English / US television in Spain (Barcelona)

you have fun in spain ....

ok.....?

where not like the Usa with only 2 comapnay you get you tv from as in Dish
here we got lots off them , well in spain you got Canal+ are also know as Digital+ that would have most off American sports (NBA, MLB, NFL,) and Football know as soccer you got Premiership, Champions League Europe and Uefa Cup so think you need to head down you loacl bar and see most sport been show on tv

as Spain has big expat there people like to get there loacl tv so end up with big dishs you got lot regional tv companys and some charge aswell

I moved from the US and would like to know what some of the MANY companies that offer a package that plays american sports. Could you please be a little specific and include some links to these companies. I live in madrid,Appreciate the help.

I apologise for some of the people you'll meet on the net. They do not play with a full deck.

Simply put you have to get a satelite dish and have it aligned to an orbiting satelite. Here's the hic-up. Spain (as well as europe in general) has strong laws preventing you from being allowed to recieve such legally.

If you check your local directory enquireies, or any hoboo in a bar nearby you'll most likley find local companies that will do all the foot work for you.

Your LEGAL options are:

Canal + .. alot of the channels are indeed in dual (mean you can listen to it in English). There are no real soap operas but plenty of films.
FreeSat .. just go buy a freesat box for around ?20+ and plug it in. youll get whatever is in your local area. and a fair bit is also in dual. (i have this option, and get free disney channel for my daughter as well as sports etc.)

There may or may not be other options in your area, but have a look around "corte ingles" or "carrefore" for offers. They basically do everything.


Your ILLEGAL option is:

Sky ... this is a UK satelite broadcasting company. Lots of channels. all in english etc. You can get alot of the yankie sports on there. Contact any dodgy local satelite firm. My advice is if you do this, do not part with a single cent until you see it up and working for 10mins+. Have them install it after 6pm so you can see what channels you will be able to get during the weaker signal time.

ANOTHER option is to use SlingBox.

If you have family in your home country they are relativley easy to set-up. Ive seen them working but do not have experience with them beyond that.

http://www.slingmedia.com/

The picture quality was good and if you link it with a tivo or such you could effectivly program it to transmit US tv from the day before at times you are used too ..
Just an idea. I hope this helps.


ps. i have no idea why the formating has screwed up on this post. I guess the net hates me today.

> I moved from the US and would like to know what some of the MANY companies that offer a package that plays american sports. Could you please be a little specific and include some links to these companies. I live in madrid,Appreciate the help.

well in spain would be digial+ would the biggest in Usa sports on there canal+ sport channels
also try TDT.es for listting off channel in you area just put postcode in on the right side off the website

Usa sport would be showed late at night and many not be live , as Eu sport would run until 11 pm at night live

Main thinks i see coming in from usa would be golf football basket ball and college games sumer time Baseball

but will ask more for you

slingbox will cost you for the intnet uploading and downloading and if youtake oackage out usa will coast aswell
this box give you free tv that hooked up to you box at home

i got many dish here and would see lot off tv feeds that com in the EU from Usa , work in media in the IT dept so free for usd here
if you get bbc news you get abc news at night time around 1 - 2 am

jurdy

links are
http://www.tdt.es
http://www.digial.es

english tv comapny http://www.sky.com you company many be blocked due not in the uk are ireland (not all pages will be seen )
get english ip address for that , need uk post address to take out pay tv with this company
Pay tv in Eu is not cheap

Just a quick FYI...

After finally getting internet (it took 5 WEEKS!) I have a Slingbox set up in the US, and now I can watch US tv.

The key is that I have it set up to a cable box with a DVR (tivo-type-thing), so the time difference is also negated. Otherwise, you're watching games at 3am.

The quality is ok. If you're used to real good tv or HDTV quality, you may not like it, but it's fine for me. It's more or less like watching an old VHS tape. The audio is perfect though. I recommend it.

IS IT POSSIBLE TO BUT A DIGIBOX THAT WILL RECEIVE UK CHANNELS (ANY) WITHOUT HAVING TO GET A DISH? I HAVE BEEN OFFERED A THOMSON DS 1421 SKYBOX, BUT AM IN RENTED PROPERTY FOR 5 MONTHS AND ONLY WANT TO HAVE IT VIA A BOX, NOT HAVE A DISH INSTALLED - DOES ANYONE KNOW IF THIS IS POSSIBLE- I LIVE IN ONTINYENT AND NO-ONE IN THE INDUSTRY HERE SPEAKS ENOUGH ENGLISH TO BE ABLE TO HELP ME....

box = dish for uk tv in spain

Firstly Kabrav's post is not strictly correct,

There are no illegal options for receiving satellie TV according to EU Directive you can put up a satellite dish to receive transmisson from any satellite you like,,, and moreover you cannot unreasonably be refused permission to do so by either a landlord or a local authority or even national government, The allegedy illegal element in the much publicised Telemicro affair, was over unpaid taxes, underdeclaration of income and unathorised rebroadcasting of programmes without the necessary permissions and contracts in place.

Please see here

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/01/913&format=HTML&aged=1&language=EN&guiLanguage=en


Secondly, it is not illegal to have or watch SKY in Spain, but it is in breach of their(SKY) terms and conditions, and should you be in Spain and be viewing SKY package channels and should you have a SKY contract and should you be found out you will be cutoff (Deactivated is the correct terminology), This is mostly down to as always money, and who makes what where. from contracts , and the like. commonly known as broadcasting rights

To answer the last question, what you appear to have is a Thomson 4214 SKY box, and you will NEED a dish to receive anything on it, and the dish will NEED to be pointed at Astra 2 to work at all, The dish size will be dependant on where you live.

The question on USA TV , if you can get hold of an US forces subscription or box there is a load of US TV channels as in the states , l on Hotbird 13E (think its called AFN , American Forces Network of which there is a sports dedicated channel)

All good info thus far. Just to add to the comments, you can't get US TV direct from the satellite as the world is covering the satellitle (literally). The signal for Sky comes from a satellite positioned just over the Uk, and if you have big enough dish, you will get the signal. HOWEVER, if you're ony interested in sports, films, etc. then most sports are re-transmitted but with local commentary (like say in the US, you have the english football on ESPN, for example - here it's on Canal +, occasionally on normal TV, and obviously on the SKy mentioned beforehand. Timing for many programmes is a bummer - i.e. I have loads of friends who pile down to the olympic village in Barcelona to a pub at 3am to watch the play offs, or college basketball, etc. Madness...hehehe. Get yourself a hard disk drive and do that instead.

When I go overseas, I use a service from a company called NationPhone&TV; called USATVAbroad. When my cousin did a semester overseas he used it to. You can see it at http://www.usatvabroad.com They give you a real 200 channel US Cable subscription with all major networks plus HBO and Showtime streamed live via internet or you can use their set top box to watch on your TV.

Wow, no updates to this thread for over a year!

Well I have started using a new free US TV service from USTVNow http://www.ustvnow.com They give you all of the major networks live in full screen. It really is completely free and I didn't have to give my CC or even download any software! They don't IP block but require you to authenticate that you are an American Citizen or resident (takes 30 seconds). There is a very cool network DVR so I can record shows even if they are not in my time zone. I may upgrade to one of their paid plans with more channels but you can just use the free plan. After a quick registration, you have instant access. I also like that the paid plans have no setup fee and require no contract. They say they will soon have a set top box available that they say should work with any kind of TV. This is great!