Freeview through your old Sky box

twogoodtwo

Just wondered if anyone could help. I used to be a Sky digital customer until recently when I thought I would downgrade to Freeview. I thought you could use your Sky box after you have been disconnected as a freeview box but sadly it does not give me E4, Film 4 and a host of other channels. Is there anyway of getting these Freeview channels through my digibox without paying £150 for Freesat?

Thanks

Raksha

I don't think so - the Freeview signal comes through the TV ariel, the Sky signal comes through the satellite.........

adr0ck

i use sky (out of contract) i cant get e4 or more4 but do get film4

u looking at right channel? (315)

as far as i know u cant get e4 and more4 because channel4 is under contract with sky for a couple more years with these channels...so i'm assuming (might be wrong) that these will become free then

wonderfullife_2

Hi
I think the best bet would be, sell you sky box and buy a freeview box, a one off payment for about £20-30 quid and you will get all the freeviews channels, including E4, E4+ film4 etc. and no subscription.
I got one from Comet, a Goodmans for £29.99 easy works straight out of the box, and all the freeview channels, although you can get them cheaper.
I know you can buy Top up tv cards, although I don't know if they work in the Sky boxes and what extra channels they give you, but for these you have to pay a monthly fee.

adr0ck

sorry forgot to add

even if you get freesat you still wont get more4 or e4

the only way to get these free is through a freeview box

twogoodtwo

Thanks adr0ck - you are indeed right. I spoke to Sky customer services and they confirmed that was the case about e4 and film4.

It's annoying as I have Freeview integrated into my TV but my TiVO (DVR) won't recognise a built in freeview player so I have to have a separate box which I am loathed to spend another £20 odd quid on.

babitat

Freesat is £20 - it's just a new card which you have to phone up for.
You dont get E4 and more4, you do get Film4.

woo

think e4 and more4 will come on when the current carrying contract with sky ends, think that is in a year or so - but not 100% sure

k750man

I did not phone up for a £20 freesat card from sky. I just used my existing sky viewing card and got freesat using that. Providing you have your card you should get freesat for nowt with your existing equipment. Hope this saves someone £20.

Tumbleweed

Hi,

I just packed in my part-time job at Sky after 3 years.

Freesat and freeview are 2 different services as mentioned. If you've got a Sky digibox without a viewing card, you've got freesat, minus channels 4 and 5. All a Sky freesat card will do is unencrypt channels 4 and 5 for you.

If you have recently cancelled your subscription with Sky, your viewing card should still work as a freesat card for a while at least, as k750man says. Unfortunately, as your contract has been cancelled, Sky won't be able to resend signals to that card if necessary as they can't perform any actions on a cancelled account (Chordiant customer management software won't allow it).

E4 is on its way. Before I left, we were told it would be available on freesat in July, but nothing more was said officially and it hasn't happened yet (at least as far as I know).

jamieainslie

Can anyone please tell me if the signal coming out of my sky box will change after my subscription ends (next month)?

At the moment the RF aerial output works on a TV, but not the usb device for my computer. This leads me to believe that either sky or the device manufacturers won't allow transmission in this way. Be good to find out which.