April 2008
Hi to all you readers of TV news - it's April and where has that quarter of a year gone? We have had a glorious spring - some winds but generally fine warm sunny days. I hope the lack of rain will not be paid for later in the year, although I did read in one of the papers that the inland reservoirs are running full. Are you getting ready for the summer visitors? - We already have "bookings" for May, June and August - with a relative deciding here would be an ideal 40th birthday location so we are busy thinking of a summer house party !!!
Before getting on to the real TV news, just a note to say we think we have found a good but reasonably priced satellite internet connection - Spanish in origin and with a price tag of under 1000? installed and with running costs of euro 55 per month upwards, it seems to have "cracked" the prohibitive price barriers of other previous systems. (Internet "SKYPE" phones, but with the inevitable delay will be available as well). At the time of going to print we don't have full details, but maybe more next month.
The big TV news this month was the decision by SKY to replace all viewing cards. Many reasons for this, but I think the main one was the availability of a non-SKY digibox receiver on the market that would accept and read SKY viewing cards. We have not been supplying these as we understand that although they open all the subscribed SKY channels, they do not keep the SKY card active and it switches off after 2 or 3 weeks. Anyway after much consultation with our SKY dealers and SKY themselves and formulating a plan to replace all our clients' cards which we all know are "unofficial" but supplied with SKY taking your monthly payments, it was announced that SKY would NOT be replacing all cards.. We understand, although it is not confirmed, that the new generation of cards designed to only work in SKY boxes were fine in the latest models of SKY digiboxes, but did not work in older SKY boxes of which there are millions out there ------------- what a mess !!! But at least it alleviated the card swap nightmare that we would have to have organized. We are sure that you are NOT going to lose your SKY viewing overnight, so don't panic, but sometime in the future you may have to replace your system with the new generation of equipment. The significance of all this on "free to view" clients is not clear, but again don't worry - you are not going to lose your viewing, but you may need to take some action - watch this space for more details.
That leads me onto the new "freesat" system I have talked about over the past few months - it is going to happen - BBC and ITV are definitely proceeding, but there is still no technical data available and the launch date is still listed as Spring 2008. I have heard that the digibox manufacturers have been tied to an agreement to supply the likes of Comet and Dixon's only - no independent suppliers and in turn the retailers have agreed to not supply anyone with more than six units in a purchase. This may make it difficult for any independents to get in on the market and even more difficult for us overseas dealers, but be assured that Rainbow Satellites will not only be ahead of the field when it happens, but will also keep you informed of the facts. We hope that the parliamentary bill "Radio and TV without frontiers" will get before, and passed, by the European Parliament soon, which in theory will make the "illegal" viewing of one country's TV in another country a thing of the past.
There have been a significant number of new channels recently on the SKY TV platform - I am not going into detail this month but will let you thumb through the programme guide and see if you can find anything you fancy watching!!! There were two significant channel frequency changes - channel five and BBC news 24. Now most of you will not have seen any change except perhaps channel five being available 24/7. But those of you on limited viewing with dishes less than 1.35m will now be getting these two channels.
Finally we have had many clients take up our dish upgrade offer - replacing the limited viewing 1.35 dish with the more advanced 1.45 giving improved viewing on all channels - call for details. The easy to use recording facility of SKY+ boxes is still a popular upgrade with SKY contract clients and again a call to us will get you all the details.
This article is sponsored by Rainbow Satellites - your leading installer of UK TV in the Murcia Region of Spain. Buying a property? Then if UK TV is important let us survey before you buy, as the large dishes required are not always an installation possibility. Contact Matt or Alan for free friendly advice on all aspects of UK TV here in Spain. 'Phone (0034) 686 358 475 or email rainbowsats@terra.es .. Our website - www.rainbowsats.org - has basic information on receiving UK TV here.