Freesat from Sky Cards ... the latest information (March 2nd 2010)

Sky has finally changed its encryption software and the blue cards will no longer enable viewing of the 'Freesat from Sky' channels ... Sky Three, Fiver and Five USA along with their +1 variants.

In practice, this means that you will no longer be able to receive Sky Three (108), Fiver (176), FiveUSA (174), Fiver+1 (177) and FiveUSA(175) ... the only way to get these channels back is to buy a new £20 viewing card (details later).

If your blue card was registered originally in London, the North or Scotland then you will also have lost Five on channel 105. If your card was not originally registered in one of those regions then Five will still be working.

Some ITV1 regions in position 103 will also have disappeared, namely Central SW, Meridian N, Meridian SE, TyneTees S, Anglia W and Yorkshire E. If you specifically want these particular ITV1 regions, then you will have to buy a new Sky card for £20. Note that ITV1 London appears on channel 993 of most Sky Digiboxes. (details later)

Even though your old blue card has stopped decoding the channels mentioned above, it still performs its EPG region setting function. This means that it still dictates which BBC1 and ITV1 region appears in channels 101 and 103.

If you remove your card and reboot the Sky digibox, then the box automatically puts BBC1 London into channel 101 and ITV1 Central W into channel 103. However, Five will no longer appear in channel 105 and Channel 4+1 will no longer appear at channel 135.

Getting back Channel Five etc ...

Although Sky Three, Fiver, Fiver+1, FiveUSA and FiveUSA+1 are lost, you can get back Five, Channel 4+1 and other ITV1 regions by using the 'Other Channels' method described below

First of all, you need to know the Frequency, Polarity, Symbol Rate and FEC of each channel. These are:

  • Five: 10773, H, 22.0, 5/6
  • Channel 4+1: 10729, V, 22.0, 5/6
  • ITV1 London: 10758, V, 22.0, 5/6
  • ITV1 Granada: 10758, V, 22.0, 5/6
  • ITV1 Anglia N: 10758, V, 22.0, 5/6
  • ITV1 Central W: 10758, V, 22.0, 5/6
  • ITV1 Wales: 10832, H, 22.0, 5/6
  • ITV1 Westcountry W: 10832, H, 22.0, 5/6
  • ITV1 Westcountry SW: 10832, H, 22.0, 5/6
  • ITV1 Border: 10891, H, 22.0, 5/6
  • ITV1 TyneTees N: 10891, H, 22.0, 5/6
  • ITV1 Meridian S: 10891, H, 22.0, 5/6
  • ITV1 Meridian SE: 10891, H, 22.0, 5/6
  • ITV1 Anglia S: 10891, H, 22.0, 5/6
  • ITV1 Yorkshire W: 10891, H, 22.0, 5/6
  • Channel TV: 10906, V, 22.0, 5/6
  • STV N: 10906, V, 22.0, 5/6
  • STV W: 10906, V, 22.0, 5/6
  • STV E: 10906, V, 22.0, 5/6
  • Ulster TV: 10906, V, 22.0, 5/6

Armed with the frequency, polarity, symbol rate, FEC of the channel that you wish to add:
Using Sky Remote, press SERVICES, select SYSTEM SET UP, then ADD CHANNELS.
Enter frequency, polarity, Symbol Rate, FEC into the appropriate fields and select FIND CHANNELS
From resulting list of channels, tick the required one(s) by highlighting the channel and pressing Yellow Button.
Press SELECT and SELECT again to quit menu.
To view added channels:
press SERVICES then highlight and select OTHER CHANNELS ... you will see the channels that you have added, just highlight and select. Please note that 'Other Channels' don't have a seven day programme guide.

How to buy a new freesat-from-Sky viewing card

Your channel line up after the March 2nd Encryption Change will depend entirely on the UK Region in which your viewing card was originally registered. For example, if your card was registered in the Central West area, then you will still be watching ITV1 and Five. However, if your card was originally registered in the Yorkshire East area then you will have lost both ITV1 and Five. So your choice is to either add lost channels via the 'Other Channels' or to buy a new card for £20.

To buy a new £20 card, go to www.sky.com/replacecard and click on the 'havn't got a card?' link. You will need a UK address, don't even try putting in a French address, and you can pay by credit card. Yes, you can use a French credit or debitcard and yes, you can safely access the Sky site from France. No, it doesn't matter if there is already a Sky subscription at the address you want the card sent to. Get your contact to send the card to you and then put the card in your box. Don't be tempted to let your contact activate the card in their box ... get your contact to phone Sky to activate it ... give him or her the Version Number, Serial Number and EPG Version of your digibox. You will find that information by pressing Services, then System SetUp, then System Details.

How not to buy a viewing card ...

Don't be tempted to buy a viewing card from a satellite dealer. They are selling an item which doesn't belong to them ... Sky don't allow anyone, anywhere to sell their cards ... so avoid the cowboys.