It is a regularly occurring payment every 5 years. That is very much like a subscription.
Just like buying a new Freesat box regularly is a 'subscription' then - most of the SD ones are unlikely to last 5 years.
I've never heard the minimum 5 years before. Source please?
The source was Sky - it was in the terms and conditions, each card lasts a minimum of five years - and if the cards are changed within that time you get another card free, that lasts to the end of the next five year period. So, depending when you buy, you can stretch to over ten years (Sky managed to stretch one five years to six - due to DSO).
an arrangement to receive something, typically a publication, regularly by paying in advance: make sure you get a copy every month by taking out a subscription
Comments
Just like buying a new Freesat box regularly is a 'subscription' then
The source was Sky - it was in the terms and conditions, each card lasts a minimum of five years - and if the cards are changed within that time you get another card free, that lasts to the end of the next five year period. So, depending when you buy, you can stretch to over ten years (Sky managed to stretch one five years to six - due to DSO).
On that basis, you buy all your food and most of your clothes 'on subscription'.
I just love these pointless silly arguments people have.
http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/subscription?q=subscription I would say it is a 5 year subscription.
Terry
Except that when you subscribe to something you usually pay for a number of instances of that thing.
Otherwise anything you pay for in advance - such as, for example, anything you buy from Amazon or your Tesco delivery - would fit that description.
You have to apply a little intelligence to dictionary definition unless you want to rob a word of the nuances of its meaning.
As the card is actually made inactive and a further card has to be purchased I think that invalidates it as a subscription.
It is hardly regular when it has been 5 and then 6 years.
IIRC the last cards had a minimum validity of 4 years listed in the Ts & Cs but I cannot find any such guarantee on the present cards.