Do Sky Know When Old Boxes and Dishes Are Being Used?

UKSBD

I've recently taken back possession of a house I used to live in.

When I lived in it (12 years ago) we had a Sky tv account

Since then, nobody has used the dish or a sky box and the property has no phone line or broadband.

Tested it at the weekend

25 year old Sky dish, that hasn't been used in 12 years.
12 year old sky box, that hasn't been used in 8 years
12 year old TV that hasn't been used in 8 years

After a few minutes saying searching for channels, everything works fine 🙂

My question is;

Would Sky know the Sky Box and Dish are being used now?

Can they pressurise us in to having a Sky account

Can we just watch all the channels that are working completely free of charge (apart from TV Licence)

If so, is there any need to ever have a Sky account?

flaneurs_lobster

If the box is not connected to the internet/phoneline then no.

Domestic satellite telly is downlink-only.

If you are getting subscription channels then someone is paying for them.

Neil_Jones

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6675306/do-sky-know-when-old-boxes-and-dishes-are-being-used

Sky boxes (HD and earlier) require active memberships to do anything more than receive FTA channels.
They did use to be required to connect to a phone line but that hasn't been the case for new installs after December 2013 and was later dropped for everybody.

The TV itself is irrelevant. The dish itself is irrelevant, its just a curved lump of metal stuck on a wall.

The viewing cards deactivate after a few weeks if they're not in an actively used box, so its unlikely you're getting the likes of Sky Sports/Cinema on it.

UKSBD

Thanks both

I'm assuming I can't get any subscription or Sky channels, but appear to be getting dozens of free ones.

I don't think he Sky Box even has a viewing card in it, I could be wrong though, will check next time I am there.

UKSBD

Just checked on Google and it looks like I can get 150+ free channels, but won't have the ability to pause, record, rewind or anything like that.

Woodstok2000

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82060605#Comment_82060605

Thats correct. We're still using a 15 year old sky box upstairs to get free to air TV...

iniltous

Old Sky systems can used for free to air/free to view content (BBC/ITV etc ) and a something of a quirk , to disable the paid for content if a customer had that , Sky used to send a signal ‘ over the air’ to interact with the viewing card to disable content , so if someone , before Sky sent out that disabling signal , removes the card from the box , or switches off the system , then the viewing card never gets the signal to disable content…..

Sky don’t just send this disabling signal once but many times over the days, weeks ir months after the customer stops paying , but presumably they eventually they stop sending that signal , it’s possible that after so many years you card has now managed to avoid all the attempts Sky made to disable it

Can you actually view any content that isn’t free like the Sky branded channels or is it only the ‘free’ channels anyway .

Neil_Jones

It doesn't matter if the card was removed before the "disconnect" was sent, the cards effectively expire anyway if they're not in an actively powered box, as my understanding is they need an OTA "keep alive" to keep them active in any event.

I don't claim to know how it all works but I wouldn't be surprised if they can package up "keep alive" and "disconnect" codes at the same time - the cards had to be paired with the box anyway before it would work so there is some link between said box and said card anyway. Sky customer service can do on-demand upgrades/changes particularly if you change your package on the phone (or they could for Sky+HD anyway) and this took effect immediately.

iniltous

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82060925#Comment_82060925

The OP hasn’t clarified if they have the free stuff only , or some normally paid for content is accessible, if paid for content is viewable then the card avoiding being switched off must be the only explanation…I’d fully agree after so long it seems inconceivable, if it’s just the card is operating as a ‘Freeview/freesat’ card , something they do (given they get paid for carrying BBC etc ) that’s more likely.

MyRealNameToo

If its a Sky or Sky+ or SkyHD box then they will continue to work without a subscription, its similar to the FreeSat service but slightly different channels. FreeSat is like FreeView but by satellite rather than aerial but the channels do differ, both have the same core FTA ones but the tertiary ones differ a moderate amount, FreeSat has more than FreeView.

If there is a valid but expired viewing card in there you get more than if there is no viewing card. Sky used to sell a FreeSat From Sky card which broadened the range of channels but still differed slightly from FreeSat, it was a one off charge rather than ongoing subscription. They've stopped selling them now but you do see them for resale or old stock occasionally.

Our TV has FreeSat built in so in principle we could just stick the satellite feed directly into it but as we use a projector as well we use an old SkyHD box to provide a near equivalent service that can feed both displays… downside with it -v- the tv, is all channels show and obv most are premium requiring a subscription whereas the freesat device only shows the channels you can watch so its much clearer what your options are.

UKSBD

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82061035#Comment_82061035

I was reading some tips about that.

You can create a favourites list and just add the channels you do get to the list, and then you don't have to scroll through all the channels that you don't have access too.

"On a Sky+ HD box:
Press Services on your Sky remote, then go to Options > Favourites.

Scroll through the full channel list and press the Yellow button on any channel you can receive to tick it.

Press the Green button to save.

To view your list while a banner is displayed, cycle through your saved channels by pressing the Blue button."

This saves you having to scroll through all the channels you can't receive.