chelle1

Hello

My husband and I have an apartment in the Costa Blanca region which we use for about 5 weeks a year. The one thing I miss while staying there is English TV. (Sad I know!!) We have looked into getting Sky and have been quoted between 550 and 600 euros for installation and between 15 and 19 euros a month subscription.

Spending 800 euros just to keep up with the soaps is a lot of money. Is there a cheaper alternative? Does Spain have the equivalent to freeview boxes?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

big wheels

Spain does have the equivalent to freeview boxes. For Spanish tv only.

BTW If you do have a dish fitted, you can watch BBC & ITV free of charge, no subscription required.

Miss Naughty

Hi
we bought a euro sat dish free to air from b&q It was 99quid and we could get channels on that.
xx

chelle1

Thank you to you both for your replies.

jdr

Like big wheels says, get a dish fitted and bring your box and card when you come over. ;-)

Solarwhizz

You will need a pretty big dish to effectively use your Sky box and card from the UK,, not many channels under a 1.5M dish,

However the full 120€ system from AKI or Carrefour, will give you access to satellites such as Hotbird, Eutel , Astra 1, Astra2. , (NB if yu dont have or get the motorised system) yu will only be able to view what is on the Sat you align to, But Hotbird for example gives some acces to a variety of english speaking channels , see here for listings, the ones with a white background are free, (NB not all are receivable on a 80CM dish)

http://en.kingofsat.net/find.php

Select your Sat and Zap!!


There is the BBC world channel and I think BBC prime on this sat, and then also there are BBC radio channels inc 2,4 and some others, in all there are about 10 or 15 english channels availabe,

If Hotbird is not good, try Astra 2 System, which will give you access to some of Uk channels, including the movie channels on a 1.2M dish, a 1.4m will also get you some ITV and BBC , but it will be very inconstent and maybe not at all,.. A 1,4m dish would cost about 200/250€ to buy direct

jdr

We have a 1.3 dish, use our UK box and card and still get all the freebies since we cancelled our full package contract when it ran out which also picked up all channels as in UK.
We cancelled cos there is cable here for 350 €`s a year, which picks up most of the channels we had with Sky and also some Spanish, German and Dutch ones.
Have a look at the neighbours dish to see what size they use and ask if the signal is ok.
Sometimes apartment blocks have a communial dish, but if you need your own check if you need permission to put it up.

Solarwhizz

I think the person who asked said they lived on the CB, you will not got what you say there, it would appear that there is an anomaly in signal strengths that allow smaller dishes in CDS, than CB, See here and you can see this which has been compiled by installer and user reception reports over the last few years.

http://www.digitalsat.co.uk/astra2dfootprint.html

lynnxa

we are on the CB..........there is a 55cm dish on our roof - we pick up a few channels.....not the usual ones - but enough for us for now.

the urbanisation is supposed to be installing a cable system so we are waiting to see what happens before we invest in anything bigger

jdr

Yeah, its strange how you get the different signal strengths along the coast, you wouldn`t think there would be much difference as they all point to the sky.
We only lost our signal in the rain sometimes.

Mitzyboy

We have a 1.8 dish and we struggle at certain times of the day with certain programmes. I think we really need a 2.4 but the 1.8 looks bad enough.

searcher48

I think the original poster was talking about installing the "mesh system" which are much smaller than a dish and the only thing possible really on an apartment balcony. BUT they are illegally re transmitting the satellite signal and there has just been reports in the english paper this week of some of these companies being raided by the police. What this will do to the others comps is unknown.
There is a spanish "canal+" with dual language on some programs but im not sure if you could just pay a subscription for it for a short period.
There is a set top box they are selling now but I have no experience on what you can get on this. Anyone know??
As far as "keeping up with the soaps" I know in the Benidorm area some "english food shops" sell a dvd for €6 with all of the previous weeks soaps and a few popular dramas casualty etc ask around when you next come and you will find a retailer. This is also illegal so not advertised!

Solarwhizz

I have read many theories about this, and i must say the one that I find easiest to understand is .
Think of the transmission from the Satellite like a HIGH focus beam on a Spotlight, this is aimed at UK , but as with a spotlight there is lots of light peripherally, however this light is at various strengths due to many reasons, IE Lighter reflection/refraction areas etc,
So in terms of Spain, we are at virtual edge of a very focussed beam and therefore need bigger dishes to pick up the very weak signal, the Area such as the CDS is termed Side lobe, which is effectively due to some other anomaly, IE earth's magnetic field, Radio noise from outer space, Sunbeams, or something else, I dont know to much about it, I just accept it as fact.

Secondly, a company called Superbeam TV, offer a Holiday home owner package which is effectively only pay when you watch, you can contact them on www.superbeam.tc

jdr

Thats an interesting theory about the signal.

Mitzyboy

We lose more programmes when its cloudy here so ......