Sky+ in France

[Daft Doctor]

Hi, this is probably straightforward to many, but we are hoping to move to France within the next 2-3 years and I wanted to find out the following about accessing english digital TV channels:

1.  Is it easy to get a TV engineer in France to erect a dish specifically to access Sky digital TV channels?

2.  Is it possible to formally subscribe to a Sky package when living in France, or can you successfully use a viewing card registered to a UK address, or are you only able to access free to air channels such as BBC, ITV, etc?

3.  Can you use Sky+ in France, and if so do you just bring over your existing box from the UK?

Answers to these questions and any other kind advice on this subject most gratefully received.  By the way we aren't wanting to dodge either french culture or TV, but would like access to english TV at least until our language skills are good enough and to help in the settling in process.  

  

 

 

[Anton Redman II]

1.  Is it easy to get a TV engineer in France to erect a dish specifically to access Sky digital TV channels?  Yes it is easy you may need to check that they are aiming at a notional position of 28.2 degrees east of South and that they skew the LNB. Alternatively there are at least a dozen firms specialising in installing Sky or freesat in France. Or you can at risk to you marriage health and sanity install the dish yourself - thousands of people have - including myself.

2.  Is it possible to formally subscribe to a Sky package when living in France, or can you successfully use a viewing card registered to a UK address, or are you only able to access free to air channels such as BBC, ITV, etc?  You cannot subscribe in France but a subscription card and digibox obtained in the UK

3.  Can you use Sky+ in France, and if so do you just bring over your existing box from the UK?   Many but not all people have found that unless you have a Sky Plus box connected to a UK telephone line you loose the record  facility

[Chezstevens]

Our Sky+ box has worked well for years ... we gave an address and explained the place had no phone line.

[AnOther]

You do not need a phone line for Sky+. For existing subscriptions I don't know if you can change without moving, don't see why not, but if you take out a new subscription you can pay a one off premium of £25 for not having it so connected.

SKY realised a long time ago that by making it a pre-requisite they were excluding a significant number of potential (UK) customers who, for perfectly valid and reasonable reasons, did not have and did not want a BT phone line. It is a number which is growing too.

[gyn_paul]

Assuming you are beyond the initial 12 month period of your Sky contract, you are not required to keep the box connected to a phone line. *

Changing from a standard Sky box to a sky+ box requires your viewing card to be paired with the new box, which requires you to phone Sky. So much better to effect the changover before you quit the UK. Failing that, you need to copy all the data from the setup page and get it to a UK-based friend or relative to phone 'as you'.

 

* - that was the situation when I lived in the UK (is that nice Mr Baldwin still PM ?) but may have changed since then. Any UK person started a new Sky non-HD contract recently care to confirm or deny?

p

 

[POB]

I am on my third Sky box plus since arriving in France.  The two that relatives sent out here for me I "matched" the card and box by ringing Sky on my English PAYG mobile without any problem, apart from the cost of the call whilst hanging on.  A local French installer put in the dish for me and I have a much stronger signal than I did in England.  I had already satisfied the 12 months requirement prior to leaving England.