Changing from Sky to Freeview

Discount_diva_5

Hi,

This may seem a daft question to some of you but I am a technical retard so please indulge me!

I am getting rid of Sky and going on to Freeview. I was discussing this with an equally techno phobic mate who seemed to think that I would not need to get a freeview digibox and that I could get Freeview through my existing Sky box, once Sky have cancelled the signal. (she thought she had heard of this but couldn't remember where)

I haven't heard this before so could you please tell me if this is correct?

Thanks

magyar

You don't actually have to do anything, I think. If you just cancel Sky then your Digibox will work as a 'Freesat' box, and you get more or less the same channels you get on Freeview (in fact I think it's far more).

The most annoying thing is that you can't edit the Sky Guide to only show the channels you can subscribe to - then again why would Sky put that functionality in!

lowbrim

You will get a lot of freeview channels without a Sky subscription but to maximise the number you get you need to keep your sky card (there is no charge for this after you cancel your subscription) sky cards can also be purchased at £20 for the freeview channels with no ongoing subscription charges, the card allows you to get Channel 5 amongst others.

Even without a card in your sky box you can get a load of channels including true movies but as I said not channel 5 and a number of others. There are quite a few freeview channels you cant get like E4 without a conventional freeview box but as magyar says there are more channels with sky than freeview.

magyar

Yes, I should have been clear that you need to keep the Sky card plugged into the digibox.

dickibobboy

freesat is not freeview lets get that out of the way, once you cancell your sky sub your card will turn into a free to view card, this unlocks channel 4,5 and sky3 only the rest is all free to air (which you can find the channel line-up on https://www.freesatfromsky.com) most channels that are on freeview are on freesat but E4 abc1( i think) and another couple are not available on freesat. You will not need to buy a card for £20 to unlock channels (only three!). You may after three years or so when your free to view card expires.
Hope this helps.

DuncanMiller

although you can't change the channel list you can create your own list of channels using favourites thus removing the ones you dont want to see.

escroooge

I disconnected from sky and it worked like a digibox for a while...until the LNB on the dish bust and then the box itself failed. Prefer freeview all you need is and ariel and mains and the reciver is cheap.

magyar

DuncanMiller wrote:

although you can't change the channel list you can create your own list of channels using favourites thus removing the ones you dont want to see.

Agreed, although of course then you don't have actual favourites available.

joemardo1

Sky are funny, they list sky news as been one of the paid for channels on their advertising, but in fact its free to view with a sky card.

Just as a matter of interest, though it doesn't apply to me at the moment, if you sky box breaks down and you are not currently subscribing to sky, whats the best way to get a new one, better to ebay it, or to sign up to sky for a year again to try to get a new box, anyone know what sky usually offer in this case,

Joe

magyar

If you've ever signed up to Sky in the past at that address you're unlikely to qualify for any normal offer, although of course you might be able to negotiate something yourself.

Given that a simple digibox (i.e. not Sky+, not Sky HD) goes for around £40-50 then I think you're unlikely to get Sky for less than that (as you'd almost certainly have to sign up for a year).