Problem with ITV Meridian on SKY box used without card

[freedomrun]

I've been given a couple of SKY (Flow SD one pace & one Amstrad) boxes without cards. They are going to be used as Free to Air for the time being. I Need to get ITV Meridian on both of them and so far had no luck. Please can i have some advice on how i can tune these boxes in to get ITV Meridian without a card and the same for any other channels i may have overlooked that usually request the insertion of sky card, that i may be able to get by maunal tune. Also, is there any way of replacing the ITV Central and BBC london default on the programme guide listings with other regional varations, or will i have to type in the sky number it gives them (or use fav option). Thanks.

 

[Ian B]

You should be able to find ITV Meridian somewhere between channels 941 and 962 on the Sky box.

You can add the channel under "Other Channels" but it won't show up on the EPG (programme guide) and Now/Next info won't work.
There's a n explanation of how to do this at Add ITV 1 Regions, ITV1 Channels to Sky TV Digibox, Freesat

The only way to get another local ITV region on channel 103 is to subscribe to Sky with a postcode that falls in that region; then if you cancel the subscription later (beware of minimum contract length!) the box should remain allocated to that region for channel 103.

 

[mhar]

Think you have found out why you have got the boxes free, they are a pain. A sky box only knows what region you are in by the information on the card, therefore if no card you get default settings. Ian B is quite correct but by going the way he describes, at the end of the contract period your epg will just display hundreds of channels which you can't get and the ones you can get will be hidden amongst all these other channels. Right pain. Go for a freesat box which you tell which region you are in, it's a much more user friendly solution. Also they are getting quite reasonable in price now and tou have the option of getting an hd one rather than sd (standard definition) if you wish. Personally I always recommend the freeview route primarily because of initial costs and reduced maintenance costs down the line, ok a few channels you don't get but also some you do which are not available free via satellite

 

[topquark]

You could also purchase a FTA (Free To Air) card from sky, it used to cost around £10 (If they still do them).