Tivùsat and Sky: differences and comparison

Tivùsat and Sky are two satellite platforms present in Italy. Here's how they work and what the differences are

Not all Italians know Tivùsat, but all Italians know Sky. And they know that Sky is a satellite platform, that you need a dish and that you need a decoder. But Tivùsat is also a satellite platform.

The main difference between Tivùsat and Sky is that the channels that can be seen on the first circuit are free (in reality you only pay the initial cost of the decoder and card), while those of Sky are by subscription (and the decoder is included). On Tivùsat, in fact, it is possible to see the same channels of digital terrestrial even where the signal does not arrive, while Sky is a platform that is based on subscription and premium content and on demand. However, you can watch both Tivùsat and Sky using the same dish and the same cables: you will only need to add the decoder (the one of Tivùsat is different from the one of Sky) and configure everything well. Here's how to do it.

How to add Tivùsat to a Sky system

To make Tivùsat work you need a satellite dish oriented to pick up the signal of the Eutelsat Hot Bird 13 satellite, which is the same from which Sky also transmits. So if we already have a Sky system half of the work (actually all the part that requires an installer) is already done. However, we need to buy a Tivùsat compatible decoder and place it next to the Sky one, because we will use the same coaxial cable coming from the dish: we will just have to "split" it with a splitter. We can find it in any store of electrical material and for antennists. After having connected the cable also to the Tivùsat decoder, we will just have to insert the card and proceed to channel tuning. If your TV is compatible with Tivùsat (or if it can accommodate a CAM module compatible with Tivùsat) you will not even need to buy the decoder.

How to connect Tivùsat if you have My Sky HD or Sky Q

If ours is a My Sky HD subscription then it means that we have an SCR/Unicable satellite system. To make Tivùsat work, we will have to buy a decoder (or a TV, or a CAM) compatible with this standard. The same applies if we have Sky Q, which instead uses the DCSS standard. If we have any doubts about our type of system, and therefore on which Tivùsat decoder to buy, we can simply ask the person who installed it. In this way we can buy the right decoder, which will work immediately after we have connected it to the coaxial cable of the dish.