nomis5 - 5:53 am on Oct 6, 2010 (gmt 0)

I did express some interest if the the lock-in period was reduced to one month but they were unwilling to budge.

The initial 3 months and then a year are not just the length of time the contract is valid for, it is the lock-in period. Possibly a bigger site could negotiate better terms but I couldn't.