My Thomson Freeview box keeps sending the message..Please insert a valid viewing card.....I am not using this for Sky or anything besides the standard freeview...how can I get rid of this message? The box will not let me connect with my TV

Sue, December 2012

my digital ariel wont let my alba 16inch.wont let my tv bring the channell up.can i retune it.my universal controller is a problem to find tuning is their some way i can do it

mrs mccarthy, March 2013

my alba 16inch tv will not pick up digital system.although we have taken it from our house to southend on sea and i cannot re-tune it

mrs mccarthy, March 2013

Some Thomson freeview boxes do need a valid viewing card for full functionality. I.e. Thomson DTR6300, DTI6201-25, DTI6021-50.

The manual for the Thomson freeview box will may explain this and more.

Some of the Thomson TUTV boxes will not work without a valid viewing card. This is due to their orignal subsidised package deal that they were sold under. If this is the case for you then you will need to contact TUTV with the model and its serial number and persuade them to issue an over the air unlock for your box.
A long time ago it has also been reported that inserting someone else's TUTV viewing card from a subsidised package also can lock the freeview box.

Once the box is unlocked you should delete all the TUTV channels. These are not be viewable without a card and so you will not be missimg anything. What deleting the TUTV channels does is to release a chunk of the disk space so that you can record more programmes.

NS, December 2012