Satellite subterfuge

JohnMac

With age I get more and more fed up with the subterfuge necessary to be able to receive UK TV and radio programmes via satellite outside the UK. I am not sure what I do or where I go with this business of new cards – I purchased a digibox with card via e-bay and it has been great up until now.

What I do not understand is why it is not possible to pay to receive these programmes if one lives on the continent. I am sure there must be many like me who would be more than willing to do so. I can buy English newspapers, English books, English video tapes without problem. On our cable distribution we have BBC1 and BBC2, we can receive Radio 4 on long wave, I can get any BBC radio programme via my PC no matter where I am……………………………so why all the barriers to receive the programmes via satellite??

There are no longer restrictions on buying and receiving goods, services etc. from any other country within the European Union so what is so special about satellite broadcasting??

Sorry, a bit of a rant but I am getting very frustrated with the whole business

John

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rolfw

Unfortunately John, whilst everyone here will agree with you, it is not a matter of government imposed restrictions, it is a matter of copyright and under what terms the providers have licenced the viewing.

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methos_de

Hi John,

thats not exactly true. I live in Germany and have nothing but trouble when ordering certain DVDs from the UK.

Methos.

master baits

It is to do with licencing , sky get a licence to transmit say a specific tv program or movie to only the licenced territory ie the uk.

To add another fly in the ointment I believe there is restrictions on sky as well to prevent the cable cos and or other sat cos in mainland europe from competing for each others business.

As for buying uk spec dvds the chap needs to just look for another supplier , thats where the problem lies.

BarMoo

LOL. My DVD's have so far taken 18 days not to arrive from the US. When they do, they will have been watched by the duty police, I will have to pay an import tarif, then pay the usual 16% VAT on top of all that. The final insult is the trip to some nasty building in West Berlin (which only seems full of ex-pats) to pick them up. Overall, I find that locally bought DVD's are cheaper by far.

On satellite subterfuge (JohnMac) - I totally agree with him. I (sic)live in Berlin and I am happy to pay for my mother's licence fee to watch some UKTV over here.

Alas, she's hooked-up with a new man who already has sky. I just hope that things don't get to sticky (for me that is)

However, it was my understanding that the OLD FTV cards will not be affected by the current card replacement scheme - correct?

Have Fun,

Mark.

master baits

mljgmljg

I would be naughty if i was to say change your billing address to add a letter afer it , ie

joe bloggs
123 ---A--- billingsgate st
nowhere abroad guv
expatsshire


its just enough that two will be separate ids , which is easy as postcodes can be for a whole st not one property.Or get your mums new other half to have his as the alphabetic address.

I am sure i read elswhere in the forum the fta cards are being replaced as well , so i would do a premptive on the addy changes.

BarMoo

Interesting; but wouldn't you still have to give those FTV folk your unique Licence number?

Besides if did suggest that idea to my mother - she'd be beside herself thinking that it was a fiendish scheme to move back home

And with mother's day coming up and all.

Have Fun,

Mark.

georgekildare

On the advice of several MEPs, I sent a petition to the European parliament about this 6 months ago. It is still pending.

My points were that

1. the present operation of national copyright laws for satellite television contravenes several provisions of the Treaty of Rome and

2. the monopolistic practises of providers such as sky (e.g. insisting on proprietary receivers) were also in contavention of the European treaties.

BarMoo

I absolutely agree with you George.

Oh, yes, a BSKYB box (made like any other DVB-S box) and with an operational CAM slot/payment slot. Its very "I have a dream" though - isn't it.

I know that this next part goes slightly against your post, but, many UK copyright issues were resolved (to the best of Astra's ability) with the deployment of Astra 2D. As such, and for the sake of the argument, much anally contencious copyrighted (and usually american) content is now broadcast on that bird.

I have noticed that many a broadcaster has switched-over and or started using Astra 2D. Suggesting to me a certain level of "market/region control" by anyone who uses it.

Whatever, if only we could all speak German as a first or second language - none of this "control" issue nonsense would be of any relevance.

I speak of content, but, the same equally applies in the context of your post.

But, the question has to be why this is not an issue in Germany but it is the UK?

I say this because, in Germany, a Hollywood film incurs extra costs for its local market - yet, the same Hollywood folks make it incredibly difficult for me to watch the same film (in its original language) in a German market. Anyone with me still?

Catch 22: back to George's post

Have Fun,

Mark