to rip people off.

What I am trying to say is that because Sky has a virtual monopoly on selling satellite TV, they should be regulated under the competition commission because of being a monopoly.

However they aren't regulated, this enables them to bundle satellite TV with other products eg broadband/phone, this makes them much cheaper than if people were buying the products separately. So what they are doing is creating them an unfair advantage in the broadband/phone market by using their monopoly in another market (satellite TV).

This is good for the consumer in the short term but can be very bad in the long term.

Another thing that I can't believe is the price people pay to subscribe to Sky and they have to suffer advertising breaks as well! They are raking it in both ways which in my eyes makes them very expensive. Numerous other channels fund from just the advertising so Sky's subscription is an additional (large!) bonus, this again is an abuse of their monopolistic position as they are also invading the advertising market by cross-marketing.

Just imagine the position of strength this would put Sky in if they managed to wipe out their competitors in the non-core function eg TalkTalk (loss of broadband/tv customers) or ITV (loss of advertising revenue).

I also don't believe that Sky should be able to monopolise on programs that are in the national interest eg sports, there should never be an exclusive arrangement whereby those sort of things (that they don't produce) should be exclusive to satellite (ie unavailable on terrestrial).

Ok,yes , I get what youre saying. Definitely agree especially strongly on the national interest stuff.