Satellite TV in Italy & beyond?

[Mick Kennedy]

Anybody know how to get British TV in Italy and further south? We fitted an 85cm Crystop dish to our van in the belief that it would give us TV and internet right down to the tip of the Italian ''boot'', but no. Turns out we misunderstood the ''footprint'' map from Roadpro and it's only internet that extends so far, not TV. We lost British TV just as we left France and now that we have reached Florence we only seem to get Muslim prayer channels and African programmes, which aren't really our bag. We're happy to get a skybox (or similar) and pay a subscription, but If we do, will it even work in Sicily, I wonder? Or is there another gadget some funsters know of to circumvent the way ''they'' can control what we can watch and where watch it? All advice welcome, but no holier-than-thou ''we don't watch TV'' brigadiers, please. Cheers, Mick & Lisa.

 

[Lenny HB]

Providing your LNB will handle the higher frequency that Intersat 901 uses get yourself a tuner that can receive it. It's the backup sat for UK channels.
Probably not worth the effort with data so cheap why not just stream.

 

[cbrookson]

I'd go for an internet solution. Something like an Amazon firestick and iPlayer with a VPN or a subscription service ( Filmon or similar).

Cheers

 

[62272]

We thought the same and bought a oyster 85, when you get 2/3rds way down france you lose the sky satelite (freeview). Have resorted to a vpn and netflix or steaming services hot spot off my phone (to ipad) works really well at most locations - except where poor internet - then we use dvd’s! You can change to german satellites and get the occasional uk channel, but other than that owing to a change of coverage footprint a few years ago, its not what it use to be. A sky box (not that the new ones would work anyway) will not give you you any greater coverage - according to the research and questions to suppliers i have made.

 

[SMB]

I have an Oyster 85cm internet-enabled dish which I bought several years ago and was told at the time that I couldn't use a Sky box with it. Whether this is true or not I don't know. You can buy a humax receiver which needs configuring to a satellite which I believe you shouldn't be using and you you get codes/keys from the internet to access it. However I don't know if it would work with the internet-enabled system. I personally use a firestick with an app called Tvplayer (you can get BBC etc using a vpn) and I've also got an Amazon prime subscription for movies, tv etc. There are also apps such as Mobdro for sports and BBC etc though using a vpn is advised as the legality of such apps is questionable! I use my phone's Internet data allowance for streaming as the satdish packages are too expensive for what you get (though this may change once SpaceX is fully operational). Hope this helps.

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[dunnah01]

We have an 85cm Autosat dish but anywhere south of Milan we had to use a Firestick, ipad or android phone with data. Our unlimited roaming UK SIM doesn't require any VPN and works just as well in Europe as it does in the UK. I think Sky is Astra 2 so coverage will be similar to Freesat and struggle beyond Milan.

 

[walburga]

We've got an 85cm Oyster dish and a 12 volt pace sky mini box....get all freeview channels down to med coast, Leucate and east to St tropez. Poor weather (heavy rain) does affect the signal.
Signal lost as we travel over the Spanish border, but good signal again just south of Valencia, lose it again Alicante and Benidorm area.

regards
Allen

 

[Neil S]

SKY transmits many of its subscription channels on the Pan European beam on Astra 2E , 2F and 2G which covers most of Europe
Spain and Portugal are covered as is Italy
An automatic 85cm dish should lock onto Astra 28 anywhere Iberian peninsula providing it has the correct software updates installed and a clear line of site south (weather permitting)
They are designed to search for several different transponder frequencies on the Astra 28.2 platform at the same time
I have no problem viewing a multitude pay channels all over Spain ( ok not BBC and ITV ) but many English speaking channels on the SKY platform and if want BBC/ITV I switch to Intelsat 901 and change sat receiver box.
When travelling further south into Europe towards the edge of Spot beam footprint which carries the mainstream channels (Freesat) people find that after switching on their Sat systems they find the dish locks on but the TV displays a NO SAT SIGNAL message so wrongly assume that all channels will be the same instead of trying different BBC and ITV regions as some frequencies are considerably stronger than others .
Even when your out of the Spot beam footprint SKY news CNN and few other free channels including Pick TV and Challenge are receivable as well as many Independent English speaking radio stations
<Broken link removed> Pan European Beam

 

[The Wino]

I just can't believe the lengths and expense people go to just to watch the telly!!!
Each to their own I suppose

 

[Neil S]

SKY transmits many of subscription channels on the Pan European beam on Astra 2E , 2F and 2G which covers most of Europe
Spain and Portugal are covered as is Italy
An 85cm dish will lock onto Astra 28 anywhere Iberian peninsula providing it has the correct software updates installed
They are designed to search for several different transponder frequencies on the Astra 28.2 platform at the same time
I have no problem viewing a multitude pay channels all over Spain ( ok not BBC and ITV ) but many english speaking channels

I just can't believe the lengths and expense people go to just to watch the telly!!!
Each to their own I suppose

correct each to there own and having English speaking TV is a necessity especially for the long winter evenings abroad
you can only read so much and we are not drinkers and don't like eating out preferring make our own meals

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[busby]

Anybody know how to get British TV in Italy and further south? We fitted an 85cm Crystop dish to our van in the belief that it would give us TV and internet right down to the tip of the Italian ''boot'', but no. Turns out we misunderstood the ''footprint'' map from Roadpro and it's only internet that extends so far, not TV. We lost British TV just as we left France and now that we have reached Florence we only seem to get Muslim prayer channels and African programmes, which aren't really our bag. We're happy to get a skybox (or similar) and pay a subscription, but If we do, will it even work in Sicily, I wonder? Or is there another gadget some funsters know of to circumvent the way ''they'' can control what we can watch and where watch it? All advice welcome, but no holier-than-thou ''we don't watch TV'' brigadiers, please. Cheers, Mick & Lisa.

Internet and Amazon Firestick..BUSBY

 

[busby]

I just can't believe the lengths and expense people go to just to watch the telly!!!
Each to their own I suppose

It keeps you out of the bar on winter evenings..BUSBY.

 

[63720]

If you have big data and a phone with a hotspot forget satellite and go data, follow the advice above and get a firestick - TV must have an HDMI port though. We do this all the time even here in the UK to watch on a TV, tablets or phone.

 

[sallylillian]

We only use 50-70 gb of data watching a couple of hours a night and general surfing. I find that prime uses less data than Netflix as an aside. I had a Oyster Internet sat on the last van and did not even bother with a sat dish on this one! Firestick and decent data contract as already advised.

 

[gus-lopez]

I just can't believe the lengths and expense people go to just to watch the telly!!!
Each to their own I suppose

Yes, I live here & I gave up years ago with the constant changing of satelittes , different frequencies. Even with a 1,2m dish you cannot get anything where I am except sky news & who wants to watch anything murdoch broadcasts ? I can't believe he is even still alive?
You want to turn the tv on & it works not become a computer programmer

having English speaking TV is a necessity especially for the long winter evenings abroad

Go to bed like the rest of us.

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[The Wino]

Yes, I live here & I gave up years ago with the constant changing of satelittes , different frequencies. Even with a 1,2m dish you cannot get anything where I am except sky news & who wants to watch anything murdoch broadcasts ? I can't believe he is even still alive?
You want to turn the tv on & it works not become a computer programmer

Go to bed like the rest of us.

Or chat read a book whatever!

 

[Mick Kennedy]

Heh, heh! I laughed at some of the answers and banter here, as I normally do. Thanks for the advice folks. We've got a firestick but just need to find a decent data deal now. We already have a monthly VOXI - 20 quid for 45 GB, but that won't last a month. Any suggestions?

 

[63720]

Are you aware that on the Firestick you can reduce the data used by adjusting the quality. Go into the menu and turn on data monitoring then reduce the quantity and you'll halve your data use and you'll be pushed to notice the difference.

 

[Mick Kennedy]

Cool - thanks for that, SS.

 

[pandas]

Sad but true; just checked my last mobile bill as we streamed TV for a whole evening for about 3 hours (also sad but true) of Lilyhammer (first series was the best) on Netflix via the Firestick. Data use was 5.5Gb. I didn't crank down the quality. Have 100Gb plan so not an issue plus the plan it will roll over to the subsequent month. Just seen with 100Gb I could watch 1020 episodes of Eastenders - even 1 would be scary and it's not even Halloween!

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[Mick Kennedy]

As a footnote to this, we are now in Malta and Melita Phones here do a deal on their SIM of 400Gb per month for £35 (best we could find in the UK was Vodafone's 100Gb for £20) so now we're just streaming, as a few of you advised above. I feel a bit of a narna now for shelling out so much for the bloody satellite system........

 

[bev’s bus]

I just can't believe the lengths and expense people go to just to watch the telly!!!
Each to their own I suppose

My husband is disabled so tv is a lifeline plus if the weather isn’t very good it’s something to do