Depends what you mean by TV. We usually cope with local TV through old fashioned aerial (RTE, France TV, Spanish TV) and have a 100GB card (costs about £8 pm extra with BT) on a mobile phone which is a WiFi hotspot, from which we run a Roku with Netflix and Prime. We also bring some DVDs (the TV has a DVD slot) for those times we're out of aerial or 5G reach.
Assuming you want to watch regular UK subscription free television you really only have two options. Satellite but even this is restricted by the footprint of the satellite that receives UK TV. So you would be ok in France, depending on dish size but the further away you get from the UK the bigger dish you need which eventually become impractical, unless you are prepared to take something the size of Jodrell Bank
Secondly and the way most seem to be going now is by using the like of internet downloads. You would need a good deal of data either from your home network or from one in the country you are staying in. One issue that crops up is how, for example, BBC iPlayer detects where you are and if its not happy it will block you. I think you may be OK with UK based data cards. Alternatively you can sign up to a VPN service.
As mentioned by David a stand alone satellite is best in France. A mounted satellite dish and depending on size will work down to southern Spain if using Sky+HD. Freesat will on work as far down as Roses in Spain if you are lucky.
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
The main reason ... at least, this year ... is to get Olympic coverage whilst in France.
So ... is there a local link up possibility ... via Freeview, or equivalent?
Thanks for all the info in your responses ... don't really fancy coping with a dish.
If you just want to watch sport then why not simply tune in to the local channel: the Olympics will be shown everywhere.
If you don't speak the language turn the sound off. Better that way anyhow, you don't need to listen to some unknowligable commentator babbling on!
DaveS1
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
Quote: Originally posted by DaveS1 on 24/1/2024
If you just want to watch sport then why not simply tune in to the local channel: the Olympics will be shown everywhere.
If you don't speak the language turn the sound off. Better that way anyhow, you don't need to listen to some unknowligable commentator babbling on!
DaveS1
Some people reckon watching in a different language can help you learn!
Not sure about that.
My French is reasonable but I don't bother with tv. We do take some dvds with us if we fancy a film. The Olympics will be on local TV anyway.
------------- DS-There's more to life than football!!!
Assuming you have a normal digital Freeview television simply go to the tuning page, select the country you are in and then tune as you would do normally.
DaveS1
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
Ah ... thanks!
So just a normal freeview tv.
Will take one with us!
So annoying that the SkyGo will no longer work abroad!
Used to be perfect on the laptop.
I just switch on my TV, re-tune to receive local/regional stations, and hope for the best!
I don't watch a lot of TV, just something in the background when I am online via my laptop.
I carry a selection of DVDs in the event I would like to watch a film.
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
if you tune into local tv mainly spain other countries not always quite as accomodating you can go to menu and a film will give you a choice of language
example last year watched strawdogs in english but had a choice of french/spanish/valeciano.
We used to take a 1m Dish down to Frejus, for Freesat Reception, and that worked OK back in 2019, although some days you would get a strong enough signal and other days you would struggle.
OK in a former life I used to be a satellite system installer, so it was more about the challenge, and putting two fingers up to the powers that be, who put Freesat on a FTA Spot Beam, to prevent reception outside of UK with a sensible size Dish say 60cm max.
This really annoyed me, and I hoped Freesat would have been FTV (Soft Encrypted) and remained on ASTRA 1 (19.2 East) on a Wide Beam Transponder, enabling reception anywhere in Western Europe via a 60cm Dish, but alas stupidly this was not to be the case.
Of course this is what the French did with there equivalent of Freesat, called Francsat, which can be received anywhere in Western Europe on a 60CM dish from Telcom 2C, including here in the UK.
Anyway I have decided to Ditch the 1m Dish, and use a Attisat FL500 Flat Plate antenna which I was sent as a free sample for testing, back in 1994 !.
So that is the satellite antenna I will be using this year in Frejus, of course it will be useless for Freesat reception from Astra 2 (28.2 East), but fine for receiving Sky News Int from either Astra 1 (19.2 East) and Hotbird (13.0 East) along with Bloomberg, Euronews, France 24, Voice of America, BBC World and CNN, as you may have guessed I am only interested in news channels, but as the campsite has rubbish wi-fi, and phone signal is equally bad, satellite will be better than nothing, also the Attisat FL500 packs small, and I will be using a Silvercrest (Lidl) SL45 HDMI Comag satellite receiver, all ancient kit, but hopefully will do the job.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: TV on the continent
via mobile 23/1/2024 at 8:12pm
