Tens of thousands of Austrian satellite households need to buy a new receiver. The Public broadcaster ORF has sent a letter to about 160,000 households informing them about the switch-off of the Betacrypt encoding in January.
It is believed about 50,000 homes still only have the decoder, which will become useless in the new year. Viewers need to switch to an Irdeto Cryptoworks receiver, which gives free-to-view access to all ORF channels and premium access to Premiere. A number of retailers offer rebates ranging from €20 to €200 for the defunct receiver when buying new equipment. A new smart card costs €18, including the activation fee.
