Certain providers, notably of television programs, subsidize the receivers and want to avoid that these apparatuses can also be used for the services offered by other providers. On the other hand, manufacturers of these apparatuses prefer selling multipurpose apparatuses and users do not want to have several similar apparatuses, which, moreover, is cumbersome. To obtain a compromise between these contradictory requirements, it is proposed to permit reception by the apparatus of services offered by a provider other than the provider who has subsidized the apparatus, when the subscription taken out by said provider has reached a certain period or length of service.