Sky warns customers they will be charged £5 if they fast forward adverts

>They're not charging a fee to users who decide to skip ads.

>The other is priced higher and does permit skipping ads.

Isn't your second comment "a fee to users who decide to skip ads"?

And, yes, that this is a tiered plan is mentioned in the article by the author.

The second sentence of the article does read "Some Sky TV viewers will be required to pay if they want to fast forward through ad breaks." and it later elaborates with "However, if you happen to purchase a Sky Glass telly or the new Stream box after today, you will need to add the "Ad Skipping Add On pack" to your subscription if you want to spin through those commercials."

The author is not confused, the editor who wrote the headline intentionally manipulated it to grab people's attention.

Flagging the submission for just this reason -- it's spam-bait over a pretty dull announcement of a "with ads" tier being launched

The article is clear on the change; what you said is in the first couple sentences. You are misreading their terse writing style as them misunderstanding.

Because they still pay them

because they don't have competitors

It genuinely feels like many companies take the position of, "Because fuck you, that's why."

AIUI sky doesn’t have a lot of competition in various areas such as sports. Football is huge in the UK

You don't understand - the customer is the advertising agencies.

Everything else is just the feed and manure necessary to keep the cattle returning.