# New Sky card



## swarrans (Jan 7, 2003)

I'm getting a lot of "There is a technical problem" comments on Sky that requires a reboot recently. The reboot brings it back to a warning on Sky that all the cards are being replaced and that your old one won't work.
My card is from when I used to subscribe to Sky but I haven't for years so it just works on the freesat channels - which is all I want really.

Question is - will my current card stop working (I guess the answer is yes) and do you think it is connected to the need to reboot? - which is happening every 2 days or so.

Simon


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## Fred Smith (Oct 5, 2002)

swarrans said:


> My card is from when I used to subscribe to Sky but I haven't for years so it just works on the freesat channels - which is all I want really.


The card does not give you the Freesat channels, they are free anyway. It gives you the FTV channels, Five USA, Fiver and Sky 3.



swarrans said:


> Question is - will my current card stop working (I guess the answer is yes)


Yes, but know one seems to know when. I am in the same situation with three FTV cards across two addresses.



swarrans said:


> and do you think it is connected to the need to reboot? - which is happening every 2 days or so.


No. Which receiver?


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## britcub (Jan 19, 2004)

I've had the same problem. Just take your card out and the message stops appearing. If you really can't live without the Five channels and Sky 3, you can get a new card by paying £20 and calling the number here.

Don't know about your reboot issue though.


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## swarrans (Jan 7, 2003)

Thanks chaps.
Are the extra FTV channels only Five USA, Fiver and Sky 3 these days then? It used to be a lot more than that when I last looked. If it is I can live without them when the FTV card gets switched off.

You've confirmed what I suspected that the technical fault is not connected to the Sky card's numbered days. It has done this before and I think it was last summer so it could be a heat issue. I'll take the cover off and give it a vacuum and try to get it as much air as possible.

It's a Sony box

Simon


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## kitschcamp (May 18, 2001)

And Five itself. Five is only free to air on Freesat boxes.


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## TerryN (Oct 9, 2001)

swarrans said:


> You've confirmed what I suspected that the technical fault is not connected to the Sky card's numbered days. It has done this before and I think it was last summer so it could be a heat issue. I'll take the cover off and give it a vacuum and try to get it as much air as possible.
> 
> It's a Sony box
> 
> Simon


My Sony box has been doing the same. It's started in this last month or so. Some people in the Digital Spy forums seem to think this could be due to a recent EPG update downloaded by the box by I can't really find any reliable evidence to back that up. (My set up had been stable for years and I wasn't monitoring the OS/EPG versions on the Sky box.)


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## Fred Smith (Oct 5, 2002)

kitschcamp said:


> And Five itself. Five is only free to air on Freesat boxes.


Actually Five is available FTA through other channels on a Sky box. But in this context that is not much use to TiVo unless you have a SkyEye iTV.

So we are both correct.


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## a_tivo_noob (Jan 2, 2004)

i've still not had my new skycard they're supposedly sending out - yet everyone i know with sky has had theirs...

had 3 'failed' recordings on my skybox in the past week or so too  (tho probably co-incidence... never had anything fail before though!)


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## Rue (Apr 5, 2002)

My Sony Sky box went bad around 15th Aug. -- it is stuck in standby. Possibly unrelated but the plastic area around the chip on the [old, not got a new] viewing card has discoloured through heat. Am I possibly an unlucky/unwitting beta tester for the new Sky EPG?


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## kitschcamp (May 18, 2001)

a_tivo_noob said:


> i've still not had my new skycard they're supposedly sending out - yet everyone i know with sky has had theirs...


I've not had mine yet, either. It's taking a very long time to get all the cards replaced.


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## a_tivo_noob (Jan 2, 2004)

ah - at least i know my skycard hasn't gone missing in the post!

message has just popped up on TV:


> your new sky viewing card is in the post - see channel 998 for more information


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## OzSat (Feb 15, 2001)

Two of my boxes have had new cards - only noticed the message on one of them.

The third hasn't had a message or card.


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## Leif_Davidsen (Jun 5, 2002)

I just went on the sky website to find out the viewing card situation if you are not a sky subscriber - here is what you get there "If you do not subscribe to a Pay TV provider, but use a Sky viewing card to access free-to-air channels, you won't automatically receive a replacement card. However, over the next few months you'll receive a message on your TV screen with instructions on how you can obtain a new card."


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## kitschcamp (May 18, 2001)

I received my new card in the post, BUT I didn't get any messages about it being in the post before it arrived.


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## a_tivo_noob (Jan 2, 2004)

a_tivo_noob said:


> ah - at least i know my skycard hasn't gone missing in the post!
> 
> message has just popped up on TV:


the message popped up again this morning... it's a right PITA if you're recording something on Tivo and it pops up halfway through!


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## a_tivo_noob (Jan 2, 2004)

it transpires it's not all that bad after all, as the message popped up and ruined the whole of last nights big brother   

moo-ha-ha-ha


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## Mark Bennett (Sep 17, 2001)

a_tivo_noob said:


> the message popped up again this morning... it's a right PITA if you're recording something on Tivo and it pops up halfway through!


Yes. For the first year in many my Tivo recorded ALL of the Le Mans 24 Hours in June (whilst we were away at the race).
Got home to find that about half the recordings had the stupid banner across the screen...


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## johala_reewi (Oct 30, 2002)

The freesat from sky card is also handy if you want to use PIN based services (like parental access control).


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

kitschcamp said:


> I've not had mine yet, either. It's taking a very long time to get all the cards replaced.


Are you sure it isn't because Sky has worked out you are in Sweden and so not allowed to have one strictly speaking.

But I can report that my mother, who has a 21 month old Sky Pay Once Watch Forever install that was desubscribed after the 6 free months of Mix viewing, hasn't had her replacement card yet either, even though the Sky Pay Once Watch Forever terms and conditions clearly stated they would replace your viewing card for the first 5 years after install without charge if it became necessary to do so. But in any case knowing Sky as I do (i.e. why give a new free card to a customer paying no money unless they are aware of their rights and know how to complain) I'm confidently expecting to have to send an email to [email protected] and [email protected] for the free replacement viewing card to be sent to her (as I bought the Sky Pay Once Watch Forever as a birthday present for I think I can legitimately claim a continuing interest).

I am a former Sky Month by Month (one of their least known subscription products) subscriber so I must my check my terms and conditions (I still have the leaflet) to see if I am also entitled to a free replacement card for the first five years after becoming a subscriber. Failing that I will resubscribe a couple of weeks before the Dakar rally (now in South America) in January next year to force them to send me a new card. Resubscribing for a month seems to me like a better deal financially than paying £20 for a Freesat card on its own.


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## kitschcamp (May 18, 2001)

Pete77 said:


> Are you sure it isn't because Sky has worked out you are in Sweden and so not allowed to have one strictly speaking.


Pete, you're a bit behind the times with that reply...


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

kitschcamp said:


> Pete, you're a bit behind the times with that reply...


So that would be forwarded on from the British address that you told Sky you live at then.


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## kitschcamp (May 18, 2001)

Would it?


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

kitschcamp said:


> Would it?


Or Ireland of course. I'm not aware that Sky is prepared to knowingly send its viewing cards for its UK tv platform to anywhere else. In fact I'm sure its strictly against its Terms and Conditions to use them anywhere else.

We all know of course that due to real world demand that tens of thousand of Brits in Spain as well as the odd Brit in Sweden does still manage to get hold of these cards nonetheless.


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## kitschcamp (May 18, 2001)

You may think that, I couldn't possibly comment.


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## velocitysurfer1 (Sep 6, 2006)

Sky have a web page, where you can type in your existing FSFS card number, and if you're eligable they'll send you a new one.

link


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

velocitysurfer1 said:


> Sky have a web page, where you can type in your existing FSFS card number, and if you're eligable they'll send you a new one.
> 
> link


As usual the lieing stealing toe rags at Sky are trying to cheat and swindle their customers.

The Sky Pay Once Watch Forever Terms and Conditions (part of the FreesatFromSky product range) explicitly made clear that the card would be replaced for up to five years for free by Sky if required, although at their replacement card website at https://mysky.sky.com/replacecard/get-a-card it now says:-



> If you bought a Sky box or viewing card only from Freesat from Sky after 1st May 2006 then you are eligible for a free card. If not, you can purchase a replacement card.


But when I enter my mother's viewing card number (a Sky Pay Once Watch Forever system installed in November 2007) it says that you have to pay £20 to get the card. So as ever another email to [email protected] (the CEO) with cc to [email protected] is required to get the company to honour its own Terms & Conditions.

I have never encountered a more blatantly dishonest and swindling company than Sky. How can they possibly call the product "Pay Once Watch Forever" and then have the audacity to try and charge for a new Viewing card only 21 months later.


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