# free to air skybox



## aoife12 (23 Aug 2009)

hi i know i asked this before but i forget how to do it. i want to cancel sky and get free to air. ihave to take out the card and then what do i do. any help would be great thanks


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## jhegarty (23 Aug 2009)

Phone sky to cancel , job done.

Nothing else needed.


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## Cat101 (23 Aug 2009)

When you cancel your sky a/c you may be left with a blue screen..
You may have to remove the card and download FTA (free to air) channels.
I get 900+ channels. Most of them are rubbish but a lot of great Tv too..
BBC 1,2,3,4. ITV 1,2,3,4. Channel 4 and 4+1. E4, E4+1,E4+2, Channel 5 etc..
Lots of movies and news channels... Most channels I get now I didn't get when I had sky.


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## aoife12 (23 Aug 2009)

hi i know you have to ring sky and cancel my question is how do you get the free to air channels. i remove the card and then what do i do??


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## Cat101 (23 Aug 2009)

Can't remember how mine was done (bro did it)

Found this tho...

Two options to see what FTA is like with skybox.
(1)
Go Sky news. 
press interactive
wait
put viewing card in UPSIDE DOWN (or an old cheque card etc).

Press backup. Ignore error messages. Leave card pushed in.

The UK EPG will load (without C4 and Five).

All the FTA channels will work and no channels will record. The pay TV channels give an error message.

If you remove or joggle the card or it is not fully in the box resets to Irish EPG.

(2)
Take card out and ignore error messages. The channels that still work are FTA.
However a cancelled IRISH Sky card will decode Sky3, so add it to list of channels. (It is Free To View = FTV )

The ICDGopedia has lists of channels FTA and FTV.

Notice the upside down card trick WON'T give you Sky3, or C4 or Five (the UK FTV channels), but you do get extra on EPG:

BBC3/Cbbc, NBBC4/Cbeebies, BBC news24, BBC parliament
All BBC radio
ITV1 & ITV2
All regional and national versions of ITV1/UTV and BBC1 /BBC2

RTE/TV3/TG4 won't work. Use a TV aerial


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## Cat101 (23 Aug 2009)

The above post states you won't get C4 or Five ...
but I do get them.

Try this also..

Remove card
Ignor message to insert card..
On Sky remote hit.. 
Services..
go to 'system setup'..
find 'Add channels'
And select
'Find channels'


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## bisset (25 Aug 2009)

Is there any way to  get the Irish channels without paying sky.  I have a dish but an aerial is not an option


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## Technologist (25 Aug 2009)

bisset said:


> Is there any way to  get the Irish channels without paying sky.  I have a dish but an aerial is not an option


No, it's not possible.


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## Eithneangela (25 Aug 2009)

We got the local TV man to install an aerial in the attic - so don't need external aerial to get the terrestrial channels. We also left SKY and now enjoy all the free channels - only problem is not knowing the numbers of the stations so keep having multiple hits on remote to get a channel - I know this is because we are using the old SKY box.  However, it works, so leave it alone!


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## Cat101 (25 Aug 2009)

bisset said:


> Is there any way to get the Irish channels without paying sky. I have a dish but an aerial is not an option


Have you tried an indoor aerial with a booster box?


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## Brighid (25 Aug 2009)

bisset said:


> Is there any way to get the Irish channels without paying sky. I have a dish but an aerial is not an option


 
I get them without an aerial or dish, also have free to air.


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## Technologist (26 Aug 2009)

How are you getting Irish channels without a terrestrial aerial or a Sky subscription? Can you give details?


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## Brighid (26 Aug 2009)

Technologist said:


> How are you getting Irish channels without a terrestrial aerial or a Sky subscription? Can you give details?


I actually dont know, all I have is a dish for free to air no aerial.


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## Technologist (28 Aug 2009)

Brighid said:


> I actually dont know, all I have is a dish for free to air no aerial.


Well, you can't get RTE TV on a satellite dish unless you're paying Sky. You can get RTE radio for free though.

How do you call up RTE, is it in the same list as the FTA channels such as BBC or do you press a buttoon (such as '1') on the TV remote?


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## Brighid (28 Aug 2009)

Technologist said:


> Well, you can't get RTE TV on a satellite dish unless you're paying Sky. You can get RTE radio for free though.
> 
> How do you call up RTE, is it in the same list as the FTA channels such as BBC or do you press a buttoon (such as '1') on the TV remote?


 I have two remotes, one for FTA and the other for RTE channels  and I have perfect picture. I also get RTE channels in my bedroom although I need to use an internal aerial (one that came with TV).


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## Technologist (31 Aug 2009)

Brighid said:


> I have two remotes, one for FTA and the other for RTE channels  and I have perfect picture. I also get RTE channels in my bedroom although I need to use an internal aerial (one that came with TV).


I'd say you must be quite close to a transmitter to get RTE with no aerial (assuming you're not on cable with NTL or UPC).


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## sunrock (9 Sep 2009)

I was trying to cancel my sky subscription last week , but when they put me thru`to the cancellations dept. I was left waiting for 45 mins and eventually hung up.It was a british call center..maybe there is an irish telephone number that would be better?
The only thing sky is good for reception for the terrestial channels as don`t want to put an aerial in the attic.How much would it cost to get someone to put in the aerials in the attic to get the 4 irish channels?


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## Jolly Man (21 Oct 2009)

Ok im sick to the teeth of sky for several different reasons, i think im going to cancel them and get rid of an unwanted drect debit, as outlined above can i get FTA through my sky plus box and will i have to get an aerial fitted to get rte and the likes.... will reception be ok doing it this way?


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## dieselhead (2 Nov 2009)

To get free channels on you sky box is simple, just turn on the sky box, pull out the viewing card and leave it out and then pull out the power supply out the back of it for a couple of seconds then turn the box back on, but make sure you DO NOT put the viewing card back in as you will have to repeat the whole process


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## Betsy Og (6 Nov 2009)

Jolly Man said:


> Ok im sick to the teeth of sky for several different reasons, i think im going to cancel them and get rid of an unwanted drect debit, as outlined above can i get FTA through my sky plus box and will i have to get an aerial fitted to get rte and the likes.... will reception be ok doing it this way?


 
Having the skybox as freeview wont interfere with terrestrial telly (RTE etc), its the system I have and it works great.

p.s. got a few aldi boxes tuned in, must test them, the only thing is that once you get used to the sky channel positions its hard to switch (maybe on the plus side there'll be fewer 'dud' channels).

Anyone know much about manually tuning sky box, the list of frequencies for channels. We had the 'yellow house' UK card to get Channel 5 & Channel 4 - are now both supposed to be on full free view anyway but without the card it they dont seem to be picked up (card nearly expired, shouldnt have to replace it).


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## wishbone (6 Nov 2009)

Our cable has just been disconnected, we didn't want it, so now all we have is a recently purchased LCD TV - we did a new search for channels and get RTE1, RTE2 and TV3 in perfect quality! much to my surprise.  It's DTV Air according to the TV, not analogue.  We're now going to get a FTA box and dish - which is better Tesco or Lidl?


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## Betsy Og (6 Nov 2009)

If you're on to a TV installer guy he can probably give you an old sky box if you're used to that format.


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## runner (6 Nov 2009)

Does anyone know if you can use say a second hand sky box, in addition to a subscription one I have downstairs, to connect to the dish for an upstairs tv.
This would be to have free to air channels only on the second tv, while having the subscription ones from the main box. In other words can you connect a second box to the one dish?


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## SparkRite (6 Nov 2009)

runner said:


> Does anyone know if you can use say a second hand sky box, in addition to a subscription one I have downstairs, to connect to the dish for an upstairs tv.
> This would be to have free to air channels only on the second tv, while having the subscription ones from the main box. In other words can you connect a second box to the one dish?


 
Yes of course you can. But you will need an LNB with at least two outputs. One cable to your subbed box and the other to your FTA box.


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## runner (7 Nov 2009)

Thanks Sparkrite.
Will check this out.
Can you buy 2nd hand sky boxes anywhere in Dublin?


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## SparkRite (7 Nov 2009)

runner said:


> Thanks Sparkrite.
> Will check this out.
> Can you buy 2nd hand sky boxes anywhere in Dublin?


 

Ten a penny on Ebay and also a good few on Adverts.ie


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## runner (7 Nov 2009)

Thanks for advice


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