Held to ransom on FTV cards!!!

**zansi** · 11-08-2003

The profiteers of this fiasco have started! see http://www.skycards.net/en-us/dept_3.html

They are asking a massive £179 GBP for the "Free" Solus card

I would advise prospective buyers to "wait and see" a lot of pressure is going on in the background to resolve the solus card debacle.

**rolfw** · 11-08-2003

I agree with you there Zansi, the prices these guys charge are ridiculous, particularly as they are selling something to which they have no rights. As you also say, a wait and see stance is more sensible at the moment, you could pay £179 for a card, when by waiting you could end up getting one for £20 or so.

Their annual service/renewal charges on the subscription cards are also unacceptable, anyone paying these prices must need their bumps feeling.

12-08-2003

Amusing to see that they call it a Solus "FTA" card !

Fred

**zansi** · 12-08-2003

Originally Posted by Old Fred

Amusing to see that they call it a Solus "FTA" card !

Fred

Indeed Old Fred, I never noticed, Also the FTV card quite clearly states in the bottom left hand corner -:

This card is the property of Sky Subscriber Services Ltd
and must be returned on request.

So they are selling something which they have no title to, which I believe is termed theft.

I am suprised that they have not been taken to task by Rupert's henchmen

***BarMoo*** · 13-08-2003

Tuesday, my digibox invited me to insert my new card. Interesting, since I haven't signed-up to any of Rupe's subscriptions'?

I wonder if Heffer Towel (DCMS poppet) has come back from her hols yet?

Have Fun,

Mark.

***cjgall*** · 13-08-2003

I paid £80 for my FTV card a couple of month ago, I did get a 2nd hand digibox thrown in free though

meagherp · 22-08-2003

Originally Posted by cjgall

I paid £80 for my FTV card a couple of month ago, I did get a 2nd hand digibox thrown in free though

When are these tossers at OFCOM/OFT going to get the FTA cards fiasco sorted. surely Sky could easily issue cards for £10 a time on demand. What are these 'discussions going on in background' rumours?
I live 5 miles south of Guildford - we can't even get Channel 5, never mind Freeview. Only option are the Sky pirates monopoly. Surely thats what these Quangos are for - if not what is their point for existing ? anyone collect pretty blue Sky cards?

***dishdoctor*** · 22-08-2003

These cards must be half price basic subscription cards,paid 12 months in advance,as some ads say sky one included,80 pounds cost, selling at 179 pounds.......not robbery,just good business..brian

**rolfw** · 22-08-2003

No Brian, these cards were advertised before the half price deal was released, they are advertised as FTV, not subscription.

As Sky has stopped sending out the new Solus FTA cards these cards are in very short supply. These cards are the replacement cards for the old FTA BBC cards. The viewing card will decode ITV and Channel 4- Channel 5 programs. No subscription is required with these cards and they will work in any Sky digibox. The card simply needs to be inserted in the decoder for activation. We have a limited supply of these cards so hurry before stocks run out!!

( no other services can be added to this card as it is a non subscription card)

**rolfw** · 22-08-2003

Well actually as Ol Fred noticed, they are advertised as FTA.....But what the heck.

***cjgall*** · 25-08-2003

Originally Posted by meagherp

When are these tossers at OFCOM/OFT going to get the FTA cards fiasco sorted. surely Sky could easily issue cards for £10 a time on demand. What are these 'discussions going on in background' rumours?
I live 5 miles south of Guildford - we can't even get Channel 5, never mind Freeview. Only option are the Sky pirates monopoly. Surely thats what these Quangos are for - if not what is their point for existing ? anyone collect pretty blue Sky cards?

£10 a time sounds reasonable to me. Here in the Netherlands we are charged about £50 for a Dutch (CanalDigitaal) FTV card plus about £10 per year to keep using it and for free broken card replacements, the £10 per year is optional. Although £50 quid is a bit steep for the card I can live with it. Sky should start a similar scheme in the UK. This would also make life much easier (and cheaper) for Sky customers in the UK wanting a second (FTV) box.

thefordprefect · 27-08-2003

I posted this elswhere and have added updates:

Do Not know how long you will be able to do this but it worked for me on 12th Aug (and may others since then) when BBC card was still functional but displaying message.

(Pout is an adult channel use phone number on their channel. Or try their web site.)

Tried auto logon to Pout but it refused to accept my phone number/sky card number.
Put through to human operator who took details. I did not say (was not asked) that it was a "BBC" card. Operator accepted information and I subscribed on a one off fee with pay per night charging..
I connected phone line to box for first time.
Within1 hour my light blue sky BBC card was cancelled!!!!! - "viewing card is not authorised" message on all encrypted (ITV) channels.
Phone pout customer services who checked details and asked If I had ever subscribed to any channel before (I haven't). Said they would send a card out as soon as possible and to phone them to have it registered when it arrived
I day later new card arrived numbered 2xxxx. All ITV channels back. Have not had to phone.
3 days later a second card arived numbered 1xxxxxx
I now have 2 new cards for a one off payment of £5

Tried to register 2xxxx card with Pout but they said it had nothing to do with them - their cards start 1xxxx -told me to wait until their card arrived and to re register.

The 2xxxxx card still provides me all the channels I expected so have not bothered registering the 1xxx card

I looks as if the 1xxx card is sent out on a failed auto registration and it MAY not be necessary to actually complete the manual registration with Pout - others have only gone to the failed registration and obtained a card.

For 12 pages of posts try this link

http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/t/81098/ds.html

Please note that other adult channels or non sky channels may offer this card update - I have not checked

Cheers,

Mike
p.s
remember pass this on - each free/£5 card looses SKY £150 of their blackmail income!

***easysat*** · 27-08-2003

Originally Posted by cjgall

£10 a time sounds reasonable to me. Here in the Netherlands we are charged about £50 for a Dutch (CanalDigitaal) FTV card

When you pay, does the Dutch card become your property? I don't see how Sky can sell a FTV card to someone without that person being free to transfer it to someone else, unless it is sold like a piece of computer software where you just buy a 'licence' to use it.

***Zorba*** · 28-08-2003

Sky never sold free to view cards,they were given free by the BBC,although they are the same as sky cards except for the phone number on the back.

29-08-2003

Following on from what thefordprefect wrote, I just received the following in a satellite newsletter that I subscribe to:

How to get a working FTV card

Someone kindly sent me the following information from the Digital Spy
forum:-

Phone "POUT TV" on (0)8700505565 and ask to subscribe for 3 months
(minimum period) which will cost a total of £26.25. Give your UK
address and the new dark blue card with "yellow house" design will be
sent there within 2 days in a plain white envelope.

For those of you who don't know, POUT TV will provide you with
programmes that you probably wouldn't want your wife to view - until
your subscription expires. At that point your card should (hopefully)
continue to work as an FTV card. But please don't blame me if it
doesn't. http://www.pouttv.co.uk/

I have also read that there's a possibility of registering on the
POUT TV web site for only £5 if your FTV card is still working. The
registration will appear to fail and within hours your FTV card will
stop working. That should be a sign that a nice new card is in the
post to you. (Again, don't blame me if it isn't).

Please note that pale blue FTV cards are expected to be turned off by
Friday evening 29th August.

***cjgall*** · 29-08-2003

Originally Posted by easysat

When you pay, does the Dutch card become your property? I don't see how Sky can sell a FTV card to someone without that person being free to transfer it to someone else, unless it is sold like a piece of computer software where you just buy a 'licence' to use it.

They are not transferable. The purchase price covers a 'cheaper' support number (read expensive) and free replacement cards when damaged or if they upgrade the encoding.

***cjgall*** · 29-08-2003

Originally Posted by easysat

When you pay, does the Dutch card become your property? I don't see how Sky can sell a FTV card to someone without that person being free to transfer it to someone else, unless it is sold like a piece of computer software where you just buy a 'licence' to use it.

They are not transferable. The purchase price covers a 'cheaper' support number (read expensive) and free replacement cards when damaged or if they upgrade the encoding.

**Maxi 1** · 29-08-2003

Must I have a phone line connected to the box if to try this method?

***BarMoo*** · 29-08-2003

Just to go back to the solus card for one last time

So far this 'switch-off' date has shuffled up, down and sideways by a factor of about a month or so and I haven't read any reports of them actually being switched off.

So, now, switch-off day is today. Well, i've still got my dried provisions at the ready just in case; but, it still makes me wonder .........

Why turn the FTV cards off at all (given that the card has already been paid for and is not a sub card)?

Why not wait until the commercial broadcaster's get their act together (or force the BBC to come back on board - given that they still rely on the card)?

Why is there a perceived rush to piss-off 600,000+ FTV'ers by cancelling a card (that in the end only entitles the user to three advertising funded channels + an EPG sorted BBC).

I really hope that BSKYB (who generally know what coffee smells like) keep shifting this date so that a solution can be found which doesn't involve flooding a porn network with card requests and pseudo subscriptions (leading to suspicious partners and divorce), or, doesn't entail the purchase of illicit cards at charges upwards of GBP178, or before the govt. finds time to do something for the people beyond 'The Hutton Enquiry'.

P.S. My mother was complaining the other day that she can't watch Channel Five - "thanks to SKY" as she put it. Her mountainous locality relies on repeater transmitter's that don't transmit five and don't have the capacity for DTT.

Its a sorry mess, but, you can all wake up now.

Have Fun,

Mark.

29-08-2003

Originally Posted by mljgmljg

Why turn the FTV cards off at all (given that the card has already been paid for and is not a sub card)?

I don't think Sky can avoid it. They have produced the dark blue card to "prevent certain types of piracy". I doubt if they can disable the old Sky pale blue cards without also disabling the pale blue FTV ones. In other words, the FTV cards will simply be "collateral damage" in the war on piracy.

Sky (apparently) don't have the FTV card numbers on their computer system so they can't switch them off individually in the normal way. When they do go off it will be en-masse with all the old cards which will no longer work with the new encryption software.

Fred

***dishdoctor*** · 29-08-2003

Sky must have the old BBC card numbers on their system because when pouting for a card your card switches off when the computor sends your new card,and the new card comes from Sky,saying sorry for the problem with your card,please acept this shiny new one....brian

***Zorba*** · 29-08-2003

Its now the 30th where I am,have any old cards lost ch4/5 yet?

**T_G** · 30-08-2003

Is there a way of stopping the stupid message that pops up a million times when watching ITV etc? I managed to stop some of them by pressing the red button, then choosing cinema tickets, and then full screen. That way I could at least watch a program without the message. Only problem is, it only works wherre they give you the option of interactive, and also you cant change channels as then it goes out of the interactive mode.

***dishdoctor*** · 30-08-2003

If the card you are using has your or a friends address in the uk to which a new card can be sent and forwarded to you (we are talking about Your Viewing Of These Channels Will Soon Cease) then you need to POUT for a new card. Mail Me..Brian

**FRAZER** · 30-08-2003

@Maxi 1

According to posts elsewhere, no phone connection is needed. I received a new card today, having done the online registration on thursday, so pouting still seems to be an option. (I can't try the card until it reaches the box, which is in a different place from the registration address). Whether it is a long term solution or not, we shall have to see- I guess sky could turn the card off again if they want to- but it seems worth a go. It's only £5, and I'm not even sure if that is going to be taken from my account, as the registration has supposedly failed.

Frazer

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Held to ransom on FTV cards!!! Sky digital support forum at Sats UK, Everything involved on the hardware and software side of reception of the channels from 28.2/28.5 East BskyB, special focus on fringe reception of Astra 2D for UK free to air channels

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