> ...were informed that if we purchased a digital receiver box, (equivalent to free view i guess), that we could get BBC1,2,3,4 etc. Upon purchase of an ARIS box however, we are only able to get Spanish channels.
it sounds like you bought a TDT recevier - which receives 30ish spanish channels - of which some programmes you can change the soundtrack to their origianl version - like english.
TDT is the spanish equivilent of freeview - digital television via your tv aerial.
it will not have any UK based channels on their as they are not broadcast via your tv aerial in spain - i think the nearest freeview transmitter is in the channel islands!!
> that we could get BBC1,2,3,4 etc
if you want bbc1 and itv you will need a minimun of a 1.8m satellite dish - ideally a 2.4 - and a digital satellite receiver.
you will not get bbc2,3,4 , or c4 from about 6pm in the evening - as the signal is just too weak
> We are reluctant to have a dish installed, since we do not intend to stay here permanently but since this is a traditional Spanish town and we are still adjusting, would REALLY love to receive even English news!! If anyone can provide advise or guidance, we would be truly grateful.....
you can get UK TV from a number of satellites with a small dish - say 80cm and a generic free to air satellte receiver..
if the dish is poining at the UK satellites you can get bbc news, sky news, cnn, bbc radios, bbc sport interactive, a few music channel and a few movie channels that show "made in american straight to dvd" movies...
if the dish is pointing towards some of the other european satellites - like astra 19east, you can get bbc world news and sky news and a few other odds and sods (german eurosport is free!)
try looking at
http://www.satandpcguy.com/forum/showthread.php?55 for more information...a really useful guide for UK TV in spain.