Television licence Fees & SKy TV

You are an idiot

You are an idiot

What a surprise, another unhelpful insulting reponse to a question. And another blocked sender for my list. At this rate I won't be seeing any messages at all!

If people can't help or respond in a decent manner, I wish they wouldn't bother. These groups are here for people to talk about relevant subjects (although I'm not sure how relevant the original message is to this group), not to just throw insults around.

I don't mind a bit of light hearted chat, but out and out insults are just a waste of time.

If Sky paid the fee for every viewer they would pass the cost onto you. There would be extra admin for Sky and TV licensing and you'd save nothing at all.

Is that what you want, 'cos that's what'll happen?

Alun

Seems you have to pay, even if you only have Sky and nothing else. Here are some relevant links:

WTF has this to do with this NG?

You chose to have the additional channels that Sky offers. You elected to pay £20+ a month over and above the £126.50 (?) a year bargain you could have had. It was cable and satellite that destroyed the half-decent content that British television once had. The only recent saving grace has been Doctor Who. That's now finished until Christmas.

I use Freeview and have no intention of paying any more than I need to (until the licence fee goes up again, of course).

Personally I think after all the nonsense the BBC has been involved in recently, and considering the poor quality of British television it is time to scrap the licence fee and make the BBC stand or fall on it's own merits and its own commercial abilities.

"You are an idiot" was a lighted hearted response given that the original question was not relevant and it was more than likely posted by a troll, and you wasted more time writing a long-winded reply! If you want to add someone to your blocked sender list just do it without telling everyone about it on this group. Feel free to add me, but keep it to yourself if you do!!

No, they aren't. The BBC channels are FTA; they are not broadcast, uplinked or transmitted by Sky and have nothing whatsoever to do with Sky. "Satellite television" does not equal "Sky television", however loudly Sky's marketing machine shouts it.

"Mike Henry" wrote

FTA?

"Mike Henry" wrote

So whose satellite is sending the signal for the BBC channels, then? And how come it's in *exactly* the same position in the sky (the blue thing up there, not the company!) as the Sky (the co) satellite?? And how come my Sky (the co) box listens to both satellites, and not just Sky's satellite??

Take a look here and you find out who owns the satellite.

Sky just rent transponders on the satellite

SES Astra, you too have fallen for Sky's 'hype and spin'.

Sky do not own *any* satellite, they rent space (just like the BBC) on Astra's satellites (and Eurobird also co-located at 28.2E)

Because BBC transmissions are mapped on Sky's EPG, but that's as far as any connection between the organisations goes.

FYI ITV, C4, MTV, and many other broadcasters do not use Sky's uplinking facilities, they make their own arrangements.

See

critch said......"the only saving grace was Dr Who" dear lord above!

That is the law. If you do not like it then you are better off writing to your MP. Bitchin' in here sure as hell will do nowt.

Free To Air. Not encrypted.

There isn't a "Sky satellite". Sky do not own any satellites. They rent space on Astra's just like the BBC do, and ITV do, and all the other companies that provide channels that appear in the EPG but are nothing whatsoever to do with Sky.

Your dish is pointed to the same location in the sky (the blue thing up there, not the company!) :-)

sky dont own any satellites - they rent space from astra - as do the BBC.

Hi Tim. You asked some very important questions and you deserve some straight answers.

Please forgive the c>"Mike Henry" wrote

"Free To Air". This means they do not require any kind of subscription, nor are they encrypted. All BBC domestic channels are FTA, such as BBC1, BBC2, BBC3, CBBC etc. A lot of the shopping and news channels are also FTA. There are also a few film, music, documentary and entertainment channels which are FTA but not very many.

There is also FTV; "Free To View". This means you do not have to pay a subscription, but you do have to have a decryption card. These issued for a small fee (around 20 quid, one payment only) to prove that you live in the UK, since some channels (such as ITV) are only allowed to show programmes to UK residents (because they have paid for contracts to show a programme, such as an American comedy show, in the UK, but haven't paid for a contract to show it in, say, Spain).

Most of the good non-BBC channels require a subscription, though.

There are two main groups of satellites, they are owned by two seperate companies: "SES Astra" and "Eurobird".

Neither of these companies are owned by Sky.

The websites for these satellite companies are:

Because both the BBC and Sky rent transponders (transmitter space) on the SES Astra and Eutelsat Eurobird satellites.

The BBC use the Astra 2D transponders which (approximately) only broadcast to the United Kingdom.

There are other transponders such as 2A, 2B etc. which broadcast to wider areas, such as most of western Europe.

Sky, unlike the BBC, generally use these transponders which cover a wider area. This is why it is possible for British people living in Spain to still receive Sky programmes with a Sky subscription. It is more difficult for them to receive BBC programmes though (but not impossible, if they use a big enough satellite dish - like 6 foot across!).

Because the satellites are all located at (approximately) 28.2 degrees east of London (Grenwich is considered "zero" degrees), above the equator (the line running around the middle of the Earth, where the African desert and Mexico are). Most UK satellite dishes point at this area of the sky.

A group of satellites is called a "constellation", the same name as a group of stars in the sky.

You can find out more information on which channels are broadcast from which satellites from the following websites:

These are just general hobbyist technical sites, though, they aren't owned by the satellite companies.

Note that in order to receive channels from some other satellites, you will need to move your satellite dish to point to another area of the sky. I don't recommend anyone does this until they are confident of their technical abilities.

Most modern TV satellites use the same type of digital signal, so you can use your Sky satellite dish and satellite decoder digibox to receive channels not listed in the Sky channel list ("Electronic Programme Guide" EPG), including other channels on Astra and Eurobird (easy), and indeed from other satellites (not recommended- you'd have to move your dish). There is a special menu called "Add Channels" which you can use to tune your digibox in, you will need the frequency details from the Lyngsat or Wildsat websites:

For instance, I used "Add Channels" to listen to Radio Caroline which isn't listed in the Sky channel list. Just go to and click "Sky" for instructions.

I agree

I found the series just ended relentlessly ground out the feminist message; only the females saved the world - again and again. Males were portrayed as wimps.

Thank goodness. If the next series is anything like this one, I won't be watching.

It seemed to start well enough but after a few episodes I thought 'This isn't quite right - not the spirit of the original at all!'.