How I added free to air (FTA) channels on my HiTV

I am one of those people that believe that there is more to a thing than most people know, and also live in the reality of that belief. And from my childhood experiences it seems obvious that I have always been like that. Take for instance, the metal (most probably aluminium) cloth hanger commonly used some 20 years back, I knew it could also double as a steering rod (for driving single wheel vehicles). And over the years I have considerably moved up in this sect, my phone, laptop and shoes can testify to that. When I was through with my phone, it became awesome at everything besides making phone calls, and my laptop - my initial pity for it has now metamorphosed into a feeling of indebtedness. As for my shoes, I only feel sorry for the dead animals that donated their skins, they gave up every hope of making the resurrection.

So it was obvious (to me) the day I arranged for the installation of a HiTV (DVB-S pay TV service) that its just matter of days before I showed it who's boss. And believe me though I ain't through, the number of TV stations have gone up to over 300 from the original meagre 31 and the radio stations are now over 80 compared to the original 6. Next on my to do list is to get a DSTV smartcard in order to watch the stations encrypted by it.
Now what I intend showing you in this post is how I added over 270 channels and over 75 radio stations on my HiTV decoder and they include a couple of free to air channels that will still show when your subscription is expired or your smartcard is damaged. I mean you can take out your smartcard and still watch these stations, and if you are like me, you can go get an old DSTV smartcard and put it in the decoder to watch stations exclusive to DSTV.

Shown below is the image of an HiTV decoder and the remote. Notice the second button on the last button row, the green button, you will need it later.

Power on the HiTV decoder and your televison, press the menu button (the first button on the row below the channel down button). A 'main menu' screen will come on, select installation, press OK on the remote, enter 0000 as the pin and press OK again  (the OK button is at the center of the remote).

On the Installation screen, select Search Sat and press OK.

Scroll to EUTELSAT and press OK to select it, then press the green button I mentioned earlier.

The decoder will scan for all the channels beamed from that Satellite's listed transponders (don't worry if you don't understand).

And when it's through you will get additional 30+ channels on your channel list and an additional free to air radio station. Of the channels the ones with no dollar sign are free to air and as shown below you will see Olive TV, DRTV INTERNATIONAL, LoveworldPlus, ORTB TV, TOUBA TV, MBOA TV and LCF.

Press Exit thrice or more till you get back to the HiTV default screen, press OK to check the new channels. Press SAT on the remote and select All Satellite.

Again repeat the initial steps of going through the main menu to Search Sat to add another over 200+ channels. Select HISPASAT and press the green button. Deselect it and now select THOR (much further down on the Satellite list) and press the green button. Again deselect it and select HOTBIRD and press the green button. If you have enough time to waste on a likely fruitless deed, then go on and select all the satellites one by one, but the ones that actually have stations (for now) are the ones I stated above.  Press the exit button till you get to the HiTV screen and check the stations on ALL Satellite, they should now be over 300 and the radio stations should be over 80 too. You'll also see some additional free to air channels (including DSTV's Dish channel) and radio stations.

PS: That you have over 300 channels on your list does not mean you can view them all, in fact, of the extra 270+ channels you can view only the less than 10 FTA channels. To view the other channels, most of which are not on HiTV's bouquet, you will need another smartcard. For instance to view DSTV provided channels, you will need DSTV smartcard, and loads (if not all) DSTV channels are among the 270+.

 If you have any suggestion or question, feel free to reach me via a comment. Thanks and enjoy your less restricted pay TV.

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