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Sky Digital works pretty much the same here as in the UK, except for one major difference - Sky have no official installers or support outside the UK! The reason for this is copyright. When Sky buy a series of, say, ‘Lost’ or ’24’ for Sky One, they pay X-amount of millions of pounds for the rights to be able to broadcast that series to a UK audience. This position is defended so that the program makers can then re-sell the same product multiple times to multiple audiences, ie Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Holland, etc. This is so with all the main pay-channels, but especially with sports broadcasts, which are the lifeblood of companies like Sky. We, as unofficial installers try our best to work around the problems faced by these issues, often with a large degree of success. As a result, we are able to offer the following types of Sky Digital system to our clients:
Sky Digital Sky Plus (as above, plus the ability to record, rewind live TV, etc, etc.) Sky HD (as Sky Plus, with HD channels where paid for)
Because of Javea’s geographic location in relation to the Astra2 satellite fleet footprints (see Guides) it is impossible to get ALL of the channels ALL of the time. It is possible however, depending on your requirements and dish size, to get SOME of the channels ALL of the time, and MANY of the channels MOST of the time. All our installations are customised to suit your budget, space, viewing needs and aesthetics. There is no such thing as a ‘standard’ installation, although many will be similar, which we call ‘typical’. All parts and labour are covered against manufacturing / installation defects by our special 3-year guarantee. In addition, we offer clients of new ConeXionS installations extended maintenance and repair plans, covering all parts and labour, for up to an additional 3 years! Ask us for further details. So why does Sky cost so much more to install here than back in the UK? Systems installed by Sky in the UK are subsided to a large degree by Sky themselves. This is to entice you into signing an on-going contract with them. When you agree to a minimum 12-month contract with Sky, they know that they can count on that cash coming in for at least the next year (usually many more). They can therefore afford to reel you in with subsided equipment and installation fees, as well as money-off vouchers for introductions to new clients, such as their recent M&S voucher offer. It’s pretty similar to how the mobile phone networks operate - buy a phone on contract and the handset will often be cheap, or even free. However, buy a mobile phone off-contract or SIM-free, and you will find you have to pay much more for the handset! By paying the full, unsubsidised cost of new equipment in Spain, you owe Sky nothing by way of commitment, and it is NOT illegal to use this Sky equipment outside the UK as many people would have you believe. After all, you own it, so it’s free to do with as you please! Whilst on this subject, the only ‘crime’ you are committing by watching a Sky pay-package in Spain, is if you signed a contract with Sky - then you have agreed with Sky that your new Sky card is ‘...for UK residential use ONLY.’ By breaking this clause in your contract, Sky are entitled (if they discover you) to switch off your card with no refund, and even to file a civil suit against you (not a criminal one, as far as we know) - but this has never happened, to our knowledge. ConeXionS has even installed a dish for a nameless member of the Sky Sports team who has a villa out here in Spain... Need we say more!? So what is required for me to receive Sky Digital? A typical Sky Digital installation (whether standard, Sky+, or Sky HD) comprises a dish of varying size, a good quality LNB, and low-loss cable(s) running to the latest Sky receiver. This is then connected via high quality scart or HDMI cable to your TV set, Personal Video Recorder and/or DVD recorder. So what size dish will I need? This is still the most common question we are asked by prospective clients, day in, day out. Because of our local town of Javea’s geographic location in Europe, you will need a MINIMUM of a 1m dish to receive more than a handful of channels. oOo With a typical 1m ‘Family’ dish system, you can expect to receive the following channels (for most if not ALL of the day): ITV1, Channel 4, More 4, E4, Channel Five*, Fiver*, Five USA*, Sky One, UKTV Gold, Living, Bravo, Challenge, Paramount Comedy, UKTV Drama, E! Entertainment, Virgin1, Biography, History, Sky News, CNN, Bloomberg, various free movie channels, Discovery (& various sister-channels), cartoons, Various MTV and VH1 channels, as well as many other music channels, UK local and national radio (including BBCR2 & BBCR4), and much more. *with suitable FTV card. oOo With a typical 1.35m ‘Sports’ dish system, you can expect to receive the above channels for longer, and in worse weather, along with Sky Sports 1, 2 & 3 (if you subscribe). This does not include Sky Sports News or Sky Sports Extra. You may also receive some Sky Two & Three, and some of the ‘+1’ channels, which can be hard to pick up on a smaller dish. However, many of these hard-to-receive Northern Beam channels will not last all day. oOo With a typical 2.4m ‘BBC’ system, you can expect to receive MOST channels MOST of the day, and MANY of the channels ALL day! (BBC1 5am-11pm, BBC2 5am-6pm, on average) Other things to consider... It is possible to connect each of these systems to other TVs around the house, of course. There are three main options we can offer you in order to achieve this, each with different pros & cons: 1) Using a domestic TV-Link system, we re-broadcast the signal from the main TV to the secondary (or even third, fourth, etc TV) using a wireless transmitter / receiver kit which we supply & install. Pros: Cheap, wireless. Cons: Varying signal quality, short/medium-range, same channel as main TV only. 2) Using high-quality co-ax cable we extend the system to a remote TV in a bedroom or kitchen. Pros: Cheap, good quality signal. Cons: Extra cable run, same channel as main TV only, needs a MAGIC EYE to change channels! 3) By fitting a twin-output LNB to your dish and a second cable, we can install a second (or third, or fourth) digibox for complete channel freedom in separate locations. Pros: Best picture quality, freedom to watch different channels from the main TV. Cons: the most expensive option, additional cable-run(s), digiboxes and Sky cards plus subscriptions required. SKY MULTI-ROOM at £10 per month is NOT available in Spain. Part of the requirement of Sky Multi-room is to have the secondary box connected to a BT phoneline - and yes, they DO check, every month, by attempting to phone the modem inside your digibox! Since this is obviously not an option in Spain, we can only offer extra cards at the FULL monthly subscription rate for your chosen package. This phone-connection problem also means that Sky interactive services (such as online voting, pay-per-view movie ordering etc) are not available in Spain via your Sky remote control. However, Sky News Interactive, Sky Planner and most of Sky’s ‘red-button’ features will work just fine... |
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A couple of our recent 2.4m dish installations, required for BBC & Sky Movies, as well as some other channels. We embed reinforced steel bars deep into the ground before pouring around 400 - 500kg of concrete for the base, in order to make sure the dish is properly anchored to the ground... |
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