@Onramp that seems like a likely scenario. Thanks so much for the info!
@heero_yuy was the encryption/scrambling for premium channels different from standard ones? E.g. would Sky Box Office use a different method from, say, Sky One?
P.S. guys I have an old news report about Milton Keynes and the Virgin/BT cabling dispute. The video is from 2011/12 & features quick clips of a guy changing channels and using menus on his General Instrument box, in good quality. As it's not on YouTube anymore I'll reupload it later/tomorrow and post here.
If anyone has one of these boxes, it'd be amazing if you could capture the menus and interface on direct video capture instead of a camera and put it on YouTube.
Screenshot from video: