topic Re: Freesat from Sky not working in Sky+

Freesat from Sky not working

MartinB87 — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 10:45:10 GMT

I was a "regular" Sky customer some years ago but after realising that we didn't use any of the pay-to-view channels we opted to switch to Freesat from Sky with a "Sky+" subscription a few years ago - mostly to allow us the ability to pause/record FTA TV.

This has worked absolutely flawlessly up until one day last week when one morning it just stopped working.

We can no longer play our recorded items, nor pause live TV.

The error message says:

"Live pause is not available"

And then when you press the yellow button it says:

"This service is currently unavailable. Please check your Sky viewing card is inserted and try again later".

The Sky box is a DRX890W-C.

Re: Freesat from Sky not working

Mark39 — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 12:13:22 GMT

Have you tried restarting your Sky box? Switch it off at the plug for at least 4 minutes.

Re: Freesat from Sky not working

MartinB87 — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 17:17:25 GMT

Yes, I've switched it off for an entire hour, and no difference.

I forgot to add, when on the main home page I get the following:

"Top Picks is only available with an active Sky TV Subscription"

Which is odd, because as far as I'm concerned I still have an active Freesat from Sky subscription.

Re: Freesat from Sky not working

GD1 — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 19:10:19 GMT

@MartinB87 wrote:

Yes, I've switched it off for an entire hour, and no difference.

I forgot to add, when on the main home page I get the following:

"Top Picks is only available with an active Sky TV Subscription"

Which is odd, because as far as I'm concerned I still have an active Freesat from Sky subscription.

But that is not a full Sky TV subscription so the top picks won't display for you as you don't have the correct subscription.

You are only getting access to the free channels via freesat from Sky.

Re: Freesat from Sky not working

MartinB87 — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 19:19:34 GMT

I would tend to agree, except I have had the Top Picks showing since I changed to Freesat from Sky with the Sky+ in 2017. Now I don't have anything, and as far as I'm aware nothing has changed.

Re: Freesat from Sky not working

Annie+UK — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 19:23:44 GMT

It could be that someone at Sky has spotted their mistake and corrected your viewing card OTA

Re: Freesat from Sky not working

Mark39 — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 19:34:43 GMT

@MartinB87 wrote:

"This service is currently unavailable. Please check your Sky viewing card is inserted and try again later".

Your 'Plus' (record/live pause/playback) permissions are stored in the Viewing Card so it sounds like either a problem with the Card, or those permissions have been revoked for some reason. Either way, you'll need to call.

Re: Freesat from Sky not working

MartinB87 — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 19:54:32 GMT

@Annie+UK - When you say, "spotted their mistake" what do you mean? What mistake

@Mark39 - OK, I'll try to give them a call tomorrow.

Re: Freesat from Sky not working

Annie+UK — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 20:02:34 GMT

@MartinB87 wrote:

@Annie+UK - When you say, "spotted their mistake" what do you mean? What mistake

@Mark39 - OK, I'll try to give them a call tomorrow.

I did not see your first post I only read the one about "Top Pick" 😞

Re: Freesat from Sky not working

MartinB87 — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 21:37:28 GMT

@Annie+UK - No worries, thanks for replying though. But to the best of "our" knowledge the Sky+ subscription that I have, for my Freesat By Sky has not been discontinued? It should still work just fine?

Re: Freesat from Sky not working

MartinB87 — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 14:12:45 GMT

Ok, so I've called and spoken to someone at Sky who tells me that "Sky+ is no longer available" and that my only option is to upgrade to SkyQ for £44/month!?

Surely that isn't right is it?

Re: Freesat from Sky not working

Annie+UK — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 14:16:59 GMT

Please Note: Sky+ is now a legacy service that Sky are replacing with their newer services: Sky Q (all issues will be fixed during a Sky Q install), Sky Glass and Sky Stream

Sky+ and earlier boxes are unsupported by Sky and have been for a while now, the last manufacture of Sky+HD boxes was approx' 9 years ago, there are no onger any new boxes available thus the reason for dropping support

Re: Freesat from Sky not working

Mark39 — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 14:23:33 GMT

It's not available to new Sky+ subscribers. Are you still paying for a Sky+ subscription?

Re: Freesat from Sky not working

MartinB87 — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 14:24:41 GMT

@Annie+UK - Thanks, I can't be the only person who this has happened to, why are there not more posts about it?

Seems odd as there isn't really much to it, just leave me to record and pause - no need to turn it off!

So my only options really are to pay an extortionate amount of money to get what I already had, or go elsewhere?

Re: Freesat from Sky not working

nigea99 — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 14:29:51 GMT

hi @MartinB87

I don't know what you have been paying SKy & for how long but you may be better getting a dedicated freesat box capable of recording

Re: Freesat from Sky not working

MartinB87 — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 17:37:25 GMT

@Mark39 - I've had the Sky+ Subscription on my account since 2017 so I don't think I can be referred to as a new customer 🙂

@nigea99 - I guess this is where it gets interesting, when I cancelled my full package I paid a one-off up-front charge of £25 to receive the correct viewing card. The Sky+ Subscription was then added to my account at £0.00 per month, I queried it at the time and was told it was correct. So, technically I've not paid anything, which is why a jump to £44/month is painful. Especially given it's for a service I should already be receiving. I had looked at a Freesat recorder but I've had Sky for over 20yrs and become really accustomed to the layout etc so would be loathed to change it unless I really must. Also, tried Virgin for a bit but the TiVo box is utterly trash.

Re: Freesat from Sky not working

Annie+UK — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 17:43:20 GMT

Ah so you got a FSFS card but not paid the £10 per month for recording playback, maybe this could be the cause of the Sky+ feature switch off

Re: Freesat from Sky not working

Mark39 — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 18:45:06 GMT

Yes, my thinking too. @MartinB87 is the Sky+ subscription at £0 still showing on your future billls?

Re: Freesat from Sky not working

MartinB87 — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 19:53:47 GMT

@Annie+UK - Yes, but not through choice, Sky added it to my account with a £0 monthly fee. As I say, I questioned it at the time and was told it was fine. I'd happily have paid the £10/month and would still happily do so. I have no idea why it was setup as it was.

@Mark39 - Interestingly I can no longer view my Sky account, every page just has a warning saying I don't have access to view the page. So it looks as though Sky have cancelled my account 😞