I thought I'd share this because I think there was some discussion a while ago.
We have taken the plunge and decided to cancel our subscription to Sky UK and opt for the Italian version (you still get lots of the same programmes and you can change the language setting so they are received in the original language). Our engineer is arranging to put up a dish with two 'eyes' which will allow us to get both the Italian programmes and the free stuff on Astra (the uk one). The dish is only costing €35 which I thought was quite good.
It's being installed tomorrow, so I'll let you know if I get what I think I'm going to get!
Satelite dishes
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Alan Knighting
- Posts: 4120
- Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:26 am
- Location: Monflanquin, Lot-et-Garonne, France
Carole-Anne,
A satellite dish for 35€ is extraordinarily good value.
Since you are opting out of SKY I assume you are taking an Italian alternative to SKY as opposed to an Italian version of SKY.
I’ll be more than interested to hear how you get on and what you can get. I don’t want to “melt my brain� watching TV in French (I do that with terrestrial TV) but I do think £40+ per month for SKY is an awful lot of money for a huge range of absolute rubbish.
Would I miss having five versions of “Have a Go? Balls!� or “Quick! Fire Balls� or “Live Extreme International Poker - Replay� or “Tele-shopping - the Movie� ? You must be joking. I don’t have an art treasure in the attic, and even if I did I don’t want to “Flog It�, and I don’t want to re-locate to Wigan, not ever. There's "No Going Back" because I don't want to.
Keep us posted.
Alan
A satellite dish for 35€ is extraordinarily good value.
Since you are opting out of SKY I assume you are taking an Italian alternative to SKY as opposed to an Italian version of SKY.
I’ll be more than interested to hear how you get on and what you can get. I don’t want to “melt my brain� watching TV in French (I do that with terrestrial TV) but I do think £40+ per month for SKY is an awful lot of money for a huge range of absolute rubbish.
Would I miss having five versions of “Have a Go? Balls!� or “Quick! Fire Balls� or “Live Extreme International Poker - Replay� or “Tele-shopping - the Movie� ? You must be joking. I don’t have an art treasure in the attic, and even if I did I don’t want to “Flog It�, and I don’t want to re-locate to Wigan, not ever. There's "No Going Back" because I don't want to.
Keep us posted.
Alan
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Alan Knighting
- Posts: 4120
- Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:26 am
- Location: Monflanquin, Lot-et-Garonne, France
Enid,
In your heart of hearts I am quite sure you know I meant no disrespect whatever.
As a fellow Northerner I know that Wigan pier is a gem of Victorian architectural genius.
Perhaps I should have said “Bradford� but then one of our fellow countrymen, who only speaks Urdu, might have taken me to task. That wouldn’t have been very PC of me, would it?
Merry Christmas.
Alan
In your heart of hearts I am quite sure you know I meant no disrespect whatever.
As a fellow Northerner I know that Wigan pier is a gem of Victorian architectural genius.
Perhaps I should have said “Bradford� but then one of our fellow countrymen, who only speaks Urdu, might have taken me to task. That wouldn’t have been very PC of me, would it?
Merry Christmas.
Alan
No not very PC. But to go back to the subject, he'd be able to watch some of the free to air channels on the Sky satellite ?Alan Knighting wrote:Perhaps I should have said “Bradford� but then one of our fellow countrymen, who only speaks Urdu, might have taken me to task. That wouldn’t have been very PC of me, would it?
After 6 years without a satellite (theory was it would improve my French : actually after the meteo I learned a lot about web creation) , I've succumbed.
I've got the freeview channels + a dodgy card from Scotland.
The installation was fast, and it works great. Can't tear Mrs mpprh away from Inspector Morse, gardening stuff, documentaries, etc.
Peter
In theory we should get all the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 channels, but I'll let you know.
Sky are in Italy too - you get BBC Prime plus a lot of the Discovery channels, Paramount etc. plus a lot of Italian stuff (don't hold you breath, TV here is pretty awful!). My other half is keen because he can watch premiership games live (which you can't do in the UK). Not being a football fan, that was on my list under 'reasons not to get it'!
Anyway, I'll let you all know what happens.
Sky are in Italy too - you get BBC Prime plus a lot of the Discovery channels, Paramount etc. plus a lot of Italian stuff (don't hold you breath, TV here is pretty awful!). My other half is keen because he can watch premiership games live (which you can't do in the UK). Not being a football fan, that was on my list under 'reasons not to get it'!
Anyway, I'll let you all know what happens.
Well I thought it was too good to be true!
The engineer finally gave up trying to get the dish to work at just before 10pm last night! He came back this morning to tell me that he has found out the system doesn't work in the way he though it did ! - shame he didn't check it out first!
Anyway, I now have two dishes (they are fairly well hidden so I'm not too bothered) and access to the Astra satelite (which gives the UK channels) and Italian Sky. I already had a decoder from the UK, and we have taken up sky's offer of free dish and decoder. All in all it's not cost anything other than time.
I can get BBC1, 2 and ITV1. For some reason I can't get channel 4, but I'm not too bothered.
The engineer finally gave up trying to get the dish to work at just before 10pm last night! He came back this morning to tell me that he has found out the system doesn't work in the way he though it did ! - shame he didn't check it out first!
Anyway, I now have two dishes (they are fairly well hidden so I'm not too bothered) and access to the Astra satelite (which gives the UK channels) and Italian Sky. I already had a decoder from the UK, and we have taken up sky's offer of free dish and decoder. All in all it's not cost anything other than time.
I can get BBC1, 2 and ITV1. For some reason I can't get channel 4, but I'm not too bothered.
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Alan Knighting
- Posts: 4120
- Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:26 am
- Location: Monflanquin, Lot-et-Garonne, France
Can no-one view Channel 5 in France?
Louise
www.lacharronniere.com delightful gites in the Vienne countryside.
www.lacharronniere.com delightful gites in the Vienne countryside.
Well doen - I am going to succumb after only 3.5 years. Can you give me any advice on how to go about it?fter 6 years without a satellite (theory was it would improve my French : actually after the meteo I learned a lot about web creation) , I've succumbed.
P.S. It has helped my husband with his French a lot, but at the end of a busy day listening in French can be very tiring.
Enid,
What channels do you want? You can get all the BBC Channels + ITV with just a digibox, but if you want channel 4 and 5 as well, you need a card (we have Sky in the gites, for which you need to have an address in the UK.) It is free, but you need to have a card to get channels 4 & 5 (and the BBC radio, which is the most important thing for me!). And a big satellite dish for where you are (85cm) which you can get in most bricomarchés.
Have a look at this thread from the living France forum, its a bit messy, but if you just want the free to air channels, it seems you can get everything you need in France.
http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums ... wPost.aspx
Incidentally for those of you with Sky, has anybody got a Sky gnome? I listen to the radio far more than watching TV and I can now listen to all the BBC channels using this device, even in the garden.
What channels do you want? You can get all the BBC Channels + ITV with just a digibox, but if you want channel 4 and 5 as well, you need a card (we have Sky in the gites, for which you need to have an address in the UK.) It is free, but you need to have a card to get channels 4 & 5 (and the BBC radio, which is the most important thing for me!). And a big satellite dish for where you are (85cm) which you can get in most bricomarchés.
Have a look at this thread from the living France forum, its a bit messy, but if you just want the free to air channels, it seems you can get everything you need in France.
http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums ... wPost.aspx
Incidentally for those of you with Sky, has anybody got a Sky gnome? I listen to the radio far more than watching TV and I can now listen to all the BBC channels using this device, even in the garden.
Thanks for the reply Susan - I would like channel 4 certainly - I have no experience of channel 5. But like you I am a radio 4 fanatic - when we get back in the house and get organised I am hoping to have a wireless system so I can listen to postdated programmes from my computer anywhere in the house. I have a dream of curling up in the sitting room by the fire and listening to afternoon theatre or a book at bedtime while I'm doing the ironing in the morning!! We can give a UK addresss to get a card.
Enid, I bought all my kit from
www.simplydigital.co.uk
They deliver really quickly to a UK address. The only thing was the dishes they offer are too small for France, but the digiboxes and cards are fine. Alternatively, there are always second hand digiboxes and freeview cards for sale on Ebay.
BTW, you will need to phone Sky to get the card activated and you need to do this from a UK phone (fixed or mobile).
I wouldn't be without Channel 4 or Radio 4 either (hate soaps on TV but I'm afraid I do like my Archers fix!)
www.simplydigital.co.uk
They deliver really quickly to a UK address. The only thing was the dishes they offer are too small for France, but the digiboxes and cards are fine. Alternatively, there are always second hand digiboxes and freeview cards for sale on Ebay.
BTW, you will need to phone Sky to get the card activated and you need to do this from a UK phone (fixed or mobile).
I wouldn't be without Channel 4 or Radio 4 either (hate soaps on TV but I'm afraid I do like my Archers fix!)
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Alan Knighting
- Posts: 4120
- Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:26 am
- Location: Monflanquin, Lot-et-Garonne, France
OK. You might be tempted to save a penny or two by buying on e-Bay. Fine but once you are registered you may start to get e-mail messages like the following:-
Dear customer. Please read this message and follow it's instructions
Unauthorized Account Access
We recently reviewed your account, and we suspect an unauthorized ATM based transaction on your account. Therefore as a preventive measure we have temporary limited your access to sensitive features.
To get started, please click the link below:
It is a complete scam and if you do click on "the link below" you could be getting yourself into very deep trouble. It looks real. It looks like e-Bay. It's not. Be warned.
Alan
PS: No, I did not fall for it.
Dear customer. Please read this message and follow it's instructions
Unauthorized Account Access
We recently reviewed your account, and we suspect an unauthorized ATM based transaction on your account. Therefore as a preventive measure we have temporary limited your access to sensitive features.
To get started, please click the link below:
It is a complete scam and if you do click on "the link below" you could be getting yourself into very deep trouble. It looks real. It looks like e-Bay. It's not. Be warned.
Alan
PS: No, I did not fall for it.
Before coming to France I bought on ebay a used Sky digibox with card. The card is an out of date Sky card, and this is what you need to get the 5 terrestrial channels, plus BBC3, BBC4, ITV2, 3, 4, all the radio stations, and a whole ton of crap.
There are many Sky boxes sold per hour on ebay, and some of them include a used card - go for one of these.
If you have not experienced Channel 5, you have not missed anything. On the other hand I find BBC4 often has surprising and interesting programmes on, usually documentaries on things you didn't know you cared about.
I am intrigued by this Sky gnome and will look further into it - listening to the radio off the TV is very limiting.
There are many Sky boxes sold per hour on ebay, and some of them include a used card - go for one of these.
If you have not experienced Channel 5, you have not missed anything. On the other hand I find BBC4 often has surprising and interesting programmes on, usually documentaries on things you didn't know you cared about.
I am intrigued by this Sky gnome and will look further into it - listening to the radio off the TV is very limiting.
Paolo
Lay My Hat
Lay My Hat