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Getting Freeview or Sky in France........


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 I know this has been discussed before, but what are the legalities of having Sky tv in France. If one told Sky wouldn't they turn the card off, copyright issues????

And the freeview boxes, is there any specific small print that they are only for UK use or maybe UK and Ireland use only, again copyright issues??????

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Recent changes in EU law means that if you can receive it then it is not a problem. However there are other things to take in to account which are not criminal laws but contractual laws like somewhere in the contract with Sky whilst you can take the box out of the UK (once it is off contract) and use it anywhere you want you can't take the card. In short it is a minefield, ITV will tell you that it is against the law but when you ask what law they never give an answer. The BBC will refer you to their charter it all goes on and on and on. So basically to get an absolute definitive answer to your question is very difficult.

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I think a lot of the 60 million French (and myself who appears to be the only englishman) who watch non subscription French TV via an aerial would disagree with that statement.

Freeview in the UK has transformed my enjoyment of something that had left me very jaded when I left, so much so that after 7 years of self imposed exile to French TV I am on the cusp of cracking and getting a Skybox.

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Why not just watch on your computer screen, as I know you don't have money to burn?

Not even a redevance audiovisuelle to pay either ..

I watch iPlayer and ITV player a couple of times a week as well as the French Programmes on pluzz..

I do have a good sized screen though, and a 'relax' chair [:D]

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The problem with watching via the Internet is speed. For some of us that only get 1mb on a good day, down hill with the wind behind it is not really an alternative. The picture breaks up or freezes to frequently and is not really watchable on a small PC screen even in low quality. Put it on a big screen, even 32" would make a real mess of the picture and I wold probably end up throwing a brick at the TV.

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[quote user="Chancer"]

I think a lot of the 60 million French (and myself who appears to be the only englishman) who watch non subscription French TV via an aerial would disagree with that statement.

Freeview in the UK has transformed my enjoyment of something that had left me very jaded when I left, so much so that after 7 years of self imposed exile to French TV I am on the cusp of cracking and getting a Skybox.

[/quote]

Chancer there seem to be less and less chanels on the sky freesat these days. I have bought el cheepo freesat reciever from B&Q and although I haven't yet set it up it may well provide better/more viewing choice as a Humax isn't on my shopping list for the limited time and budget for TV watching. 

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[quote user="idun"] I know this has been discussed before, but what are the legalities of having Sky tv in France. If one told Sky wouldn't they turn the card off, copyright issues????

And the freeview boxes, is there any specific small print that they are only for UK use or maybe UK and Ireland use only, again copyright issues??????
[/quote]

As others have said, you mean "Freesat" not "Freeview".

Because of territorial limits to transmission rights, the broadcasters are concerned that people outside their territories may receive their transmissions. They therefore try to protect their interests by restricting reception (narrow focussed beaming from satellites, checking telephone connections and so on) to within their territories. That is the responsibility of the broadcaster.

The person receiving the transmission has no interest in the contract between the broadcaster and the programme originator and can freely view any programme he can receive. He is committing no offence, he is not infringing any right. it is the broadcaster's responsibility to ensure that you do not receive any programme outside the broadcaster's territory. It is not your duty not to receive it.

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[quote user="Théière"][quote user="Chancer"]

Freeview in the UK has transformed my enjoyment of something that had left me very jaded when I left, so much so that after 7 years of self imposed exile to French TV I am on the cusp of cracking and getting a Skybox.

[/quote]

Chancer there seem to be less and less chanels on the sky freesat these days. I have bought el cheepo freesat reciever from B&Q and although I haven't yet set it up it may well provide better/more viewing choice as a Humax isn't on my shopping list for the limited time and budget for TV watching. 

[/quote]

 

Thanks Teapot, when the desire finally overcomes my resistance I will be asking all the relevant questions on the forum, what, how etc.

I started off with a French sat reciever tuned to the UK channels, then moved on to a Skybox because the program guide was better and at that time more and better channels, I lent my then spare French sat reciever to some English whose Sky box had broken, twas a tremporary loan until they got a new Sky box, it was never returned and shortly afterwards my Sky box failed so I bit the bullet and have watched only French TV since 2007.

I have no regrets and its helped my language skills immeasurably and continues to do so, whilst for a long time I vigourously defended French TV against comments of it being cr@p I have been silent on the subject for a long time now and admit that I was wrong, very wrong [:'(]

Before when I visited the UK I could only get maybe 3 of their main channels with a very fuzzy almost black and white picture from the little caravan aerial that I used, since getting a new boosted tiny discreet one I get all the Freeview channels and it has spoiled me, I can no longer stand French TV, there are some excellent programmes that I realy enjoy but I would like to be able to see them when I want not scan through 20 channels all with exactly the same scheduling, news, actualities, journals, the main programme starting bang on 20.45 etc.

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Idun

As others have written, if you have a Freesat box you have no obligations at all,  if you receive a signal.  If you have a Sky box of whatever ilk, and if you have Sky subscription then one commercial condition is that you are UK resident, ( or Eire, or Italy, or Germany depending on who you take the contract out with). 

 

Failing to obey the conditions of your contract with Sky X(choose a country) leaves you in breach of their contract with them.  They therefore have the option to cut of your signal (subscription channels only I think, but I could be wrong) and could theoretically chase you through the courts.  With the exception of a few high profile bars showing high profile subscription live  sports programs to their customers, I am not aware of any individual being pursued.

 

In UK legal terms this is a purely civil matter.

 

From Sky's perspective the issues are twofold:

Live sports - where they have purchased rights to transmit to particular countries ( and by extension, not to transmit to others, where competitors have bought that right).

Films - same issues as above.

 

In legal terms if you use a Sky box to say watch a film in France, then although you are in breach of the contract and Sky would be obliged to cancel the contract if they found out, the damaged parties would be someone like Canal+ and the film distributor - neither of whom would be likely to find out and if no commercial gain is being made by you, neither would be likely to chase you through the French courts.  (and I think we both know the financial impact on both prties if they did.)

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If Sky can prove "intent to defraud" their contract then it can become a criminal case classed as fraud. Indeed now you mention it I read something in one of the papers within the last few days that two people have been fined a lot of money and because they are both 'broke' will be serving a short prison sentence I believe.

Of course those companies in the likes of Spain etc may well find their days numbered with the current changes. My BIL has a "re broadcast" package via Internet and does not have C5 and the other 2E channels and no doubt will get nothing once the changeover is complete.

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I don't know about 'intent to defraud'............... most certainly 'intent to ignore'. And for those living abroad who go to the trouble of getting family or friends address to register their sky card, actually know that their intent was to ignore as they are not actually UK residents.

I do know that I often try and look at things from french tv and am refused as I am not in France, just as I was when I lived in France and tried to get the iplayer directly.

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Unless you actually want more than the basic free-to-air channels, it's been quite a number of years since there was any need to have a sky card to watch UK TV in France.

There was a news item on the BBC as recently as yesterday, I think, and although I wasn't really paying much attention, I gathered that there are likely to be moves afoot to loosen the BBC's attitude to things like downloading and on-demand replay of their programme content, in order to compete better with the commercial channels. In among all that, I'm pretty sure I heard mention of them relaxing their stance on people being able to watch the BBC from abroad. But, as I said, I wasn't giving the item my full attention so I might have misheard.

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[quote user="Pierre ZFP"]

Slight thread drift, sorry, but is there a BBC1 +1 or BBC2 +1 like there is for (eg) ITV1 + 1?

I recently got a Humax box (which is great by the way) and of course scanned for everything FTA but I didn't see any BBC plus ones which could be useful for me.

[/quote]

It is a short answer I am afraid and it is NO.

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[quote user="Jako"]A bit too short,  BBC1+1 was announced a few days ago: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/oct/08/bbc1-plus-one-timeshift-service

[/quote]

I appologise for being wrong, I didn't spot that although I couldn't see from when it starts. So I will change what I said to "at the moment the answers is NO, but watch out for the future". [;-)]

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Chancer,

We watch quite a lot on Freeview, BBC 3,4, ITV 3, Ch 24, Ch 31, etc, the only problem being that we can't watch one channel and record another at the same time. I guess we will have to splash out and buy a Freeview plus box. I even listen to Radio 4 on freeview channel 704. I didn't know that France was so far behind.

David

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Jako,

I just looked at a list of Freeview channels on google and got ITV + 1 = freeview 33, Ch 4 + 1 = freeview 13, Ch 5 + 1 = freeview 44, ITV 2 + 1 = freeview 27, but no number listed for BBC 1 + 1. I haven't checked to see them though.

PS I checked and they are there.

David

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Who would have thought people would be asking the BBC to repeat programmes as they have been doing it for soooo long, they are still showing Dad's Army for goodness sake  (with only one cast member still alive the repeat fees to the actor must be pretty low )  and now you want things repeated after just an hour, crikey I thought video recorders hard drives etc had done away with all that with EPG and instant recording and reminders.
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[quote user="Théière"]Who would have thought people would be asking the BBC to repeat programmes as they have been doing it for soooo long, they are still showing Dad's Army for goodness sake  (with only one cast member still alive the repeat fees to the actor must be pretty low )  and now you want things repeated after just an hour, crikey I thought video recorders hard drives etc had done away with all that with EPG and instant recording and reminders.[/quote]Actually it can be useful if you have an overlap of programs you want to record especially if you are out.
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