WBCA

What's the best way to get UK television when living in Spain?

snikpoh

FreeSat TV is the cheapest as it's free with a standard decoder (Humax, Sky or similar).

However, in the Costa Del Sol area, you may need a rather large satellite dish.

Where are you?

WBCA

I'm still in the UK at the moment. I'm just thinking over where I might want to go. I was thinking of renting in the Costa Blanca.. If it was all set up and ready to go that would be perfect. I need TV for my work. Thanks

The Guy

You have a few options.
Via satellite you have Freesat (free channels) or Sky / BT (free and pay channels)
The size of dish you need depends where in Spain you area, but for the COsta Blanca area a 125x135cm dish is the recommended size.

Via internet
either from the main broadcasters services (iPlayer etc), using a VPN or Smart DNS service to hide the fact yo are not in the UK
or from an "iptv" service, free or pay, that comes from a third party not direct from the broadcaster.
(of course depends on good internet connections)

silkweed

I would like to know whether I can get a simple 'Freeview' type box that I can run with my aerial?
Im not after Sky, Satellite or internet streaming TV, just some normal English TV?

Thanks

The Guy

Freeview is UK TV via a TV aerial.
The nearest Freeview transmitter to Spain is in the Channel Islands, and those signals simply do not reach Spain. (Heck Freeview does not even cover the whole of the uk - hence Freesat!)
So you cannot get UK Freeview in Spain.

If you connect a Freeview box to a tv aerial in Spain, and it will only get the Spanish TV channels, as those are the only channels transmitted from the TV mast in Spain. In the same way you do not get all the Spanish channels via a tv aerial in the UK!

So you will not get UK channels via a TV aerial in Spain.
You will only get Spanish TV channels via a TV aerial in Spain.

silkweed

Thanks The Guy, I used to used the name 'Freeview' to discribe what I was looking for. S
So I would only be able to get Spainsh TV through the aerial, so is Satellite the only way to get some English TV?

Fred James

silkweed

Thanks Fred, Im in Nerja, so guess thats very south.
Not used to thinking about getting UK channels in Spain but guess it the same here if you wanted Spanish channels.

Pardon my ignorance but Im assuming there is a monthly charge?

Eric S

Not for me, but I'm just curious. There's no transmitter or anything in Gibraltar?

- Eric S.

Fred James

Fred James

The Guy

Gibraltar is not part of the UK (it is a British Overseas Territory) , so there is no onus for the UK broadcasters to transmit there. So no Freeview masts there. And nor is there any obligation for the UK satellite TV services to be made available there. (Nor is there, as has been misreported a UK TV satellite over Gibraltar - they are all along the equator!)

For UK TV via satellite, people in the south of Spain have the choice of a very large dish like 4m to get the "uk beam" transmissions from the UK TV satellites (Astra 2 - used by the likes of Freesat and Sky), or as Fred says, use an unofficial satellite, used for Freeview back up purposes, and requiring a smaller dish (like 80cm), and a special decoder capable of inputting codes to hack into the "not for public use" signals for 10 channels.

Monkey104

Big_Jon

I have a similar question along a different line. Is there any way to access french channels in KSA? I'm thinking particularly of M6, TMC, TF1, Teva, Paris Premiere, 6ter, France 2, France 3, France 4, France 5. I'm sure there are others.