getting TG4 in the UK

irishguy

my cousin is mad into sports and irish news [as he is an ex-pat] and was wondering how he would be able to get RTE1,Network 2,TV3 and TG 4 in londen?a few ppl he knows have done it and he would like 2 know where he can buy the decoder??anyone got any ideas??

Mossy Monk

an Irish Sky subscription is needed (Family package minimum) and the card needs to be paired to a Sky Digibox for RTÉ 1 and Network 2 to work

DMC

As mossy said, an Irish subscription is needed. Best thing to do is sign a relative's address up for Sky, and bring the box with you. There is not much more too it, thats really all thats required.

watty

You can use an existing UK digibox....

1) Get someone to take out sub in Ireland. (Family pack is minimum, the lower packs don't have Irish TV).

2) Ensure card works, in Ireland. Phone and tell them you have changed digibox. Give UK box details. Card will work in UK box.

Notes:
Most new Irish Subs require phone connection for a year. No idea if it is a problem if the box suddenly has a UK phone number! You could try a CLI blocker in London. The worst that can happen is they cancel the sub and the card. I think it unlikely. People in Spain, Gibraltar, Germany, Scandinavia, Cyprus manage to have FTV cards and Sky Subscriptions. As far as EU law is concerned if you are *paying* sky, no problem. Pirates are people who either pay no-one or the pirate provider.

N.I. is of course at the moment part of UK, not ROI from Sky point of view.

If using more than one card, the best place to swap cards *USED* to be the "Guide" menu before selecting a sub option, Then select ALL Channels". Sky seem to have done some strange change regarding EPG selection vs Card detected on last update. So changing cards might be more awkward than it used to be.

Cheapest Irish offer at the moment is:
37.50 Euro with Sky World package... Install and free box.
Downgrade to Sky Family after a month.

You can leave the dish and just take the box. London often uses smaller ones. Or five minutes unbolts the dish and then you have a bigger "rain margin" in London.
DIY alignment is possible with no extra equipment, though a £20 meter helps. Allow 2hrs for alignment without a meter (or 10 minutes if lucky). It is 5 to 10minutes with a meter & compass If you know what to do.

rovingrover

Watty,

Just wondering what the issue is with swopping cards - I swop and Irish sub and FTV card regularly - turning off the digibox on 501 (Sky News) and never had a problem.

watty

You shouldn't have to turn off box.

The only issue (as far as I can see) is that the EPG guide can "crash" or get confused meaning you can't get program info or occasionally can't select the channel (As it isn't listed).
Changing the card after pressing guide used to be very reliable. Changing the card while on an encryped channel (UTV, RTE Gold, Sky1 etc) seems to be a recipe to crash.

Dunno what situation is now, I noticed that the simple FTA epg with BBC radio doesn't appear even after a power off on an Irish Card with card left out... Box seems to remember last used card now, which it didn't before. Almost certainly to allow auto changeover to new card (Would the new card sent to an ROI sub become a New FTA card if put in the first time after a FTV card instead of the old ROI card? I think it might! If you are going to cancel sub because you have aFTV card, wait till the new cards are sent out!).

Mossy Monk

i never have any of the problems described above when swapping viewing cards. maybe it is digibox specific. i have a Grundig

irishguy

and is it hard to buy a secondhand sky box from someone who has fufilled there 12 sub??and where would i look 2 get one ?

Richard

Originally posted by watty
You can use an existing UK digibox....

N.I. is of course at the moment part of UK, not ROI from Sky point of view.

Well yes, and although I don't mean to aggrevate things, the words "from Sky point of view" sound a bit too much like a political point. Remember what happened to ChristyG!

But I won't say any more as I don't want to make a political point myself!:)

Tony

Originally posted by Richard
Well yes, and although I don't mean to aggrevate things, the words "from Sky point of view" sound a bit too much like a political point. Remember what happened to ChristyG!

But I won't say any more as I don't want to make a political point myself!:)

It did not sound like a political point to me, merely a practical one. Its a little unfair to mention Christy's behaviour in the same vein.Lets move on.

Tony

Richard

Originally posted by Tony
Its a little unfair to mention Christy's behaviour in the same vein.

I wasn't saying it was anywhere near as bad as Christy, just that we should all be careful.

Lets move on.

Agreed. I don't intend to post any more on this.


But back to the subject at hand. I was in Lanzarote recently and all the bars had SkyDigital. I didn't see any with an Irish card (presumably since RTE would be out of reach) but I saw a London card (in "An Poitin Stil") and a Manchester one in a British Pub. Neither had ITV1 either, for the same reason as RTE.

Given that it is very easy to do this, it can't be too hard to get an Irish card/box working in the UK.

On a related subject, I heard of somebody with an Irish subscription using a UK bank account, so they probably don't monitor these things too closely.

lifeboatdoc

I have an Irish sub Sky Box here in the UK. I had a UK based Sky World sub which I cancelled and relaced with an Irish Sky World package paid for with a UK credit card. This saves paying two subscriptions

Genghis

The best way to get RTE etc in the UK is to perform a 'complete physical swap' of cards and equipment. i.e. Find someone in the UK who currently subscribes to Sky, and ask them to swap their digibox and card with your digibox and card.

As far as Sky are concerned each box is still in its native location.

This is only complicated if one or other of the boxes are within their first year and so must be attached to a phone line. Also if each party wants a different subscription level, then you need to sort this out in advance. And clearly you need to trust this other person will pay your subscription and you, theirs. Also, neither of you will have 'dial-out' interactivity, ordering box office etc.

Otherwise Both parties win: the person in Ireland gets the full UK line-up on satellite (by adding an aerial you now have RTE), and the person in the UK now has RTE via satellite, (which can be complimented by a Freeview subscription or terrestrial aerial). And Sky will never know.