SKY TV AND FREESAT.

Forum posting proved difficult for Mr.Kent so here's his "E" mail queries.
Mr. Kent from U.K. asks;
Dear Freesatnews will you please advise me about Sky and Freesat. What is the difference between Freesat from SKY and this new Freesat from the BBC.
Do I need a dish or can I use the SKY dish I have on the side of my house already? I cancelled my subscription about three months ago and have been watching free television still using my SKY dish and SKY box. I read somewhere that the package from Freesat is the same as SKY Freesat, Is this wrong?
As an old age pensioner on a tight budget I could no longer afford SKY and had to pack it in and what a hassle that was because I tried to cancel on the third of the month I was forced to pay for the whole month, so how much is the new Freesat going to cost?
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Thank you Mr Kent for your "E", mail, but we will answer for the benefit of everybody who are like yourself are unsure or have been misinformed. We hope this answers most of your queries.
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Question;
Can you use your Sky receiver to pick up BBC/ITV Freesat.
Answer;
The simple answer is yes (in part), to explain; at the moment some free to air
channels are being picked up using a SKY receiver, you should note that using a SKY receiver to get these free-to-air channels is not in the mainstream SKY listings, you have to go into the extra channels dept. using the SKY receiver remote which we feel is rather strange and should have been in the mainstream listings along with all the other channels and this will continue
as long as it does not interfere with exisitng SKY viewers, but it is
NOT, repeat NOT completely clear if this will continue as more and more
channels are added to Freesat and contracts of various channel providers
come to the end of their respective contracts. The cost of being added to
Freesat is a fraction of the cost being contracted to the SKY platform.
The possibility of dual illumination cannot be ruled out either.
The Freesat Metadata will be sent out to two satellite receivers, one being SKY
and the other being Freesat, but it has already been made public that the
BBC have architecture in place in the BBC/ITV Freesat box that will make
the data stream invisible to other satellite receivers, which it looks very
much as if only two boxes will be able to either see or pick up the Metadata
in either case the EPG or Electronic Programme Guide will only
be useable in the Freesat box from the BBC/ITV.
There is much talk about contracts and ifs and buts about channels that have
copyright problems, there will be no problems when the new BBC architecture is in place, or dual illumination is used or implemented just exactly the same as it will be when Freesat gets first switched on.
The SKY dish can be used for Freesat but nothing has been released with respect to the Freesat gear, ie; LNB the LNB or low noise block which points to the centre of satellite dishes could be different. BBC have already commented that the existing dishes can be used but no mention has been made about the LNB.
The satellite receiver is special says WIKI so perhaps they too have learned
about the new architecture designed by the BBC research and innovation.
The cost of Freesat is only on your initial purchase of Satellite Dish, LNB,
Coax cable, DTG TESTED and PASSED Freesat hd digital box.
It may well be possible to use existing receivers to loop through to use your Freesat box. Some costs will be cut if you use an existing satellite dish.
Note for George here; you cannot "get out" of your SKY contract if you have signed up for twelve months, but we have heard of disgruntled customers who have given 1 months notice to SKY on their 11th month and their contract ceased after 12 months and not 13.