English TV in Spain

One day the internet will supply all our TV but you need strong download speeds not readily available in the arears of Spain where most expats live or have holiday homes

Even in UK you really need fibre internet capability for it to be perfect 

Internet TV is acceptable to some but if you want the same quality as you receive in UK the only way at present is a 1.9 Sat dish and a UK based Sky box if you want Sky Sports and then everything is picture perfect and no interference at all times [obviously it has to be set up correctly!]

I'm in Almeria and there seems to be odd locations in Spain when a smaller dish will do

Before we had to change to a larger dish we used to have a few problems so I suspect the smaller dish was only just OK !

Anyone starting on the route to a property in Spain should be fully aware of this fact and factor in the cost-my dish cost 900€ installed

Of course not everyone is TV orienated so streaming will probably do for some

Just make sure that you have the highest gain receiver (the part inside the parabola) before you get stuck with streamed TV. Streamed TV depends on how much bandwidth you have locally. When the Internet is busy at the weekend, streamed TV suffers from very annoying buffering (long pauses) and awful SD quality. Plus, most streamed TV services are awful to navigate, come with a very limited range of channels (that you would actually watch), and have no TV guide. Labour with your Sky box and parabola if you can, or move to the North of Spain / Portugal.

Hi Travlur, yes I can get the BBC in HD and yes my service is completely legal and paid for.

Cheers

Hello Duncan. If you are paying for a streamed service to get BBC in HD, this costs more than Freeview satellite (which is free) and you are still at the mercy of having the bandwidth locally on your Internet service, right? In addition, it is not legal to stream the BBC live, hence the reason the BBC iPlayer will not stream to anyone with an IP (Internet) address outside the UK. You mention that you have a UK subscription that is your main one, which implies you are breaking the TOS of your Sky account, correct? So your account could be terminated at any time?

Please, enlighten me, how exactly do you get BBC HD on Sky via the Internet in Spain?

The trouble too often with forum advice is that many people stuck with second best claim they have the perfect solution so as not to be, well, second. And then try to substantiate what they say with generics (no specifics). So, please, tell other expats how exactly you manage this!!

I mean, one minute you say that Internet streaming beats satellite in terms of choice and cost, and then admit you pay a subscription, when Freeview satellite (including HD channels) is free! Come on, I am really interested to hear specifics!

This message was last edited by RioMino on 26/10/2015.

windtalker : If you get the same lousy bandwidth as everyone else in Spain, your streamed Sky service is often useless, as it is only as good as the bandwidth you get via your Internet connection. Perhaps you pay for a special Internet connection? There are plenty of well established parabola suppliers and fitters; so you got conned by some newbie off the plane (why did you use a Brit, the Spanish can do a better job for you and for less)?

And I have the Android box, thanks. PLEASE CHECK MY POST before you start telling me that I am wrong. I have two Sky boxes in one property and an Android box with Filmon in another (10 minutes drive from the first). I have no axe to grind, but I think you do, as I suspect you have mini-parabolas in the South of Spain (lousy reception area) fitted badly by some Brit hack that no longer work (since Sky migrated certain key channels onto their new satellite) and now have no choice except to use the horrible Android boxes or pay for a real parabola installed by a certified (Local Spanish) supplier.

Again, read my words; I have both systems and the Android box streamed service is a joke compared with my Sky satellite service.

Have a nice day!

windtalker : If you get the same lousy bandwidth as eveyone else in Spain

If you include me in that,  maybe I should tell you that for 35 € p.m.  including  IVA,  I get 95 Mbps download and 12 upload, plus my fixed line charge and free calls to fixed lines in Spain.

My apple TV works very well.

johnzx: Lucky you. You are not the norm though in Spain are you? And when I go to Apple TV here in Spain, it says "coming soon", so your service / subscription is where? And, from what I saw via Google, you pay $30 to $40 per month for the Apple TV service? And do you get BBC HD on it??

Great if you are one of the lucky ones with super fast Internet in Spain; tough luck if you are one of the majority.

Great if you want to pay that amount to Apple to get BBC HD, not great if you want to get it for free!

PS Everyone gets free Spanish calls now don't they?

Travlur,  I have an Apple TV box connected to my TV.  I transmit, FilmOn (or similar) either from my Apple IPhone or from my PC using AirMyPC. 

So after paying the 35 euros p.m. for my Optic Fibre connection, it is free.

So, do you pay the extra for HD on Filmon, or suffer the SD service? Because Filmon charge extra for HD, right? Oh no, you said you do not pay anything more, so you have their free SD service. Lucky you that you do not get buffering (even on low quality SD, maybe you have a small TV?) on a Saturday night when the (Spanish) world goes online en mass. But how do you cope with the awful navigation / lack of TV guide on Filmon, and the lack of quality channels such as National Geographic, Discovery, Comedy Central (OK, on my main Sky box, I pay for these and kids and films and sports a total of 22GBP/m, but on my 2nd box, it is simply Freeview and includes HD that works / is free).

Not referring to any particular poster on this thred but it always makes me smile that people are quite happy to pay Sky TV up to £100 a month or more for their TV service in the UK but as soon as they move to Spain they want it for free!!

Team GB : 100 quid a month??!! I wouldn't pay that if I were in the UK or anywhere else for that matter. The problem is, truth be told, most expats in Spain want Sky (rather than Internet streamed TV) period, free or otherwise, as it is by far a superior service IF you can get it. But most can not, or believe they can not get it. In the South of Spain, I suspect it is impossible now to get BBC 1 (especially HD) and the main Freeview channels since Sky put these onto a new satellite which focuses its beam solely on the UK. We are lucky, as we have a large parabola (hidden away next to our dog pens and stables) with a dual feed from it. But we did the right thing and checked to see what high gain receptors were then available (when Sky switched); when they switched, we stopped getting BBC 1 in decent form during the summer. But we then invested an almighty 35 Euros (plus 15 Euros for the local satellite guy to fit and align it) in a super high gain receptor, and we have not had a single issue since. We get all the channels on Sky we want, including for our kids, including working HD for Strictly etc., including my favorite Impractical Jokers, run two boxes / TV's from it, and it costs me 22GBP per month in Sky fees. Plus, I do not need to tell my kids to get off the Internet because their using it sucks up too much of the bandwidth. I tollerate streamed Filmon at our other property, but it is awful by comparison.

I know people in the Fuengirola area who use internet tv using everything from 4G mobile cards, copper cable land lines fibre optic and even wifi. There are varying degrees of satisfaction but most have some problems. Interestingly Fibre Optic is no better in practice than copper - presumably because the Fibre Optic becomes copper somewhere along the line. Issues can be because the servers Filmon etc are using are overloaded at times, local internet capacity isses or the weather. You have to have a high speed unlimited internet service to use any of these which most people seem to pay close to €50 Euros a month for.

I use a basic Sky package (I just bring my card from the UK) and the Intelsat encrypted service for BBC ITV etc. For the time being at least I find the quality better than most internet users in the area and I have no monthly costs. It may well be that in the future we will all use the internet but given that everything tends to take longer than expected in Spain I expect satelite dishes will be an ongoing feature here for many years to come.

Travlur,  Not sure I follow you. I get SD free,  it's very clear and I am very satisfied and do not 'suffer' at all.  My TV is about average size I guess, 51" diameter.

Dave.    Not sure about the Fibre optic becoming copper.     It is Fibre to  the  router.      With my last supplier (Jazztel)  when it was copper,  I was getting around 12 Mbps., and that was more expensive. As I said it is now 95 Mbps download.

And I thought tge idea of living in spain was to enjoy the outdoor lifestyle not ditying inside watching bloody telly...sad or what?

Weve gone down the IPTV route.

Mag254 box with a subscription to a server on Christmas Island of all places, gives us a ridiculous amount of channels plus a seven day catch up and record facility along with a proper program quide - I pay 100€ every six months.

We only have the standard 10mg internet but seldom have any problems or buffering - It's got to be the way to go, if it's still going strong next spring I'm going to do away with the satellite dishes on the side of the house.

@ casberruby: you could also say people that spend time on internet forums are sad.....I say each to their own and a good telly experience is nice in the winter (it does rain here you know!!)

@ johnzx: it is speculation but if the connection to your home is fibre but at some point between you and the exchange there is only copper logic says the speed is dictated by the capacity of the copper.

I had an interesting discussion in our local on this subject today. Part time residents (we are in Spain for less than half of the year) generally don't like paying monthly subscriptions when they are not here while full time residents don't mind paying €49/month for a fast internet connection\mobile subscription\landline which gives them everything they want. Interestingly those who use the internet found popular programmes such as the X Factor impossible to watch live - so used catch up TV and watched them later. 

Incidentally we have been waiting for 8 years and as yet don't have access to a landline - so for now at least our options are limited. 

johnzx : Wow, you settle for SD! No wonder you are OK with Internet stream fed TV. We have both, and I hate SD / Filmon; give me my Sky HD box any day (but then, I have a decent parabola and have a fair signal strength). Not to mention the decent channels I can get on Sky but can not streamed.

Team GB : where abouts are you in Spain? Can you actually still get good BB1 HD etc? I can not believe you would ditch Sky Freeview if you can!!!!

I wonder is this is a case of people (in the South of Spain) with only one real option now (Internet streamed TV) saying what they have is the best / way to go!

This message was last edited by Travlur on 27/10/2015.

Travlur l did not get coned by a Brit that just stepped of the plane ,l have been fitting sat dishes since the early eighties what l did do 9 years ago was show my pool man how to install a sat dish and find the various sats and low and behold he proclaimed himself as a certified sat installer ,a couple of months after showing him the b..tard put the price of the pool cleaning up so I dumped him as a pool cleaner but as he was leaving l did wish him well with the new business venture he is still cleaning pools and fitting sat dishes as l speak, now getting back to Android TV you said you cannot get the sky package yes you. can but you have to pay for it WHAT DOES CAUSE buffering is the processer within the box being to slow all the early Android boxes had at best a dual core processer unlike the new boxes that have a minimum of a quaud core processer l have taken 9 of these boxes over to Spain for friend's they only take 5 minutes to set up and for some reason or other Jim the pool man or should I be saying Jim the certified sat guy does not like the fact that people are not coming to him anymore to have the sat dishes realigned I wonder why .

Dave    johnzx: it is speculation but if the connection to your home is fibre but at some point between you and the exchange there is only copper logic says the speed is dictated by the capacity of the copper.

I don’t care a jot if the connection uses a piece of string and two cocoa tins, I get 95 Mbps

Tavlur johnzx : Wow, you settle for SD! No wonder you are OK with Internet stream fed TV

I have simple tastes,  a couple of hundred channels, even if SD the quality is sufficient for me to read the labels on bottles and consider the wallpaper patterns in the shots,  and if the program is dull I can count the bricks in the walls too,  quite sufficient for me !   And when I can tear myself away from TV,  I can contemplate on ‘what point you are actually trying to make in your posts.’  If some of us are satisfied with what we have, what's your beef ?  Help those who need help.

Windtalker, thanks for a really  informed post.

johnzx: So you bought a large screen HD TV and yet you are very happy with low quality SD. Yes, that makes perfect sense; ha, ha, ha, ha (I hate the expression "LOL"). - Yes, you get hundreds of channels on Fimon, channels like "Jakarta Live", though my personal favorite is "Kazakh TV". But you can not get NatGeo, or Discovery, or Prime Sports, or the Comedy Channels, or most of the kids channels, can you? Nor can you get a decent / free BBC 1 HD (which you can with a Freeview Sky box), can you?

windtalker: Ah, the chip on the shoulder / agenda exposed! You are an ex-Satellite dish installer turned Android box installer. But the Android box processor is not the only thing to cause buffering as you claim, is it? If the Internet bandwidth is too low, the box has nothing to display, so has to buffer (wait) to get more data from the Internet. To claim it is all about the processor either shows you to be misinformed, or someone with a clear agenda! I have the latest Android box, thanks. I use Filmon at our apartment, and I am grateful for it. But to compare Filmon / Android boxes with Sky HD is a joke, plain and simple. And unlike you, I have no agenda. I do not sell either, and I use both. So I know which is best.

People, I earnestly recommend that you contact a specialist certified local (Spanish) parabola expert; they will know about the latest and best high gain receivers and have specialist meters to test the two Sky satellite signal and quality strengths. They will be able to correctly align your parabola. I really would not use a British / British based supplier to do a job in Spain (for anything). Many people can still get Sky but do not realize it. If you rely on Filmon, you are putting your viewing pleasures at some risk. OK, Filmon has beaten some legal action to stop its service (in fact, Filmon has been taken offline in the past for long periods), but it is facing more, and is the reason you can not get NatGeo and other prime channels on it. If Filmon UK / EU is toasted, as it may well be, what will you do then?