Will BBC Satellite Channels Disappear

Tech, TV, Mobile, Internet and Geek Corner
1
Hi,

Had a mail yesterday from my brother who lives in France with some bad news! Looks like we might lose BBC satellite channels tomorrow (6th Feb 2014)? Read this http://www.a516digital.com/2014/02/b...-astra-2e.html and here http://www.astra2.org/

We'll know more tomorrow

Cheers

Piv

2
Hope not.

3
If you have a mini dish it will be an issue. If some channels disappear get a larger dish.

4
If you get c5 then you should be ok as they moved over a while ago

5
I am curios which of the Digital TV operators in Switzerland have a large enough dish. Hope GGA Maur has one. Would certainly miss the brit channels.

6

Is it in the UK Spot beam or in the European beam?

Could not find anything on this:

http://www.satbeams.com/satellites?norad=39285

Time line from a madrid guy:

http://skyinmadrid.com/pages/news.html

7
I get channel 5 on an 80cm dish without problem, except it is the weakest signal and the first lost in a thunderstorm.

I imagine Cablecom are using 2metre dishes. This has been a long time coming - tomorrow will tell...

8
I just stumbled accross this Swiss Federal Court rulling:

http://jumpcgi.bger.ch/cgi-bin/JumpC...II-568&lang=fr

Three things I get from that:

1) If a cable company wishes to retransmit a foreign channel it has to pay a license fee.

2) The high of the fee depends on the original receiving equipement.

3) The lowest fee allows a dish of max. 1 meter.

(That was 2006/2007)

9

Well, according to one of the articles Sky Movies moved yesterday (4th) and we can still get those fine with an 80cm dish. So I’m hoping the BBC channels will be the same.

“This morning (4th), the first wave of channels moved to Astra 2E: Sky channels including Sky Movies and ITV2,3,4 HD transferred from Astra 2A, which alongside Astra 1N will no longer carry TV and radio services for the UK and Ireland. Although reception is still widely available in Europe, Sky channels are now more difficult to receive in parts of Eastern and Northern Europe.”

From the a516digital article.

10
From the article: http://skyinmadrid.com/pages/news.html

Thats why I am afraid. Additionaly, from the same site:

11
we had to get a 95cm dish to get a good signal for c5 etc, but thats out in glarus

12
Personally I use filmon.com - if you have a decent speed Internet you'll get BBC 1, 2, news, ITV1-4, 4,5, E4, E4+

Plus loads of American channels and other channels from around the world.

Works fine out here and I have used it when traveling in the UK and Switzerland - and all for free !!

13
BBC1 SD and HD and BBC2 both have much lower signal strength and quality here in Zurich.

14
There doesn't seem to be any difference at all in Neuchatel this morning.

15
Just checked an all changes stations are down from 100% signal strength to about 90%, but all still totally usable. Thunderstorms will be more of a problem now.

Hopefully the signals are not tweaked much further.

I am inclined to wonder if the people adjusting the satellite footprint read forums such as these and much their adjustments accordingly. Perhaps we should all say we have lost these channels completely...

16
you're right AbFab. Here in Lausanne the images on BBC programmes are definitely less 'crisp'.

17
I suspect that's an illusion. With digital satellite signals you either get a picture or you don't. If you're on the edge, as happens to us nr Basel sometimes in poor weather, the picture breaks up into blocks periodically and will lock if the signal is lost. If you have a picture at all it will be just as crisp at 10% strength as it would at 100%.

18
All good in Glarus as well

19

You need to look at your signal strength. It will be bad weather that causes problems.

20
So that means I need to replace the old television, as well as the 13-year-old car, the same vintage washing machine and my falling-off face!

I've given up on the face and try never toput a mirror down flat to look at myself.