When you receive your new Sky receiver and put your new or existing Sky viewing card in the card slot and go to a subscription channel you will see a message appear on the screen saying...

This is the wrong card for this Set Top Box

Insert the correct Sky viewing card

Call 08442 414141 for assistance

This is normal and happens every time you move your Sky veiwing card from one receiver to another. Because of this you will need to do the following before you can continue watching all the channels you subscribe to.

Activating your card from the UK

To activate your viewing card in the receiver you will need to call Sky and tell them you have changed your receiver and need the viewing card paired to the new one. They will then ask you for your viewing card number, this can be found on the back of the card or by pressing Services, Settings then System Details, once you have given them this they will ask you some details about the account such as account holders name and address, all they then need is the Version Number and Serial Number, again, found by pressing Services, Settings then System Details.

After 20 minutes to two hours the message will disappear and the channels will show as they did before.

Activating your card from outside the UK

Some Sky customers may need to get a viewing card activated in a receiver when they're not in the UK, a good example of this could be calling on behalf of elderly parents living where the account is registered (and of course used), or maybe  you're on holiday and the house sitter needed to replace the receiver due to a fault? In either case Sky can be a little touchy about pairing a card for someone that is clearly calling from abroad, obviously you can do it in the same way explained above for UK callers explaining your predicament, or you can try sending an email their customer services department with the details mentioned above, sometimes they won't do it by email but more often than not.... they will.