TV access after cancellation

[devii]

I'm just about to cancel my account with Virgin Media.
I have one of the really old cisco tivo boxes, and I know from past experience it's unlikely VM will want this old box back and will just ask me to recycle it. I seem to remember that at one time or another, following a cancellation, you were allowed to still receive free-to-view TV with the box, and you'd simply lose the record features and any subscription-based channels. Is that still the case?

Assuming that's still the case, if I were to find a V6 box off ebay, would that work in the same way?

[nodrogd · Accepted solution]

You are thinking of Sky, which is an open platform. The free channels on satellite are actually nothing to do with Sky, so the box becomes a free-to-air receiver. VM boxes are rented kit, plus the TV service is on a closed system. This means all channels, including BBC/ITV are encrypted & when the box is removed from your account you will only receive 3 standard definition channels that are there for test purposes. All the rest will be blocked.

The boxes on eBay are effectively stolen goods, as V6s are still current & these must be returned to VM. They will not boot up if the system does not recognise any current account details for the box, so they are worthless door stops. Don’t waste your money.

[Roger_Gooner]

VM most certainly doesn't want the hassle and cost of handling and disposing TiVos, so the box is yours. You can remove the hard drive and use it as an external drive (after setup).

[Vikki_M]

Hi @devii 

Thank you for your post and welcome to our community.

As @nodrogd has advised, it isn't possible to continue to use the set top boxes once an account has been closed. 

Any V6 boxes being sold online are being done so illegally as these remain the property of Virgin Media and should be returned to us. 

This also wouldn't work as they are registered to individual accounts/addresses. 

I am sorry to hear you are thinking of leaving us. 

Are you have any issues with the service? We would be happy to help here.

Please pop back to us when you can.