Please could you help, my sister has this question on her website and I figured she'd get a quicker answer if I asked you guys!!!

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I have been looking at subscribing to Sky for the film channels but apparently they insist on having a permanent connection to my telephone line. This gets me cross. Interfering presumptuous Sky. What can they want it for? I know the line they spin about allowing interactive services to be accessed but I do not believe it is simply about allowing me to access extra services. What is in it for them? Why can't I have a removable plug into the telephone line? I don't want a wire trailing across the whole length of my living room. If anyone knows I would be very interested to hear from them.

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So any help would be cool!! Thanks

As far as I know there is no ulterior motive for wanting you to connect to a telephone line. It is just for the reasons they say it is. When a Sky pay per view film/program is ordered using the remote control, the box lets Sky know about it via the telephone line. Then you get billed for it.

I'm on cable, so telephone, Internet and TV all come to me down the same line. If I opt to view a film, the information is sent back to the cable company so they can bill me for it. This will be much the same with Sky, except they need the extra connection to the telephone line to achieve the same thing.

Sky also hopes you will take advantage of the interactive services. I should think the reason is that they make money out of them.

As well as Pay Per View events and interactive services, the phone line is also necessary for keeping the decoder's software up to date.

With regular improvements to the software, as well as new channels and services being added, the phone line is needed to check and download the software required.

If I remember correctly, the box sends a signal back to the Sky server on a nightly basis (around midnight) to check if any new software is available, then updates itself if needed.

I hope this isn't too obvious a question but how do you connect to pay TV without cable or satellite both which can download necessary stuff anyway?

Simply put - you can't.

All Pay TV over here is encrypted and comes via either satellite or cable (unless you included the bloody BBC ).

Sooooooo, why would SKY want a phone line put in then?

Over here, people refer to it as SKY instead of Satellite TV because SKY owns the satellite broadcasting rights in this country and the biggest & most popular channels are SKY channels (SKY Movies, SKY Sports, etc).

'SKY wants to put a phone line in', just means that the Satellite TV company wants to put a phone line in.

Perhaps it's different then as I have satellite pay tv and don't need a phone line. Maybe those ones are only one way?

Unless they changed the rules you only have to have it connected 24 hours a day for the first year, then you can pull it out if you must. They installed a telephone socket behind the set so wires don't trail all around the room, they ran a wire under the carpet to the existing telephone socket to which they fitted a two-way socket so I could still have a phone.

I do sometimes use the interactive, you can order from QVC with your remote! Not a service you would want to miss.

That is still the rule. It's for the interactive part and pay per view that the phone line is needed. It's part of the way they make money and, on a new contract, a phone line connection must be agreed to. The PPV viewing record is retrieved through the telephone line. If you decide you don't want that part of the service after a year the plug can be pulled.

I think that changes if you have a second digibox connected to the system. Since this is usually supplied at a lower rate you have to agree to keep the line connected to it all the time.

Why would you want to pay for a second box? So that you can watch a different TV station in another room.

...But wait a minute! We've been doing this quite happily for years on the *analogue* TV system and it hasn't cost a bean extra. All that was needed was another TV. Well, with satellite TV you'll need to rent another box as well as have a TV. Great eh?

At the moment we can still watch TV via a roof aerial as we have done for years. Our cable TV company still includes these signals as well as the digital service. However, these transmissions are due to end in 2010. After that, we'll all have to go digital and probably need a separate box for each TV. That's progress for you.

*EDIT* I meant 'terrestrial' rather 'analogue' in paragraph 4.

Last week I asked a satellite dish fitter about being able to view on a second set and he said that I would need to have it linked to the phone in that room too, pass. On the analogue system we had three decoders but not phone lines, anyone want three obsolete boxes?

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I do sometimes use the interactive, you can order from QVC with your remote! Not a service you would want to miss.

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You crack me up


Our normal TV is via satellite also and although you can't watch different channels we have a cable to go to the other tv - can only change the channels ot the main tv and decoder but at least you don't have to be in the lounge room to watch it.

What I would only do to use the interactive! I think it was nearly 4 years ago when I switched to digital cable as they said it would be going interactive shortly. As the games had just been removed from analogue, I was looking forward to getting them again, along with (at the time) free email and internet.
The first thing I discovered was if I wanted to record from the video I'd have to reconnect the roof aerial as unlike analogue cable, the channels can't be split to separate frequencies. Definitely a technological step forward, as TW said. Soon after I reconnected it for the first time in many years the whole outdoor equipment rotted away and until my builder or other comes to fix it, my video has been connected to an indoor aerial, meaning lovely ghosts if I watch one channel and record another.

After a 3 year period of delays and excuses, I finally discovered our monopoly cable company tried to go interactive and found our cables were obsolete. That was it. No broadband, TV email, games, red buttons (UK viewers will know what I mean here) or other goodies I can only imagine. And for the minor privilege of having Big Brother on most of the day for 9 weeks my bill has increased by about 20%.
If I could, I would have returned to analogue cable as soon as I found this out, but I believe it was a one way street. And I don't live on Dartmoor, this is one of the world's richest and most populated cities, and we can't get interactive cable or broadband in half of it. Is that an example of modernity or the worst side of traditional British 'Take it or leave it' attitude to service?

er... was my body just posessed by the spirit of Victor Meldrew- or do all of us have a part of him waiting to be awoken at the right moments?

I think that was a justified 'Victor Meldrew' type moan there Satguru . A poor situation. I wonder though if the terrestrial TV signals (those signals normally received via a roof aerial) are on your cable anyway. I'm on cable and this is the case where I am.

Do you have an 'RF out' socket on the back of the cable box? If so, connect a TV to it and let it run through its entire tuning range. You could find you are able to receive BBC1,2 - ITV - Channel 4 (maybe not 5) and possibly some other stations too. In fact, I believe the cable company may be obliged to put the terrestrial stations that have been around for years on the cable (not certain about that though).

If you do have them, you could run a jumper lead from the RF out socket on the box into the video recorder and then onto the TV. Then you'll be able to watch one station while recording another like you used to be able to (and without all that ghosting). You could also split the lead (using a splitter amplifier ideally) to run a second TV in another room. Everything would need re-tuning because the frequencies are shifted by the cable company. The main TV can be viewed through either the SCART socket or the aerial socket.

Worth checking that out anyway. If it works, the arrangement should hold good until at least 2010.

What's Freeview like in your area. Have you heard anything about the quality of that?

I called the company soon after I went digital, and they gave me all sorts of technical reasons why frequencies can't be split on digital cable, which is surprising considering it's supposed to be an advance. However, considering their usual standard of service, it wouldn't surprise me if there is a method of doing it and they just don't know.
The interactive also allows you to time the channels in advance, so if you want to record any channel you press the reminder, and instead of popping up a reminder to watch a channel, actually changes to it as well. This allows you to record more than one cable channel ahead, but not record cable and watch terrestrial together or vice versa.
All the terrestrial channels are present on cable, but all on 'channel six' on the set. Previously there was a second signal only giving a set of the five regular channels on separate frequencies as I described, which is apparently impossible to retain on a digital signal.
Freeview is fine round here, in fact when I wanted to record digital Radio4 I found you can only find it on Freeview via a TV (and possibly Sky). My digital BBC radio stations via TV actually play the analogue versions you can get on a normal radio, and radio 4 actually have different programmes on the digital version. This is another shortcoming of cable, and I'm having to buy a digital radio now or I'll miss quite a bit that isn't included in either cable package available.
The major drawback to this is not having broadband. My company cuts off every 2 hours officially, so, whoever I may be talking to live, or writing, I have to redial and reload everything not just every 2 hours, but the numerous extra times it cuts off.
I hear broadband can be unreliable as well, but it can't be as bad as that.
I'm just going out now to buy myself a tweed cap and get a very short haircut. I don't believe it!

I've got Freeview which I am impressed with, and also broadband which is quite quick! Also got a digital radio, which I haven't used often but I am sure I will in the future!

I guess that I am first to weigh in from the U.S. on satellite telly. I have two 18 inch dishes, each pointing to different satellites. I get 50 channels on one and 50 channels on the other. The broadcast is seamless and infinitely better than cable.

A telephone line must be connected to the decoder if we want to watch PPV. As has been explained here, this allows direct communication with the satellite service provider when we watch PPV movies. They need this connection in order to bill you properly. I don't think that the phone line connection is needed when watching programming that is not PPV.

The satellite service provided a free decoder, the two dishes, and free wiring installation with the proviso that I take the service for a year. The basic cost is US$ 39.95 per month. PPV movies are $3.99.

We have a lot of strong winds here at times but the receiving dishes have never gone out of alignment. I lost the signal one day due to snow accumulation on the dishes. I must have looked ridiculous standing in a snow bank with one of those cobweb cleaners with the extension handles.

Hi Guys!
I am the sister moonchild is talking about, and I would like to thank you all for your help on this!
I am heartened to hear that the full-time phone connection would only last a year - my aversion to it partly stems from an automatic reaction to big companies telling me they insist on intruding on another part of my life, and also (on a more shallow level!) because I don't have carpets to tuck wires under and so all wires in my house run around the skirting boards. The skirting boards are so loaded it is a wonder they don't crack under the strain!
Anyway, best wishes to all... I miss posting here, but a new job and buying my first house has rather made it impossible! Hope to return soon...
F.
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I'm pleased if the thread has been of help. As regards hiding the telephone line: I suppose one answer to hiding yet one more wire in the gap might be to attach a piece of quarter-round moulding to the lower edge of the skirting board (bring out all of the wires while fixing it on though). Another idea I saw was like an 'overshoe' for the skirting board that, when in place, left a bit of a cavity for wires to run in. That was a bit expensive though. Anyway, I hope you find a solution to the problem. Good luck in the new house and job