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**Chris** · 22-09-2011, 15:47

There is no viewing card for 'official' (BBC/ITV) Freesat. FSFS needs a viewing card that will require to be replaced periodically (I believe this may be a requirement of their licence to use the encryption tech that's on it), but not often and not at high cost.

There are very, very few channels missing from the Freesat EPG that you might actually want to watch, and most of those that are missing (the channels Five, for example) are only missing temporarily due to lack of available satellite spot-beam capacity. That limitation is being removed imminently by the commercial 'go live' of Astra 1N which has lots of spare UK-only beams to spare. Channels that want to broadcast free-to-air and have rights to show programming in the UK only, need to use these broadcast beams.

Almost everything else in the Sky EPG is utter garbage, but it is FTA garbage you can tune manually on the Freesat box if you really, badly want it. I have a Freesat box and a FSFS box and I much prefer the Freesat one because the EPG is uncluttered and you can actually use the channel + and - buttons on the remote without constantly hitting the blue 'subscribe now' nag screen.

22-09-2011, 15:47	#11
Chris Trollsplatter Cable Forum Team Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: North of Watford Services: Humane elimination of all common Internet pests Posts: 37,024	Re: Question about Freesat HD from sky There is no viewing card for 'official' (BBC/ITV) Freesat. FSFS needs a viewing card that will require to be replaced periodically (I believe this may be a requirement of their licence to use the encryption tech that's on it), but not often and not at high cost. There are very, very few channels missing from the Freesat EPG that you might actually want to watch, and most of those that are missing (the channels Five, for example) are only missing temporarily due to lack of available satellite spot-beam capacity. That limitation is being removed imminently by the commercial 'go live' of Astra 1N which has lots of spare UK-only beams to spare. Channels that want to broadcast free-to-air and have rights to show programming in the UK only, need to use these broadcast beams. Almost everything else in the Sky EPG is utter garbage, but it is FTA garbage you can tune manually on the Freesat box if you really, badly want it. I have a Freesat box and a FSFS box and I much prefer the Freesat one because the EPG is uncluttered and you can actually use the channel + and - buttons on the remote without constantly hitting the blue 'subscribe now' nag screen.