SKY or FREEVIEW box

07/20/2009 - 05:57

We have had Italian SKY for a number of years but are quite frankly disappointed with the high volume of repeats and creeping price increases. We enjoy being able to watch some UK programmes and the odd film in English. Does anyone have any knowldege of an Italian Freeview box (we saw some in BRICO recently) and can then simply be plugged into the SKY satellite, are channels just Italian? Are there any alternatives for example will a UK Sky box work across here?

Topic

Technology

Location

Marche

Comment

The alternative which I have been watching for several months now is Get Connected TV:-http://www.getconnected.com.cy/They give you access to a proxy server in the UK so you can access all the TV channels I-players BBC, ITV, Channel 4 & 5. plus Zattoo which streams live TV . Cost is €12.95 a month and quality is very good, but you need Broadband speed.Ciao

A UK Sky box will work over here, but you need a big dish, I was quoted 2 metres by the engineers who came to look at my house, and as I am in a bit of a dip in the hillside they couldn't guarantee that it would work. But I have several friends who have UK Sky which works very successfully.However, Sky do not actually permit use outside the UK, and it is necessary to have an English address for your account and to allow them to assume that is your residence. If they do become aware that you live in Europe and are receiving the signal there they will stop the account. So it is a bit of a risk and quite an investment in a dish if you don't already have a big one.But I know what you mean, I opted for Sky Italia too and don't actually watch it much at all, I thought we reached the bottom when Dallas, the first series, was on!Liz

I was aware of Sky UK's policy about recieving ofshore from the Astra 2E. Has anyone ever asked them why? Presumably you can't legally get Sky Italia in the UK although there seems to be companies offering it. ???

My friends near La Spezia have an English Freesat box (no subscription, just one-off purchase). They get about 160 TV channels, including HD, through a 1.4m dish.Great!

The problem here is Le Marche...................beautiful as it is here it is likely to be too near to the edge of the 'footprint' me thinks....................the 'goconnect' org in Cyprus http://www.getconnected.com.cy/ that someone else has mentioned is the 'probable' solution(with broadband)..................If anyone has tried the freesat box in Le Marche can I come and see it working please?!!

We have a English sky box and card in Umbria. The satellite dish is the standard 80/90cm. We do not get BBC chanels or chanel four, but all others chanel five, sky 1, 2, 3 etc. You do have to have a UK address. A Sky technician came to the house and moved the existing satellite round until it was pointing to the correct satellit. This took 5mins and cost 40 euros.I believe the reason that SKY does not permit use of UK box/card abroad is because they buy programmes and have contracts to broadcast over a certain area. The programme makers can then sell their series etc to other broadcasters. I don't imagine that Sky itself is much bothered, but they would be in trouble themselves if they did not forbid it.

Thanks portia I suspected there would be a commercial reason for it.Apparently the BBC/ITV use a narrow beam that they bounce off Astra 2E. People in the UK often experience problems with this if their alignment is slightly out. Apparently if you live in Rome you need a 3m dish to get the BBC. Nice if you have somewhere to put a dish that wide

On Freesat (honestly I'm not employed by them!) you get:BBC 1, 2, 3, 4 and HDITV 1, 2, 3 and 4Channel 4, More 4 etc etcChannel 5 (all the above in HD when transmitted)plus countless others you would probably not want to watchplus countless radio stations

Thanks for the information do you know if Freesat would be okay to use with our existing Sky dish approximately 80 cm and can the box be sourced here or does it mean a trip back to the UK urgh!

Do you know how far down freesat would work?Very interesting!Dominic

Send three and fourpence, we are going to advance........ Here you can get a digtal receiver, which will receive all of the "normal" stations including RAI and Mediaset (and LA7 for the rugby fans) with the added bonus of BBC World for the linguistically impaired. It is NOT a satellite system and won't work if you plug it into a satellite dish - you have to connect a good quality conventional arial to it. You can also get a real satellite receiver which you can point at any of the satellites flying around - most people use either a motorised mount or pair up a couple of the actual recievers mounted on the dish - LNBs I think they are called. If you want English language stations, you can get a few news-type ones without spending out of 3 metre dishes (good grief! - sounds like a BMW showroom!) such as Sky UK news, CNN News, Russia Today, France 24, CNBC, Al Qu'iada - no! I mean Al Jazeera - An interesting Chinese one and the Pentagon Chanel (where would you be without that one). All free. If your desire for East Enders and Coronation street is so strong the best thing to do is record them at home - and watch them when you get back! Or learn Italian. Ha.

Story from the trenches in WW1. Seems most ex pats can get their fill of tv by sat and internet. Doubtless it wil get even better.When I lived in Sardinia back in the early 80's all we had was the BBC World service that crackled and faded. Plus the occational VHS tape a few cassettes sent out in my red cross parcel. Even though I could not speak much Italian I bought a tv and spent many a happy evening trying to work out what was happening on the RAI News and some of the game shows were amazing! Ah .... happy days

What is BBC World News without the crackle and fizz though. Excellent. I met someone last year that was living here (we live in Italy, in case anyone has missed that) and had bought a British supplied Sky box for an obscene amount of money together with a British TV license just so they could watch Big Brother here. They were continuing to pay for the British TV license, even though they had no UK address - despite it being illegal in Inghilterra.They seem to have missed the fact that Big Brother is owned by the Berlusconi family (can't remember which one owns it today) and you have to watch LA7 just to avoid it on TV here. Obviously, it is in Italian here - but the grunts and mumbles are the same in any language you might chose to watch (yes, an oxymoron, I know) it in.The same people complained that they were having trouble learning to speak Italian. They didn't like it much when I suggested that if they listened to some Italian TV it would help them though. Big bully that I am - and (apparantly) very unpatriotic as well. Pffffft. I live here - not there.

sorry, but I do not know anything about satellites and such... what is freesat? how do you get in italy? is it connected to this: http://www.freesat.co.uk/index.php?page=features.Main thanks! Paola

Paola, You go to England and buy one. Then you bring it to Italy, find the plug doesn't fit, go out and buy an adapter at your local Brico .... oh dear, they don't sell British plugs. Oh well, another trip to England and buy a 13A socket so that you can get an electrician to wire it in to your house circuit. Right. That's better. Now you can plug it in. Now, you find that it doesn't get all those TV station that were printed on the advertising blurb on the box. Dammitttt! What was the name of that help site again? Or, in other words, it is just a plain common or garden digital TV receiver with an English, fancy-sounding name. Not even an 80cm satellite dish is needed (it connects to an ordinary TV aerial) - although, to read some people's ideas on here, you will need Jodrell Bank to get East Enders on it. A miracle of innovation, Freesat. Nothing to do with a satellite and certainly not free!Ha! But at least the instructions are in English. Grazie a dio! Oops. Sorry. Wrong language again. *with apologies to Rupert. Please don't reveal my sexual pecadillos in your newspapers.....

True, you have to buy the Freesat box in UK (about £120-150).True, you need an adaptor for a British 3 point plugFalse, once purchased all your viewing is freeFalse, you get all the channels on the boxFalse, you DO need a satellite dish (it's FreeSAT, not Freeview!).

"SKY OR FREEVIEW" Have another go at reading the heading, eh?

If you bother to read the first post you will note that an 'Italian Freeview Box' is mentioned. The discussion was then expanded to include FreeSAT boxes. You having a bad day?

oh gosh, I see...well sounds like a good thing this freesat...

This has been very interesting. Does anyone have any experience of using a FREESAT box in Piemonte, specifically the Asti - Nizza Monferrato area?

Hey - having trouble getting East Benders or Corrie in Italy? Soundls like Heaven - I'm packing me bags!!!!

HI, we are in Lu Monferrato, Piemonte and we have a 60cm satellite dish. We called the engineers who directed our dish towards astra 2 I can't remember the degrees, something like 28. 2 and we can see all the UK channels perfectly!

http://www.astra2d.com/italy.htmThis is quite informative on dish suitability and sizes. and I think it links you on to another site that gives you the exact pointing co-ordinates for particular sattelites.... Astra 2D is the tricky one - narrow beam to the UK but carries the EPG, but it's the one you want.