Sky Videoguard upgrade - new cards to follow?

[Birdy Boy]

Unlikely to be for that reason, more likely to be for general operational reasons. Could be to counter the difficulties encountered by some of the older boxes since the recent software upgrades, or a preemptive measure against possible card or equipment hacks.

Whilst Sky are "committed" to taking every measure possible against the out of region viewers, I very much doubt whether it would be prepared to spend £5million plus on new card distribution simply to achieve that end.

BB

 

[dishdoctor]

From the 1st November Easyjet are offering a "Authorise Your Skycard" 24 hour return trip for 3 pounds 17 and sixpence.for all us expats in Spain................sounds good to me.......Brian

 

[dishdoctor]

Also,the cards are being delivered in plain envelopes not printed with the Sky logo,to avoid being stolen in the post or in communal post boxes (in flats),this may mean that the cards will be pre-authorised,but if stolen will be switched off when the rightfull owner notifies Sky off not recieving their new card,this could be after 3 months!!!!!!!!!!!!..........Brian

 

[dishdoctor]

Who bought me that pint,last time i saw a head like that it was in my lap..........only dreaming............That pint looks big enough to ride a Jet-Ski across................................

 

[rolfw]

sorry Brian, bought you the pint but got so thirsty myself..........Well the rest is history. ;)

 

[dishdoctor]

Thanks Rolf,Brilliant!!!!,That,s me alright,thinking were did my beer go?.....................................Brian

 

[rolfw]

Unfortunately a poured beer left unattended, end of story.

 

[ShayK]

With Sky doing a card change, how wil this impact on the Free to View card from the BBC ? Will the BBC have to send out replacement cards aswell.

 

[Xilt]

this would also interest me as I use a free BBC card and one off-subscription Sky card, both of them a are working, each for different region. I wonder wheather the original user of the off-subscription sky card will get a new one as well or not.

 

[rolfw]

I would hazzard a guess that all off subscription cards will need to be replaced with BBC free to view cards, I can't see Sky sending out cards to non-subscribers.

 

[methos_de]

Originally posted by The_Shepherd
I just wondered - is the new issue of cards perhaps Sky's way of cutting down on "foreign" viewers? Plus, SKY are bound to catch a few people out who ring up from abroad to get their card authorised, as their system detects automatically if you're not using a British landline.

This isn't a problem I've already had 3 cards authorised from Germany, phoned up twice to order a premiership + card and god knows how many WWE pay per views. I don't think they really care where you're phoning up from.
Methos.

 

[rolfw]

I'm with you on that one Methos, the overseas viewers are something that they need to be seen to be concerned about, but they would certainly not commit major resources to that end.

 

[easysat]

I agree with the comment that it must be a pre-emptive strike especially as the Link Research note referred to a change to the NDS Verifier circuit in the Videoguard circuit. This seems to be a function that checks the card to see if it is genuine or not.

Imagine that you are NDS and you're trying to sell your system to some Asian country that's moving to digital television. Your best argument is to tell the potential customer how rival CA systems in Europe have been hacked. So the last thing you want is a problem to suddenly surface now especially as there are companies around who might well have partially analysed the existing Videoguard algorithm. If you are Rupert and had already budgeted for a card swap every two or three years, you might well decide to go ahead and reissue the cards just to be on the safe side.

My 2p's worth of speculation...

 

[chris]

On page 51 of the October issue of the Sky magazine includes details of the New Card Delivery.

It say's- After you have correctly inserted your new card into your digibox, you need to wait 20 seconds until you receive a confirmation message, press back-up on your Sky remote and your viewing is restored. That's all there is to it.

It also says you dont need to phone to get connected.

chris.

 

[2old4this]

EPG channel number 999 now publishes info on the card swap. Press the red button to get rid that ingratiating Jaggeresque floor mop, and go into the window which is second from left on the bottom row.

I'm curious as to the point of distributing them in unmarked envolopes - I assume that even though they are pre-activated, they will be already be paired to the box they are intended for. In that case, nicking them for another box will be fruitless.
Or will they pair automatically to the first box they come across, bit like those baby geese that imprinted on that hang-glider?

I'm also puzzled about the fact that BBC cards will apparently not need swapping, whereas ex-subscription Sky cards will (somebody claiming to work in the industry posted this at sathackro). If this is true, why? If Sky feel it necessary to kill ex-subscription cards completely, why don't they (or more specifically, NDS) insist that the BBC do the same for thier version1 cards?

Does anyone have any more definite info on this? Will ex-sub Sky cards really stop working? Or is it all just a rumour designed to raise my blood pressure some more?

2old

 

[The_Shepherd]

If, as stated, ex-subscription cards stop working at switchover, this would be a perfect way for SKY to "kill off" a large number of European viewers. After all, a lot of people in Europe buy their boxes from EBAY, from people who have gotten tired of SKY and simply moved over to cable tv (one of my mates is a dealer who makes a steady income buying sat boxes cheap from people who switched to cable and are ditching SKY because it works out much cheaper to get a second subscription for them - they then appear on EBAY and usually end up in Germany where tv is so bad that the Germans are desperate to get quality "free" telly).)

(-red

 

[rolfw]

Whilst you're right in that it may kill off in the short term a number of FTV European viewers, I really don't think that this is the reason for the change, just a by-product. Sky probably lose no sleep whatsoever over the FTV people, they are neither losing nor making money from them.