SKY + HD BOX

W

wombat8858

New Member
My Satellite Setup
SKY + HD
My Location
Craigavon
Just a query, have a third Sky box that I intended to use as freesat in the spare bedroom.
I currently gave as a subscription to SKY multi room and Movies etc etc.
SKY want a further £10.00 a month to activate the recording features etc, I cant get my head around the fact that the Box is mine and presumably therefore the HD contained within is mine, I don't want access to any SKY channels on this third box just the Freesat ones, why should I pay SKY to access my hard drive in my box and record NON SKY tv channels. Any advice pointers would be well appreciated .
 
When I cancelled my sky contract the box was mine, so I took the hard drive out of it, and installed it into an enigma2 sat box for the free sat stuff on 28.2°E.

This option worked out great for me, it may not be the best option for you.
 
It does seem a bit silly, but it's the way it is and always has been, in your case it would be the same cost as adding it as a multiroom box.
 
You may own the hardware but you do not own the software in the box which is incomplete for Sky+ features without an active viewing card. So your subscription is your license to use that software - a model also used by Tivo and Microsoft amongst others.

This is partly due to the way Sky+ boxes were imported into the EU as receivers at a lower duty rate than PVRs. Sky successfully argued in court against HMRC taht as an active subscription is required for PVR use thay are only receivers. Other manufacturers (including Humax) avoided this duty by importing without HDDs fitted and either fitting them in the EU OR selling themas PVR ready for user to fit own HDD.

Allowing subscription free Sky+ facilities would now cost Sky many millions of £s in back duty for the previously supplied boxes (probabaly well over 20 million boxes now). So it almost certainly will never happen.
 
Is BSkyB paying HMRC on a box by box basis each time they are 'converted' back to a PVR when the software is activated ?
 
you can always just buy a freesat recorder..
 
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