Introduction.

There are many satellite channels that can be viewed without the need for a Sky subscription. All of the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 satellite output (with the exception of C4 HD) and most news channels, including Sky News, are all free to watch and can be received with any make of satellite receiver without the need for a viewing card. Five and its family are also free to watch but currently they do need a viewing card.

Although any subscription card will pick up Five, Sky also has a non-subscription free-to-view service, called Freesatfromsky (see further down this page for why it isn't just called Freesat). For a one-off payment of £150 the scheme offers a complete home installation of all the necessary equipment, including a viewing card for Setanta Sports News, Sky Three, Five and its digital offshoots, Fiver and Five US. For people who already have the equipment, the card is available separately for £20 (£19.57 during the temporary VAT reduction). With this equipment you'll have access to around 200 free channels. The viewing card is only needed for Setanta Sports News, Sky Three and the Five family, though it will also give you your local region of BBC1 and ITV1. A full list of channels, together with other information can be found at the Freesatfromsky website.

You can only buy into Freesatfromsky (for full installation at home) by ringing the Freesatfromsky phone number, 08442 410 595, and giving your credit or debit card number. Alternatively, and more relevantly for caravanners, you can buy the equipment from independent suppliers without installation. Typical costs are around the £90 to £110 mark - see my Links page for more details of where to buy.

The other thing to note is that Freesatfromsky is a purely marketing initiative and doesn't affect how the various channels are transmitted. So the BBC and ITV for example will continue to use the Astra 2D satellite, and Channel 4 has now moved there as well. The Freesat version of Five is also on the 2D but the Sky version, for the moment at least, can still be received across Europe with a viewing card. So for anyone taking your caravan down to Spain and hoping it will change what you can get through your 60cm dish, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed.

Questions and answers:

What information will Sky ask for when I ring up? You'll be asked for your name and address. Payment will be by credit or debit card. If you're just ordering a separate viewing card, most people seem to be receiving their cards by the next day's post.

Will I have to keep the digibox connected to a phone line? No.

How will people be treated when their card needs replacing, either through damage or because Sky wants to upgrade its encryption system again? If the card develops a fault, it will be replaced free of charge. From time to time, Sky changes its encryption system for security purposes and if and when that happens a replacement card will be needed. If it happens within 5 years of the card being issued (3 years for a stand-alone card purchased for £20), the replacement will be issued free of charge. After that period, each viewer will need to buy his or her own replacement at a cost which Sky says will not exceed £20.

What channels are included? Setanta Sports News, Sky Three and the Five family. The BBC, ITV and Channel 4 channels don't need a viewing card but it will give you your correct local BBC1/ITV1 region.

What do I need to do to activate the card? The instructions supplied with the card tell you to place it in the digibox and wait 20 minutes. Unfortunately the half of Sky that wrote those instructions didn't talk to the other half that encoded the card chip. Turns out you need to phone Sky with the serial number of your digibox in order to get the card activated.

Will I then be able to use the same card in different digiboxes without having to contact Sky to get it switched? Yes.

Will I be able to upgrade to a Sky subscription at a later stage? Yes.

Freesatfromsky with Sky Plus

Freesat from the BBC and ITV

Sky developed the first successful satellite system in this country and by effectively giving away digiboxes free of charge, they swept aside any chance of a commercial rival getting a toehold. In Europe, that's not the case and people there have access to hundreds of different models of satellite receiver (in much the same way that we here in the UK can buy terrestrial Freeview boxes from virtually any store and supermarket).

The thing about Sky boxes is that they operate in a very simple way - the installer fits the dish and connects the digibox to the TV, and the householder then selects any channel from a pre-installed and standard Electronic Programme Guide (EPG). The way in which the digibox works is identical regardless of the manufacturer, even down to a single design of remote control. Other makes of receiver don't have access to that EPG and will have one of their own but it might be subtly different from one make to another. The method of tuning the receiver will be different as well, just as you have to read the manual whenever you buy a new TV or video to find out how to tune it in.

Strip away the presentational aspects however, and a Sky digibox works in very much the same way as any other receiver. It picks up a signal from the satellite and converts it into a form suitable for the TV. So if you buy a non-Sky receiver and point your dish at Astra 2, the receiver will pick up the same UK channels as a Sky box. There are then 2 obstacles - first, that it won't be able to unscramble any encrypted signals and therefore is no use for Sky's subscription channels and second, you will have to tell it what frequencies you want to watch. Most non-Sky receivers have some kind of automatic scanning of the frequencies and you'll then be presented with a list of available channels. Obviously that only has to be done once unless other channels come on stream as happened in 2005 with ITV4.

In May 2008, the first attempt to knock Sky off its perch arrived with Freesat from the BBC. The BBC, jointly with ITV, has now launched its own free satellite service, equivalent to Freeview. It is called Freesat and a number of manufacturers, including Humax and Alba, are building a series of branded receivers to a defined standard. Other manufacturers can build their own receivers if they want, provided they conform to the Freesat specifications. All the UK channels will continue to transmit from the Astra 2 satellite system so it won't matter whether viewers use a Sky or a Freesat box (or any other make of box for that matter), and all dishes will continue to point the same way. There's also a Freesat website which will give you more information.

Buying viewing cards from eBay etc.

For anyone who doesn't have a UK address and is therefore not eligible for Sky's non-subscription service,the only current source of viewing cards is the secondhand market like eBay or Loot. I don't endorse this route and you proceed at your own risk. (In any case, there is absolutely no point in any UK resident buying from eBay, it's for expats only.) Remember that you'll be buying from an unofficial source and therefore you should tread carefully. So here is a short list of things to watch out for.