Would like to watch English speaking TV

In order to watch Sky etc we have to connect to our community's  receiver .  The last time we were given a quote of over 400 Euros which we refused to pay ( and that was a few years ago ).  Is there any other way to watch English speaking channel like say  with a digital box ?    If there are other  way please can you advise as it is just not worth the cost of connecting when we are only in the apartment for holidays at present.

We could get our own Sky satellite dish but I don’t want to spoil our lovely veranda.

Will be grateful for any suggestions.  We have an apartment in Duquesa.

 Whilst iam not a professional satellite fitter, i have fitted a few, and i personally would have a satellite and receiver fitted.

If you do not want to spoil your view, why not a pole to fit the dish to, and carefully mark the position on all the brackets when aligned, so that it can easily be removed when you dont want it there, or when you return to the uk? The pole could be attached to brackets on your parapet/ handrail, and could be mounted with thumbscrews or hand wheels so that you could erect or dismantle it without tools.

You may say this is inconvienient at the least, but no more than the portable caravan dishes that pack away,and if the position of everything is marked with say a hacksaw, accurate setting up should be no problem.

I think this would be your best option, as all others seem to have downsides also, and this way the signal you are getting is the same signal you get in the UK, with the same quality.

If you want a recordable set up you will need a multi feed LNB on the dish, twin cable, and a suitable decoder that records the second feed.

you will also need a slightly bigger dish than a sky mini dish in southern europe , as the signal is aimed at the UK, and Spain is on the edge of the broadcast signal footprint.

Hope this helps, Rob.

why not check this out http://download.televisionfanatic.com/index.jhtml?spu=true&partner=XPxdm016&gclid=CIC6q4LY-7ECFYYTfAodkDUA9g

I expect there is others too

google 'TV Channels'

You won't get SKY but if you connect your computer via a UK proxy you can watch all the standard UK TV channels on your PC.  I actually run it through my laptop which I then connect to the TV so that we can watch BBC iPlayer in comfort 

You can get a proxy connection for €5 per month.

 jaldridge, you might not get sky but with the right settings on the decoder and over sized dish compared to the uk, you can get the freesat broadcast  in most areas of spain. This might not be the Sky channels , but would get you the terrestrial channels and some free ones

 I agree that it's worth getting a dish.  They're not huge, and surely it could go above the usable part of your veranda?  Then all you need is a decoder box, you DON'T need to pay a monthly subscription to anyone.  I picked up a decoder in Worten for under 60 euros and it gave me about 685 channels!  Though some were copies of the same channel, and about 150 were Sky channels which were scrambled.  Still, taking those out, I still have about 250 channels!

An alternative would be to get English TV through the internet.  Justin mentions a system for which you have to pay 5 euros a month.  There are also two free systems - one is to use ExPat Shield (just google it) which is a free download which gives your computer a UK IP address, so you can watch BBC iPlayer as it thinks you are in the UK.  The other is to get your internet through Europa Network (just under 20 euros a month) which includes streamed live UK tv through your computers.  

Hope that helps.  Of course you may not have internet as it's not used much of the year, so perhaps you'll need to weigh up the pros and cons of either a dish or paying for year-round internet.  Still both cheaper than a Sky contract!

 a well set up dish supplied  and fitted by  knowledgeable fitter would probably be no more expensive  than twelve months broadband subscription, and would have no subscription to pick up most UK freesat channels. plus it would not have the reception and download buffering problems that video downloads suffer on an average broadband connection. 

So, once fitted the cost of the dish would cost nothing with no reception problems. I know which way i would go!

 Why not just connect to the community system?  A one off payment for cabling, receiver etc will work out the same as installing a dish, buying the receiver and having it connected.  No monthly payments and no big dish on your roof.  Alternatively, get a freeview receiver (ones from UK work perfectly well as do the built in ones on newer TVs) and pick up Spanish TV which has the facility for changing certain programmes into the original language (normally English as they are mainly American imports).  However, you won't get the news in English and you can have the joys of watching 140 odd adverts in one ad break.  Plus a lot of the programmes are on after midnight to about 2 in the morning.  

 Bobaol i suggest you read the original post, and i quote; " In order to watch Sky etc we have to connect to our community's  receiver .  The last time we were given a quote of over 400 Euros which we refused to pay ( and that was a few years ago )."

And using freeview on the Spanish terrestial channels is just the same as connecting to any Spanish TV broadcast, which when  Tamsin, the original contributor states she wants English TV, seems a bit self defeating to say the least, as Spanish TV is not nor will ever be English channels

 I did read the original post.  He doesn't want a big dish so why not connect to the communities satellite?  400 euros is about what setting a dish and receiver up would cost anyway.

And I didn't say they'd get English channels on Spanish TDT, simply certain programmes in English.  Big difference.

The only other alternative would be one of the rebroadcasters which charge a monthly fee and, most of them, set up costs.  A one off payment of 400 euros would pay for this in less than a year.