Getting UK TV Coverage in France

[jasonclarke]

Can someone please give me an absolute answer as to how I get UK channels in France. I am moving to Saumur dept 49 (Loire) in the new year. I have a sky digibox and dish here in England which I hope i can use. I do not want to keep my subscription to a sky package per say but would just like those channels I understand are free ie. BBC1 2 ITV etc. What do I need to do and what is the best way of doing it?? Please help - my wife will be upset if she can't watch Eastenders!!!!

[Mazan]

This has been covered extensively here so have a look back through the archives.

This will help also:
http://www.frenchentree.com/fe-lavie/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=129

[Lao tze]

Your wife should be ok with Eastenders. It took us a long time and a lot of hassle but we have finally got our French digibox and dish to work to pick up BBc channels. I dont know about the ITV channels but if you do an archive search you should come up with the numerous threads that have discussed this. I gather that there are many who have brought their sky system out and got it to work. There is some tetchiness from the "old folk" on here when questions are asked several times - welcome to the Living France Mairie!! (sorry Mazan but you ARE getting very grumpy!) Dont worry - ew all had a learning curve and I am sure that after you have searched the archives if you dont find the answer there will be loads of people who will help you out
Rgds

[DMC]

In the hope that I don't create another long thread of over-complicated answers; there are only a couple of essentials needed before you leave the UK.

Refer to http://www.free2view.tv and phone for a viewing card and get it registered on your Digibox before you leave. This will give you the ITV channels. BBC are already free.

Take your Digibox and card with you. Dishes are very easy and cheap to buy if your old one is getting on a bit.

That's it. Only the installation to do when you get there.

Doug

[gynfreeman]

You simply write to Sky and cancel your subscription before you leave the UK (or at the end of the year if you are on a subsidized 1 year contract: - the one where you need to keep it connected to the phone) then bring the box and card with you. The card which will now have the Sky packages blocked, should unscramble ITV, ch4/5. The BBC channels will be received by the box with or without a card in the slot. Dishes are cheap over here; leave it or bring it with you as you wish.

paul

[jasonclarke]

It was I who posted the original question about tv coverage which appears to have stirred up a hornets nest. Perhaps the question I asked has been asked many times before and answered thoroughly in the archives. Perhaps had I not been so lazy I might have resolved my query before asking the question. Certainly I would not have entered into this forum had I thought so many people would get hot under the collar. Now seeing as Mazan's initial response was aimed at me surely it is up to me as to whether it caused offence. It DID NOT!!! It was short and sweet and in fact told me all I needed to know via the suggested link. It is difficult to gauge any inflection of attitude on an e-mail as we all know so lets chill out about it and enjoy a very merry xmas. I do hope we can all exchange future advice without further sniping at eachother and enjoy the one thing we all seem to have in common - France! Merry Xmas one and all keep the good advice coming!