Yes, you can purchase just the DirecTV access card, but it can be
expensive.
What complicates matters is that the access card is the property of
DirecTV, not of the person owning the receiver. Here are the relevant
portions of the DirecTV customer agreement that explain this:
Section I(e): "Access Card and Receiving Equipment. You have been
provided with a conditional access card that is inserted into your
receiver unit (referred to as the 'Access Card'). The Access Card and
the 'Receiving Equipment,' which includes a receiver unit, a remote
control unit, and a receiving antenna dish, are necessary to receive
our Service. The Access Card will work only in the Receiving Equipment
that it came with. Access Cards are nontransferable and will at all
times remain the exclusive property of DIRECTV. If you tell us that
the original Access Card was lost, damaged, defective, or stolen, we
will replace it, as long as there is no evidence of unauthorized
tampering with or modification of the Access Card and your account is
in good standing. A replacement fee will apply (described in Section
2). Tampering with or other unauthorized modification of the Access
Card is strictly prohibited and may result in criminal or civil
action. DIRECTV reserves the right to cancel or replace the Access
Card, and the card must be returned to DIRECTV upon request. If you do
not return the Access Card to DIRECTV when you cancel your Service,
you may be charged a fee as described in Section 2."
Section II(c)(2): "Access Card Replacement Fee: If we have to replace
the Access Card, we may charge you a replacement fee of up to $150.00.
If you return the old Access Card to us, you may receive partial
credit to your account. If you request overnight delivery of the
replacement Access Card, you must pay a shipping and handling fee of
up to $16.50."
You can find this customer agreement here:
Customer Agreement
http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/learn/CustomerAgreement.jsp
Also note that according to the customer agreement, the seller needs
to notify DirecTV if the unit has been transfered. Technically,
DirecTV would be within its rights not to consider you the owner of
the unit unless it original owner contacts the company.
I have no way of knowing if DirecTV will charge you the full fee or
not. Obviously, the company's concern is piracy, so they certainly
will try to determine what happened to the original. As the commenter
below indicated, you don't have to deal with DirecTV directly; a
dealer should be able to help you.
Congratulations with the new house, and best wishes in your dealings
with DirecTV.
Sincerely,
mvguy
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