Do I need a new Sky card?

[cooperlola]

Card in or card out, channel 105 is not on the list and when I key it in "channel unavailable" pops up.

Just going to have a quick play with it now (I'll turn off the box with the card out and see what happens).  But the problems started yesterday when somebody unplugged all my telly kit (and messed up an evening's recordings[:-))].) 

I can't get Anton's method to work, when I'm on C5 (arrived at as an "other channel") scrolling does nothing at all.

[Martin963]

For what it's worth coops I've had my card out for a week now as an experiment (which I have not been keeping an eye on!)  but I've just checked and although BBC 1 and ITV still think they're in the south-west,  ch 5 has appeared on 105 without let or hindrance.

So maybe you just need to give it a bit longer,   (which I know is extremely inconvenient in view of your need to record).

Ch 5 must be very pleased to have such a devoted and loyal viewer.   I wonder if -  as has been vaguely mooted -  they ever do decide to become part of Sky,  and what will then happen to their FTA status........

[cooperlola]

Yes, Martin, I have noticed that the guy who is supplying my new card says to allow at least 24 hours after inserting the card before giving up - so I've left my card out and hopefully I'll get 5 back on the channel list before the next programme I want to see comes along. 

It's not that they have loads of great programmes but there are one or two which I think are top quality - even though made in the US (The Unit, Flash Forward (so far so good), the various Law and Orders and my daily dose of Numbers).  The wall-to-wall CSI on the other hand I just cannot abide - so sick and so obsessed with highlighting the revolting, it literally makes me puke - five minutes of the pilot was enough to put me off my dinner for a week. Never again.[+o(]

I will persevere.  Happily my nice chap on flea-bay posted the new card today so the wait shouldn't be too long.  It's interesting that the suppliers of my original "house" card (bought in the days when it was needed for Channel 4 - before I'd ever seen 5 in any guise) are suggesting on their website - and in an e-mail to me - that it's not worth replacing as one only loses Fiver, 5US and Sky3.  They too give Clair's method of tuning in C5.  Their suggestion is that the other 5 channels are likely to be free to air soon.  We shall see.  What Murdoch does or does  not decide to do or to think is and always will be a mystery to me.  I just resent paying him money for a piece of plastic (or anything else for that matter, including his newspapers), just because I live abroad.

[Anton Redman]

I have found channels turn up for up to 48 hours.

[cooperlola]

Thanks, Anton, I will try to be patient (yeah, right!)[:)]

[Anton Redman]

It is the debit card verification which tells me to be patient while the expletive deleated machine uses a dial up connection that causes my blood to boil.

[Martin963]

The sticking point with a lot of channels who would dearly love to go FTA is lack of capacity on Astra 2D.    2D was a last minute off-the-peg (from Hughes) satellite which Astra bought while they were still designing 2C.   2D was quite a joke at the beginning,  because ITV were "forced" to use it,  with its "limited" coverage.

Of course the joke was soon turned in on itself,  when Greg Dyke had the brain wave to liberate the BBC from encryption  (his plan,  in conjunction with Freeview,   was (is) to fill every home with a decoder box specifically with NO card slot,  thus limiting a future government's ability to make the BBC subscription only) and to achieve this on satellite he had to convince the oh-so-precious rights-holders that 2D was limited to reception in Britain.   Now we of course all know it isn't,   but Greg's a persuasive sort of bloke,  and it's amazing what you can do with a coverage map and a bit of pessimism.

Anyway,  2D is now the "freesat" satellite in the sense that channels showing anything worthwhile and wishing not to be encrypted have to use it to prevent too much European spill,  as opposed to 2A or 2B  (or 2C which is currently off on a jaunt elsewhere at the moment!).   And guess what,  Sky saw this coming and rented some space on 2D to fill it up before freesat had properly launched (although after the BBC and ITV were already FTA).   So unless Sky can be persuaded to move their 2D stuff to the other 2's,  or unless Astra have the good sense to replace the aging 2A with another Hughes spinner or similar,  or unless ....   well I can't think of another unless,   freesat is for the moment "stuck" with the channels it has already got.

Which is partly why ch 4 HD isn't available without a Sky card,  etc etc.   And why it may be a wait for the Five spin offs to appear.  Who knows?

Frustrating isn't it.....

[suein56]

[quote user="Maricopa"]When I started getting the on screen warning message, I simply took out the card, and the only thing I lost was Sky 3, with Channel 5 being on 105 as usual.  Maybe I was just lucky?[/quote]

Feeling encouraged by your post of yesterday, this morning, having become ever more annoyed by the 'please insert new sky card' notice, I took our Sky 'House' card out of the digibox. Then I crossed my fingers, held my breathe and switched on the box, fearing the worst. But nothing had changed; ITV Midlands chattered at me, 105 was still in the same spot, everything else seemingly in place. I was so shocked and stunned that I switched off the box. I just hope everything will still be there tonight. [blink]

Edit: Just switched the box on again and ITV Midlands has disappeared with Sky adding a 'Please insert your Sky card' notice and CH 5 has suffered the same fate. [:P]

Ah well. [:(]

Sue