Freesat on Sky

Hi guys

Im sure this is the wrong place to post this but any suggestions would be great.

I've recently cancelled my Sky subscription. Today i found that the subscription channels were unavailable, that's fine i was expecting that. BBC ONE and BBC TWO have reverted to London (i was kinda expecting this) But also, the Free to view channels (ITV, Channel 4 etc) have disappeared from the EPG, but i thought that as long as i had a viewing card i'd still get the Free to view channels, not jut the Free to air ones... any suggestions?

No you'll have to buy a Freesat card for £20.

Ironic name eh! Where do you get those by the way?

http://www.freesatfromsky.com/
(Card is mentioned in the Q&A section)

TEL: 0870.240.5651

drat!

thanks

Has it changed then? I cancelled Sky last summer and the card stayed good for the Free to View channels such as ITV, C4, Five as well as giving me the right regional settings (I 've now given it and the box to friends so don't now if it still does).

AFAIK an expired subscription card is essentially the same as a Freesat card

That sounds like a mistake - it shouldn't work anymore!

Well my digibox works the same way as yours Inspector. My Viewing card is the dark blue kind and allows access to all the BBC, ITV. Ch4 and five channels as well as Sky news, CNN and Euronews.

It's quite normal as I understand it.

The only time you should need to purchase a new card if you're not a subscriber is when they update their cards every couple of years (like they did when they moved to the ones with the picture of the house last year)

Remember that channels such as the BBC, CNN, Sky News are all 'Free To Air' and don't require a card, whereas ITV, C4, Five, S4c and others are 'Free To View' - you need a card, but not a subscription (what used to be called 'soft-encrypted' in the days of analogue satellite)

AIUI the current policy is that current series 2 Sky cards (the dark blue with yellow house) should revert to FTV cards once a subscription is ceased. They should continue to receive ITV1, ITV2, C4 and Five.

The BBC channels, ITV3, ITV NC, Sky News, CNN etc. are all FTA and don't require a card at all.

The Freesat deal is to provide a new card for those with none, or an old series 1 card (pale blue clouds).

I think Sky shouldn't de-activate the FTV channels to charge for a new card if you already have a series 2 card...

If you're lucky, you might be able to persuade a call centre to re-activate your card for you. But be prepared for everyone to deny responsibility..