by pcbbc » Thu Apr 30, 2009 11:47 am
You can put away your conspiracy theory hat - There is no ulterior motive, but every 5 years or so Sky will change cards as a matter of course.
This is to do with keeping up with the latest standards of encryption to keep well ahead of anyone trying to compromise (i.e. hack) the cards and NDS keys that the system uses to protect pay TV broadcasts. For example the ability to illegally clone a Sky card.
You should not imply from this that the encryption has been broken, or even that it is near to being broken by anyone. Merely that it is a prudent measure by Sky to "keep ahead of the game" in this respect. In such matters waiting until your system is compromised until you do something is NOT a sensible approach!
Sky are more than capable of making more money out of their subscriber base without the need of going to the cost and effort of redeploying viewing cards!
You could equally ask why your chip and pin bank cards expire instead of lasting forever. The banks just do a rolling replacement, whereas Sky do everyone all at once (or over a few months).