(510) Fox News... Free or Not Free?

[brendan_dj]

When I had my HD Sky Digibox installed on 22 May 2006, I asked the engineer to leave my old basic Sky digibox connected, but I did not want a "multiroom" subscription. (in other words, I wanted it for free channels only)

I was hoping that the engineer would give me a new viewing-card for my new HD box, but alas, he had to transfer the old card to my shiny new HD box.

I called Sky a few days later and I purchased a "freesat" card for £20. A quick call to marry the card to the box and I can now pick up FTA & FTV channels on my old digibox.
(Lets call this digibox, "BOX A")

Now... a different Story...
My Dad was given a Sky installation for Christmas back in 2001. We paid for him to receive the full Sky Package(including all sports and movies), This meant that his dish & digibox was supplied and installed for free.

A year later, his Christmas gift had expired. We cancelled the payments to Sky and he is left with all the free channels only. He is still very happy with his digibox as it is still far superior to his alternative aerial signal (both in terms of channel choice and picture quality).
(Lets call this digibox, "BOX B")

OK, now let me get to the point of this post...
Yesterday, when I was over my parents house, I made a discovery...
One of us can get Fox News (510) on the FTA/FTV digibox,
The other one can't and a message is shown to "Call Sky to upgrade your subscription to receive this channel

Why should one of us receive this channel and the other one not.

Can anybody guess, using the information above, which one receives Fox News (Box A or Box B?)

 

[jrisch]

Why should one of us receive this channel and the other one not.

Can anybody guess, using the information above, which one receives Fox News (Box A or Box B?)

Because FTA and FTV are different. My guess is the box using a cancelled card cannot get 510, as I can't on mine. But I haven't bought a FreeSatFromSky card, so can't check that. But FTA and FTV have different channel sets.

 

[brendan_dj]

Because FTA and FTV are different. My guess is the box using a cancelled card cannot get 510, as I can't on mine. But I haven't bought a FreeSatFromSky card, so can't check that. But FTA and FTV have different channel sets.

I understand the difference between FTA and FTV.
(BBC1 & ITV for example are "FTA" and are not encrypted and can be viewed even if you have no card in the box at all!
Channel 4 and Channel 5 for example are FTV, In other words, the channel is encrypted and a free viewing card is necessary to view it)

Both Box A and Box B can receive Channel 4 & channel 5.
Surely this confirms that the FTV decryption mechanism is working.

If Fox News is FTV, then it should be available on both boxes.

 

[usenetz]

If Fox News is FTV, then it should be available on both boxes.

Fox is neither FTA nor FTV and is part of the News & Events mix.

I am sure you know the difference between Fox and Bloomberg, but just in case someone made a mistake can you confirm you are definitely watching Fox, (as opposed to Bloomberg which is FTA), and that neither card has any subscription.

Secondly, assuming Fox is watchable can you see Eurosport as it is also part of the News & Events mix.

john

 

[jrisch]

I understand the difference between FTA and FTV.
(BBC1 & ITV for example are "FTA" and are not encrypted and can be viewed even if you have no card in the box at all!
Channel 4 and Channel 5 for example are FTV, In other words, the channel is encrypted and a free viewing card is necessary to view it)

Both Box A and Box B can receive Channel 4 & channel 5.
Surely this confirms that the FTV decryption mechanism is working.

If Fox News is FTV, then it should be available on both boxes.

If you go to http://www.freesatfromsky.co.uk/?pID=3 the FTV channels are listed. They don't include Fox, so possibly when Sky disabled the card in your fathers system, it wasn't done properly. I've heard before on this forum of people unsubscribing and still getting some of what they'd previously subscribed to.

 

[brendan_dj]

Fox is neither FTA nor FTV and is part of the News & Events mix.

I am sure you know the difference between Fox and Bloomberg, but just in case someone made a mistake can you confirm you are definitely watching Fox, (as opposed to Bloomberg which is FTA), and that neither card has any subscription.

Secondly, assuming Fox is watchable can you see Eurosport as it is also part of the News & Events mix.

john

Yes, It is most definately FOX. (Channel 510) Full picture and sound with the "Fox Live" and the USA flag continuously flying in the top left corner.

No, The box which is receiving Fox is NOT able to receive Eurosport.

 

[davemurgatroyd2]

There is a bug in the softwae on a particular box (IIRC the Pace DS430) that allows viewing of Fox News (definitely a subscription channel) on a Freesat card (which should only open the FTV channels). This bug has been around for a year or two. Enjoy it while it lasts (if you can call Fox News enjoyable ) as a future software upgrade may remove the bug.