New Sky Cards - Confirmation

Sky has offically confirmed today that they will be issueing new sky viewing cards.

they have updated the messages on the sky information channels (999 and press red), and state that new viewing card will be issued during April.

If you have a sky subscription, then the new viewing card will be sent to the UK address (or your installers / agents uk address).

If you bought a new FSFS card in the last 3 years then these should also be replaced.

it is expected that ex subscription cards and fsfs cards bought over 3 years ago will not be replaced.

it is expected that all exisiting "blue house" cards will be swicthed off by May.

Thanks buddy.

I had my suspicions that they would, as it has been a little while since they have.

Sky UK and NDS (the encryption firm and also a News Corp co) are contracted to change the viewign cards every 5 years.

this wil be the second sky digial viewing card change. - light blue cards being the first cards, dark blue "yellow hoiuse" cards, and now all white cards.

it was meant to happen last year, but was delayed due to uncertainty about what channels would leave the freesatfromsky line up and be available for free - ie freesat's launch. there were also rumours that it was delayed as they further improved encryption and lessons learnt from when they changed the cards for other NDS companies - sky italia being one..

Thanks for the info about this.  i think I've been done again!

I travelled from costa calida to the satellilte suppliers office in finnestrat near benidorm to get the new blue house card early last year.  went to collect it as the one they'd promised faithfully they had sent in the post never arrived at our address in Spain.

Last week arrived at the house for the first time this year.  No Sky, only the free channels and news etc, and a screen message saying the subscription had to be upgraded.  Rang the finnestrat office to be told that there is a company in the UK that provides Sky with UK addresses for the subscriptions.  This company is now demanding £100 per year to provide the upgrade or no tv.  I was told that if I paid over the phone my subscription woulld be updated straight away and tv would be ok.  Stupidly I'v paid £100 to a company I've no idea who or where they are, and of course - still no Sky.  Beware!

many people who use an installer who said "yeah we can sort out a sky card for you - no you dont need a UK address" have been fully aware that the card agents have started to want a "yearly fee" for the borrowing of a uk address.

i cannot belive installers did not say this to people - my card agent has always charged a yearly fee for using one of his addresses but i do try and get people to use their own address where possible...its just safer and easier for the client in the long run.

you are not the only one....many have fallen down this route...and have been left with no pay tv even though they are til paying a dd the agent has control over the account.

normally they dont stop all of the sky package - the ones i know of have haad one of the 6 mixes still running - usually the music ones.

there are two ways to get aorund this:

pay the agents yearly fee

or cancel the card, cancel the dd, and set one you using a uk address you control (although you will have to sort out activation etc yourslef also but i can be done)

not all installers are rogues..there are a few good ones around - few been the word...but hopefully my posts here and on other forums have prooved that there are good honest installers around.

Thanks for your help.  I'm angry because when this company set up the system we used our own uk address for the first sky card.  When it changed they told us to keep using our uk bank for the DD but no need for a uk address.  The use of an agent was never explained and no fees asked for.  Now we have paid the DD, paid the agents fee and still no sky.  Great scam.  We now have to cancel it all and find someone to trust - ha ha.

Hi guys

I have 2 sky subscriptions in spain. They are paid monthly by credit card. I don't know the address being used in the UK. My problem is that when the new cards are issued they will be sent to the address being used and as I have no way of finding out to who or where they are issued I will have to cancel the subscriptions and start again.

This will be a slight problem because, according to the bank, it is not so straightforward to cancel direct debit type payments set up on a credit card and may result in me having to cancel the card completely.

The other problem will be that once I have set up the new account in my own name and UK address ( which  should have done in the first place ) how do I go about getting the cards authorised by sky?

Would appreciate any help or advice.

Hi

Haved been watching this thread, We are in the process of buying in spain and have been told that we can just bring our UK viewing card with us and plug it in when we are in spain. Is this the case then the easiest way could be to get sky multi room in the uk ether your own address or that of a UK friend. the cost is £10 per month if it works. Maybe the experts can confirm if this is a way forward. Not within the terms of use but using cards in spain is not ether.

Vonster

When you go for Sky Multi-room, the 2nd box MUST be connected to the telephone landline, and if it is disconnected for long periods of time, then Sky will cancel the card, as they KNOW that people used to do this and then take the 2nd box to Spain. Also the card will be married to the box, so you can't just bring the card with you. It is 'possible' to re-marry cards and boxes, but you have to know what you are doing, and it is a pain in the... well, you know!

About a year before we moved Spain, as our Sky+ box was OVER 12 months old at that time, as was the contract, I disconnected the telephone landline, as it was NO LONGER a contractual requirement to have the box connected to the landline. Had no problems whatsoever during the time before we moved.

So, when we moved to Spain last December, so did the box and card, and we have been using Sky+ with no problems at all!

Thought the idea was to simple, Just checking my multi room box it has not been connected for over a year to the telephone line, Will know what is wrong if it does not work soon.

Thanks

techno is almost correct, so just to clarify...

a sky card is "paired" to a specific sky receiver. this is required to view the premium sky channels - sky sports and sky movies.the sky card will work in ANY other sky receiver, and you will be able to view all the channels apart from the sky sports and sky movie channels....unless you call sky and get the card "paired" to the other box.

some "generic / multicam" (ie nonsky like darkbox) receiver are able to have their software updated to read the sky cards and make all channels, including sports and movies, but it is thought that these new sky cards will not work on these types of receivers...

MULTIROOM

all cards on a sky multiroom contract and their "paired" receivers need to be connected to a UK phone line - this effectivly allows sky to police where the discounted cards are located, and stops people from taking them to other houses.

at random tiems, the box dials into the sky computer, which logs the phone numbers that the boxes called from, thus ensuring the boxes and cards are where they are meant to be.

if calls are missed for a period of time, then you will start to get letters from sky sasking you to connect the box / card to the phone line to make the connectionto the sky computer.

if this is not done, then you have broken the multiroom contract and sky will charge you full subscriptuion, BACKDATED until the last callback, for all cards that have not dialed the sky computer.

they will not disconnect the card - you end up being chrged full whack for your "£10" card, and get constant phone calls and letters from sky about connecting your multiroom cards / boxes to the phone line, probably sending engineersa round to see why the box is not connetced.

a multiroom contract is different to the standard "free / discounted" installation contracts. the standard "free / discounted" installation contracts are a minumum of 12 months, in which period all the equipment is still skys. after this 12 months thie dish and receiver are yours (the card is still skys tho!), and you can disconnect from uk phone line and do with it whatever you want to...

again, the sky card remains property of sky, and using it outside the uk is against the T&Cs of the card, and if Sky fond out you have broken these T&Cs then your card will be deactivated - and in some cases the UK address and bank account have been blacklisted.

a multiroom contract is ongoing, for however long you want tto run it for...it is not 12 months.

I don't know the address being used in the UK. My problem is that when the new cards are issued they will be sent to the address being used and as I have no way of finding out to who or where they are issued I will have to cancel the subscriptions and start again.

Very likely you will have to start all over again.

This will be a slight problem because, according to the bank, it is not so straightforward to cancel direct debit type payments set up on a credit card and may result in me having to cancel the card completely.

why not just get another credit card, and set up new sky accounts on that?

The other problem will be that once I have set up the new account in my own name and UK address ( which  should have done in the first place ) how do I go about getting the cards authorised by sky?

New sky cards need to be actiavted to work. If in the UK put the card in the box, and follow the instructions that come with the card, and it will automatically activate - as long as the box is conencted to a dish and phone line.

otherwise, if you are in spain, then you will have to get someone in the uk to call sky on your behalf to manually activate the card. this person will have to have all the sky account information , probably dd / cc details, and sky box details, for manualy activation.

 hope this helps.

Out of interest does anyone know why sky is not available in spain officially, as a great deal of people seem to have access to it.  

its all down to the contracts the tv companies sign with all the programme makers, movie studios, sports goveringin bodies. these rights are done on a country by country basis.

for example, sky have rights for showing premiership football in the UK.

TVE have the rights for showing premiership football in spain.

if sky were to be available for all europe, then eith erhtey would have to buy the rights for spain and all other countries also, or put 3 hours of other progrmming on so they dont break the TVE exclusivity contract.

if sky wanted the premiership rights for spain it must also weigh up the cost of those rights against the number of sky sports subscriptions it woul bring in...and i dare say the numbers mean will not be worth it.

and many progreammes and channels on sky are already available in spain anyway - either on terrestrial tv or D+. if there is a discovery channel on d+ it does not make sense for sky to offer that channels also in that  country

and even if sky / bsb / new corp do actually but D+ (although they are no longer in the running as it is too expensive for them) it does not mean sky sports UK will be available in spain as all the rights will still be distributed as they are already - eg sky itailia have their own sky sports italia, not the uk version, as some rights that sky uk have will have been sold to other itialian broadcasters!

this sale of D+ was what made a few newspapers and a few "uninformed" installers say that Sky UK were doing a deal so that their channels would be on D+......it aint true and with how the contracts / right have been sold really not possible.

this is too much for a sunday afternoon!

This message was last edited by satandpcguy on 4/19/2009.

Sorry for spoiling your sunday afternoon, life is to complicated.

Thanks for your detailed reply.

Just a couple of questions 1) why do you have to call from the UK? can they trace where you are if calling on a mobile?

2) I really don't need both sky subscriptions anymore. If I just leave the card, that will become obsolete, in the spare receiver will I be able to use the box like a freeview box?

Cheers

1) why do you have to call from the UK? can they trace where you are if calling on a mobile?

ideally you have to cal from the uk as they have the ability to trace non uk phone numbers...and if someone is calling from a non uk phone line then thay can safly assume the sky card is with the caller at the non uk house and therefore can cut you off.

you can try and use a mobile, if you can be sure it cannot be traced back to a non uk mobile phone network that the phone is using for connection. even some internet call services (skype) have been known to be picked up by the sky phone id system via IP addresses etc.

2) I really don't need both sky subscriptions anymore. If I just leave the card, that will become obsolete, in the spare receiver will I be able to use the box like a freeview box?

a cancelled subscription card wil become a freesatfromsky card - allowing access to the FTV channels - five, fiver etc.

i do not know fo how long a cancelled old sky card will continue to work as a freesatfromsky card given the sky card change - i would expect all old cards to be deactivated sometime...

even without a sky card in a sky box you are still be able to view the free to air channels like bbc and itv.

you will not be able to use your sky box as a freeview box - a sky box is for use with a satellite dish, a freeview box is for use with a uk tv aerial. not all channels on uk freeview are free to air on satellite.