madforfishing

Hi All,

We live in Chipiona, in Cadiz Province. Is there anyone who is using Sky and do you receive BBC, ITV and C4, if so, on what size dish?

Thanks

Fred James

Most Sky channels are still available in southern Spain on a 1.8m dish, as they were before the changes last year.

BBC and ITV etc. are no longer available on a Sky receiver in the south of Spain unless you have a dish over 3m.

They are available on the Intelsat 907 satellite, but that would require a separate, smaller (80cm) dish and an additional receiver as a Sky Digibox is not capable of handling those transmissions.

madforfishing

Thanks Fred, any idea on the cost of the box, satellite and monthly fees etc? Sorry for all the questions...

Dxf

Hola

Most Ex-pats use IPTV (Internet) for TV as the satellites were changed some 18 months ago.

There is a local satellite dish supplier covering Chipiona - I have no commercial interest - he advertises on mycadiz.biz - name Steve Harris

Davexf

madforfishing

Thanks Dave, we still use Sky for the OnDemand. We know Steve, he is our dish-fixer.

The Guy

If you have "Sky on demand", then you should have access to bbc itv c4 and five "catch up services also... ok so it is not live, but you have access to a lot of their programmes...

Fred James

Round here, they charge €300 to supply a new dish and receiver and set it up. If you have an old Sky dish that you no longer use, that can be realigned and they usually charge €100 less. There is no monthly charge. You get BBC in HD - all channels. ITV1 in HD and C4 HD, plus the normal BBC radio plus a few others. No Internet connection is required.

It should be said that as these transmissions are not designed to be used by the public, they are encrypted. However the codes are readily available from the Internet or the person who supplied the box. At worst you would only lose 24 hours of reception, possibly less.

In the past, they have changed the codes at regular intervals, anything from every three months down to a couple of weeks. However, they have not changed since last December.

Whether that will change again or maybe they might even change the encryption method to make reception impossible remains to be seen.

The legality of receiving this system, or supplying the equipment is questionable, but as there is no loss of revenue involved, it does not seem to be a major problem.

madforfishing

One of the main reasons why we still have Sky, and of course for the sport.

madforfishing

Fred, thanks for the info. Personally, I am not that keen on codes every 3 months and all that goes with it. I have also read that the satellite might not go on after 2016. It seems to me like Sky OnDemand is still best for us. We work in the evening, so OnDemand is perfect.

Fred James

The codes really are not an issue. It takes about a minute to put them in. Yes, the satellite will have to be replaced eventually, but I stress replaced. It is there to offer a backup service for UK Freeview in case they have problems with their terrestrial links so I can't see that changing. Whether the new satellite would use different encryption is another matter, but that is not dependant on the satellite anyway.

The other interesting option is the NOWTV box which is available for only £10.

This is Internet connected but it offers catchup on all the normal UK channels (BBC, ITV, C4 and C5). It also offers live TV on the BBC and ITV channels and I believe C4 intend to follow. It is free to use unless you want to watch some of the Sky channels, in which case there is a monthly charge.

MikeJ

Fred
Can you confirm whether or not you would still need a VPN or smart DNS service with this NOWBox? Many thanks

Fred James

A VPN in the router should work, but the alternative is a Smart DNS. This does have to be set up in the router rather than in the device, as there is no facility in the NOWTV box to change the DNS settings. I use SmartyDNS and it works fine. Some others may not yet support the NOWTV.

MikeJ

Thanks Fred