FTA cards etc.

[Stereo Steve]

CAn anybody tell me what the actual situation is with FTA cards for Sky boxes? I have an old sky card (yellow house) that works with BBC but not ITV when placed in a box. Can I get this activated for all free to air and what does it cost? I see them activated on Ebay for like £40.

Is there another FTA card that I can get for free from the BBC or summink?

Help.

 

[Starburst]

There is no such thing as a FTA card, the cards you could get via the BBC and then from the free2view website are FTV cards.
FTA = Free To Air
FTV = Free To View

Ok, it's a small thing but helps to use the right terms when talking about the subject

FTA channels do not require any smartcard which explains why you are getting the BBC channels on the digibox.
FTV channels require a smartcard with the correct encryption codes but it does not include an ongoing subscription, they used to be paid for by the license fee and then by a one off £23.50 payment.

Right this minute there is no official source for FTV cards but as you aware they are being offered on ebay and from other sources mainly intended for the European market.
They may be offered again but I wouldn't hold your breath since it seems all the parties involved are not overly keen on the idea and have no regulatory pressure to sort the mess out.

 

[Stereo Steve]

OK, thanks. The card I have sarrived with a second hand digibox I bought. I assume it was de-activated when they cancelled their subs. CAn I get it reactivated for FTV channels? If so, who does this? Is it sky and will it cost?

 

[Starburst]

Originally posted by Stereo Steve
OK, thanks. The card I have sarrived with a second hand digibox I bought. I assume it was de-activated when they cancelled their subs. CAn I get it reactivated for FTV channels? If so, who does this? Is it sky and will it cost?

Not sure what you can do if it's an ex-subscription card since they remain the property of SKY and probably can not be technically sold or passed on.
If it's a dark blue card with a yellow house it's a series 2 Solus card which may have become void since it hasn't had a dsat connection to maintain the code authorisation that SKY uses.
I don't believe there is any official path to activate a FTV card after the service closed a couple of weeks ago, anyone know different?

You could try pluging it into a phone connection and attempting to go through a New Installation setup, that's the method I used when moving a subscription smartcard between two digiboxes.