I'd be grateful for any advice

We have SKY IT and are here for six consecutive months and have several of the "packages."Couple of options; if you are here for a consecutive 12 week period you can just cancel service (believe you have to give 30 days notice) and reconnect on next visit. Or, just cancel the extra packages (30 day notice) and keep the basic service when not here.If you talk to them directly you may be able to work out some sort of arrangement. The other option, of course, is to cancel alltogether and get a FTA receiver for Astra or Hotbird where there are a few English language news programs plus some Italian Rai channels which help with the language.Many other options via I-Net if you have WiFI or other high-speed service. Good  luck.

A fast connection will take you a long way - something like Apple TV and the iTunes store can end up costing less than a sky package and you get access to a lot of UK or US films / series (depeing on what store you sign into).With respect to Sky as mentioned alreadythey do need 30 days warning but it can also be done via an email.An alternative to Sky is Mediaset (which uses the terestrial digital TV) but that is with a monthly subscription as well. Hope this helps!

Thanks all

We just bring our Sky box with us although recently we've lost the UK terrestrial channels (BBC, ITV etc) but we get those via internet for free via filmon.com .It cost us originally Euro200 for the Sat Dish set up - a 1.2m dish and we don't miss anything that we have at home.