UK sky multiroom - with the extra room 1000 miles away.

[SteveTheLight]

OK so I'm sure this has already been covered but I've tried to seach without luck...

Please could anyone suggest the best way of doing this:

We live in UK and have a bolt hole SW France we visit 8 times a year.

3 years ago, we upgraded our UK SKY TV to SKY+ connected to the BT line and multiroomed our old (non +) box, also originally connected to the BT line. We have the standard SKY package with movies. We took the multiroom standard box to France and installed a new dish and we watch the same channels in France as we do in the UK, weather permitting.

This costs us £600 per year and it has to be reduced. We want to drop movies altogether and just have the standard entertainment pack with Discovery in the UK, and the equivalent of Sky freesat in France.

Is this possible without opening a can of worms or bringing the multiroom box back to the UK?

Thanks

Steve

[Will]

Try this or this or this, or even this this this or this.

Not all might be directly relevant, and some are quite old, but all contain at least some reference to using Sky Multiroom.

[f1steveuk]

£600!!!! I think I might reduce that too.

[stan]

I would phone SKY and ask them to remove the Movies and the multiroom parts of your subscription and ask them for a Freesat for SKY viewing card for your box in France, but dont mention it is going to France!

[Théière]

For £600 you could get Humax HD boxes (one off payment) and Bin the low life Murdoch group forever!

[f1steveuk]

The thought of giving Murdoch 60p grates on me!

[WendyG]

Hi

Whatever you do, do not mention France to Sky as they will instantly stop your card|

Most people keep a box/boxes in France/Spain and just take their cards back and forth.

This should give you all the stations you normally get in the UK

WendyG

[NickP]

Funnily enough I've just found out that our French free satellite system has changed. It informed us via the screen that a software upgrade was imminent, now instead of about twenty channels; we get around 100 including Sky news, BBC world news, France 24 plus all the other various news channels , also Spanish, Italian, German, Polish and any number of different programs from all over Europe. I think they must have changed satellites. As to Wendy's suggestion for taking your card back and forth between the UK and France be careful as most cards are now matched to a particular box, so although you can use the paired box and card in both countries, you cannot use one card with 2 boxes. I spoke to Sky and mentioned France and all they said was, " we don't broadcast to France sir" So now I only phone them from the UK, they then send any updates straight to your computer, no problems at all.

[SteveTheLight]

Thanks.

My main concern is that we may be entering into a new contract and, with it, a new obligation to keep the phone line attached. As it stands we are out of this contract obligation. We also may need to register the "new" card with the box, which we cannot do over the phone in France, so we would presumably have to bring the box back to the UK?

[jen]

When we have tried to do this before we just get a message pop up that says 'this card is not registered with the set box' ?

[stan]

[quote user="SteveTheLight"]Thanks.

My main concern is that we may be entering into a new contract and, with it, a new obligation to keep the phone line attached. As it stands we are out of this contract obligation. We also may need to register the "new" card with the box, which we cannot do over the phone in France, so we would presumably have to bring the box back to the UK?[/quote]

No, all you are doing is altering your subscription. The multiroom box is yours, you can do what you like with it. A new freesat SKY card does not involve a contract, it is a one off payment and has nothing to do with attaching a phone line to the box. If you have any doubts about this, you would be better buying a freesat box, still altering your susbsription (ie cancelling movies and multiroom), and put your existing multiroom box on eBay. Again though, it is very important not to tell SKY you are taking the card (if you go with SKY freesat) to France.

[SteveTheLight]

Thanks stan. I think I've got this.

So, the viewing cards stay the same so there's no need to go through the telephone procedure the engineer does when he first installed the box to "register" the card to the box. The info the box needs to tell it which channels to allow to be viewed is sent via satelite, not by reprogramming the chip on the card, by the telephone link direct to the box, or the installation engineer. Just the account details change, all the hardware and veiwing cards remain exactly the same.

[NickP]

Steve once the cards are paired with the box all the software comes down to your box from the satellite dish. The telephone line is only a condition of you getting a subsidised box from the supplier, I think I'm right in saying the phone line has to be connected to the box for one year as per your original contract, after that you can disconnect it. I have a Sky contract but as I bought my own Box (non Sky) I never had to connect my phone line. The concept of the phone line is to tempt you to make impulse choices of programs for extra cash, TV on demand? and I believe to keep check on your viewing habits. Not an unknown habit of Sky and it's owners

[fluffy tree]

Hi Steve, My first posting - consider yourself honoured! :-)

I have not had a problem using one Sky card with a box in the UK, and over here too. It is true that the cards are linked to specific boxes, so you are unable to view some channels - a message comes up saying the incorrect card is in the box - but it's not the major channels on the standard '6 mix' package - and HD is fine too. You would be unlikely to view the premium sport and film channels with the card in the unregisatered box. If you wish to change your package at any time though you will need the card in the correct box in the UK when you're calling, otherwise any changes requested won't be successful.

Hope this helps :-)