Five renews conditional access agreement with Sky

net1

Five has renewed its conditional access agreement with Sky, scuppering speculation that other terrestrial broadcasters were planning to follow in the footsteps of the BBC and broadcast ‘in the clear’ on digital satellite.

The BBC terminated its conditional access agreement with Sky in March, worth an estimated £85m a year, and will soon begin broadcasting from the Astra 2D satellite rather that 2A.

The move prompted speculation that other terrestrial broadcasters on the platform would make a similar move, depriving Sky of millions of extra revenue a year.

But terrestrial channel Five has this week signed another five-year deal with Sky to be broadcast encrypted on the digital satellite platform.

A spokesman for Five said: "We believe that these conditional access arrangements represent an important service for Five ensuring that there are no issues regarding the protection of programme rights."

mill9

I am right in thinking that the 'free to view' cards are to disappear and in order to continue to watch Five on satellite and of course ITV1 and C4 a subscription to Sky will be necessary. This is not currently clear or can the new generation cards be used when a subscription is cancelled?