Cancel ntl cable and buy satellite dish

Hi

I'm thinking of cancelling ntl cable subscription and buying satellite dish to receive x amount of channels free to air ,

Does anyone know if this is feasible and what or how many channels I could receive f.o.c. ??

Interested to see if I can cut the NTL umbilical cord !

Thanks

comraid-you will probably get some responses here on AAM, but there is a wealth of discussion on this issue on www.boards.ie

comraid said:

Does anyone know if this is feasible and what or how many channels I could receive f.o.c. ??

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FTA (100% foc) (Free To Air) you'll get all the BBC 1-4 plus BBC News 24 and ITV. You'll also get lots of shopping channels and religious channels.

You will not get RTE, TV3, C4 or C5. You will not get any $ky channels except $ky News.

If you install a system that can get more than one satellite, you'll have thousands of free channels, but whether or not you'll watch them will depend on what langauges you speak and your interests. You could be watching the news from the Ukraine, a Bulgarian chat show or an Andalucian children's talent show. 'Russia Today' in English on HotBird is quite good.

RAI (Italian National TV) on Hotbird is great for Italian cycle racing. You should also be able to pick up EuroSport, for free, but only in German.

The only easy way to pick up the hot-ticket football shown by $ky is to subscribe to $ky and use one of their tuners. Likewise for movies.

Occassionally you might get lucky & a match is shown free on a mainland European channel that is only otherwise available on $ky.

So, for some, FTA satellite is just amazing. It depends on what you're looking for.

Thanks - really good info - sounds like it's worth pursuing - any idea what type / best dish and approx. cost ?

Cheers

Take a look at the [broken link removed] Maplin have on currently. 80cm dish, LNB, receiver, and digital sender to hook it up to a second TV for ~€150.

They provide this [broken link removed] of channels it is possible to receive if you point it towards Hotbird or Astra 19.
Leo

Lidl and Aldi also do similar offers from time to time. The Maplin one looks interesting in it's a dual LNB setup for Astra and Hotbird access.

comraid said:

Thanks - really good info - sounds like it's worth pursuing - any idea what type / best dish and approx. cost ?

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I decided to go for a 'deluxe' solution and got a Strong 6155 receiver with a motorised 80cm dish fitted by a professional installer. Cost, installed, was €650. You can get more expensive tuners with built in hard discs. You could save money by going DIY and/or using special offer bundles, but I wanted a guaranteed job and was happy to pay extra for that.

A motor is the best option if you want,say, more than 4 satellites or the ones you want are spread out in the sky. An alternative is a multi-LNB system which has up to 4 receivers, each aimed at a different satellite. Channel changing is quicker with these becauase there is no need to move the dish. A motorised system is slower but more flexible.

Some of the cheaper kits are intended for campers, these might not be compatible with motors or multiple LNBs. Also, the Strong tuner allows a great variety of frequencies, so it may get some channels that more basic units might not get.

Don't forget that depending on where you live there may be restrictions on what size dish you can erect and where. Gederally 80cm is the largest allowed and then only to the side or rear of your house. It needs to be South-facing. It's probably forbidden on an apartment.