Our apartment building's satellite was knocked out by the storm we had in Wellington Monday night/Tuesday morning, and there is no signal at all. On Tuesday evening I could watch programs I had recorded, and connect to, download, and watch programs via the OnDemand tab. Without turning off the box or restarting it, my ability to watch anything has now ceased. I've called Sky and they had nothing useful to say after 30+ minutes and 3 different CSRs - I was told definitively that I could not watch anything without a signal, even though I had succeeded. I obviously don't want to have a sky tech visit because they can't do much until the signal is restored.

Does anyone know why this might be, or any way to fix it? My best guess is there is some sort of daily authorisation/verification of the smart card sent via satellite, and if the box doesn't receive this it ceases to provide any service? That seems a little silly, as in times of atmospheric interference or lack of signal I would think it makes sense to have users access the recorded or OnDemand content, given the box is connected to the internet and you can't watch live TV.