UK Satellite TV - Sky Digital & Freesat Explored

Sky offers and deals:

• Offer 1 - Free HD box: Get a free Sky+ HD box with free installation if you order online (for a limited period).
  
  
• Offer 2 - Free calls and broadband: Save by getting TV, phone and Broadband from Sky - Get one of Sky's channel packs, digibox, Broadband Internet, a free Broadband router, plus free UK evening and weekend landline calls... Price? From £18 a month.

Full details of these offers at sky.com/shop/tv (Also Sky Ireland)

Sky's site quotes UK coverage of 98% - a far greater percentage than Freeview and cable. What about the other 2%? Technically, the Sky satellite footprint covers the whole of the UK and Ireland, however there are places where you are not able to have a dish or to get a signal, as you need to have a dish pointing at a certain position in the sky.

Some properties aren't allowed to have a dish, some look straight into concrete, some are flats with no opportunity to fix a dish to a south-facing wall, and some properties have hills, mountains or dense trees obscuring line-of-sight to the satellite. Normal procedure is to arrange installation with Sky (via www.sky.com/skycom) - they'll ask a few questions about the installation location, and if they can't get a signal, they won't let you subscribe to Sky.

When you sign up to Sky, you need to select a number of channel packages you want to subscribe to - this will typically include some standard "Sky packs", with optional "premium packs" (such as Movie or Sports channels). You'll also get a number of free-to-view channels as well. The channel packs are:

• Variety Pack: Including Sky One, Bravo, G.O.L.D, E4 and Living TV
• Knowledge Pack: Including Discovery, National Geographic, History Channel, Yesterday
• Style & Culture Pack: Including Sky Arts, Home (formerly UKTV Style), Discovery Home & Health, Good Food
• News & Events Pack: Including Sky News, Fox News, CNBC, At The Races, British Eurosport
• Music Pack: Including MTV, Viva, Bliss, Kerrang!, Q and Vh1
• Children's Pack: Including Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Disney, Trouble

Sky doesn't allow you to pick individual channels to subscribe to - you select from their preset "packages". To view these options and to see how much your monthly subscription is likely to be, go to sky.com/shop/tv. If you have any questions about packages that are not answered on this page, or on Sky's site, call Sky on 08705 800 874, or ask in our Sky forum.
Note that Sky often runs offers such as "half price for the first three months". See our Summary of Sky Offers for the latest deals for new Sky customers.

If you're not happy with the packages, channels or prices offered by Sky - remember that there are alternatives - See our Digital TV page for more.

Between 2008 and 2012, the UK will be going digital, as analogue TV is set to be switched off. The good news is, that the TV service from Sky is already digital, and so you won't be losing your service when non-digital telly gets switched off.

For more, visit switchhelp.co.uk, or the official Digital UK site.

If you're looking to watch Sky Digital in other rooms of your house, there are a few options. We look at these in more detail in our Sky in Other Rooms section, but here's a summary:

• You can connect the output of your Sky digibox to another TV set in the house by running an aerial cable from the Sky box RF output aerial socket to another TV telly. You can also use a Sky Link so you can change channels from the other room. More on this in our Sky FAQ.
• You may be able to use a wireless video sender, which saves you having to run cables.
• Get a second Sky digibox - Sky Multiroom.

If you're interested in having Sky in multiple rooms, you can look at Sky Multiroom. This gives you a box in each room, so you can watch different Sky channels in different rooms. You will need a Multiroom subscription for each additional box. Details and prices at sky.com/shop/boxes/sky-multiroom

Note the following limitation: One Sky dish can't have more than eight 'feeds' running from it (and for that, you'll need to have an Octo LNB fitted), and that assumes that so each dish can only provide a feed for up to four Sky+ boxes, or eight standard Sky boxes.

Hi-definition (HDTV) offers a higher quality picture with more vibrant colours, greater detail, crisp clarity and amazing sound quality.

Sky is the leading HD provider in the UK - For more details on Sky's HD service, take a look at our dedicated Sky+ HD page.

Other problems: If your remote is working, but isn't controlling the Sky box, you may have pressed the TV button, so press Sky and try again. The only thing that can wrong with a remote control, is if it's left without batteries for more than ten minutes - if this happens, it may lose it's ability to control the TV. It should still be fine with Sky / Sky+ though. To get the remote to work with your TV, you need to enter a four digit number that matches your TV manufacturer. Refer to your Sky / Sky+ manual for these codes.

Sky Digital broadcasts from a group of satellites positioned at 28.2ºE and 28.5ºE above the Equator. These orbit the earth at an altitude of around 22,000 miles.

If you're working out where to point your satellite dish in the UK in order to get Sky, this varies depending on where in the country you are. You'll find that the dish needs to be pointing at a compass heading somewhere between 139 and 147 degrees (i.e. South- East) at an elevation of between 18 and 26 degrees.

Sky Digital's terms and conditions state that you can only watch Sky subscription channels if you're living in the UK (including the Isle of Man and Channel Islands) or the Republic of Ireland. Note though that the satellites that distribute Sky Digital can be accessed outside of the UK.

Sky Digital is transmitted on SES Astra satellites located at 28.2°E and Eutelsat's Eurobird 1 satellite located at 28.5°E - these have "footprints" that cover parts of Europe, so the free-to-view channels can be accessed in parts of Europe (with a suitably-sized dish). Pictured on the right is the footprint of the Astra 2D satellite, which provides the BBC Free-to-view channels. You can find coverage maps for the Astra satellite on the Astra or Satcure sites.

The Radio&Telly site is intended for UK residents, and doesn't provide any information on how to access Sky Digital outside the UK and Ireland, but there are a vast number of sites that do. If you're interested in accessing Sky outside of the UK and Ireland, try a Google search

Sky offers free Broadband to its digital TV customers who get their Talk package. The basic Sky Broadband free service offers limited bandwidth, but you can pay extra to get service up to 16 Meg, if supported in your area. (More on UK Broadband options)

Sky's Broadband is provided by Internet provider Easynet. You can check if your area is covered at sky.com/shop/broadband-talk

If you're having problems with signal break-up, or other reception issues, see our Sky Reception FAQ, or contact Sky Customer Services

The answer has been moved to our Sky F.A.Q

The answer has been moved to our Sky F.A.Q

The answer has been moved to our Sky F.A.Q