By jno

When I first moved to Austria, there was one thing I just couldn't leave behind - good old British telly. I always hated synchronised television and I am loathed to watch anything dubbed into German, even though I am told it can seriously improve your language skills! Before I first arrived I was checking on what I could and couldn't receive when I eventually settled in Austria, was it even technially possible? How hard would it be to set up when I know nothing about installing a satellite dish and a box.

After a massive learning curve, 3 years later I was soon having my neighbours commenting on the complexity of my dish setup and asking "how many channels can you actually get with that crazy thing?"

The British channel BBC Prime, website http://www.bbcprime.com is and has been available on cable in Vienna and pars of Lower Austria for some time, so this article covers satellite options only.

So what are the options? Let's start by looking at what most people in Austria have already, option 1.

OPTION 1: 19 East - "German speaking channels with CNN and NBC"

- most Austrians (and Germans) will have these channels at home. This is because they are broadcast over satellite from orbital position 19 East. Don't be put off by that first technical term, this is where all the German channels are (ORF 1&2, RTL, PRO7, SAT1 and so on). This means if you get a compass, find south and move 19 degrees to the east of this you'll stand a good chance of finding that satellite. German speaking channels (and CNN/NBC) are broadcast from a satellite located at that position in both analogue and digital. Therefore, to receive them you need either an analogue or digital satellite receiver, cable and dish pointing at 19 East.

How you put a dish on the wall is not covered here, but there are sites out there that will describe how to do this ( http://www.kolias.com/homegarden/satellite.htm).

Remember in Austria that you will need to check if it is possible to mount a dish on a "communal wall" before you do it - not all large buildings, particularly in resedential areas will allow this.

Dish size required: 60cm upwards

ADVANTAGES: I it is just news you want, then CNN will suffice. A lot of German TV is free.

DISADVANTAGES: No English language channels.

OPTION 2: 28 East - The British "Sky TV" option.

This is probably the best of the all the options here, though the most expensive and and most complicated to set up. Unfortunately, Vienna and anything east of Salzburg is outside what is known as "the 2D zone". What that actually means is, a lot of the free English language television channels are not receivable without a large dish. The term 2D refers to the Astra 2D satellite which carries a lot of the free channels intended for the UK, so the areas in Europe it beams it signal towards are relatively limited. In the Vienna region, a large dish would be need (over 2.4 metres!) to pick up these 2D channels which are not easy to locate in high street shops, are very expensive and can take up to a full day to set up.

A whole website has been set up dedicated to this topic, check out http://www.astra2d.co.uk

However, with a subscription viewing card you can still receive a lot of British channels courtesy of Sky TV, the main satellite provider in the UK. For this, you will need a Sky Digibox that is over a year old, and a viewing card. Getting the digibox is easy, anyone will sell one of these to you, getting the card is not so easy. The problem lies in that Sky will only send viewing cards to UK addresses and will switch you off if they find out that you are watching abroad. Don't be put of by that, hundreds of bars and clubs around Europe have Sky Digiboxes and viewing cards in them and in tourist areas many of them use this to pull in passing trade. If you sit at home in Vienna and watch the news in English on your Sky digibox, this is hardly comparable is it?

With a basic Family Pack subscription, which costs around 19.50 GBP per month, you can watch - Channel 4 / Five / The Horror Channel* / Granada Plus / UKTV Gold / UKTV Gold+1 / UKTV Style / UKTV Style+1 / Paramount Channel / Paramount 2 / Challenge / Sci-Fi Channel / Bravo / E4 / UKTV Living / Animal Planet / UKTV People / FXUK / MTV / VH1 / VH1 Classic / Discovery Channel / Discovery Health / TCM / Sky One / Sky Mix / British Eurosport / Sky Sports News / CNN / Fox News / Sky News* / ITV News* / S4C* (Welsh programming with English subtitles) / History Channel / Animal Planet plus many more - those marked * are FTA (free to air and can be seen without a Sky Viewing Card).

Note: BBC Prime is NOT part of the Sky package.

The easiest way to set this up is with a friend who has a UK address. Alternatively if you don't have a UK friend you can pay a third party provider who will set it up for you, for example: http://www.olbort.at or http://www.skycards.net. A Sky Digibox works in isolation and cannot really be used with any of the other options here. Warning, third party providers are nowhere near as cheap as trying to set up a subscription yourself.

Dish size required: 60cm upwards

ADVANTAGES: Choice of channels is fantastic, just like living in the UK but without any BBC or ITV channels.

DISADVANTAGES: Setting up without a friend or relative in the UK can prove to be expensive.

OPTION 3: 26 East - Arabic channels with English language programming

This slightly less known third alternative is the cheapest option. It is the cheapest option because all the channels are FTA (Free To Air), which means that you simply need any Digital receiver an 80-90cm satellite dish (Vienna region). A great channel here is MBC2 (http://www.2onthenet.com) - it has 100% English programming showing mostly American shows. It also shows American films from the 80s and 90s and the BBC show "Top of The Pops", albeit with a different presenter. All studio clips are from the from the British show though. Other English channels include Saudi Arabian TV 2 with programming primarily in English, some programmes from the UK. BBC World India (which includes BBC's "Top Gear" show) which is 100% English language and Bahrain TV 55, Future and New TV, all of which have programs in English, including films. One other advantage of this option is there are quite a few sport channels located on Arabsat and they are also free. The sport channels are not in English and with Arabic commentary of course.

ADVANTAGES: all English language channels are FTA

DISADVANTAGES: limited programs and channels in comparison to other options

OPTION 4: 13 East - BBC Prime via the "Hotbird" satellite

This single channel is the BBC's official channel for those situated outside the UK. As a foreigner or ex-pat you can legally set up a subscription with the BBC in the UK to receive this single channel. Personally I think this isn't cheap, in the first year it costs around 110 GBP for 12 months, which for just one channel could be argued to be quite expensive. This channel is available in Vienna and parts of Lower Austria on cable. More details at http://www.bbcprime.com, where you can contact the BBC and they will organise distribution of a card.

Dish size required: 60cm-80cm

ADVANTAGES: If you like the BBC soap "Eastenders" and live outside Vienna, you can get it here.

DISADVANTAGES: Cost in comparison to content. BBC Prime shows a lot of home improvement and older BBC programs.

OPTION 5: all of the above! (for Experts only!)

If you have some money to spare and a lot of patience it is possible to set up all of these options of a single fixed dish (or you could get a motorised dish). A fixed dish is probably easier though, check out http://www.wavefrontier.com for how to receive multiple orbital positions off a single dish. Such "multi-feed dishes" are available throughout Austria in shops such as MediaMarkt.

Dish size required: 90cm Wavefrontier picks up all these options (plus more!)

ADVANTAGES: Choice - the sky's the limit - even channels you are not supposed to see are visible here!

DISADVANTAGES: Patience is required but will yield results in the end.

For further information about what is out there check out this link: http://www.lyngsat.com/europe.html

With anything technical this information is likely to go out of date very quickly, but if you have the time, patience and money this, getting English language TV is not as hard as you might think.

jno
6th October 2004