Spain - British Expat Forum

First let me thank you all for the advice that you gave me on the residency issue. Most helpful.

Now I wonder if I could impose on your good natures a little more. Just what exactly is going on with the sky/bbc/itv/astra 2D/free to air........
I have been searching around and I am very confused.

From what I gather, the BBC switched to a new satellite with a narrow beam that requires a dish the size of the QEII to pick up in Spain. So no BBC. Then I hear that the BBC is going "free to air" which means people lose ITV etc. ?????

To be honest, I am not too concerned about BBC/ITV as I mainly watch films, sports and documentaries. Will I be able to get Premier League Football? Can I get new film releases on pay per view? can I get discovery and so on?

I undersatand that it had to be a back door deal and that companies piggy back service to an address in the UK. Is this still the case?

I am sorry for all of the questions, but I am lost on this issue.

Thanks in advance for any help that you all can give.

Iain.

Hi Iain

You might also want to check out our new board for electrical and technical stuff. Terry is a bit of an expert on TV issues.

Kay 8)

Iain,

Basically the situation is that the Beeb have decided they are not going to pay any more to Mr Murdoch. So from the 10th July they went free to air (FTA) transmitting from a different satellite (Astra 2D) which has a tighter footprint. I've posted some details of the footprint on the technical site.

If you are not bothered about picking up BBC then you have nothing to worry about, you can stillget the normal Sky packages. But as you say this has to be done either by a company that will register with an address for you or you could register from a friend or relatives address.

Terry is of course absolutely right however things seem to have gone a stage further.

The BBC having gone the final stage and made themselves 'Free to view' have said that they are no longer going to support the 'Free to air card'. This leaves it open to somebody else....ITV have said don't know and Sky seem to have said yes but only as part of one of their packages (it will still be free to air but you will have to pay Sky for package, good deal!!)

This means that Channel five and ITV may disappear at any time!

We will just have to see what happens but at the moment I wouldn't buy anything until the dust has settled