British Tv Channels in Scalea?

[Caroline]

Hi all,
Perhaps this question has been touched on before but I wondered if anyone actually recieves any British Tv channels in Scalea, aside from the BBC world service that is. Not that I would care in the summer but Scalea can be a bit bleak in December when its lashing down with rain.

I know if you point your satellite dish in a particular direction you can pick up British channels in other parts of Italy but just wondered if it is possible in Calabria as obviously it is quite far south and may not be an area which gets a strong enough signal.

I also read somewhere that if you used a sky reciever box you might be able to pick up British channels with that. Not sure if this would require a satellite dish the size of a dinning room table though!

There is now a shiny new satellite dish on top of our apartment and I wondered if it was worth fiddling around with it to try and pick up a few programmes from home next time we are over or if I would be sending someone to risk life and limb on the roof for no good reason.

[Hev&Steve]

Hi Caroline

I have vaguely looked into this, from what I can make out so far, is that to receive the sky package on freesat, the dish would have to pick up the Astra 2D satellite, to do this from Scalea the dish would probably have to be at least about 3 metres dia., thats the first problem. Once that's installed and set up, it's not worth paying for Sky premium channels for the short time you are in Scalea unless you can use your viewing card from home - don't know if that will work - officially any sky viewing card purchased should be registered at a UK address. The other option is to purchase a freesat card from an independent supplier, make one off payment, which will allow you to watch all the British free to view channels. The next problem that may occur is that we have to pay a license fee in the UK, so the signal may be blocked for use abroad. No idea if there are any restrictions.

Check the link below, may be of help.

Freesat cards: Use a Freesat viewing card to watch UK TV in Europe for Free: Insat International.

For me to many ifs and buts at the moment, would like to find out if anyone in Southern Italy already does this before I decide if to go any further.

Cheers
Steve

[Italy4me]

We were unable to get a strong enough signal to get any watchable TV channels at all here even though we had an aeriel that was 10 foot high fitted on our balcony.
Our neighbour told us that we would need a dish to get a digital signal and satisfactory reception of any sort.
When we were coming over just for holidays we bought a dish and decoder and that gave us a huge number of channels (about 500) some of which were in English (BBC news etc) although a relatively small proportion (and some in Italian but lots of Arabic and other far eastern languages and some "interesting" adverts for "speciality" on demand programmes - nudge, nudge, wink, wink).
There was no monthly subscription so no ongoing cost after the initial outlay for the equipment and installation. This was back in 2006 and I think it cost about 150 euros for everything.

When we knew we were going to be here a lot more we subscribed to Sky and the sky installer hooked up the existing dish to the new sky decoder. We pay around 50 euros a month for sky mondo, cinema and Mysky (I think that is called sky+ in the UK).

This gives a lot of UK stuff but I dont really watch much tv so I couldn't say in detail what that includes but there seems to be eastenders and cash in the attic, skynews, bbc, hallmark, national geographic, history channel etc.
Also if the programmes were originally made in English then you can change the language from Italian to English when you watch them.

I do recall that our installer for the original dish did ask whether we wanted Italian or English and we opted for Italian so there must be a way to get some of the English stuff but the dish might need to be pointed to the relevant satellite.

Are the dishes you have designed to serve more than one apartment?
If so that would lead me to surmise it would be already set up to point to the satellite for Italian programming?

Hope this is helpful,
Lesley

[Caroline]

Thanks for replying. It is a shared dish but think at present we are only sharing with other Brits so if we were all in agreement when we were getting ourselves connected to the dish we could have asked the person doing the connecting to swing the dish around and see if it could pick up any British channels.

We have sky here in Britain so would not pay for it twice for the rare occassion we might want to watch it in Italy. I think there is actually some way of setting it up so you can access your sky box and watch it elswhere but I am pretty useless with technology and it would probably require a lot of faffing about so don't see us managing to do that.

Out of interest do you have to buy a Tv licence in Italy the same as you do here?:???:

[Italy4me]

I think you might be thinking of Slingbox for watching your uk sky box whilst elsewhere.
If so you need a broadband connection to do that, I believe.

Yes there is a tv licence fee to pay here. Last year it was 107 euros.

[Lynn]

Lesley, how do you go about getting a tv licence? I've asked a few Italians and they appear nonplussed when I ask them. Nobody seems to know.

Lynn

[Italy4me]

Lynn,
Here's a link to the page you need to read, it is available in English too.
It clearly states
" Persons residing abroad but holders of a place of abode in Italy equipped with a television set are also held to pay subscription fees. "

RAI - Radiotelevisione italiana - Abbonamenti

I recall we paid our first one pro rata for a part year and subsequently we have been sent a bill to pay each year. It is due by the 31st of January every year and our bill arrived yesterday - this year's fee is 109 euros.
There is also a possibility to pay in two instalments of 55,63 (Jan & July) or 4 instalments of 28,97 (Jan, April, July and October).

I imagine the folk you have asked just haven't ever bothered buying a licence - but they do have detector vans here just as they do in the UK.

Hope this helps, Lesley

[falcon]

Originally Posted by Italy4me

Lynn,
Here's a link to the page you need to read, it is available in English too.
It clearly states
" Persons residing abroad but holders of a place of abode in Italy equipped with a television set are also held to pay subscription fees. "

RAI - Radiotelevisione italiana - Abbonamenti

I recall we paid our first one pro rata for a part year and subsequently we have been sent a bill to pay each year. It is due by the 31st of January every year and our bill arrived yesterday - this year's fee is 109 euros.
There is also a possibility to pay in two instalments of 55,63 (Jan & July) or 4 instalments of 28,97 (Jan, April, July and October).

I imagine the folk you have asked just haven't ever bothered buying a licence - but they do have detector vans here just as they do in the UK.

Hope this helps, Lesley

Actually about 50% of Italians pay the TV licence but this is soon being remedied with the introduction of digital TV. Any new digital decoder or integrated TV is being sold as I understand after you produce the Codice Fiscale which no doubt automatically registers you as a licence holder. Digital TV in Italy unlike Freeview in the UK is controlled by a smart card so all they have to do is disable your card if the licence is not renewed. Since all TV will be digital by 2012 including Calabria, there is not much hope to escape it now.
Digital TV will not come properly to Scalea till late next year however I am investing in the alternative ie. TiVu Sat which is Italy's equivalent to Freesat in the UK. Again this is card controlled like the terrestial TV. TiVu Sat gives you the same channels as terrestial without having to wait till next year. The cost is about £150 for the best boxes. Installation if there is a sat dish already is by the user.

Francis

[nikoup]

Hi,
Scalea is already covered by the digital signal because the area is covered by the Campania’s antenna since the 14th Dec.. With the digital signal you can have more Berlusconi’s TV channels but also BBC world and CNN int.
You need to buy a digital box that aren’t expensive… €30 and Nobody will ask but, don’t give any documents at shop.
For sure 50% (or more) of the locals don’t pay the TV license. South italy is very poor and nobody watch tv. and nobody will ask.

[dmbt54]

I looked at this and found that you needed a 2.2m dish to pick up British Freeview. Big chunk of space, and you have to point it accurately (on a rooftop and not a bracket as that can move too much!). You can buy all the parts from Maplins, and check them out before you go ~ then you only have to do the actual installation if you have a suitable space.

Another possibility for short periods away - say up to a month - is to buy a UK freeview recorder (or subscribe to TOP-UP TV), and record everything.... then take it with you. Buy the 500GB model so that you can take the largest set of programs. They may not be current, but they certainly will be English (or is that American!)

[Helena&Jerry]

Haven't seen anything recent in threads about actual TVs themselves and as I am about to get a tv and dvd player for times we spend in Calabria.

Does anybody know if I bring an almost new TV, eg Sony or Samsung and DVD player with me this trip (on the plane) that they would work in Italy?

Love to hear thanks.

[Helena&Jerry]

Haven't seen anything recent in threads about actual TVs themselves and as I am about to get a tv and dvd player for times we spend in Calabria.

Does anybody know if I bring an almost new TV, eg Sony or Samsung and DVD player with me this trip (on the plane) that they would work in Italy?

Love to hear thanks.

Additional comment:

I could of course buy a TV etc via ebay Italy while I am in Italy, assuming there would be no problems internally with customs?

Is one's CF needed for ebay purchases?

H