Hi group...just to clarify my previous question posed earlier.
Is B $ky B in the near future going to re-issue viewing cards that decode 
channel 4,5 and $ky3,
Viewing cards that are now in regular use in $ky digiboxes in mainland 
Europe, are they going to die?
100's of $ky cards aren't in their original issued locations or original 
boxes.Are ex-pats going to loose chunks of their TV channels.
In my previous posting I wrote FREEVIEW, by that I meant  FTV/FTA... (any 
channels not requiring ££ but needing or not a viewing card in the decoder 
box).
Any SOLID info would be appreciated.......not rumour or hearsay!
tia  A

"Sat Wino" <laroffie@NO SPAMorange.fr> wrote in message 
news:4780aa87$0$891$ba4acef3@news.orange.fr...
> Hi group...just to clarify my previous question posed earlier.
> Is B $ky B in the near future going to re-issue viewing cards that decode 
> channel 4,5 and $ky3,
> Viewing cards that are now in regular use in $ky digiboxes in mainland 
> Europe, are they going to die?
> 100's of $ky cards aren't in their original issued locations or original 
> boxes.Are ex-pats going to loose chunks of their TV channels.
> In my previous posting I wrote FREEVIEW, by that I meant  FTV/FTA... (any 
> channels not requiring ££ but needing or not a viewing card in the decoder 
> box).
> Any SOLID info would be appreciated.......not rumour or hearsay!
> tia  A


I thought Charles Elson's post was sound.
AFAIK no announcement has been made as to when the series 2
cards will be withdrawn.
AFAICR a date of Dec 2005 used to be quoted as the likely
earliest date when they would be killed, so on that basis we are
over 12 months into borrowed time.

-- 
Graham

%Profound_observation%

In article <flqhro$n2e$1@registered.motzarella.org>,
	Graham. wrote:

> AFAIK no announcement has been made as to when the series 2
> cards will be withdrawn.

I am guessing that if anyone were to order a Freesat-from-Sky card now,
and a new card issue happened within six months, that a replacement
card would be issued automatically.

The changeover period would be relatively long -- probably around three
months. Towards the end of the changeover period, the box would be
flashing up warnings. (That's what happened last time in 2003.)

Given that the first series of Sky Digital cards had a life of five
years, I'd suspect that there would be a new card introduced this
summer.

It *may* be a coincidence that the last card change was at the time
that the BBC pulled out of the free card scheme and removed encryption
from all their channels. The final "BBC cards" issued were of the
current version. Perhaps the cost of replacing all existing cards was
prohibitive?

There was a hiatus of many months between the closure of the "BBC card"
scheme and the opening of the Freesat-from-Sky scheme. That's why some
of us have cards issued through a loophole involving the "adult"
channels.

To complicate things further, FreeSat proper should be launching this
year.

-- 
Paul Martin

Why would they even bother renewing FTV cards when there is only Sky 3,Ch 4
and the FIVE channels encrypted.
Channel 4 may be going free to air this year when their encryption contract
with Sky ends and that will leave them free to join Freesat.

In article <flt5uh$97v$1@registered.motzarella.org>,
	Commander Gideon wrote:
> Why would they even bother renewing FTV cards when there is only Sky 3,Ch 4
> and the FIVE channels encrypted.

And Setanta Sports News.

> Channel 4 may be going free to air this year when their encryption contract
> with Sky ends and that will leave them free to join Freesat.

We don't know that yet. Of course, if C4 (and all its channels) go FTA,
but Five doesn't, and Sky require everyone who has a free card to buy a
new card, things could get interesting.

-- 
Paul Martin

> We don't know that yet. Of course, if C4 (and all its channels) go FTA,
> but Five doesn't, and Sky require everyone who has a free card to buy a
> new card, things could get interesting.

FIVE would then look to join Freesat as people wont be bothered getting a
card just to view their channels!

But don't Sky have a huge interest in 5? Hence all it's decent programming 
going over to Sky one.
"Commander Gideon"  wrote in message 
news:fm05j0$iee$1@registered.motzarella.org...
>> We don't know that yet. Of course, if C4 (and all its channels) go FTA,
>> but Five doesn't, and Sky require everyone who has a free card to buy a
>> new card, things could get interesting.
>
> FIVE would then look to join Freesat as people wont be bothered getting a
> card just to view their channels!
>
>

In article <fm08ps$vo5$1@aioe.org>,
	amp is wrote:
> "Commander Gideon"  wrote in message 
> news:fm05j0$iee$1@registered.motzarella.org...
>>> We don't know that yet. Of course, if C4 (and all its channels) go FTA,
>>> but Five doesn't, and Sky require everyone who has a free card to buy a
>>> new card, things could get interesting.
>>
>> FIVE would then look to join Freesat as people wont be bothered getting a
>> card just to view their channels!

> But don't Sky have a huge interest in 5? Hence all it's decent programming 
> going over to Sky one.

Hence my "things could get interesting" comment above.

-- 
Paul Martin 
Because answers come after questions.
Why is it bad to top post?

On Tue, 8 Jan 2008 17:36:06 +0100, "amp is" 
wrote:

>"Commander Gideon"  wrote in message 
>news:fm05j0$iee$1@registered.motzarella.org...
>>> We don't know that yet. Of course, if C4 (and all its channels) go FTA,
>>> but Five doesn't, and Sky require everyone who has a free card to buy a
>>> new card, things could get interesting.
>>
>> FIVE would then look to join Freesat as people wont be bothered getting a
>> card just to view their channels!
>>
>But don't Sky have a huge interest in 5? Hence all it's decent programming 
>going over to Sky one.
>
AFAIAA most (if not all) of Channel Five is owned by RTL, as implied
by :-
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/aug/28/business.citynews