October 2010

ITV2 HD Now on Sky & ITV3HD and ITV4HD coming soon. Eden HD and Nicklodeon HD also now live.

August 2010

ITV has now reached an agreement with Sky to launch ITV2 HD, ITV3 HD and ITV4 HD exclusively on the subscription television platform.

The channels will be made available to Sky+ HD subscribers in the autumn, starting with ITV2 HD in October.

July 2010

Important changes to your HD service

On or around the 5th October 2010, Sky are changing the way they offer the HD channels by aligning them to your Sky TV subscription. For example, to enjoy great HD dramas on Sky1 HD, you would need to have the Variety Pack which includes Sky1; and you'll need the Knowledge Pack to watch those beautiful HD documentaries on National Geographic HD and Discovery HD.

Sky Mpnthly charge to go up in September:

Old Price before 1st September 2010

1 pack £18
extra pack £1 extra (6 packs £23)
sky sports 1 £9
sky sports 2 £9
sky sports pack £18
sky movies 1 £8
sky movies 2 £8
sky movies pack £16
espn £9 (with sky sports pack)
espn £12 (without sky sports pack)
HD pack £10

New Price on and after 1st September 2010

1 pack £19
extra pack £1 extra (6 packs £24)
sky sports 1 £10.50
sky sports 2 £10.50
sky sports pack £21
sky movies 1 £9
sky movies 2 £9
sky movies pack £18
espn £10 (with sky sports pack)
espn £13 (without sky sports pack)
HD pack £10* (no charge from 1st October if subscription with skyworld with sky sports & movies pack with espn otherwise £10 charge) - *To be confirmed.

In 2011 the VAT rate in the UK is going from 17.5% to 20%. Sky monthly prices from January will rise by 2.5%.

Under Sky new Terms and Conditions, they now require 31 days notice to downgrade your viewing package.

April 2010

New Sky HD 1TB boxes in stock. Please contact for prices.

March 2010

Sky Sports 4HD
Sky has confirmed plans to launch Sky Sports 4 HD and the Hallmark Channel HD on its satellite television platform. - Launch on April 29th

Hallmark HD
Arriving on June 28th, the Hallmark Channel HD will carry HD versions of major US dramas, such as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Without A Trace.

Sky News HD
Sky recently confirmed plans to launch Sky News HD in the "coming months", which is claimed to be Europe's first news channel entirely in high definition.

ITV HD
April 2nd arrival of ITV1 HD, brings Sky close to the milestone of 40 HD channels. Sky now plans to grow its HD lineup to 50 by Christmas.

Sky Cards
Sky have updated their encryption system and, as a result, the Blue cards will no longer decode certain channels.

The channels that are definitely lost are FiveUSA, FiveUSA+1, Fiver, Fiver+1 and Sky Three. Channel 5 can be programmed, see below.

February 2010

SKY 3D. This year there will be an exciting new way to watch television - Sky 3D. And the great news is, you'll be able to watch it through your existing Sky+HD box with a 3D ready TV. Sky are starting by showcasing 3D in pubs from the beginning of April in the UK. Later in the year you'll be able to watch some of the best of Sky Sports, Sky Movies and Sky Entertainment in 3D from the comfort of your living room.

If you’re a Sky World customer with the HD Pack then you’ll be able to experience Sky 3D for no extra charge.

To enjoy Sky 3D TV, you'll need a 3D ready TV and 3D glasses. LG, Panasonic, Sony and Samsung all plan to launch 3D TVs in 2010. 3D glasses will either be included with your 3D TV or can be bought separately. 3D ready TVs will come in two different formats – Active and Passive. Sky 3D works with both. You’ll need to wear glasses with both types. All the major TV manufacturers are launching both.

January 2010

In about a month or so some new SkyHD box's will be available, either the Amstrad DRX890 or Samsung 500 offering a 500GB hard drive (250GB for personal use!); this 500GB will become the standard box. The other box will be the Amstrad DRX895 which will host a new design and have a 1.5TB hard drive (1TB for personal use!).

Sky made some significant changes to their service yesterday,(28.1.2010) the most noticeable change being that they have effectively done away with Sky and Sky+ digiboxes and made Sky+HD the basic box used for all new and existing customers. As a result, it means that standard Sky digiboxes are available in the UK as Sky Multiroom units only, so the supply of these may be limited; however, the major product change is that Sky+ digiboxes are gone completely, Sky literally visited every distributor yesterday and pulled all supply for scrapping; said to be 15,000 units! I fortunately have some Sky+ digiboxes left, but once they are sold there will be no more!

The BBC has revealed plans to broadcast every game from the Six Nations Championships in high definition for the first time ever. Starting on February 6th at 2pm for Ireland's game against Italy, all matches from the tournament will be simulcast live on BBC One and BBC HD (apart from France vs Italy on March 14, which will be shown on BBC Two).

December 2009

VAT changes planned for January 2010 - Back to 17.5%
From 1st January 2010, your monthly subscription for Sky TV, HD Pack and any stand-alone premium channels will increase slightly from this date onwards.

Therefore, from the 1st January 2010, Sky TV packages are increasing by 50p (50c) unless you take a package which has both the Sky Sports and Sky Movies Packs in which case the increase is £1 (€1 or €1.50 if a customer has 3 or more premium channels). The HD Pack subscription pricing is increasing by 25p (25c) back to £10 (€15) a month. As you pay for your subscriptions in advance you will see the changes in your December bill onwards.

Turning off old Sky cards:
We are under the impression that all Sky cards - FTV and Sky subscription cards are not going to be turned off until early next year. This is mainly due to the problems Sky have been having with their computer systems, postal strikes and lost cards.

September 2009

Sky are now issuing the new viewing cards that will be replacing the "yellow house" Sky cards, this is likely to continue into October.

At the end of October/November once all the cards have been issued they will turn off all the old cards.

The new viewing cards will be white on both sides, with one side having the new sky "glass tube" logo.

A while before your new viewing card is delivered to your UK or your agents UK address, you will see the following message on your TV screen.

(1) If you have your own Sky subscription at your own UK address; the new viewing card will come to your UK address automatically. All you will need to do it so arrange for the new viewing card to be forwarded on to you.

(2) If you have a Sky subscription through an agent, and you are effectively "using your agents UK address", then your agent will arrange for the new viewing card to be sent to you.

(3) If you have a Sky subscription at a UK address which you don't control (you have moved from there and are no longer in contact with the new occupants) or via an agent who is not contactable, then you may / will not get your new replacement sky viewing card. Please feel free to contact us for further advise.

Unfortunately there is no way of removing this information message, except by pressing the back-up button. Please be patient as new cards are being sent out every day and yours will arrive shortly.

Important if you have any changes to your address or phone Number please contact us ASAP.

Top Tip - Removing the warning sign coming up repeatedly on the BBC channels only:

On a BBC channel press the text button on your Sky remote.
Once the side text panel is on your screen, press '0'

The side screen should now minimize and you should be left with a small black message in the bottom of your screen, which is far less intrusive than the reminder banner.

FTV Cards

The FTV card is only supplying Ch5, Five live, Five US and Sky3. There is a possibility that some of these channels will go FTA eventually. (BBC, ITV etc are all free on your box and don't require the card) - so no card will be required.

However to remove this message that keeps coming up, do the following:

Unplug the Sky box from the mains
Remove the Sky card.
Wait 1 minute
Plug the Sky box back in (without inserting the card!)

If you require Ch5, it can be programmed:

If you have a Sky Digibox, you have to add Five using the 'Other Channels' method. Using your Sky Digibox remote control, pressthe 'Services' button, then button No 4, now select 'Add Channels'. In the Add Channels screen, change the frequency to 10773, change the Polarisation to H, change the Symbol Rate to 22.0 and change the FEC to 5/6. Highlight 'Find Channels' and press Select.
The digibox will then display a list of channels that it found and you should see 'FIVE' in the list … highlight this and press the Yellow Button to tick the channel. Press Select twice and then the Sky button to quit the menu.

CH5 channel is now stored as an 'Other Channel' so just press the 'Services' button and select Other Channels.

To add Channel4 +1 : as above, but enter:
Services> system set up> add Channels > 10.729 - V - 22.00 -5/6 >Find Channels > highlight 'Channel4' with yellow button> select.

To view Channel4 +1
Ch4+1 is now stored as an 'Other Channel' so just press the 'Services' button and select Other Channels.