Sky

...plunge into the world of Sky digital, my freeview box was simply not up to the job as I live in an area with poor reception and so had to suffer constant stutters and picture freezes which were starting to drive me mad. Also, being a big football fan there is only one television company that shows decent matches week in week out as well as numerous film channels and a plethora of twenty-four hour news feeds, the fact was that if I was to move my ...
...to beat all previous offers Sky wise. As an AOL broadband customer I was being offered the chance to have a digital satellite dish and a digital receiver supplied and installed completely free plus three months of free viewing of the Sky family pack, which usually costs £40 a month. Well, I must have pondered the merits and pitfalls of this offer for all of ten seconds before taking the plunge and signing up.

●Signing Up●
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I’ve been procrastinating for quite some time about whether to take the plunge into the world of Sky digital, my freeview box was simply not up to the job as I live in an area with poor reception and so had to suffer constant stutters and picture freezes which were starting to drive me mad. Also, being a big football fan there is only one television company that shows decent matches week in week out as well as numerous film channels and a plethora of twenty-four hour news feeds, the fact was that if I was to move my telivisual habits into this century I was going to have to subscribe to Sky. Image my delight then, when a pop up window appeared on my AOL sign in screen displaying an offer to beat all previous offers Sky wise. As an AOL broadband customer I was being offered the chance to have a digital satellite dish and a digital receiver supplied and installed completely free plus three months of free viewing of the Sky family pack, which usually costs £40 a month. Well, I must have pondered the merits and pitfalls of this offer for all of ten seconds before taking the plunge and signing up.

●Signing Up●

As I have mentioned I got a special offer through my internet service provider but there are pop ups and banner adverts all over the internet with special deals and offers on Sky subscriptions. www.sky.com also has an exclusive online offer so they are worth checking out. Sign up for me was a simple task of filling in my name and address in a pop up window and supplying credit card details to verify my age. I was then informed via email that a Sky customer service operative would contact me by telephone within three working days to arrange direct debit details and an installation date to suit me, and true to their word I was telephoned three days later. The phone operative was friendly and efficient and after taking my bank account and sort code details for the direct debit he reeled off a handful of terms and conditions for me to listen to and agree with, one of which was that I had to subscribe for a minimum of twelve months and another being that the digital receiver must be connected to a phone line at all times to enable interactive connectivity. This was on a Wednesday and the next available installation slot in my area was for the following Sunday which I agreed to. While waiting for the Sunday to arrive I received a Sky viewing card in the post along with a signature less contract and details of the channel package I had applied for, now all I needed was the Sky TV itself.

●Installation●

On the Sunday morning I received a courtesy call from the installers which I thought was a nice touch telling me they would arrive anytime between ten and midday. At twenty past eleven a little white van adorned with the sky logo pulled up and two chaps set about installing my digital equipment. Both were polite and conscientious with one taking to the roof to position the black mesh satellite dish while the other produced a monster of a drill - which I can only presume had been used to bore out the channel tunnel in a previous life – and drilled a hole in my wall to take the cabling. Luckily I have a telephone socket close to my television so no extra wiring was needed for this, and with the plugging in of a scart lead the installation was all but complete. A quick check that all of the channels were working as they should be and that the phone connection was active and the two installers left within twenty minutes of starting the job, leaving me to explore and enjoy my new toy. However, my excitement was short lived when I discovered that my video and DVD player were no longer displaying a picture, I was annoyed that the installers had not addressed this issue as I am sure the majority of people who want to have Sky digital installed would already have a VCR and a DVD player in position. Maybe I should have expressly asked that they make sure all of my appliances were working in harmony, as it was I had to spend twenty minutes cursing and swapping scart leads and cables around before all three pieces of equipment worked in the correct manner. At last I could sit down and enjoy the plethora of new channels available to me.

●Equipment●

As the digital receiver and satellite dish were free I did not have high expectations as to the quality or look of either item, but even so I was taken aback by just how ugly the digital receiver was. Slightly smaller than a VCR, my digital receiver was made by Thomson (whoever they might be) and is a delightful gun metal colour, It looks like it was designed in the seventies with flimsy buttons and a ghastly facia; I suppose I could put a sheet over it in the presence of company. Various lights change colour depending on the action selected and there are two viewing card slots to the front, one for the sky card and one spare. One plus point is that there is a spare RF out socket for connection to a second television set to the rear. The satellite dish is the standard black mesh design and is as unobtrusive as a satellite dish can be, and both pieces of equipment are covered by a one year warranty.

●Remote Control●

The real driving force of the whole setup has to be the remote control; any number of functions can be instigated through this dark blue rubberised marvel, from ordering a pizza to sending an email, it is even rather handy at changing television channels. From the top of the remote control there are three buttons which allow the user to switch between Sky and terrestrial television operation, these buttons are followed by four more labelled TV guide, box office, services and interactive. The tv guide button brings up a list of channels which can either be browsed by category or in an A to Z format. Box office is the button to press should a pay per view program or channel catch the eye while the services button brings up the option to search for new channels, set parental controls or reset other settings. Interactive is fairly self explanatory in that it brings up interactive menus such as pizza ordering, email sending and online banking to name but three options. Next in line are the mute and information buttons, mute is self explanatory while information button brings up details of the program or channel being watched or listened to. Volume and channel again need no explanation, while nestled between these are four arrow keys pointing in a North, East, South and West. These are used to navigate onscreen menus with a select button to choose any such selection. The next three buttons call up text, go back one step and display help in that order and they are followed by the four coloured buttons with the red one probably the one that will be used most frequently with many programs pleading with the viewer to press their red button now to join in the fun. Finally, a standard numerical keypad enables the user to type in the channel number if it is known as well as other number based options.

●Channels●

There are two ways to select and view channels on Sky digital, the number of the channel can be entered using the number buttons or the TV guide button can be pushed to bring up the TV guide screen. From the TV guide screen there are options to either list all of the channels at once or to list them in their various categories such as entertainment, sports or kids. Each option is selected using the arrow keys on the remote control and pushing the select button to choose the favoured channel.

●Entertainment●

The entertainment selection of channels range from the main players such as BBC, ITV and Sky One to less well known channels like Game In TV and Artsworld. E4 and E4+1 are also in the section and are at present showing continuous live streaming of Big Brother five for those interested. I tend to spend the majority of my television watching time in this section with Bravo, Paramount and BBC3 amongst my favourite choices. At present there are sixty-five channels in this section, so there should be something available for most tastes.

●Movies●

Movies is the next option on the TV guide screen with nine Sky movies channels as well as two Sky cinema channels showing older films. Older films can also be found on TCM (Turner Classic Movies) while three film four channels are available, although each of them costs extra to view.

●Sports●

If – like me – you are a sports fan this section will be a regular stop off point. Sky sports 1, 2 and 3 show much of the latest sport including Premiership, Scottish and Nationwide league football as well as cricket, rugby and several types of motor racing. Manchester United and Chelsea even have their own channels here but each will cost extra should you wish to view them, something I will not be doing it’s fair to say. Eurosport is a fine channel covering European wide happenings of a sporting nature while Sky sports News and Eurosport news bring the latest headlines as soon as they occur. Specialist channels are also very much in evidence with the sports of golf, horse racing, motors, wrestling and extreme sports each having their very own channel. Finally, Prem plus is a subscription channel offering fifty extra premiership football matches a season for those who cannot get enough of the beautiful game.

●News & Documentaries●

The News & Documentaries section is another in which I can be found loitering; British news channels such as BBC News 24, ITV News and Sky News are joined by international stations such as CNBC, CNN, Euro News and Fox News. Each offer their own unique and often award winning styles of reporting the news as it happens, no news worthy stone will stay unturned with this formidable array of channels.

●Kids●

If only this line up had been around twenty-five years ago I would have been in televisual utopia. Disney spread their unique magic on four separate channels with Nickleodeon accounting for another three. The BBC have thrown CBBC and Cbeebies into the mix with Cartoon Network also having two channels devoted to all things animated. I can only guess how much of a godsend these channels are in silencing and entertaining little minds, Heck I enjoy watching them and I`m thirty-four!

●Music & Radio●

Yet another section where I`m at my happiest, the music channels on offer really do have something for every taste. MTV – the stalwarts of TV music – have five channels ranging from base to dance through to hits and the original MTV. VH1 is aimed at oldies like myself and has a heavy eighties and nineties influence on its three channels. Recent hits and Pop are covered on a plethora of channels such as Magic, flaunt and the Amp while those of a more serious musical bent will find solace on the musicians channel or Scuzz. With twenty-six visual music channels to choose from it can only surely be a matter of moments before you stumble on something to suit your tastes.

Where to start on describing the radio channels available? A not so quick count reveals that there are seventy-six available ranging from all of the BBC stations to nearly all of the UK wide commercial stations and a smattering of special interest, foreign language and minority programming. A couple of Welsh language stations are joined by Irish and Scottish specific stations, there is even a station called Gaydar but I have-not listened to that as yet.

●Specialist●

The heading Specialist covers an array of channels including shopping, religious, regional and porn. The bigger players in the tele-shopping market like QVC and TV Travel shop are joined by more product specific channels such as the Golf shop and Lunn Polly TV. Many of these shopping channels are OK to watch with the occasional bargain cropping up, and watching a presenter trying to talk about a mop for half an hour can be amusing. The religious sector includes the God channel and revelation to name but two, but since I do not have a religious or holy bone in my body these are not channels that will see much usage from me. The regional channels are a great idea for catching news or regional programs other than those in your own region, should you wish to watch the local news from the Channel Islands this can be achieved with the press of a button. The porn channels are all extra cost channels (so I’ve been told), but those who wish for a little late night titillation can choose from twenty-eight channels.

●Personal Planner●

The Personal Planner is a nice little feature which allows the user to select a future TV program for viewing, just before the program is due to start a reminder is flashed up. Then, depending on which option you have chosen, the autoview feature automatically switches to the required channel or the reminder banner stays at the bottom of the screen for the one minute before the program is due to start, you can then choose to go to the required channel or not.

●Favourite Channels●

A list of the channels you watch most often can be easily created thus saving time in future by not having to search for them. Press the Services button followed by favourite channels and a complete list of channels appears, then it is a simple matter of using the arrow keys to scroll down the list. When a channel that you wish to be added is found a simple press of the yellow key places a tick next to it and it is stored in your favourites list. Any number of channels can be selected as favourites in this manner, and they are called up in future simply by pressing the blue key repeatedly to scroll through your favourites.

●Box Office●

Pressing Box Office on the remote control brings up a six pronged menu listing pay-per-view movies by either start time or title as well as sporting events and specialists programs. Ordering a box office film or program is straight forward procedure, simply select the program you wish to watch and note the onscreen details such as price and start time. You will then be asked for your PIN number as a security measure and the whole process is then complete, the price will be taken in addition to the monthly subscription payment and will be deducted at the same time.

●Pin number●

As I have stated above a PIN number is needed for ordering box office programs. When the equipment is first installed your PIN number is the last for digits on your viewing card but the installation people advise that you change it. To do this you simply press the Services button followed by Parental Control. You will then be asked to enter your current PIN number followed by your new PIN number twice, and it’s as simple as that. If you happen to forget your PIN number you can contact Sky who will tell you it after you answer a couple of security questions. Another handy part of having a PIN number is the ability to set spending limits for ordering box office programs, for example you can set the spending limit to £3 which means that programs costing £3 and under do not need a PIN number while those above £3 do. Of course you can set the spending limit to £0 which means the PIN number will always be required.

So I think I’ve covered the basics of Sky television from ordering through installation and viewing, it just remains for me to get to grips with the whole system and sort the channels I like from those I won’t be viewing. But with such a wide and varied choice before me I’ll never again be able to utter those immortal words – There’s nothing on TV!
 

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