Satellite TV On The Costa Blanca

With the demise of the Telemicro service on the Costa Blanca, many people were left stranded with little or no English TV. This system was always prone to shutdown even though it was sold as legal. If companies start again with the microwave system, be very careful before purchasing, they cannot legally retransmit sky channels.  You may be lucky and get 12 months TV but its always possible that they could be shut down almost immediately, leaving you with nothing but a hole in your bank balance.  Luckily, there are some other options for watching UK TV down here on the Costa Blanca.

The Options

To receive the channels you probably want to watch including BBC, ITV etc you will have to have a dish between 1.9 and 2.4 mtrs in diameter depending on your location, the dish has to point at the Astra2 satellite which is in geo stationary orbit at 28 degrees east.  Strangely, the further south you are the smaller the dish size required. Always ask a local installer the size of dish needed in your area because the signal strength can vary enormously over a relatively short distance.   With the correct dish size and suitable satellite receiver you will be able to watch almost everything you could back in the UK with the exception of BBC2,3 and 4.

Some FAQ's (frequently asked questions)

I Can't Have A Large Dish, What Else Can I Watch?

If you are limited to the size of dish you can erect, you will only be able to watch certain channels from the Astra2 satellite but plenty channels from other satellites which I'll mention later. Using a  dish size of 1mtr pointing at the Astra2 satellite there are probably around 100 TV channels plus a lot of radio stations  you can receive.  There is a lot of rubbish but also quite a few channels worth watching.  Rather than trying to list them all here, check out Lyngsat, this is the best satellite reception facility on the internet.  This is a link to the section for the Astra2 28.2 channel frequencies.  Look down the list of channels, and in the  column marked beam, look for "fixed", "S1", "2A South" and "2B South" 

Which Sky Channels Can I watch With A 1Mtr Dish?

If you want to know which channels in the sky package you will be able to watch, go to the sky package page here and again look down the column marked beam for "fixed", "S1", "2A South" and "2B South"  you should be able to watch all these channels providing you have a suitable sky subscription. You will  see that all the channel 5's use the newer Astra 2C satellite, these are also channels you will be able to watch but you will need a sky free to view card which will cost you about £20 on ebay. Only the channels that have the letter "F" in the column marked "encryption" are free (no card required)

Do I Need A Card For The Channel 5's ?

Yes, the channel 5's still require a card outside the UK using satellite. The card you need is called a  sky free to view card which you can usually find on Ebay for about £25 click here and enter "satellite cards " into the search box.  Look down the list of cards and find a card with a picture of a yellow house on it.  It should say something like sky free to view card or sky free card.  You can sometimes get these cards from satellite dealers here but they charge astronomical prices for them.  My mum was quoted £120  by a dealer so I told her to go on ebay and have a look, she got one for £19.  Remember that this card will only let you watch the channel 5's not the full sky package.  To watch the sky package, you have to pay a subscription.  Most dealers down here can arrange that for you but shop around.

Live BBC/ITV On Your Computer

If you have a computer with a broadband internet connection and a suitable proxy server, you can watch the following English channels online. 

To do be able to watch the above channels online in Spain, you have to use something called a proxy server.  The link below is to a company who will provide this service for £10 per month £27 for 3 months or £100 a year.  The service is easy to set up with online support. It only takes about 10 minutes to get started.

Wireless Video Senders

I'm amazed how few people over here know about these great little gadgets .  For anybody who hasn't heard of them, they enable you to watch all your favourite satellite channels or dvd's anywhere in your house without any cables.  You can watch satellite on your balcony, in the garden or just about anywhere you've got a power supply.  I've had one for years.  They only take about 15mins to install.  You get a transmitter and a receiver.  The transmitter connects to a scart or a/v socket on your satellite receiver or dvd player and the receiver connects to a scart or a/v connector on your TV.  Some older portable tv's don't have scart connectors so if you have one of these, you'll need a video sender with an RF output which connects to the aerial socket (click here to email me if you want more information about this).  You only need one transmitter and you can buy extra receivers, so you could watch satellite in the bedroom, kitchen and on the balcony for instance.  You can even change the channel by pointing your satellite remote control at the video sender.  If you wanted to send the signal from more than one source i.e a satellite receiver and a dvd player, you would need two transmitters, one for each.  I haven't seen them for sale over here but maybe you can find them.  Again, Ebay is one of the best sources for video senders.  Always check that the seller will ship to Spain (most will)  Below you can see the current ebay auction for video senders.  I really can't recommend these highly enough.  If you need any help buying one, let me know.

Free Music Online From Spotify

I know this isn't related to satellite tv but I'm so impressed with a music site I've found, that I thought I'd share it with you.  Spotify is  a brilliant new site for playing all your favourite tracks online.  Its completely free unless you choose the premium service which blanks out a few audio ads. The ads only play about once every 20 minutes and don't spoil it.  If you hook your PC up to a your hi fi system, the sound quality is great, you can play just about any track you can think of.  This isn't a download site so its 100% legal to use.  The only disappointment for me is that there aren't any Beatles tracks available (something to do with copyright issues) but apart from that its superb.

Click Here To Try It

Is There Anything Else I Can Watch With A 1mtr Dish?

Well actually yes.  Not many people realise that there are lots of  satellites  transmitting signals which can be easily received on the Costa Blanca and with the correct equipment, you could have access to about 4,000 channels.  When I say correct equipment, its really only down to which satellite the dish is pointing at. 

Most digital satellite receivers (with the exception of the digibox and freesat box ) will allow you access to these channels.  Before you get too excited, I must point out that the majority of the channels are foreign.  There are however quite number of completely free channels which show English films, football, soaps, news etc. It's just a matter of knowing where to find them. Being so close to North Africa, it is very easy to pick up signals from the two main Arabic satellites Arabsat and Nilesat. There are a number of free english language channels on both these satellites including five or six channels showing recent films, action and american sitcoms There are also a lot of pay tv packages available which are similar in line up to the Sky package.  To watch these channels, you need to purchase a card and the correct conditional access module or "cam".  Its possible to watch TV from many satellites with a motorised system.  A motorised system allows the dish to move to the correct satellite depending which channel is selected. 

Installing Your Own Motorised Dish

If you'd like a motorised system, you could always install your own.  Providing you follow instructions carefully it isn't too difficult.  I've installed three motorised systems over the years.  It's a great feeling when you've got everything lined up properly and all the satellites are coming in.  The video below shows you how to install a motorised dish using what is called a usals motor. The installation is  basically the same whichever motor you use.  I like the horizon to horizon motors because they turn the dish extremely quickly. I wouldn't recommend a disceq motor, they are slow and prone to failure if it gets windy.    Most modern receivers don't have provision to drive 36 volt motors directly so you need something called a VBox which powers the dish motor and is controlled by the receiver. 

If you want to spend some time to find out what's available use the Lyngsat site. Lyngsat  show all the available satellites and what's on them.  They also have  charts for every satellite which shows you the size of dish you require for each one and whether the channels are encrypted (scrambled) Look at all the satellites in the Euorope and Atlantic sections, you'll be amazed at what's available.  If you're confused about any of this, you can email me here and I'll try and answer any specific questions you may have.   

Sky TV

Until recently, Sky TV had a monopoly on all the English TV we could watch.  Sky owned the rights to broadcast the likes of BBC and ITV by satellite  and because their service was encrypted they were able to transmit many of the popular channels on the Astra 2B satellite which was  receivable with a relatively small dish on the Costa Blanca. Sky's encryption system "videogaurd" allowed anybody with a sky box and card, access to these channels and because in theory only  viewers in the UK were able to buy cards, there were no copyright issues.  Sky were charging the BBC and ITV huge amounts of money to use their encryption facility and even if you only wanted to watch the "free" BBC and ITV channels, a card had to be purchased.  When their contracts with sky ended, the BBC and ITV decided not to continue encrypting their signal on sky but still wanted to be included in the sky electronic programming guide or epg.  This meant that BBC and ITV became free to air and no card was required but because the signal was no longer encrypted and to comply with copyright issues the channels had to be broadcast from the Astra 2D satellite, which meant that only viewers in the UK could watch via satellite.  People on the Costa Blanca lost their BBC and ITV almost overnight.

Where There's A Will, There's A Way

The Brits are renowned for their stoicism and weren't going to let this situation beat them.  Before long, some enterprising UK satellite installers discovered that by using an extremely large (2.4mtr) dish, reception of the Astra 2D satellite was still possible.  These monster dishes began to spring up all along the coast and are now commonplace.  As previously mentioned, for some people, fitting a dish of this size isn't feasible and watching TV from the UK is limited to some channels on the sky package but notably not ITV or BBC.   So the BBC and ITV along with a host of other channels are still available on the Costa Blanca using a digital satellite receiver and a large dish.  Most satellite installers on the Costa Blanca can supply you with all the necessary equipment for receiving the sky package including subscriptions but shop around for the best prices or better still ask people who already have it installed for recommendations.

In May 2008, sky's monopoly of UK TV via satellite came to an end with the introduction of Freesat.  Freesat is a new satellite based service owned by the BBC and ITV which transmits all your favourite UK channels via the Astra 2D satellite.  No subscription is required and the majority of the channels can be received here on the Costa Blanca providing you have the correct equipment. Click here for the latest freesat channel line up.

Sky and Freesat

With the exception of ITV HD, all the channels available on freesat are also available on sky .

Which Service Is Best Sky Or Freesat?

There are advantages of sky over freesat and vice versa.  At the moment if you buy a sky digibox, you will be able to watch  anything you can watch on freesat with the exception of ITV1 HD.  If you bought a freesat only box, you wouldn't be able to watch any of the channel 5's or channel 4 HD and as freesat only boxes have no provision for a sky card, you wouldn't be able to watch any of sky's subscription package.  Another problem with the freesat only boxes is that you may have problems with ITV1 breaking up after 9pm or in bad weather, depending whereabouts on the Costa Blanca you live. Whichever system you choose, if you want to receive High Definition channels, you must purchase a special HD version of the receiver.  

High Definition

If you've got a flat screen TV which is true HD, you can find HD satellite receivers really cheap on ebay.  If you haven't seen a real HD signal, the difference is unbelievable.  A lot of people think that because they've got a high definition TV, that everything they watch is high definition.  It isn't.  To watch HD television, you have to have a high definition signal.  This can be from a blue ray dvd player or a high definition digital satellite receiver.  You can watch BBC and ITV HD channels here on the Costa Blanca with any digital HD satellite receiver.  To watch sky HD channels the best option is a sky HD box. 

Recording

Video tape recorders are now a thing of the past.  Today, you can buy satellite receivers with built in recorders.  These are basically hard drives, similar to what's in your computer.  To record standard definition programmes a hard drive of about 300gb would be suitable for most people.  This would store a lot of programmes.  For HD, you would be better buying a receiver with about 500gb.  If you're looking for a satellite receiver which has recording capability, look for the term pvr which means personal video recorder.  There are also receivers available which will transfer your recordings on to a dvd.

Find A Satellite Receiver On Ebay

There are literally hundreds of satellite receivers sold daily on Ebay and you can pick up some fantastic bargains.  Below you can see a few of the receivers available now. If you're considering buying something but aren't sure if its going to be suitable over here send me an email and I'll try and help you. 

Do You Loose ITV1 After 9pm?

In parts of the  Costa Blanca ITV1 is weak and sometimes cracks up in bad weather. and in a lot of areas, the signal disappears completely after 9pm. There are however some channels from ITV areas  which are still part of the sky package and have a stronger signal than all the others. These rarely crack up but to view them you have to have a sky free to view card which I mentioned earlier. Make sure the seller will ship to Spain.  With one of these cards and a sky digibox or a digital satellite receiver with a cam slot (conditional access module) and a suitable cam, you will be able to watch ITV1   without the signal cracking up after 9pm and also be able to watch the channel 5's which aren't currently available on freesat.  These are five, fiver, fiver+1 five U.S and five U.S+1. If you want to know how to receive the stronger ITV1 signals and BBC1 on a digibox, click here.

Are You Confused?

I know that a lot of people have no idea about satellite TV and a lot of unscrupulous dealers are happy to take advantage of this. Satellite TV has been my hobby for 30 years and I'm happy to share my knowledge with you.  If you have anything you'd like to ask you can email me here and I'll try and help.

SATELLITE TV ON THE COSTA BLANCA