I was lucky enough to get a satellite aerial in my flat. So I was interested in getting all those free satellite channels that permeate the aether of our planet for all kinds of cultural reasons: for example Future Mrs Aruns can get some more exposure to Italian, or I could do the same with Chinese. This would be useful when speaking to our in-laws - but I digress.
My dad in Italy has a satellite decoder that does not require a subscription to Sky (or any paid subscription) to work. This way he can do exactly what I’ve described; of course he cannot receive Sky channels in clear, but he doesn’t need them.
So I’ve travelled far and wide but in every shop I’ve been, clerks and salesmen tell me the same story. Typical sample:
“Oh, no, it’s not possible, you have to subscribe to Sky first.”
“You mean that I have to subscribe to a paid service to view free channels?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“But those channels are not transmitted by Sky, nor handled in any way by them, not even encoded”
“I’m very sorry sir, can’t help you more than that, why don’t you consider a nice subscription?”
And that I’m not going to do, sorry. I’m on a limited budget and I’m not an avid TV user anyway.
So, can it be that those salesmen were right? Do I really need a Sky subscription to get the signal bounced off satellites that are not under Sky’s control?
Can I just do like my dad and buy a decoder that does not require a subscription? In this case, where can I find one in England? I couldn’t find much on Google and I am reluctant to order stuff from abroad because of custom fees.
In a few weeks I’m going to travel to Italy to visit the family. If I buy a decoder there, is it going to work in England? This might sound silly to the knowledgeable, but maybe there are standards and compatibility issuses that I’m not aware of.
