Has anyone else who previously had access on TV to BBC and ITV (all channels, BBC2, BBC3, ITV4, etc) suddenly had them removed in the last couple of days?
My elderly parents tried contacting the local services about it, and were told that "the technology has moved on", and that they now have to invest in a new television and/or decoder. They have a flat-screen Panasonic that is not exactly old, so this sounds suspicious to me.
Thank you both, at least it seems less suspect now. I'm not sure it can be reprogrammed, but am checking simultaneously with Interdiscount, from whom they bought it only 5 or so years ago.
I don't think it's analog. It's got a little sticker saying "digitv" or something on the front.
Gmatt, I live in the Nyon area, and there has been no change to the English language programmes I receive. I have Bluewin (Swisscom) TV which costs CHF30 a month. In fact, I updated my subscription with them a few days ago, installed the new free digi box received yesterday morning, and now have more programmes than I will be able to view!
Did your parents get a letter from Swisscom informing them of a change of technology and their packages? For example, if they were on Casa Trio, this ceased to exist. Instead, Swisscom offers you yet more channels you don't need nor watch, you pay more, you loose all your previous recordings and your internet is twice as slow as it used to be. Thank you Swisscom!
Well - considering they've just been handed a hefty fine for abuse of monopoly position in the broadband market from 2005 to 2007 this probably won't improve in the near future
A few years ago when we had cablecom, they removed the English channels & told me I would have to pay extra for the international channels. I asked why I should pay more for something that I previously had included & they basically told me tough t*tty. I refused to pay extra so lost the English speaking channels. I would also now avoid cablecom like the plague.
It would probably be helpful if the OP indicated which provider his parents are using. It's all very well giving info on cablecom and/or Swisscom recent changes etc but they may be using someone else.
Most probably TRN (téléréseau de la région nyonnaise) which became part of Net+ Léman. My paternal grandparents live in Commugny and they have the same provider.
I didn't specify before, because they didn't seem to know. Turns out it's Téléréseau Nyonnais. Hadn't even heard of them before, but I'll make enquiries in their direction.
That means it's netplus.ch that's providing the channels. Their selection of channels are here : http://leman.netplus.ch/fr/television/chaines . Things shouldn't have changed... Except that do they have the netplus box? They'll need it to get their UK channels.
P.S.: pro tip: there's a net+ box control app that allows smartphones to be used as remotes with the Net+ Box.
When elderly folk (hmm hmm) say something has gone wrong, it's not a bad idea to check things out oneself, or if one cannot get there, ask perhaps a neighbour or someone to look for absolute basics. There are a whole load of ways to 'er 're-adjust' TVs and computers without realising it. Remote controls have a whole load of buttons on which I occasionally switch, touch, press without meaning to. Fortunately Mr L. is good at working out exactly what 'happened all by itself, I didn't do anything at all' .
I'm not saying this is the case here, but it is something worth remembering.
Are we the only ones with basic tnt then? We got a quote for a satellite here & the salesman played on the English channels selling line but I couldn't care less. Our reception is awful. Very pixelated. Basic channels but got the main Swiss & French ones (M6, France 2, NTI etc) so can watch all the crappy programs I like for free (well apart from the Billag bill). Still, we used to pay a lot of money to cablecom for a load of channels we didn't even watch. I still have my dvds for when there really is nothing on.
Quite possibly the only ones yes. I like my UK channels, and I'm ready to pay for them (except E4 when it got moved to a rather useless "english pack" by netplus). Digital TV is the same everywhere, they'll never sell you just the channels you want, it has to be full of German/Italian/Other useless ones. Someone will undoubtly add that you can have Zattoo for more channels but their selection isn't very interesting to me.
And if your reception is awful, just get a regular TV aerial, it'll help masses!
I should also mention (having been informed by my daughter!) that since the installation of our new digi box this morning, we have a better TV picture/reception due to an increase in the number of pixels, which gives the impression that the screen is larger.
So to recap, by paying CHF 19 extra a month for our Swisscom package, we have unlimited calls to fixed and mobile telephones in Switzerland at no extra cost, calls to Europe, Canada and US for a maximum of 8 hours a month at no extra cost, Internet speed increased from 1gb to 10gb and access to numerous national and international TV channels with enhanced reception.
I live just two minutes away from Commugny by the way and, no, I am not in any way "plugging" Swisscom, just telling things as they are.