Replacing Sky tv - when no cable tv available. Not prepared to give any more momey to New International.

[AwesomePan]

This comes in the light of the NOTW journalists hacking Millie Dowlers phone,and deleting messages off it, and thus providing more heartache and false hope to the Dowlers that their daughter was still alive.

There a few ( well me and Ponders so far) who need advice on how to access digital services for TV. Ponders is a bit restricted due to poor reception from a transitter, me by the fact that nickelodeon AFAIK is only available in the UK on the Sky dish set up ( no cable out here).

Is there someone wit hsome expertise in this field. Appreciate it's a bit of a wide question and experts probably charge for this sort of thing. But any help would be appreciated.

By Ponders aand me in any event.

tia.

I tried to dump Sky last night for BT vision, got quite excited about it, only to be told we can't have it where we live. :(

Nor is there any prospect of getting it in the next 6 months apparently. Am pissed off..:(

Off now to look up Top up TV which I haven't tried.

why can't Virgin do satellite as well as cable?

Anyone who has Sky can cancel their contract and keep the equipment. You own that box and the dish. All you will lose are the premium channels.

Ponders - I don't know ( a long with many tv techie things!)

Takes a bit of research doesn't it? Have been speaking with a friend who claims to know all about these things.

foxsat? not fox as in the fox network is it? cos Murdoch owns that doesn't he?

no foxsat is a box that sits ontop of your tv and plugs in and unencrypts things so you can watch them. ( now at the very edge of my knowledge)

foxsat is a \link{http://www.humaxdigital.com/global/products/product_stb_satellite_foxsat-hdr.asp\Humax box} (as linked to by babyocho earlier)

just to complicate matters

just looking at freesat - never heard of it before. You can use your sky dish and plug it into a freesat box (cost around £50 for standard def.). No more charges. Carries all the standard channels...so no nickelodeon....and a talk with dd....

I looked at freesat, but it has fairly limited channels

Between freeview and freesat, we don't feel there is much we're missing out on. There's rumours that 5star and 5US will come to freesat at some point soon (bleeding sky is the reason they aren't there now). I am still peed off about what sky did to Virgin1 and Sky3. Just another example of how they're trying to monopolise and get people to pay for their service.

I know. for me it's becoming as much about my relationship with dd as much as it is about Mr Murdoch. Sky is going in this house before the next subs are due ( 20th July) - so a conversation has to be had (bit like the birds and bees one!)

AwesomePan, that Freesat box plugged into the Sky dish is surely no different to cancelling Sky contract and just keeping the Sky box?

Wouldn't you then get all the free channels just the same?

is it?? It doesn't all just go off then?? (again at my limited boundaries.)

Just said to DP: I really want to get rid of Sky, I feel uneasy at the thought of lining Murdoch's pockets for a minute longer.

DP: Good idea, we could just use the BT Vision box.
Me: What BT Vision box?
DP: That one there I get it free from work, you don't have to pay anything, it's got a hard drive in it and everything.

Me:

Sky is going, tomorrow. Good riddance. 'Believe in better', my arse.

lucky to have a BT vision box already. For anyone else, cancelling Sky is an option only after the first year (or possibly after the last upgrade/ change... eg if you added Sky HD) otherwise there may be some penalty charges if they have a 12 month contract with you.

AwesomePan Sky was doing a 'FreeSat from Sky' deal where they'd install for 150 quid, and the main thing that someone wanting to switch from the premium channels/monthly sub to freesat option, would be to get Sky to change your viewing card. Best to ask them about this. For someone without Sky there may be a fee of 20 quid. If you have Sky they should be able to just downgrade your card to block the Sky 1 etc channels, but leave radio and BBC, ITV etc.

If you've had Sky for a while, is change to a FreeSat HD box, so for the channels they offer in HD you would only pay out once for the more advanced box, and not have a tenner a month extra for HD the way Sky provides it...

You can also consider changing the LNB (lump at the end of the arm on the dish) to plug more cables in (some have 2 sockets, but you can get 1, 2, 4, 8 sockets) so adding a FreeSat box in another room, or in a bedroom, is easy - get 8 cables and can add extra boxes in other rooms later. Admittedly not the Sky channels but you also add BBC Radio like 1 Xtra, 6 Music, 4 Extra, and decent quality for 5 Live (and 5 Live Sports)

Note that you need 2 cables for a box which can record, before you think I'm mad to suggest using 8 cables! (Oh, but make sure the dish has a strong arm on it :)

Ponders Thanks for info on Foxsat. As for Virgin doing satellite... it would be possibe but for any company to rent space on the satellites is costly. Sky can afford to because they have the Movies and Sport to bring in money (admittedly a lot goes out to buy the rights to show things) but it has taken 20 years to go from making a loss each year to bring in a profit. Virgin took over 2 or more loss making cable services (Telewest ? and another). Not sure if they took those debts on as well, but they probably had a struggle to make the cable go from loss to profit, and doubt they could find enough customers not already on Sky to switch to satellite if they had tried that. Also might have fallen foul of some competition rules because they would be seen as trying to muscle in on both land and sky services.

Networkguy - I am working my way through your precious advice! I have had Sky for years. My concern is to not give RM/NewsCorps anymore money, so paying £150 in any case is out of the equation. I also don't need any more rooms in my house having a tv so the question is only about one point of television. I also don't need or want HD (and dd thinks the same when I asked her aaages ago).

Sooo, my only question now is...if I cancel sky now, is there a difference between what channels I will receive automatically without the whole thing going pufff!, and, do I need to buy a freeview box in order to receive more/better channels - or will they both be the same?

I do appreciate your patience and effort in all of this.

try it - see what you get left with - and if it isn't ok then get the freesat box. You can check on the freesat website which channels you can expect to get.

I have bt vision and get the kids package which includes nickelodeon on demand. So you can't watch nickelodeon as it's transmitted like you can on sky but can watch various shows on demand.

And most of the shows that I would want to watch on sky also come onto on demand (albeit later than aired on sky and sometimes with a very long and annoying gap between seasons)

Oh and when we cancelled sky (3 years ago though...) we could still use the box and get all freeview channels plus a few satellite ones (eg the free movies ones, sky3, tinypop, vhf etc) through it

throckenholt - I'd rather enquire first rather than just trying it and being left with nothing, esp., if like Freakoid, someone has cancelled sky previously and can tell me what's left. Thanks FO!

For where I live, freeview coverage checker tells me I can only receive 12 channels, incl only two childrens. So that's if I do nothing apart from just cancel sky.
Freesat channel checker tells me if I buy a freesat box the channels go up to over 100 (thank goodness I will still get Ocean Finance!) but with only 5-6 childrens, and one;'s which look way too young for dd.(as babyocho inducated on Tuesday night)

so it's 1. freeview 2. freesat or 3.BT vision......

Awesomepan - if you cancel sky, you will continue to get the free to air channels on your skybox - no need to pay another £150.

When we cancelled about 4 years ago, we did just that. Early last year, sky wanted £25 for a new card so we could contnue to receive all the channel 5 channels and a few others we didn't even care about. Our box was gettign old and flaky by then, so we didn't bother - we also have a freeview pvr that filled in some of the missing channels, so had nothing to gain by handing over another £25. That was march. In May, the sky box breathed its last, which is when we took the plunge and replaced out humongous crt TV with a cracked screen with a nice little one with built in freeview and freesat HD.

So once you cancel, there will be no rush for you to go out and fork out for new equipment. It took us 3 years!

Sorry AP - the 150 pound option was to explain that Sky has offered (to someone with no sat box) as an option to provide them with the 'FreeSat' channels but with a Sky box (think it was a Sky+ box actually).

When I first saw the offer it was only 75 pounds in Asda, which (for someone needing the dish to be installed as well) represented excellent value... even at 150 it is the sort of cost for just having the dish and cables installed without a box on top, so it appeals to anyone without a dish already (I had 2 dishes on previous home, but none here at present, hence why I took some interest, when funds would allow... but still not in the near future, as my roof and 3 ceilings needing repairs, are more important).

One benefit may have been that Sky has a few different/extra radio channels, but of course Sky would be hoping that the customer might be tempted to use a PPV show (sport event, film, or adult channel), or be tempted/ pressured to take the Sky channels because of the promotions of subscription channels on 'Pick TV'.

Your best (only?) clear method of finding out (unless you post a question on another forum such as DigitalSpy, or a recent Sky channels to Sky 'FreeSat' channels user responds) is to contact Sky direct, yourself.

"do I need to buy a freeview box in order to receive more/better channels - or will they both be the same?"

You'd only need to do so if Sky demanded their box back (eg if you had a Sky+ HD box, perhaps, I don't know if they do request them back)... or if they cancel the card completely (at which point the box becomes useless).

So as ouryve indicates there would be no 150 pounds to pay, and should be a 'downgrade' option to just the FreeSat channels. No need to buy a FreeSat box unless you choose to fit out another room, or go from simple view to PVR to time-shift, or decide to get HD FreeSat box.