channels left after subscription is over with ntl

Harpz

Hi guys,
total newbie question.
My girlfriend has moved into a new apartment where the previous occupants had ntl. the ntl box is still there and it has a card in it. I presume the subscription is expired.
I plugged a coaxial directly into the wall (not through the box) and got sky one, tv.3 and a fuzzy bbc.
Is this normal. Should i be able to get other channels without the box.
If i do use the box can i unscramble rte or do i have to buy a subscription for that.
I heard a rumour that channel 4 was available for free with ntl? any truth in that.
excuse the blatant lack of knowledge
Thanks in advance

Mossy Monk

Nothing is free with ntl.

Harpz

any explaination for the skyone not being scrambled?

CO19

If you got Sky One from plugging it from the wall directly into your tv then you should be able to get the rest of the basic channels,do an auto tune on the telly to see if will pick them up.

snaps

RTE 1, 2, TV3, TG4, TMF, Setanta Sports, Euronews should be FTA on the digital box as well a long with all the radio channels.

dr.bollocko

I used to work for an unpopular Irish TV company which is now related vaguely (or maybe not) to UPC. Often there were situations in which we lost the main feed of a channel for whatever reason. In cases like this it is common to play out an unencrypted version of the channel as a testing procedure / necessity to quickly fix the initial problem. Its possible that the sky one feed u saw is currently on backup in the short term and will play out encrypted soon enough.

norbert64

getting back to the original question, I think you're outta luck

http://cablehell.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=27306

icdg

Harpz wrote: »

any explaination for the skyone not being scrambled?

Simple, NO channels are scrambled with analogue NTL (the premium stations which used to be scrambled being now long gone). Which, if the OP is plugging his TV into the wall socket using a co-ax cable, without the box being involved, is exactly what he is getting. The basic service being unscrambled has been the case in Dublin since day 0 of RTÉ Relays back in the 1970s and none of the successor companies have ever bothered to change it.

The only way for NTL/UPC to disconnect your analogue service is to send an engineer out to your house to physically cut the cable. It can't be done remotely (unlike a digital subscription where your smart card can be de-authorised). In this digital age with analogue switch-off being possibly not too far away, they may not simply be bothered to do that. Even before digital started, NTL/Cablelink used to assume that if someone simply cancelled their subscription that they were moving out of their house and sent out the next bill marked "The New Customer"! They had such a high takeup of homes passed and such a low churn rate (only alternative was Sky analogue, which wouldn't give you the UK channels) that this was a very reasonable presumption to take.

Cut-offs were generally only done in those days where arrears had built up on an account (given that many people paid annually or bi-annually back in those days that could take a while).

As for digital, TV3 used to be the only FTA channel on NTL digital (perhaps they needed a channel to test that the STB was actually working) but don't know what the story is nowadays...

Harpz

does that mean i should be able to get the irish channels, rte1,2 and tg4.
I did a quick scan and only seemed to get tv3 and bbc and sky one. The reason i ask is because the reception on rabbit ears is a bit fuzzy. Im considering getting a booster to improve the signal but obviously would be better if i could get it out of the wall

paulm17781

Harpz wrote: »

Im considering getting a booster to improve the signal but obviously would be better if i could get it out of the wall

It's a long shot but you could try paying NTL for it...

watty

There is No free cable channels at all