Sky TV query

[greektony]

Hello everyone, I hope one of you Sky savvy bods could help me here. I have recently moved into a flat and the previous owners I assume had Sky TV as their is a dish on the wall with a cable running from it into my lounge. My question is, is it possible to buy a cheap Sky box which would enable me to get the free Sky channels without having to subscribe to a package?

I know nothing about this but thought as the dish is sitting there doing nothing it may be a good idea. Also, are there many more channels that arent available on freeview?

[Salazaar]

I dunno about buying a Sky box but there are a number of boxes available for watching the free to air satelite channels which you should be able to hook up just fine. IIRC there are quite a lot of additional channels including a few HD ones.

[Brucelles]

Well, without a sky subscription all you get are the free to view stuff, but that is a lot. Mostly rubbish, but still a lot.

Read this and see if it helps : Free-to-view Satellite TV in the UK

This is the free-to-view channel list:

* AAG
* Aapna Channel
* Abu Dhabi TV
* Al Jazeera Eng
* Apna Bazaar
* ARY Oneworld
* ARY QTV
* ARY The Musik
* Audi Channel
* B4
* B4U Music
* Babestar+
* Babestation
* Babeworld.tv
* Baby Channel
* Bangla TV
* BBC FOUR
* BBC HD
* BBC NEWS 24
* BBC PARL'MNT
* BBC THREE
* BBC1
* BBC2
* BEN
* Best Direct
* Best Direct+
* bid tv
* BIG GAME TV!
* Bliss
* Bloomberg
* Bonanza
* Bubble Hits
* Business Chnl'l
* CBBC Channel
* CBeebies
* CCTV-9
* CelebrityShop
* Channel 4
* Channel M
* Channel Punjab
* Channel 'S'
* Channel S ATN
* Channel S NTV
* Channel U
* Chart Show TV
* Chat Box
* CITV
* Classic FM TV
* CNN
* CommunityChnl
* Create & Craft
* Dating Channel
* DAYSTAR
* DD-India
* DD-News
* DM Digital
* DM Gold
* eeZee tv
* Entrepreneur
* EuroNews
* EWTN
* fame TV
* Fashion TV
* Film4
* Film4 +1
* Five
* Five Life
* Five US
* Fizz
* Flaunt
* Fortune Fever
* France 24
* FriendlyTV
* Gala TV
* Gay Date TV
* Gay Network
* Gems TV
* Gems TV 2
* Genesis
* GEO UK
* Get Lucky TV
* GOD Channel
* GOD UK
* Golf Channel
* Golf Pro-Shop
* Gospel Channel
* Hollywood TV
* HomeandTravel
* House of Fun
* i Play TV
* iBuy
* iBuy 2
* Ideal World
* Information TV
* Inspiration
* Islam Channel
* ITV Play
* ITV1 / UTV
* ITV2
* ITV2+1
* ITV3
* ITV3+1
* ITV4
* Jackpot TV
* Jewellery Ch.
* Legal TV
* Life TV
* Life24
* LifeShowcase
* Live XXX TV
* Living in Spain
* LOVEWORLD TV
* Lucky Star
* MATV National
* Max TV
* Men & Motors
* MKTV
* Movies4Men
* Movies4Men 2
* mta-muslim tv
* MusFlashTV
* My Channel
* OBE
* Open Access
* Open Access 2
* Open Access 3
* O'seasproperty
* Passion TV
* PCNE Chinese
* Performance
* Pitch TV
* Pitch TV Plus
* Playboy One
* PokerZone
* POP
* Price Crash
* Price Crash 2
* Pricebusters
* price-drop tv
* propeller
* Psychic TV
* PTV Global
* PTV Prime
* QVC
* Real Estate TV
* Real Estate + 1
* RealmadridTV
* Record TV
* revelation
* ROCKWORLDTV
* Russia Today
* S4/C
* S4/C2
* Sahara One
* Scuzz
* Shop on TV
* Shop Vector
* Shop Vector +
* Simply Ideas
* Sky News
* Sky Three
* Smart Live
* Smart Shop TV
* Solent TV
* speedauctiontv
* Star Bazaar TV
* Stop + Shop
* Sumo TV
* TBN Europe
* Teachers' TV
* Teletext Hols
* Thane Direct
* The Vault
* Thomas Cook
* Thomson TV
* Tiny Pop
* Travel Ch +1
* Travel Channel
* True Movies
* True Movies 2
* TTV2
* Turn On TV
* Turn On TV 2
* TV SHOP
* TV Warehouse
* TVW Select
* TVWarehouse 1
* TWCfight!
* U Save.TV
* UCB TV
* Vector 24/7
* Vegas 24/7
* Venus TV
* Vitality
* Wedding TV
* Wine TV
* Wonderful
* Word Network
* Xleague.tv
* You TV2
* YouPlay TV
* Zee Music
* Zone Horror
* Zone Reality
* Zone Reality +1
* Zone Reality X
* Zone Thriller

[Lucio]

If you've got a BT line, it may pay you to subscribe to the cheapest package and pick up the "free" (aka included in the price) broadband instead.

[greektony]

i don't like the way BT caps the line unlike my current entanet connection :-) Thanks for all the advice everyone

[chicken]

We had a look at getting the free-sat stuff about a year ago and came to the conclusion it was more worthwhile to subscribe. You usually end up paying quite a bit for equipment you'd otherwise get free, or even if you get it free you don't get all the channels without a Free-Sat card which seemed fairly expensive for what it is too.

Signing up will get you a free box, installation, more channels and if you put an existing sky customer down as a referer at the moment, both of you get £50 M&S vouchers. Not signing up will get you a permanent free-sat card though and cost less in the long-run, so keep all that in mind when you're evaluating costs.

Freecycle might be a good source of a free box if you want to look, with all the people upgrading to Sky+ now it has no charge there may be a few normal boxes about.

[greektony]

I might look at getting sky if its is possible to get it for around £20ish a month with a free box and some half decent channels. Thanks chicken

[directhex]

note: Free-To-Air and Free-To-View are not the same.

FTV channels are encrypted, using encryption keys available for "free" from Sky. You are subject to a Sky contract to access FTV content, even if you aren't paying (e.g. "freesat from sky" is a pure FTV offering).

FTA channels are unencrypted, and can be viewed using any kit. the BBC channels, for example, are FTA, whilst channel 5 is FTV.

[greektony]

ahh, so I would be best off getting a cheap/free package from sky then?

[chicken]

Yeah, you'll either need a free sat card to get some of the main channels (I think it included Ch4 and Film4 when we asked also) because although they're free they are encrypted, or you can get a low subscription and you'll get them anyway.

If you need a referral for the £50 M&S vouchers let me know but I'm trying to give advice here and remain impartial without pimping myself or sky. Otherwise find a friend with Sky and put them down. There's no sense in not getting it if you decide to subscribe anyway, whoever you put down.

Now if they were still doing the free Sky+ boxes I would be shamelessly plugging it cos I really want one!

[directhex]

ahh, so I would be best off getting a cheap/free package from sky then?

if you want access to FTV channels, yes. "freesat from sky" usually forces you to submit to several endless surveys with fairly regular intervals, and you don't get any choice of sky box (i.e. you're stuck without PVR functions)

channel 4's contract with sky ends imminently, at which point they go FTA. channel 5 it's a few months away

[greektony]

does anyone know if they would offer any more reductions on price if I phone up and see if I can haggle? Are they open to this at all? £20ish a month for all the channels apart from the premium ones sounded good, although there was still an installtion fee of £30 :-( Also, would any of these channels be in HD as I'm tempted to go for the Sky HD box to compliment my new HD TV, but this would obviously be pointless if none are in HD!

[directhex]

sky hd requires a more expensive set-top box (£200), and a £10 a month extra monthly fee

FTA has one HD channel (BBC-HD). sky has 9, but you need to be paying for the SD equivalents first. oh, and sky hd's setup fee is up to £60

[greektony]

:-( thats not so good then! I'll investigate the Sky website further when I get home from work. Thanks for the continued help

[directhex]

Well, without a sky subscription all you get are the free to view stuff, but that is a lot. Mostly rubbish, but still a lot.

Read this and see if it helps : Free-to-view Satellite TV in the UK

This is the free-to-view channel list:

[redacted]

remember, these are FTV (require a sky box and sky viewing card of some kind, even expired ones)

a slightly shorter list of FTA channels (viewable with a non-sky box) is here: http://forums.hexus.net/1232310-post8.html

may be a few months out of date