Thinking about cancelling my Sky subscription....

[JayJay]

Hi, since E4, More4 etc are now FTA, I'm thinking about cancelling my Sky subscription as almost everything I watch on a regular basis is now freely abvailable. My question is (and its probably a stupid one and in the wrong forum) if I cancel my subscription will my Sky+ PVR features still work on all the FTA/FTV channels?

Thanks in advance
J

 

[Robbo]

Not a stupid question at all

But the answer is NO, If you don't subscribe, NO Sky+ unless you pay them £10/month just for the Sky+ facility.

At that price I don't think it's worth it, so you might as well go for minimum subs, and that is probably what Sky hope too.

 

[rolfw]

Hopefully there will be some decent twin tuner Freesat PVRs appearing in the near future, although whether the EPG and recording functions will be a good as the Sky+ box is yet unknown.

 

[JayJay]

Thanks guys. I have another stupid question, so I apologise in advance . If I was to buy a Freesat reciever, would I need a new dish? or would my existing Sky minidish suffice?
Thanks
J

 

[Analoguesat]

The giood news is no you wouldnt have to have a new dish - unplug the sky digibox, unscrew the connectors on the cable from the dish on the back of the box, screw them onto the new receiver and power up.

Freesat PVR's are not going to be available until later in the year so there no point looking for them in the shops just yet

 

[wildebed]

Not a stupid question at all

But the answer is NO, If you don't subscribe, NO Sky+ unless you pay them £10/month just for the Sky+ facility.

At that price I don't think it's worth it, so you might as well go for minimum subs, and that is probably what Sky hope too.

Actually, my sky DH pvr still works perfectly !!

 

[Robbo]

Actually, my sky DH pvr still works perfectly !!

What, without a subscription?

What is a DH?

 

[satelliteman]

I wondered that , maybe it's Hd instead of DH

 

[rolfw]

Yep, that had me guessing on two counts. .


As a matter of interest though, I still reckon that when FREESAT launch their PVRs, Sky will remove the £10/month PVR activation charge as a spoiler, or levy a one off charge for activation.

 

[Robbo]

Yep, that had me guessing on two counts. .


As a matter of interest though, I still reckon that when FREESAT launch their PVRs, Sky will remove the £10/month PVR activation charge as a spoiler, or levy a one off charge for activation.

If they had any foresight, they would do it now, before the Freesat PVRs are available, a pre-emptive strike so to speak.

But, then again, that would be money lost in the short term.

Let's hope they do drop the charge though, it may encourage any other competitors to follow suit.

 

[wildebed]

I wondered that , maybe it's Hd instead of DH

Indeed - I did mean HD
The PVR function still works as it always did. I have no subscription - cancelled last August. I keep the box as a PVr (and for C4HD for now).
The rest comes in through a motorised Zone 2 dish feeding my TM 1500 and TM6800HD. The latter has a Seagate Freeagent 500gb hdd attached.
Are you folks saying that your PVR ceased to function on the cancellation of the subscription? - that can't be right - surely we bought the boxes?

 

[Norm]

If they had any foresight, they would do it now, before the Freesat PVRs are available, a pre-emptive strike so to speak.

But, then again, that would be money lost in the short term.

Let's hope they do drop the charge though, it may encourage any other competitors to follow suit.

It'll be interesting to see what Sky do here. After all Freesat is not in direct competition to a Sky subscription (or Sky+). Freesat is more in competition to Freesat from Sky. £10 per month brings in a fair revenue; I don't think they'll drop that without some serious consideration. One off charge, maybe?

 

[tomthebomb1968]

Thats what normally happens. They used to charge £10 for the recording facility even if you were subscribed to sky but took no premium channels but they dropped that charge, but as far as I was aware you need at least their basic package now or you have to pay.

 

[Cupart]

Are you folks saying that your PVR ceased to function on the cancellation of the subscription? - that can't be right - surely we bought the boxes?

This is an ongoing discussion, but unfortunately SKY has total control of the SKY+ function on the boxes and can do what they want to.

I believe that the software that SKY has developed has been bought and paid for by the consumer though the SKY+ box, but this is apparently not the case. I guess it would be a little like getting Windows Vista but you wouldn't be allowed to use it unless you pay a monthly fee... Its all so complicated :mad: I could imagine it is written in the T&C somewhere!

 

[wildebed]

so - are you folks saying that your PVR function has ended?
If that's the case, I wonder why mine has not.

 

[Cupart]

so - are you folks saying that your PVR function has ended?
If that's the case, I wonder why mine has not.

Not saying that mine has ended as I still subscribe to all the mixes, but according to SKY you do need to pay if you don't have a subscription.

I guess you are just lucky and that SKY have forgotten to uncheck the SKY+ function box when you cancelled your subscription.

 

[wildebed]

Not saying that mine has ended as I still subscribe to all the mixes, but according to SKY you do need to pay if you don't have a subscription.

I guess you are just lucky and that SKY have forgotten to uncheck the SKY+ function box when you cancelled your subscription.

Well, for two or three months after cancelling I had the full package. The "stay alive" signal (or whatever it is) was clearly terminated - but I can't see how that would affect the PVR function for FTA channels.

 

[tomthebomb1968]

Well, for two or three months after cancelling I had the full package. The "stay alive" signal (or whatever it is) was clearly terminated - but I can't see how that would affect the PVR function for FTA channels.

Well I guess your just lucky m8, cos the record facility definately gets switched off after subs end.

 

[wildebed]

Well I guess your just lucky m8, cos the record facility definately gets switched off after subs end.

This is a bit like the absence of proof being the same as proof of absence. If it "dies" without a "stay alive" signal, and if the card no longer works because of this, how exactly is the PVR function going to be affected? I mean surely it's the card encryption algorithm that requires the periodic updates - not the electronic function of the hardware. If it did die I would pursue it with vigour !!.

 

[rolfw]

The record function is activated by the card, take the card out and see if you can still record.