Update: August 2009: Freesat from Sky Cards - Important

It looks like these typs of Sky viewing cards will be changing also soon......

Messages have been appearing on screens this weekend with a message along the lines of "Your viewing card is about to expire - you may lose channels after September 2009"

Unlike the new cards for Sky subscribers, Freesat replacement cards will not be sent out automatically, but via an onscreen message saying the card is due to expire and to contact Sky.

If you do nothing then you will loose access to any FTV channels:

ITV1 (in these regions only: Anglia W, Central SW, Mer N, Mer SE, TT S, Yorks E)
Channel 4 HD
FIVE
FIVE USA, FIVE USA +1, FIVER, FIVER +1
Sky 3

If you purchased a Sky FTV card after 1st May 2006 you are entitled to a free replacement card. Either call Sky or apply for a new card online before the end of September 2009. You can apply online at: http://www.sky.com/replacecard. Just enter your viewing card number and it will tell you if you are eligible for a replacement.

Please note that this may be different if you bought your card from an agent or installer in Spain who may charge for a replacement! Similarly there is no mention if the new cards you will get are preactivated or not....so you may also have to contact sky to get the cards activated.

Be aware of the following point when buying viewing cards from eBay etc.

I don't endorse this route and you proceed at your own risk. Remember that you'll be buying from an unofficial source and therefore you should tread carefully. And all SKy cards remain property of Sky no matter what.

Many sellers are currently offering, and are likely to continue to offer, the soon-to-be-outdated Sky cards. These are dark blue with a yellow house logo. It is anticipated that sometime in 2009,  that all such cards will be switched off and rendered useless.

Ideally if you do buy a Sky viewing card from Ebay, then you need to make sure it has been pre-activated. If it hasn't, there's no way you can get it activated and it won't work - you need the details of the sky cards account from the seller also.

Don't be influenced by claims that the card being offered for sale will pick up the free-to-air (FTA) channels. An active Freesatfromsky card will only get you few extra channels - Five, Fiver, Five USA, Sky Three and Setanta News. None of the other free channels, such as BBC or ITV needs a viewing card at all.

No card from eBay will allow you to watch Sky's subscription channels.

Cards bought from Ebay can be rendered inactive by the seller at any time, even after you have bought the card and left positive feedback...all he has to do is call sky and say that his card has been damaged,, sky will deactivate the card you now have and send the seller a new card.