can anyone tell me if I buy a skybox and bring it to Spain will it work with a satilite dish. My brother in law has a holiday apartment and I wanted to bring him a present, he doesn't subscribe to sky but has a hugh satilite dish, would that be enough to pick up some English speaking channels? What is the best way to get channels?

Yes a sky box will work in Spain.
Without a card it will receive the "free to air" channels like BBC ITV C4 and Fives.
With a card it will receive the Sky pay channels.

Perhaps, if you do not want to subscribe to Sky, consider a Freesat box, specifically designed for the free UK TV channels.

But reception of channels depends where you are in Spain and the size of the dish.
Some areas of Spain can get away with a 1m dish for BBC ITV C4s and Fives, other areas need 2-3m+.
All covered, along with alternate methods, in depth in this thread: http://britishexpats.com/forum/spain...-spain-794446/

The important questions are; how huge is the huge sky dish and where exactly in Spain is the apartment.

In most of Spain you will you not receive the free to air channels like BBC etc. I think the reception stops around Costa Blanca, unless you know something different.

No, it extends down into Murcia with a 1.8m dish.

The south coast needs 3m plus which is rarely practicable.

I have a 1.45 dish in Murcia.
C 4 is not good but on the HD it is fine. BBC breaks up a bit, as does ITV during the morning, otherwise no problems.

Spain is a VERY large country. I would suggest that most of Spain DOES receive "free to air" channels.

The further South you go, the less well they are received. There will always be 'black/dead spots' as well.

Thank you The Guy, he lives in Andalucía, and he has a really large dish, I will try it anyway and see what happens. Thanks again Denise

He is in Peurto Banus quite high up in the hills, and his dish is really large, so I'm hoping he will get some channels. Some people are saying the further south you go the less likely it will be to get it,does that include the Marbella area?

Oh Dear does this mean Malaga is too far south?

Just to say that we have used various boxes when in the Alicante region.
Since the 'change' I would say that some channels are stronger but some are weaker. In any case we consider ourselves to be fortunate compared to other regions.

Yes, it does. I am not aware of anyone getting a suitable signal and have seen reports that you cannot even get it on a 3m dish.

Anything bigger is actually almost taller than the average 1 storey house!

Just for your information, Puerto Banus is a marina, not surprisingly at sea level. If it was quite high up in the hills, then the huge yachts in there might have some difficulty getting out!

The signals extend all over Spain.
However, dish sizes required to receive them may not be to everyone's liking...
I know that in some areas of Andalucía 1.8m dishes are getting signals fine...

In the old 2D days Greece and Cyrpus had 4m dishes, so if people want their TV direct from the satellite they will can so...

BBC ITV C4s and Fives are on the UK beams of 2e and 2f.

C4HD (some ITV1 and some BBC HD regions) is on the UK beam of 2F,
C4 (some iTV1s, most BBC regions) is on the Uk beam of 2E.
Although these two satellites are of the same make and model and specification, their footprint / signal power is about 10-15% different.

Hence varying reception depending which version or region you are watching.

Where as in the old 2D days we were worse off than other areas....

His apartment is about 2 miles from the Marina, close to Aloha Golf course, all I know is it is uphill from the Marina Hope that makes sense, don't think all apartments in Puerto Banus are at the Marina or should I have said Andalucía?