We are going to Spain for a couple of months in Winter, When we went last time we just had our normal tv and ariel and watched very little as we couldn't get English speaking channels.Can someone tell me how you go on/what to do with Sky or some form of freeview
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For Spain these days, you will need a decent internet connection, and even then you are probably best using a SlingBox to get all the usual UK Freeview or Freesat stuff.
If Internet is not an option, then it's bad news, since the satellite changes back in early 2014.
Barcelona I think is still a satellite hotspot, were a 1 Dish will get you Freesat and or Sky.
Anywhere else in Spain and you can forget Freesat, and getting Sky is not straightforward as it will only be the encrypted channels you can get, so no BBC or iTv etc.
Another option is to find a campsite that offers UK TV, usually just a handful of channels, but better than nothing I guess, although I would imagine there will be a cost for such a service.
As a Sky subscriber just imagine how hacked off I was to find skygo app in France put up an error message saying you are not permitted to watch this content in your current location???
So far as I have detected I have received NO refund for this fortnight in which I have been denied the services I AM PAYING FOR😡
I only got to watch sky because they can't further restrict the spot beam without risking compromising uk coverage.
Germans, Dutch, the French, Polish and any other EU citizen you can name IS ABLE to watch their satellite transmitted channels ANYWHERE in the world they are if the satellite footprint provides coverage so why can't I??
Simples David, the Freesat gang BBC/iTV were stupid by not using encryption, like what the French have done for Fransat there version of Freesat, which can be picked up anywhere in Europe with just a 50cm Dish.
That's why the Sky encrypted channels are carried on the Wide satellite beam, and all the Freesat stuff is on the Spot beam.
We use a 1m Dish for reception of Freesat down in Frejus, although some days the signal does disappear, but Sky News TV is always there, the local expats are now using 1.2m Dish's.
We really are not using satellite to it's full potential, apart from TV, look at America, they have Sirius which is Satellite delivery of Radio to your car, or hand portable Radio.
Imagine that, all you local UK Radio stations, available anywhere in Europe on your ca Radio or hand portable Radio.
The technology is there so why are we not using it, I think in America they pay a subscription for Sirius but it's only peanuts per user.
We almost had a similiar system in Europe, but it failed after the first year due to the lack of funding, what a waste of technology.
Think I may be wrong on Barcelona looking at previous posts you need a 1.2m Dish for that area, it could have been Benidorm were they were getting away with a 1m Dish.
If you do take a 1m Dish to Spain, and let's face it 1m is really as big as you would want to go, lugging a 1.2m Dish around is going to be no fun.
If you can't get Freesat or Sky from it's 28.2East position, then point the Dish at Astra1 located at 19.2Deg East, from that satellite you will be able to pick up Sky News and CNN better than nothing I guess.
You can still get freesat in Spain, Alicante area is now a 1m dish, but as has already been mentioned internet is really the way to go if you have the option.
We live here & no longer use our dish we are on 100% internet now.
------------- Doogle comes too.
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Surely fibre optic internet TV will replace satellite in the future. Relying on a signal from 22,000 miles away in space seems less reliable than one directly down a fibre optic cable. We don't have fibre yet but I can see that being the way to go though in the future.
Again slightly off topic, but say one has a normal current freeview tv in ones caravan that has an aerial on roof that on a site in the UK one can watch the freeview channels.
If you go to France or Spain, can you with that setup, provided you are in an area with good reception, put your tv on autotune & find the usual national French/Spanish channels?
I don't mean UK programmes, just the national tv channels of either France or Spain.
Yep, I seem to remember David Klyne on here uses his Freeview TV that way, to watch the F1 stuff on TV whilst in France etc.
I keep meaning to get a Fransat satellite receiver for watching French TV here in the UK, they are quite cheap, SD can be had for around 50€ and HD around 100€ most can be made into PVR's using a memory stick etc.
I had an analogue satellite system at the last house for watching French TV, but like here they turned of the FTA analogue system a few years back, still got the SECAM to PAL coverter, although I eventually got a CRT TV that was both PAL and SECAM.
You can probably get all the French TV stuff via the Internet these days, but using satellite is easy and you only need a 45cm Dish here in the UK.
The problem for satellite now, is that when the current bunch of satellites come near to the end of there servicible life in around 15 years time, they will not be replaced, so that will mean Internet only and terrestrial for TV, which will be such a massive step backwards for mobile reception of TV.
I personally think that the French will stick with satellite for TV for many years to come, due to the size of the country, UK is a different kettle of fish being such a small country.
Cheers Francais. So a current UK spec tv can receive French/Spanish terrestial tv provided there is a good signal which there may not be in rural areas yes?
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We tuned our TV into Spanish TV, some programs are available in English, mainly American imports, you just select language on your tv remote, to be honest hardly worth the effort, but it is easy to do.
DVB-T and DVB-S are international standards for digital TV.
The 'T' stands for "Terrestrial" in other words broadcast by ground based transmitters.
The 'S' stands for "Satellite" in other words broadcast from a satellite in the Clark belt.
The DVB standards are ETSI standards and therefore pan European so since digital TVs adoption any EU country which has gone digital's transmissions can be received on any compliant tv in which ever EU country it originated.
It is no surprise that David Klyne has experienced this on his travels.
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Topic: TV in Spain
