sue&bob

Hi,
We have been in Perth for 1 year now and we are really fed up with the crap they put on tv,does anyone know if there is a satilite dish we can buy that will pick up English tv ,or is fox tv the best way to go.
Any ideas would be helpful

Siren & Brian

Yeah Foxtel is the way to go, it has heaps of UK crap Tv on it to.... ohhhhh the bloody TV, if it didnt give me sport then there wouldnt be any TV's in the house

renth

What do you mean crap? on UK TV they have gems like George and Mildred, the Benny Hill Show, Are You Being Served? They also have crap like East Enders.

On Channel 21 they have stuff like that gardening show with the woman who doesn't wear a bra which I don't watch and that River Cottage show with Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall (?) which I do.

Ceri

Optus, foxtel and Austar are the three main pay for view Tv ( they all basically show the same channels) - if you have no cable in your area, you will need to get satellite with them ( they will install their own dish ). Not all areas have cable.. you can check with the online sites to see if there is cable in your area by putting your postcode into their search box.

I have a satellite dish - I'm not with any of the pay for view companies ( although I was with Optus in a previous house .. cable). I resent paying for repeats, and cr@p channels I do not want ( they tend to put them into packages, for instance say you want an extra channel .. example History channel.. you have to pay for it in a package along with two other channels that you don't want - like some cr@ppy comedy channel etc ( and it is cr@p)

I originally bought a satellite dish and a "gold card" ( pirate) when I moved into an area which had no cable, anyway I received all the channels including the pay for events channel ( pay for view boxing fights etc on the night) - all that has recently gone - they b*ggered up us pirates. Anyway, what I can pick up now on my satellite is all channels from around Australia Win TV etc , Perth, NSW, Northern territory and so on - i.e. free to air channels that people see within their state, they broadcast to satellite - this I don't think you will get unless you buy a card from a satellite shop ( can't remember the name of the card for these "normal" channels) . My gold card still works on these.

What I'm trying to say - is that satellite is the same as cable TV.. Optus, foxtel and Austar ( it tends to be a bit more expensive than cable because of the dish) You also get locked into a contract for two years with satellite, ( unless they have changed their policies) . I recently phoned foxtel and asked if I can have it any cheaper as I have my own satellite dish installed, and my own digital box - but no, they said it's the same price - uh?? ( my new digi box cost me around $200 and something - my dish I can't put a price on that as I bought it with a Gold card, and the old foxtel box ( non digi at the time) .. but lets say that cost me around $300) . You must be joking - sorry I resent these pay companies.. it's principles with me ( you are just paying for repeats half the time.. and not only that they also have adverts.. this has got worse over the years.. when I first joined up there were hardly any adverts at all.. just the odd car advert on certain channels .. now a few of the Pay channels have started to show quite a few of adverts on them - sorry I don't pay good money for adverts.)

So, no you won't be able to pick up English channels with a satellite - you need to go with a pay for view company, the same companies for cable . check to see if you have cable in your area.. if not, you will need satellite.

Is it any good? Well if you like repeats yes. The only thing I miss about it is the news channels, geo channel, history channel and the sports channel etc - the rest tend to be mindless garbage, repeats after repeats. For "English" programmes there is Uk TV which shows coronation st, Eastenders ( which are a couple of years behind).. Lifestyle Tv - tends to have a few "English" documentaries on it as well.

It all depends .. you will probably like it for the first year or so.. then after that you will start to see the same shows that you watched in that year - repeats after repeats.

cheers

jayr

Australian TV is generally regarded as poor, but that's understandable with a population of only 20M and a TV industry that is largely based in the US and Europe.

Try out these for good local programmes:

Australian Story
Foreign Correspondent
Enough Rope with Andrew Denton
Mondo Thingo
Rove Live
The Panel
Kath & Kim
Creek to Coast
At the Movies
Lateline
Russell Coight's All Aussie Adventures

...to name a few.

Ceri

Australian Story
Foreign Correspondent (good)
Enough Rope with Andrew Denton ( good)
Mondo Thingo (cr@p)
Rove Live ( definitely the biggest pile of keech I've ever seen. And that guy dosen't half get on my t's . he should shut up for one moment and let his guests talk)
The Panel ( Cr@p)
Kath & Kim ( can't stand it)
Creek to Coast ( not good enough - not enough local fishing in it, and when they tend to do local stories - it's Bream and whiting.. tiddler fishing)
At the Movies ( never seen it.. I don't watch critics of films . I want to be a critic of the critics lol)
Lateline (a lot better than most of the other cr@ppy news)
Russell Coight's All Aussie Adventures ( good when you've had a few cans.. so you can giggle at the stupidy of it - I actually do like this.. but have seen them all now)


cheers.

sue&bob

Hi,
Thanks for all that info,i have noticed that foxtel show a lot of old stuff thats why im reluctent to pay for it,im a bit like you why should you have to pay to watch repeats and adverts,you say that you can pick up channels from different states,does that give you enough good quallity tv or do you still think its rubbish,because if its good enough i would look into buying a dish at least its a one off payment instead of paying foxtel every month.
thanks again

Siren & Brian

Its all crap, I would rather spend my time on here with you lot

Ceri

No not really, a lot of the states show the same programmes . but at different times ( time difference between the states). You get the odd programme which is different.. ie like their local news, or some local doco. The one I like to watch is Bush TV when I get up on Sunday morning ( Aborigine TV) .. fascinating .. they have cooking programmes, and dancing etc.. you ought to see it to believe it - it really is fascinating.
And as for one of the outback channels, you ought to see the adverts - it's enough to depress anyone.. it seems every advert is Samaritans, or debt help .. or kids topping themselves... all very happy, happy adverts . I was watching it one weekend and I thought geeze - I feel like topping myself now! lol

My advice is just stick to books, or DVD's.

Or pay for foxtell- I do miss that for the news channels the most. But I resent paying for a load of rubbish.
Cheers

bondipom

I like it on Saffran vs god when he was trying to get a fatwa put on Rove by Abu Hamza. Abu Hamza thought he was too insignificant.

Fat Pizza is also great though not family viewing.

Ceri

one show I did used to like was CNNNN on ABC ( don't know if I got enough N's in there, or too many) .

( a wind up of the real CNN - Australian made).

It's not on anymore, don't know if they intend to do some new ones.

I got into the book group a few weeks back ( ABC) on about 10.30pm, that I found funny .. but I haven't watched it for a while now though..( very dry humour - it's a Brit show)

...
also Ali G ( don't know if he's still on ABC.. I don't tend to watch a lot of TV) .. not to everyones taste.. but I find him funny.

Badge

I'm looking forward to reading books again - I'm going to reread To Kill a Mocking Bird etc - and giving Mrs B quality time. I don't need tv apart from footie.

BM

MrsDagboy

Gee, you resent an awful lot of things Ceri - ever considered therapy?

Ceri

I resent therapists - they are all mad!

Trevglas

Well, if you get really desparate for decent free TV, spash out on a bloody big, steerable disk (a mini Jodrell Bank lookalike) and then the world is your oyster. Interested? then check out Kan Sat.

Go on, the neighbors will love the view!