Old Irish Sky card

Chris1974

Member
My Satellite Setup
Sky minidish
My Location
South of England
I live in S. England and want to view RTE. I have acquired an "old" Irish Sky card from a relative (i.e. the one he used before:) Sky sent him an upgrade/replacement or whatever they call it) - he had a family package. Me, I have no package, just a Sky box from an expired UK package that we used to pay for.
The question is: If I ask Sky Ireland to pair my newly acquired "old" Irish card to my box, will they do this? What do I need to say/do?
 
My understanding is no they will not pair it for you since they already know that the replacement card has been activated and a kill signal will be waiting for that card as soon as you try using it for any length of time, each card is linked to a database indexed by the property it was posted to.
 
I sure hope the weather is warming up in Siberia. Here in Wessex it's brass monkeys.
Can I tell them I'm the original owner and I just want the card to be paired to a second (out of subscription) box that we're using in a different part of the house? or in a touring caravan, or a boat?
 
You may as well throw the card away - during the pairing process the blue cards are deactivated for use in any other Sky box. They will still work in Linux boxes, but only for a few weeks until the card swap is completed. Then they totally stop working.
 
Unlike in the UK where an expired Sky card picks up some FTV channels, RTE via Sky is a subscription channel so this wouldn't work as you need to pay for it.
 
My understanding that if you have a Sky card/subscription for Rep of Ireland that RTE (and TV3/TG4) is free to view and is not subscription but is a subscription channel for Sky UK. Can anyone confirm if this is correct as I am planning to get a Irish Sky card to receive RTE in N.Ireland but am not totally sure how to do this but I presume that I need an address for the Rep of Ireland. Can they track that I am not using the card at the address given?
 
eamonkeown said:
My understanding that if you have a Sky card/subscription for Rep of Ireland that RTE (and TV3/TG4) is free to view and is not subscription but is a subscription channel for Sky UK. Can anyone confirm if this is correct as I am planning to get a Irish Sky card to receive RTE in N.Ireland but am not totally sure how to do this but I presume that I need an address for the Rep of Ireland. Can they track that I am not using the card at the address given?
Here in Northern Ireland when a sky sub is cancelled and the card returns to a ftv card it still opens all the Republic Channels except for TV3. So assuming this if you purchase a freesat card linked to a Northern Postcode i would think you should be able to get RTE1/2 and TG4. I am not certain though.
 
Sorry, I have to disagree with Tomthebomb1968 when he says "Here in Northern Ireland when a sky sub is cancelled and the card returns to a ftv card it still opens all the Republic Channels except for TV3."

I live in Northern Ireland - just inside the border in fact - and I have a (by now lapsed sky subscription) skybox and now only receive free to view channels with this Sky box. In fact, recently I had to buy another Card from Sky for the privilege of seeing all the FTV channels as some were disappearing. (some money-making gimmick going on there I'm sure).

Anyway. Presently we DON'T get any of the Irish Republic channels on our SKY box. (we may do if we paid a sub - but we stopped our agreement long ago). We can of course receive all the Irish stations by aerial.
But I would like to get them digitally, not least for the convenience of checking the 'info' on a program or checking what's coming up next - without having to navigate the dreaded teletext monster that takes an age to scroll through pages but also to have them available to our DVD hard disk recorder time-line recording.

My own personal view is that RTE channels SHOULD be viewable as free channels on the sky box because we can already get them by aerial, the same as the Irish Republic could always get BBC etc free by aerial anyway.

Also RTE's new online 'RTE PLAYER' showing catch-up TV online, broadcasts not just to the Irish Republic but to Northern ireland as well - although your ISP has to be sure to give you a Northern Ireland IP address or you will be blocked from viewing.
So seen as they are happy for us to view online - why not let us view via the skybox?

I've noticed only recently that in my skybox menu under 'other channels' it lists RTE1 and 2 and TV3 but when you try to select one, it says you have to pay a subscription.

I would love to try an old skybox and card from the republic and see if it works over our side of the border.
 
Sorry, I have to disagree with Tomthebomb1968 when he says "Here in Northern Ireland when a sky sub is cancelled and the card returns to a ftv card it still opens all the Republic Channels except for TV3."

I live in Northern Ireland - just inside the border in fact - and I have a (by now lapsed sky subscription) skybox and now only receive free to view channels with this Sky box. In fact, recently I had to buy another Card from Sky for the privilege of seeing all the FTV channels as some were disappearing. (some money-making gimmick going on there I'm sure).

Anyway. Presently we DON'T get any of the Irish Republic channels on our SKY box. (we may do if we paid a sub - but we stopped our agreement long ago). We can of course receive all the Irish stations by aerial.
But I would like to get them digitally, not least for the convenience of checking the 'info' on a program or checking what's coming up next - without having to navigate the dreaded teletext monster that takes an age to scroll through pages but also to have them available to our DVD hard disk recorder time-line recording.

My own personal view is that RTE channels SHOULD be viewable as free channels on the sky box because we can already get them by aerial, the same as the Irish Republic could always get BBC etc free by aerial anyway.

Also RTE's new online 'RTE PLAYER' showing catch-up TV online, broadcasts not just to the Irish Republic but to Northern ireland as well - although your ISP has to be sure to give you a Northern Ireland IP address or you will be blocked from viewing.
So seen as they are happy for us to view online - why not let us view via the skybox?

I've noticed only recently that in my skybox menu under 'other channels' it lists RTE1 and 2 and TV3 but when you try to select one, it says you have to pay a subscription.

I would love to try an old skybox and card from the republic and see if it works over our side of the border.
 
Try ringing sky cos RTE1 RTE 2 and TG4 are FTV in Northeren Ireland. I would suggest your card has been lapsed for some time and has received no updates and if its a blue card its probaby been switxhed off totally now. You may need to order a new card, its a one off fee of £20 I think but i can assure you you should be getting those channels.
 
Try ringing sky cos RTE1 RTE 2 and TG4 are FTV in Northeren Ireland. I would suggest your card has been lapsed for some time and has received no updates and if its a blue card its probaby been switxhed off totally now. You may need to order a new card, its a one off fee of £20 I think but i can assure you you should be getting those channels.
 
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