Sky to drop HD box price in July

Sky will drop the price of its Sky HD box next month as part of a rebranding exercise designed to more closely tie its high definition PVR product to the long-standing Sky+ name.

Sky HD, for which boxes currently cost between £199 and £249 with a Sky HD subscription, will be known as Sky+ HD from July 1. At the same time, the cost of a new box will be dropped to £150, the same as that charged for a standard definition Sky+, when taken with the £10 per month "HD mix", the new name for the Sky HD subscription package.

Sky+ HD boxes will continue to cost £399 each when purchased without subscribing to the HD mix.

Pricing for a standard definition Sky+ box will also be altered, with a new box costing £150 for new and existing customers except where it is taken with multiroom or broadband services, where the price of a customer's first Sky+ box will drop to £75.

Sky+ standard definition boxes purchased without a Sky subscription will continue to cost £199.

Sky has made a concerted effort to push the Sky+ brand in a major outdoor, television and online campaign featuring a variety of celebrities, including Sir Michael Parkinson, explaining how they use its personal video recorder functionality.