Sky freeview in Italy.

[lewisj]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but I did a search and couldn't find anything completely relevant.
A friend of mine lives in Turin in northern Italy. He already has a Sky dish receiving the Italian channels, but would really like to get the £20 Sky card that allows you to watch the UK channels without a subscription. He can get a card ordered in England.
My questions are;
Will his current dish/receiver be able to use the new Sky card or will he have to point the dish at a different satellite? (I don't know which satellite he is currently using).
And, is reception likely in the north of Italy?

Thanks for the help.

[Analoguesat]

His current dish is on 13E (the Hotbirds). He will need a second dish pointing at 28E (Astra 2's)
The BBC, ITV, shopping, radio, dating, religious etc services are in the clear - no card required.

The ONLY things a card will give him is Channel 4, Channel 5 & Sky 3.

[lewisj]

Thanks for the prompt reply. I thought his dish might be looking at the wrong satellites.
If you realigned the dish to face 28E would he still be able to use his current dish or is northern Italy going to require a larger dish?
Thanks again.

[Analoguesat]

A larger dish *may* be required for Astra 2D (the BBC & ITV services). Go to www.astra2d.com & look at the reports section Theres plenty of info about Italian reception.

[Skip Channel]

A Sky Italia box isn't going to do him much good either, is it? I know they look and act almost the same but a UK viewing card in an Italian box is going to pose problems! (AFAIK)

[wod]

well on the astra 2d reports it says for milan 85cm recieves 2d ok so turin is nearish so a 1metre dish may do it

[pinturicchio]

am sorry if this is nt the right place to place my ? but can somebody tell me if its legal to have Sky italia outside italy and if yes how wil it work wid the ppv channels espcially wid prima fila and the sports channels re payment for each match or movie u watch thanks inadvance

[rolfw]

It is technically almost certainly breaking the terms and conditions, but like Sky UK, Digital+, TV Cabo, etc, etc, there are thousands of people who subscribe whilst living outside the intended area. PPV will work on SkyUK with an out of area dialer, not sure about Sky Italia, you'd probably need to phone them every time.

[smiling]

i live 5kms from Monza, near Milan where a 120cm dish is supposed to view 2d. But i read in reports from italy that bollate which is in milan hinterland receive with 65cms. how is it possible.
how can i know what i really need? i mean the difference in cost is much!!
Thnx

[BarMoo]

@ smiling, Some users will risk a smaller dish and fail (like me) - others will spend money on a dish a little bigger than needed. Your local satellite installer will probably know how big your dish should be.

OT: In fairness, a local installer told me a 240cm would be 'best' for me in Berlin. Many others have gone for a 180cm (about a 40% signal reading on a clear day). So, what do you think? 180 or 240cm. Let me just say that my 125cm is collecting dust in the cellar.

Back to your story - that 125cm Gibertini cost me just over €100. I don't think anyone should complain about that kind of price; especially, if you are serious about wanting the English-spoken channels.

Also note that 2D is *supposed* to be for the Brits (stupid but true). Each and every one with a TV has to pay a yearly charge of €193.00.

You won't have to.

[max.max]

someone in my family can get 2D in milan with 85cm but he has problems when it rains (not a surprise) and in the north of italy it rains quite often.
turin may be slightly closer to the uk spot than milan, so I would personally give it a try on someone's 85cm dish with your receiver. if you look around you are bound to see many 85cm dishes, so just ask a friend if he lets you play around with his dish and your receiver.
it's not too difficult to align an 85cm dish at 28E and realign it back at 13E even manually without a sat finder. it would be much more difficult to align a bigger dish, even a 120, without a sat finder.

[Leee]

FWIW.....
I just realligned my father-in-law's dish in Lugano, just over the border from Italy. Looking at TP 10773H I was getting 90% quality in cloudy conditions from 80cm el cheapo dish......that's on a Pace 2200 veteran box