Scaremongering
What is it about the Internet that causes rumours to spread faster than facts?
The BBC is going free to air with all its UK satellite TV services on 11 July, and a major UK Web site with a satellite forum has been carrying messages warning satellite viewers with a free viewing card to check whether theirs is a series 1 or series 2 card. The rumour is that all series 1 cards will be 'killed' by Sky and they need to get a replacement series 2 card before 11 July or face losing ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5.
In fact, this is utter nonsense. The only people who may have a problem are those who had a Sky subscription but cancelled it before the series 2 cards were issued. If they're still using their original *subscription* card to view non-subscription channels such as ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, it *may* no longer receive those channels when Sky switch off the series 1 cards. Nobody, even Sky, seems too sure what will happen when it transmits the instruction that switches them off. To be on the safe side, those viewers - who probably number a few tens of thousands at the most - are being advised to upgrade to a series 2 card.
The 500,000 or so UK viewers who have a card that was issued free in the first place don't have to worry - their card does *not* need upgrading and will continue to receive the channels it has always received. The salient point is that the free viewing cards don't contain the sophisticated electronics needed to operate a combination of subscription, Pay Per View and interactive services, therefore there is nothing about them that needs to be upgraded!
11:08:00 PM 
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