Freesat from Sky query

[thelewisgang]

We got Freesat from Sky in January 2009 (pay once, watch forever). A couple of months back we kept getting the message come up on the tv screen that the card needed replacing. Went to the website & followed the link where it asked for the card number to be entered & it told us to ring an 0870 number. I emailed them instead & they replied to say a card would be sent to us free of charge within six weeks. Nothing arrived so we emailed them again & this time they told us to write to Freesat from Sky Offer, Livingston, West Lothian. They called us to say we need to pay £20 for a replacement card BUT under FAQ's on their website it states "if you are a pay once watch forever customer" you will automatically be sent a free replacement viewing card & then goes on to say "You are eligible for a free card if you purchased Freesat from Sky with a viewing card & sky box after 1st May 2004".
They are insisting that we still need to pay! I have already spent too long dialling 0870 phone numbers & wonder if anyone knows of an email address for the West Lothian section of Freesat from Sky. We want try to sort this out. Any advice grateful. thank you

[Buenchico]

Are you sure that you really need a new card? I've got my doubts! I'll try to explain them:

There are two types of 'free' satellite channels. 'Free to air' (FTA) channels are unencrypted and can be received by ANY satellite receiver. 'Free to view' (FTV) channels are encrypted. You don't need a subscription to view them but you do need a valid viewing card.

At one time many free channels were 'FTV' so, in order to get the full range of channels you needed a valid viewing card. Gradually, nearly all channels switched to 'FTA', leaving only the 'Five' group in the 'FTV' format. So the only point of having a viewing card was to be able to watch 'Five', 'Fiver', etc.

However 'Five' turned off its encryption, and started broadcasting 'in the clear', 17 months ago. (i.e. it changed from 'FTV' to 'FTA'). So you should now no longer need a viewing card to watch any of the free channels.

Try taking the card out of the box. You might well find that you can still get all channels and (because there's no longer an 'out of date' card in the box) not see that annoying message.

Chris

PS: If you still require an email address try one (or both) of these:
[email protected]
[email protected]

[thelewisgang]

thanks for your reply. I'll pass this info onto my hubby who knows more than me! thanks for posting. regards

[AlBags]

It's ok searching the web for answers .. but sometimes the answers are incomplete ...

You DO need a card to view some of the Freesat channels. And a few of these will NOT even appear in the programming guide until the card has been in the box for a day or so. You DO need the card in to watch C5. These that require a card are called "soft encryption" channels.

The best way is to use ANY old Sky card .. the blue one with the symbol of the little house on it is the best at the moment.
A while ago, a lot of these became available because Sky sent out their latest cards.