The cost of my Sky+ suscription seems to be for ever creeping up, starting to wonder if it is worth the money. I am not under contract with them anymore so if I cancel I expect to loose some of the sky owned channels but will I loose the Sky+ functionality and be unable to record / pause programs etc?
yes, you'll lose the Sky+ functionality as that's included in your subscription.
oh, and good luck getting through to the cancellations dept!
Can't you keep the free-to-air stuff and just pay the £10 / month for the sky+ recording jobbie?
To watch your Sky+ recordings you need a valid sub for the channel too (it's stored encrypted), so you can't subscribe to Sky Movies for a month, record everything, and unsubscribe.
As said, you can have the free-to-air stuff and the Sky+ functionality if you pay Sky £10pm for the priviledge (they waive it if you're a subscriber). Without it your Sky+ behaves exactly like a normal, non-plus Sky box.