FTV Card - Whats on it?

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

Hopefully I will be getting an FTV card soon and I was wondering what exactly is on it, channels, radio etc. Also can you watch the "free" sky digital channels while your FTV card is in the decoder. A list would of what exactly is on would be helpfull, and maybe whats to come? I tried lyngesat.com and couldnt get my answer. Help!

Spanks in advance.

DMC

From: http://www.iolfree.ie/~icdg/sky_digital.htm

Free To Air (FTA)(without a card)
*On EPG in NI only. Sky News, CNN, QVC, BBC PARLIAMENT, Shop, TV Travel Shop,Sky News Active, ITN News Channel, Radio service. Other non-subscription channels also available.

NI Free To View (FTV)(With card)
Not available ROI. BBC ONE NI, BBC TWO (English), BBC TWO NI (Digital), BBC TWO Scotland, BBC 2W, BBC CHOICE, BBC NEWS 24, BBC KNOWLEDGE, ITV1 UTV, Channel 4, Channel 5, BBC RADIO 5 LIVE, BBC FOUR, CBBC Digital, BBC Cbeebies

There are some other, 5 Live Sports Extra... but thats the height of it.

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

Surely I wont get all of them in ROI? Any ROI list?

DMC

If you get an FTV card from the North, in this case, you get all the channels mentioned.

The first group of channels are there for free, even if you plugged out your Sky subscription card. The second group are channels available on a FTV card from the north, which costs relatively nothing to get.

Impressive.

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

What are the chances of getting one of those cards then? I ave no relations in Enger-land who would get me one... Know anywhere that sells them, i mean sells them on their own because i allready have a few sky dodgyboxes and minidishes...? All the channels you mentioned would be available down here too right because how are sky to kinow that im in Ireland and not the UK... if ya know what i mean...?

DMC

Of course these channels are available to us here... but you are really not meant to have one of these UK FTV cards.

Folks..... I think we've stumbled across something here, someone who doesn't realise the full implications of the FTV card.

The card and your digibox can be anywhere. The only way Sky knows exactly where a box is at any one time is when it is plugged into the phone line and when it makes its frequent call-backs to base. If its unplugged, there is no way Sky knows exactly where the box is.

There is no such thing as an Irish FTV card, there is no suchlike service to the one that the BBC run and control for free viewing of their channels in the UK. That is why us ingenious creatures, the techy Irish male, goes to such lengths to get all the UK terrestrials on our Sky Digital boxes, they go out of our way to get a UK FTV card.

If you are unsure, DO NOT do it. Otherwise, this might not work for anyone else in the future. Seek clarification from the rest of us. And pay particular attention to the steps in this thread, especially bkehoe's first post.

But remember, its a bit like getting cheap kerosene in Crossmaglen.

muffinhead

On this point - is there just one slot for a card i.e. do you have to keep swapping between your irish sub card and your uk FTV card?

Or are there two slots, one for sub and one for FTV?

I haven't got my equipment yet so I am not sure!

Mossy Monk

Originally posted by muffinhead
do you have to keep swapping between your irish sub card and your uk FTV card?

yes. there is one slot for a viewing card and another slot for an interactive card which is of no use to anyone, not yet anyway

muffinhead

how does this effect the channel line up?

presumably if I get a family pack sub card and a UK FTV then in order to watch RTE1 I would have to have the family pack card in and for English BBC1 I would put the UK FTV in - Is this the way? Please correct me if i'm wrong

DMC

Correct and right, muffinhead.

The channel line-up (EPG) will change, depending on which card is in.

muffinhead

I am getting my first SKY subscription (hopefully) in the next few days. Would you advise me to unplug the phoneline when getting my English FTV activated? Should I leave the phoneline unplugged from then on?

DMC

Yep, and if you have to at any stage plug in the phone line, make sure its not when the FTV card is in.

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

So what your saying DMC is that the FTV card is... umm... how do I say this? Slightly dodgy, slightly illeg........ you know?? Excellent! ive been pm'ed where to get one (cheap) and how. Only thing I dont know is when to have my phone line in and when to have it out. Ya know the way when your getting sky digital installed the first day, the installer calls up sky to activate the card. Do i need to do this with the FTV card or do i just slap it in and away she goes??

DMC

I refer the honorable gentleman to the reply I gave some moments ago.

bkehoe's post, it mentions what to do after you get the card. All there. Please read it carefully. If you follow the steps there, you cant go wrong. If someone is getting it for you, great, but you'll have to get them to manually activate it, you'll have to ring the number in that post and talk to some wee Scottish lass. One more thing to note, if you have a Kerry, Cork or mid-Louth accent, Don't ring.

muffinhead

Thanks! I don't want to mess up or get into any trouble with SKY before I have even made it through the first month!