Well here we are in August – with June and July being the hottest on record down here in Southern Spain and the UK having the coolest and wettest on record. What will the second half of the year bring? Is it a “freak” year or is it “global warming”? When I am up on a roof at midday installing a satellite dish and soaked with perspiration I just say to myself “this or Winter in the UK?’. I can then just carry on in the heat!
Well not so much TV news this month. The big story in the industry is still the BBC and ITV joint venture into “freesat”. One good thing I have picked up is that they are going to use the ASTRA 28.2deg East satellite system – the one we all use now – so all our dishes are pointing in the right direction for the new system. They have not said exactly how they are going to transmit, so whether it will be available to use down here or not remains to be seen. They have also not said if their channels will still be available on the SKY platform or not. The launch is scheduled for Spring 2008, so there is not so much time for the detail to be released. It has been said that the system must be similar to “freeview” in the UK, must support High Definition TV and PVR’s – the hard drive recoding system similar to SKY+. It is expected to have around 200 channels including “FOUR” who have expressed the desire to join and who have applied to OFCOM to be released from their SKY contract early. Channel FIVE are noticeable as they have made no comment at all about the new system.
Provided signals are receivable down here then it should be available on cheaper – and often better – boxes than the ones needed for SKY. PVR’s will also be available which are not to the SKY “freesat” system. Is it not time now for the TV availability throughout the EEC to be legalized? Through satellite we should be able to watch any TV from anywhere in the EEC but I expect this new FREESAT system will be aimed at the UK only and attempts will be made to stop us watching. Anyone want to start a campaign to get all EEC TV available throughout the EEC? I am sure you will have 100% support from all nationality expats throughout the EEC. Watch this space over the next months for more information as it gets announced.
For you sports fans ITV4 has announced they are going to get into sport more. They will be making sports themed documentaries as well as bidding for some of the sporting rights to televise.
BBC THREE and FOUR are both going to get bigger budgets to make their own programmes – I like BBC THREE and often find something on BBC FOUR to watch so I hope these increases will improve the output.
Finally as ever if you are new down here and just buying a property and UK TV is important to you then get a dish availability survey done before you buy. For mainstream UK TV very large dishes are required and are not always possible to mount on a property. There have been many disappointed property buyers–- dream villa but no TV – don’t be one.
Article sponsored by RAINBOW SATELLITES who install UK TV throughout the Murcia Region. Contact Alan or Matt on (0034) 686 358 475 or email Rainbow Satellites for free friendly advice. Look at our website Rainbow Satellites for some good basic UK TV technical information.