SKY Reception

[Davidsimon]

My brother is thinking of coming over for a holiday.When I told him about the lack of TV FTA channels he plans to bring his Sky card with him.I know you can't get premium channels without linking it to a new box.But is anyone here using the old standard SKY elliptical dish,and if so which channels can you receive clearly.For example is BBC2HD possible?

[Allan]

My brother is thinking of coming over for a holiday.When I told him about the lack of TV FTA channels he plans to bring his Sky card with him.I know you can't get premium channels without linking it to a new box.But is anyone here using the old standard SKY elliptical dish,and if so which channels can you receive clearly.For example is BBC2HD possible?

A Sky viewing card will make absolutely no difference to the FTA channels. Sky doesn't broadcast these, it simply includes them in its program guide. A Sky box can only receive the signals if they are strong enough.

There is only one signal for ITV, BBC etc, it doesn't matter if you are receiving it on a Sky box, Freesat or any other receiver.

With a Sky viewing card you should be able to receive any premium channels included in the subscription.

Your brother might find it easier to bring his Sky box with him. If he has Sky On-demand (their catch-up) service and you have an Internet connection then you can watch most FTA programs using catch up TV but you will need to subscribe to a service such as Overplay to make it work. You can do this for a minimum period of a month at a cost of less than 4 euro.

If you decide to do this and need help then send me a pm.

[martyn94]

If the telly is that important, perhaps it would be easier for you to have a holiday with him?

[russell]

With a Sky viewing card you should be able to receive any premium channels included in the subscription.

But not, of course, with the original Sky elliptical dish you mention. The signal (assuming you are in P.O.) is just not strong enough.

Russell.

[Allan]

With a Sky viewing card you should be able to receive any premium channels included in the subscription.

But not, of course, with the original Sky elliptical dish you mention. The signal (assuming you are in P.O.) is just not strong enough.

Russell.

Sorry Russell, I don't agree. Assuming that 'an original Sky elliptical dish' refers to a standard offset dish as widely used in the region to receive the FTA channels then that dish should be capable of receiving Sky's premium channels.

The signal for those channels hasn't changed and is still on a pan-European beam, so if the dish could previously receive BBC1,2 etc. then it will receive Sky's premium channels.

I have friends in the south of the area happily watching premium channels on an 80cm dish with ITV, BBC, Channel4 and Channel 5 available via Sky On-Demand.

I currently have a large dish but for a while I kept my old dish as a backup and it worked perfectly well for the Sky subscription channels although I cannot remember if the ITV subscription channels worked or not

[martyn94]

With a Sky viewing card you should be able to receive any premium channels included in the subscription.

But not, of course, with the original Sky elliptical dish you mention. The signal (assuming you are in P.O.) is just not strong enough.

Russell.

Sorry Russell, I don't agree. Assuming that 'an original Sky elliptical dish' refers to a standard offset dish as widely used in the region to receive the FTA channels then that dish should be capable of receiving Sky's premium channels.

The signal for those channels hasn't changed and is still on a pan-European beam, so if the dish could previously receive BBC1,2 etc. then it will receive Sky's premium channels.

I have friends in the south of the area happily watching premium channels on an 80cm dish with ITV, BBC, Channel4 and Channel 5 available via Sky On-Demand.

I currently have a large dish but for a while I kept my old dish as a backup and it worked perfectly well for the Sky subscription channels although I cannot remember if the ITV subscription channels worked or not

But the question seems to have been about the FTA channels. Davidsimon seems to have already concluded that he wouldn't get premium channels on his brother's card (whether he was right in that is well beyond me);

[Allan]

But not, of course, with the original Sky elliptical dish you mention. The signal (assuming you are in P.O.) is just not strong enough.

Russell.

Sorry Russell, I don't agree. Assuming that 'an original Sky elliptical dish' refers to a standard offset dish as widely used in the region to receive the FTA channels then that dish should be capable of receiving Sky's premium channels.

The signal for those channels hasn't changed and is still on a pan-European beam, so if the dish could previously receive BBC1,2 etc. then it will receive Sky's premium channels.

I have friends in the south of the area happily watching premium channels on an 80cm dish with ITV, BBC, Channel4 and Channel 5 available via Sky On-Demand.

I currently have a large dish but for a while I kept my old dish as a backup and it worked perfectly well for the Sky subscription channels although I cannot remember if the ITV subscription channels worked or not

But the question seems to have been about the FTA channels. Davidsimon seems to have already concluded that he wouldn't get premium channels on his brother's card (whether he was right in that is well beyond me);

Actually Martyn , Russell suggested that he could not get premium channels on an existing dish which is emphatically not the case, hence my reply.

My reading of the original post, was that DavidSimon (or his brother) was under the incorrect view that the FTA channels might be available here with a Sky subscription which of course they are not. I believe that point was answered in my original post. Since this is a common misapprehension, I thought it worth clarification.

Most of the programming from the FTA channels is however available from Sky On-Demand with a Sky subscription and a suitable receiver, hence my suggestion that his brother might find it easier to bring his own box.

Linking a Sky card to a different box is pretty easy but unless the box is capable of accessing On-Demand then it wont get any FTA programs.

[russell]

Allan, I assumed that by "standard SKY elliptical dish" he meant the tiny black perforated thing that is used in the UK.

The offset ones that were common here before the change are not really elliptical, except for the fact that a circle could be considered to be a special case of an ellipse

Russell.

[Allan]

Allan, I assumed that by "standard SKY elliptical dish" he meant the tiny black perforated thing that is used in the UK.

The offset ones that were common here before the change are not really elliptical, except for the fact that a circle could be considered to be a special case of an ellipse

Russell.

Fair enough Russell thanks for the clarification. Offset dishes are generally taller than they are wide and widely described as elliptical hence the confusion.

I've never seen any of the dishes you describe in use in the region so it is pretty unlikely that the original poster has one of those. Theoretically of course it probably would work here with the premium channels as we are fairly central to the pan-european beam which they use but would never have worked with the UK FTA channels.

[Davidsimon]

Sorry Russell, I don't agree. Assuming that 'an original Sky elliptical dish' refers to a standard offset dish as widely used in the region to receive the FTA channels then that dish should be capable of receiving Sky's premium channels.

The signal for those channels hasn't changed and is still on a pan-European beam, so if the dish could previously receive BBC1,2 etc. then it will receive Sky's premium channels.

I have friends in the south of the area happily watching premium channels on an 80cm dish with ITV, BBC, Channel4 and Channel 5 available via Sky On-Demand.

I currently have a large dish but for a while I kept my old dish as a backup and it worked perfectly well for the Sky subscription channels although I cannot remember if the ITV subscription channels worked or not

But the question seems to have been about the FTA channels. Davidsimon seems to have already concluded that he wouldn't get premium channels on his brother's card (whether he was right in that is well beyond me);

Actually Martyn , Russell suggested that he could not get premium channels on an existing dish which is emphatically not the case, hence my reply.

My reading of the original post, was that DavidSimon (or his brother) was under the incorrect view that the FTA channels might be available here with a Sky subscription which of course they are not. I believe that point was answered in my original post. Since this is a common misapprehension, I thought it worth clarification.

Most of the programming from the FTA channels is however available from Sky On-Demand with a Sky subscription and a suitable receiver, hence my suggestion that his brother might find it easier to bring his own box.

Linking a Sky card to a different box is pretty easy but unless the box is capable of accessing On-Demand then it wont get any FTA programs.

I'm aware that the FTA are off the menu without a 1.8 m dish,same as Valencia where I live.my question was about the Sky pay channels that don't get the No signalis being received message but the Call for info on receiving this channel.The BBC HD channels also get this message which made me wonder if they are on the wider beam still?

[montgolfiere]

Actually at the moment and few the past few months the FTA Channels have been receivable on medium Dishes eg. 110/120 around the region. In my opinion however this is not likely to be the case in the Spring/Summer (going on what happened in 2013 and 2014).

[Davidsimon]

Allan, I assumed that by "standard SKY elliptical dish" he meant the tiny black perforated thing that is used in the UK.

The offset ones that were common here before the change are not really elliptical, except for the fact that a circle could be considered to be a special case of an ellipse

Russell.

The dish that is here is 75x56 aprox does anybody pick up Sky Channels(eg basic package) on one of the same or similar size.

[Nigel]

Receiving excellent signal on Freesat box with 130cms dish at Villelongue

[Allan]

The dish that is here is 75x56 aprox does anybody pick up Sky Channels(eg basic package) on one of the same or similar size.

Your dish is of a size that should receive broadcasts on the pan-european beam but too small for the UK spot beam.

You should therefore be able to receive Sky's premium channels but not the free to air channels, so no BBC, ITV, C4,C5 and their variants. Freak conditions may mean that you can occasionally receive these but normally the signal will be too weak.

http://www.ses.com/4628866/astra-2e

[Davidsimon]

Thanks Allan,would the Premium Channels include the HD versions of some of the BBC ITV incarnations ?

[Allan]

Thanks Allan,would the Premium Channels include the HD versions of some of the BBC ITV incarnations ?

No, those are not Sky channels, you are simply receiving them ( or not ) on a Sky receiver.

[Davidsimon]

Thanks Allan,just my luck to get a Jodrell Bank size dish fitted in Spain then move to an area with even worse reception!!