Well December is here! The build-up to the 25th is well under way and it will shoot by in just a moment and we will all be in 2023! I was talking to someone the other day about the HUGE build-up to the year 2000 – and now 22 years have gone by! Enjoy the festive season.
(I managed not to use the C word!)
Regular readers will know I have been having acupuncture for a painful knee – well just an update. The pain is 90% gone – strangely not in intensity, but in time. 90% of the time I have no pain – 10% of the time I have the full intensity pain. I think I can live with that in exchange for a fortnightly session with pins!
You will also know that we at Rainbow Satellites are involved with the local charity Friends of Mazarrón Animals (FMA) which undertakes to help any animal in need in this local area. The work is continual – see their Facebook page for more information. We have many needs, but two always come to the forefront – money – as any charity does, but we also need foster homes for the animals in our care. FMA will eventually find an animal a permanent home, but the time between taking the animal in need on and finding that home is the difficulty. We can and do use kennels, but whilst we have some excellent kennels, they are not the place to ‘rehabilitate’ a distressed animal. If you think you could be a fosterer, please get in touch. We so often hear “I could not do that as I could not let the animal go when a permanent home is found.” Please think of it this way; “I have started that animal off in its new life – it now has a new home and I can start the journey for another.”
Too much chit chat! Let’s get some TV NEWS in:
No huge new news as I think most TV companies do very little new projects in the lead-up to Christmas. They like stability with no possibility of problems over the festive season.
I note SKY are spending lots of money and effort on the new Sky ‘Glass’ TV. Whilst it looks an excellent TV with a really good sound bar built in, the big thing from a technical point of view is that the system is internet only – there is no dish or antenna needed. SKY Q can also now be internet only. The satellite system with a dish and the TV antenna are soon to be obsolete bits of equipment.
Rainbow Satellites have been predicting this for many years – now it really is becoming a reality. SKY, along with all the ‘free’ TV channels, are promoting internet as hard as they can. Have you noticed BBC, ITV and all the others announcing – watch programme ‘XXX’ on iPlayer (and others) and on live TV? The internet version is rapidly becoming the priority announcement.
What does this mean for the average UK TV viewer here in Spain?
It means that the satellite system with the huge dishes is on a limited lifespan. We think that within two or maximum three years, the satellite system will be finished. The satellites at 28.5E that we watch from, have no plans to be replaced and their life is finite. These satellites were in the news several years before they came online 15 or so years ago – now there are no replacements planned.
What do all of you do who are watching UK TV by satellite?
You will have to move to the internet option sometime in the not too distant future. Internet TV is really in its infancy – 5 years ago it was not a reality. However, like many forms of technology, it has moved on in leaps and bounds. Rainbow suggest an in-home demonstration and the loan of a box for up to a week so that you can fully assess the system. There is a down side and that is – any well-managed professional internet TV service will carry a subscription. That is no different from a licence in the UK – a subscription to watch BBC. Maybe it is called a licence, but it is a subscription!
Contact Rainbow Satellites for more internet TV information.
That’s all the space gone for this month – more TV news in January 2023.
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