SKY / SATELLITE TV

[md 600 driver]

sky subscriptions are not allowed by sky out of the uk to any one wanting to watch sky tv or use skyhd/skyplus functions -infact it is illegal to watch freesat any bbc/itvc4c5
unless its to a licenced opperator like bbc world

however people want to watch sky programming abroad there are 2 main ways of doing this [and lots of variations of the 2]
1
you use a friends address in the uk order a card and installation at that address then take box to portugal never telling sky you have moved the box all billing keeps going to the registered address you have full control of your card and subscription or get a friendly independent installation company to arrange for you

2
buy a subscription card from a company that arranges a subscription as above but they are in control of your subscription there are lots of companys doing this most ok but watch out with some. you will pay a year in advance the company that you are using will not pay this money to sky upfront they will pay monthly to sky as this is the only way to pay sky IF THE CARD COMPANY DECIEDE NOT TO PAY SKY YOUR SKY VIEWING WILL CEASE EVEN IF YOU HAVE PAID FOR THE YEAR AND ALL YOU CAN DO IS CHASE THE CARD COMPANY NOT SKY as you are not their customer

just a few FAQ
phone lines
just to put the record straight the phone line is only for interactive use and to originally to swich card on. updates to the card and box are all sent via the dish to the box not by a phone line

sky freesat
sky provide a box and subcription card and allows you to watch all free programming [these cards will be replaced free later this year if under 3 years old otherwise they will be unusable as they will be swiched off ]

free cards provided free by bbc
these will not be replaced they will stop working when the cards are changed they are not issued anymore anyway

ex subscription cards
these will all be swihced off when the new cards are issued

bbc freesat
this is a fairly new service it allows you to get free sat programms from bbc itv c4 c5 it also allows you to watch any tv region you want by adding your potcode you need a seperate bbc freesat box, no card is required [here isnt a slot for it anyway ] but you cant watch sky sports on it and you never will be able to

sky box
without a card you wont get all channels that are free as a card is required to regionalise the box C5 WONT WORK WITHOUT A CARD

any other questions please ask i know my spelling is bad i wish i could say i am portugeese as an excuse but i am british

[shanagarry]

We all know the rules so how do they know your location if you do not contact them from Portugal?

Does that mean that all the bars will have to stop showing live football?

[Bruce Wallis]

Every so often SKY prosecute a bar owner outside the UK just to prove they can....but there are SO many bars......

[shanagarry]

ALF1956 - what did you do for SKY to cut you off?

[EMM]

Ref PHONE LINES.

To set up our sky box in the UK the eng connected the box to the phone line and then had to enter our pin no to validate the card.
Once done we do not need the phone connected unless we need to uodate again or use some of the interactive services.

I have assumed that when we receive the new card we will have to repeat the process, connect phone line etc.

[shanagarry]

ALF1956 - what did you do for SKY to cut you off?

[steve]

It is not necessary to plug in the phone line to use a new card. You simply take the old one out and insert the new one. Many boxes in the UK have never been connected to a phone line.

[shanagarry]

ALF1956 - what did you do for SKY to cut you off?

[EMM]

Telephone line validation may be a new procedure as our Sky connection is less than 12 months old.
The pack came with a contract no to be used in all correspondence and a PIN number for our card.

[md 600 driver]

the only way sky can remotely see where you are is to connect the phone line or if you tell them

bar owners usually get found out by other bar owners or other jealous people reporting them to sky and giving them the card number, which is very easily found by taking a spare remote to the bar pointing it at the box or remote eye and going to services and looking at the serial number and card number then its game finished this happens a lot sky have to disconnect the card and box as its not in the uk

[steve]

Don't make the obvious mistake of phoning Sky from a Portuguese landline or a Portuguese mobile phone. Using a UK mobile from here used to be OK and may still be but I was told by one installer that he thought Sky now had telephone ID software which told them where the call was coming from and he was going to look into other ways of making contact. Never heard anymore though so I do not know whether it is true.

A friend of mine reported a fault by means of phoning a relative in the UK on the relative's mobile. The relative phoned Sky on their lineline and then passed the Sky instructions back over her mobile explaining the delay by saying that she was phoning from an upstairs phone and having to relay messages to her husband downstairs with the Sky box. Ingenious or what!

[shanagarry]

Presumably Alf did the the opposite to what you have outlined - called from a Portuguese landline or mobile?

This is all very interesting to us as we are planning a permanent move to Cvo later this year and have a full Sky setup to bring with us.

Assuming we get past all the set up without any hiccups - will Sky Plus and Sky HD work as it does here?

[steve]

Yes Sky+ and HD work normally here. After all they are receiving the same signal as in the UK.

The only problem I have encountered is with the ITV signal. There is basically one ITV1 signal and this is one 103. There may be another at 993 if your one at 103 is not London. Sky allocate your ITV region according to the postcode at which your card is registered. This is an ITV requirement linked obviously to advertising. Unfortunately some ITV region signals are stronger than others and while you can tune to get any ITV region on" other channels" you cannot record to the hard disk on Sky+ from this source. While you can watch satisfactorily using the other channels it is inconvenient not to be able to record other than by finding the programme that you want when it is repeated later on one of the ITV channels on the main menu eg ITV2+1. You need to have regard to the ITV signal strength in deciding where your card is registered in the UK. One of the best is currently West Yorkshire and one of the worst in London. However Sky does from time to time change the power of a signal.

There is no real problem with BBC1 because the regional stations appear on the main menu in the 990+ range and you can record to the hard drive from these.

Another possible means of Sky finding out that a subscriber box is being used abroad is if you rent out your property and clients phone Sky to report a fault or to order a movie. Your villa book should warn against this.

[shanagarry]

Steve - that's very helpful - thank you.

Our picture and reception is fine apart from the pixelation we get during the evening - is that curable? Our card is registered at our home in West Sussex and we do not rent - so no need for concern there.

[EMM]

The picture breaking up is we were told due to the Algarve being on the fringe of if not out of the SKY transmission area.

This is evident when there is bad weather /rain and there is no solution to it.
It does have its good points we lost the signal during " strictly " last winter " Great !!"