Sky to Freeview .

[Curtaintop]

H ello .  Ive got  Sky Q  with  Sky signature    ,  Broadband essential , and phone anytime phone   package.  Im wanting to  cancel   sky signature TV ,  leaving just   broadband and phone .    If I do that  , to get Freeview  is it just a matter of  going into my TV  control centre ,finding it , and  clicking  on it as if it was just another channel   for example , or   am I going to need to  have extra bits and pieces of tech to get hold of  ,or enter a contract with them ,or reset my TV's innards?  (Please keep it simple  , Im  not  techy minded .   Thank you . 

[oldfella]

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@Curtaintop wrote:

H ello .  Ive got  Sky Q  with  Sky signature    ,  Broadband essential , and phone anytime phone   package.  Im wanting to  cancel   sky signature TV ,  leaving just   broadband and phone .    If I do that  , to get Freeview  is it just a matter of  going into my TV  control centre ,finding it , and  clicking  on it as if it was just another channel   for example , or   am I going to need to  have extra bits and pieces of tech to get hold of  ,or enter a contract with them ,or reset my TV's innards?  (Please keep it simple  , Im  not  techy minded .   Thank you . 

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hi @Curtaintop 
If cancel Sky Signature then your only choice with Sky is to replace it with Sky Essentials.

This is the only way to keep your Sky Q boxes.

If you just want to watch Terrestrial (Freeview) TV on your TV set then you can do this without the Q boxes but you will need a terrestrial TV aerial.

One of these below if you do not have one already 

[Curtaintop]

Thank you oldfella   ,   yes I want to get rid of my sky Q box ,  yes  I appear to still have an aerial on the roof  as well as a dish ,  so  going back to the rest of my question , what is required   to get  Freeview up and running  once  the box has been disconnected  to return ?   ps will they  demand the dish back too?  

[PandJ2020 · Accepted solution]

The dish is yours.

You can use it for freesat with the correct set top box.

But if you have a working aerial then you simply plug an RF lead from the wall to your TV and tune it.

[Curtaintop]

Thank you PanJ 2020   there are two  cables coming in from outside and both appear to be attached already , one to the tele and the other to the Q box. Do I just pull out the one to the Q box?     Ive found a utube video how to tune, so  I should be ok with that bit.  

[TimmyBGood]

@Curtaintop 

Two different systems.

Freeview is free to air television broadcast from a transmitter mast and received through an aerial to a television or box with a digital terrestrial tuner.

Freesat is free to air television transmitted from orbit and received over a dish connected to a box or television set with a satellite tuner.

Some televisions are equipped with Freeview and Freesat tuners, others only have Freeview.  If an external receiver box is used then no tuner on the television is required but the box itself will be either Freesat or Freeview but not both.

Freeview choice is limited to what's being broadcast from the local mast: this may only be a subset of all channels.  Freesat reception is always all the channels on Freesat, but these are now fewer in number than potentially on Freeview.  Freeview with Freeview Play (delivered by transmitter and online) has far wider choice.

From later this year, both Freesat and Freeview begin transitioning to the Freely app (online only) in anticipation of the eventual end of broadcast transmission but this app is currently only available on a limited range of hardware and not retrospectively installable.