ok this is how it works.
1st keep an address and sky account registered in the UK.
2nd.Bring your card and receiver with you in your suitcase.
3rd buy a 3 meter dish and get installed.
4th sit back and watch all the programmes.
WARNING---- it is illegal to watch sky in another country and if they find out they will disable your card.

Have fun

I have been told that a 1.2 meter dish will be enough is this right

I have been told that a 1.2 meter dish will be enough is this right

I would suggest you get the largest dish you can because with the standard size when it rains very hard you will loose the picture. That is the problem I have here in Spain with my dish, but at the moment I do not intend to change it as it was already up when I moved it.

Your in quite a good position in Malta as you can get both the north and south footprints of Astra 2 (sky) with 1.2 dish, possibly less with an offset dish rather than prime focus.

Astra 2D is a different matter. This footprint was reduced and moved north when the BBC went free to air. This was to keep it from being viewed in Europe. Down here in Tenerife we need at least a 2.4 to get it. Better in the rain with a 3 meter dish. Astra 2D houses all the BBC's & ITV's. C4 is on the north footprint but is moving to Astra 2D when it goes completely FTV (no card required) as is C5. All but two of Sky movies channels are on 2D as is most of box office.

As a1gjv pointed out DON'T tell sky what your doing or they will cut you off. The are not bothered about us expats receiving sky as we pay and there an estimated 200,000 of us doing it, but if you force them into a corner they have to be seen to be doing "the right thing" by the UK law. If you need to ring them ring from a UK mobile not a foreign land line! If you have been a subscriber less than one year then your stuffed as they contract you into keeping your reciever connected to the phone line, and they will soon find its not a uk number. If this is the case you need to buy a dodgy sky card abroad. Sky are sending out letters to people who have unplugged their phone line before their year is up thretening them with being cut off if they dont comply. this is mainly for advertising and selling stuff via the red button.

The EU is currently pushing for this cross boundary subscription restriction to be scrapped for expats. It was debated recently and the example given was a town in Germany housing expats from Holland with the border between the 2 countries just at the end of their street. The expats were not allowed to subscribe to Dutch TV back in Holland, even though it was only 10 yards away! The bill has passed its first stage and hopefully all EU expats will soon be able to watch their homeland TV in any EU country.

As part of this bill the satellite companies that have narrowed their coverage footprints (Astra 2D) would be forced to replace them back to their original coverage as specified by the EU licence that was issued when it was first launched. In Astra's case All of the EU would need coverage and Astra D would need to increase its footprint to that of its original position upon launch!

The EU statute on receiving cross border broadcasts states that if the signal is there in an un-scrambled form, then its free to ALL outside the jurisdiction of the broadcasting host country, who may pass laws of financial licensing to its own viewers(e.g. the UK). . So since the BBC can be picked up without ANY subscription card (sky or free to view) on Astra 2 satellite, NO ONE is breaking the law who receives it outside the UK. THIS IS EU LAW! If you subscribe to a subscription channel such as sky then yes its not exactly legal. The Licence fee for the BBC only counts in the UK. The west coast of Holland has been receiving BBC for free fore 35 years terrestrially. If they stopped this, then Norfolk would not receive terrestrially either! Satellite has on the other hand enabled them to hone in their broadcast footprints..... unfortunately!

As for the poor lot in Blighty that are paying a TV licence and we out here are not, but still getting the BBC"¦
In most of Europe you need a very large expensive dish to get the BBC. The alternative is 'BBC Prime', which I subscribe to so Mrs Makum can keep up to date with Eastenders. This is ONE channel from the BBC ( a mix of 1 and 2) and is legally available across Europe for a subscription of over 80 quid a year. For another, 40 quid people back home get BBC2,3,4, parliament, cbeebies, interactive sports, news.....

So before anyone says I am pilfering the BBC's funds. I am not breaking any law and the BBC still get their pound of flesh out of me every year!

*Makum steps off soap box*

So a 1.2 should suffice in Malta, but 'go large' if you can afford it.

Thanks for the Sky info markum110 all very interesting.

Well that certainly answers all my questions many thanks makum110

Hi read all this with great interest. Makum i find your comments on tenerife sitet helpful and informative but on this occasion i beg to differ on lots of matters. I actually work for skytv. It definitely IS illeagal to remove your viewing card outwith britain.You can take your digibox where ever you like.Its yours. Taking your card is a crime with a fine of 1000.00 We dont play at ignoring people who view abroad, and phoning from a british mobile is so funny. We just spent over 7 million pounds on new technology so am afraid you are kidding yourself if you think we sit in that call centre and dont have a clue where you are. Next you will be saying we cant see ex directory numbers....We do know the companies that sell cards illeagally 90 accounts at one post code are a bit of a give away. Its not worth all the hassle much better just to use the companies in the respective countries you decide to move to. If we do catch you viewing abroad thats it account blocked you wont ever have it opened again
Hope this helps anyone thinking of trying to take their card with them when moving it really isnt worth all the hassle you will encounter

Hi Izzee!
I'm not too sure I understand the point you're trying to make.

You say you have the technology and you know who are selling cards illegally, but yet you don't really do anything about it. Could it be something to do with the £XM you're taking in from the expat subscribers?

hi bawbee its really difficult to explain but we dont allow ex pats to view abroad.We block them as soon as we find them.There are so many though it takes time to get them and we wont ever get them all.Point i was making was its much less hassle to just get sky where you move to .Im sure where you are in lanzarote there are companies sell sky tv legally....thats all i was trying to say.I just find the info people give such as use a british mobile....nonsense and they arent really helping people
It really is nothing to me if people smuggle viewing cards out britain.....i will still get my sky tv free..haha

Hello izzee17, I don't really see the point that you were making either? I know that there is a legal issue in viewing broadcast from Sky in another country than that it was intended for because of copyright issues. Can you really tell me that it is bad to pay for a monthly subscription to Sky in the UK and then take the card away on holiday with you when you go abroad!!! If so can you explain who I am robbing or doing harm to? At the end of the day my subscription pays your wages.

I think I agree fully with mark&nicky provided you get your money each month for your card what's the problem.

I see you point about elegal cards but not the genuine.

We block them as soon as we find them.There are so many though it takes time to get them and we wont ever get them all.

Izzee, does this mean that you're employing people to seek out subscribers who don't live in the UK, so you can stop them paying you £40 a month?
P.S. Don't be scared to answer, I won't tell your shareholders!

There are so many though it takes time to get them and we wont ever get them all.Point i was making was its much less hassle to just get sky where you move to .Im sure where you are in lanzarote there are companies sell sky tv legally....thats all i was trying to say

If you say expats are breaking the law viewing Sky with a fully payed legal card when they are not in the UK, then how can anybody outside the UK get Sky legally then because your cards are not allowed to be taken or used outside the UK according to you.

I think you just shot yourself in the foot there.

Izzee, does this mean that you're employing people to seek out subscribers who don't live in the UK, so you can stop them paying you £40 a month?

P.S. Don't be scared to answer, I won't tell your shareholders!

Very good point bawbee I think he is taking the you know what.

izzee17's reply (for me) summs up the reason why we DO get away with it

But just to go along with it....

Im sure where you are in lanzarote there are companies sell sky tv legally

Just rang sky and told em i was thinking of moving abroad and said that i would like to recieve English telly once out there. (did this from my UK mobile ).

I told them I did not currently subscribe but wondered if it was better to subscribe here in the UK now before I leave and take my sky card and reciever with me or should I contact a legal 'official' sky provider once i am abroad. Or should I buy a sky card from one of those internet sites that i have seen selling them for an anual fee?

They told me that there are no official sky dealers abroad and no legal ways of recieving sky channels once outside the UK. This was due to copyright laws restricting many sky channel broadcasts outside the Uk boundries.

However they did say that a satellite reciver and dish without a subscription should be available loaclly in many parts of europe that will pick up some of the uk free channels which are broadcast on sky's (Astra) system. They didnt answer the internet part of the question.


For a wealth of satellite expertise visit...
http://www.satellites.co.uk/php-bin/forum/
They have a section on "fringe Reception" with many local installers posting in there. Although many of these people are satellite anorachs with 49metre dishes (there is one guy picking up sky in Argnetina ) they are used to answering questions from us dumbo's who just want a bit of homeland telly.

izee17 is very silent all of a sudden, I think I was right he just shot himself in the foot via his last statement.

Hi makum i never replied cause ive been away in tenrife on holiday....lol Wish id stayed at home weather is crap. You DONT pay my wages....you couldnt afford to but im no getting into this anymore as you only can see the point of view from your side.Basically i couldnt care less what you do i was just answering a question

I see some Familiar names there on that website

Regards,

TIMUK.

I wonder what skys responce to you saying you have disconnected your land line and only used mobiles. with all the good free mins I get I just pay for line rental each month the land line just sits there. its just a source of junk calls from double glazing sales etc.
mmmmmm why have I still got it??????

richard

thought nail up the letter box aswell 9 out of 10 letters are junk to!!!!

I wonder what skys responce to you saying you have disconnected your land line and only used mobiles

Its simple. When you get Sky you sign a contract to keep the reciever plugged into your land line phone for 12 months (BIB agreement), after this time has elapsed you can unplug it and throw your land line out the window!