Charlesland Crescent Sky Tv

JustinF

Just a brief note in relation to Sky , I have one of the 2 bed apartments with mezzanine up in the Crescent and have been there since the development was built, we subsequently moved away for a little over 2 years but returned in February this year.
Just before we had left we had correspondence from Sky TV and the management company that there was discussions of a communal dish going up, but when I made a call about this a few months back the management company new nothing of it and it seems nothing became of it.
I know having had Sky tv there is no comparison with NTL and am of the impression that the majority of the crescent would be under the same impression, I am guessing there was a brown envelope passed between NTL and the Developer at the time of the building that they would have sole viewership and Sky would not be brought in.
As we are now getting a new management company and wyse is leaving would this be something that we can look at putting forward or is anybody aware of the reason we didn't get the communal dish that had been proposed?
I would be very interested to hear other comments or the reason behind not having the option of 1 or even 2 communal dishes to service the entire development, as all who live there are aware there must be 5 or 6 of them in place on balconies etc as is.
Looking forward to hearing other opinions.

matt-dublin

The majority of the crescent is not owner occupied anymore, introducing sky would increase service charges so more money out of pocket for everyone

Jimjay

As far as i know skys installation contracts (installation companies) have changed quite a bit over the past couple of months. "sky homes" was a service that sky would supply for apt blocks that have x amount of people interested in sky, they would install communal system for free. Again as far as i know they no longer provide the "sky homes" service in ireland as the company that they contracted to provide the service no longer hold the contract and therfore you would have to pay for and arrange install all the equipment required, which is not cheap. You would then be responsable for the ongoing service of that equipment.

JustinF

matt-dublin wrote: »

The majority of the crescent is not owner occupied anymore, introducing sky would increase service charges so more money out of pocket for everyone

I know from personal experience that many people won't rent apartments for the reason they dont have access to Sky. There is a case only last week somebody renting who loved the crescent left due to the Tv service, SNIPyou will see it back up for rent now.
Sky is an excellent selling point for apartments as well as a big deciding factor for potential tenants. In my opinion if it would cost an extra 25 euro per apartment a year it be seeing as an investment as much as an extra expense... Obviously I'm not aware of the exact fee but think it be worth looking into.

JustinF

Jimjay wrote: »

As far as i know skys installation contracts (installation companies) have changed quite a bit over the past couple of months. "sky homes" was a service that sky would supply for apt blocks that have x amount of people interested in sky, they would install communal system for free. Again as far as i know they no longer provide the "sky homes" service in ireland as the company that they contracted to provide the service no longer hold the contract and therfore you would have to pay for and arrange install all the equipment required, which is not cheap. You would then be responsable for the ongoing service of that equipment.

Alright, I wasn't aware of the hole in's and outs I thought it was as simple as erecting one communal dish and everybody be linked in through It. Think if giving the option 90% of people would opt for Sky over Ntl or Chorus so it's just a shame nothing can be done.

artvandelay48

In the spring we got a communal dish installed in an apartment complex in Greystones and Sky covered all installation charges. My impression was that if they felt there was enough potential for new business, they would foot the bill of installing.

Jimjay

artvandelay48 wrote: »

In the spring we got a communal dish installed in an apartment complex in Greystones and Sky covered all installation charges. My impression was that if they felt there was enough potential for new business, they would foot the bill of installing.

That was correct but things are up in the air at the moment and the last i heard they were no longer doing the free apt installs. Sky only use contractors in ireland so rely on them for quality of work and maintenance. Sky used multiple contractors up to before summer but since the the contract is now being transferred to one company and not the one that installed appartments.

To share a dish you require a dish with a quatro lnb (not quad) the quatro lnb has four feeds, one for each frequency. Those four feeds have to go in to a powered multi switch,the multi switch has to have enough feeds for the apartments to have at least two cables going to the main tv in each one for sky+ to work and then an extra feed to each room that will want a mutliroom box you may have to daisy chain special multi switches to get enough. The more feeds from the mutli switch the more expensive. You may also need in line amplifiers. The overall cost of the equipment may only come to less than 1k euros depending on the quality of equipment but then you will have to pay a team of two people 1-2 days work to install it all.

matt-dublin

Jimjay wrote: »

That was correct but things are up in the air at the moment and the last i heard they were no longer doing the free apt installs. Sky only use contractors in ireland so rely on them for quality of work and maintenance. Sky used multiple contractors up to before summer but since the the contract is now being transferred to one company and not the one that installed appartments.

To share a dish you require a dish with a quatro lnb (not quad) the quatro lnb has four feeds, one for each frequency. Those four feeds have to go in to a powered multi switch,the multi switch has to have enough feeds for the apartments to have at least two cables going to the main tv in each one for sky+ to work and then an extra feed to each room that will want a mutliroom box you may have to daisy chain special multi switches to get enough. The more feeds from the mutli switch the more expensive. You may also need in line amplifiers. The overall cost of the equipment may only come to less than 1k euros depending on the quality of equipment but then you will have to pay a team of two people 1-2 days work to install it all.

plus cabling to everyones gaf etc, probably works out closer to 5k after everything for a small block!

JustinF i've never heard of someone moving out of an apartment because they don't have sky, i have however heard of people moving out of an apartment because it was too expensive for them to occupy....

what sort of ludicrous statement is that?

Jimjay

matt-dublin wrote: »

plus cabling to everyones gaf etc, probably works out closer to 5k after everything for a small block!

JustinF i've never heard of someone moving out of an apartment because they don't have sky, i have however heard of people moving out of an apartment because it was too expensive for them to occupy....

what sort of ludicrous statement is that?

As a sky installer myself I have heard of and spoken to many people who have moved from appartments and houses because they were not allowed or told they had to remove sky. It certainly is not a ludicrous statement. I personally would turn down an appartment if it was not sky enabled.

matt-dublin

So you're telling me that if there was a 2k square foot apartment available for a grand a month and it didn't have sky you'd reject it?

If not go check out some of the penthouses up in stepaside.

The only thing UPC can't offer at the moment here is a few crap channels and hd. After that with their additional services their offering with bb is far superior

Jimjay

matt-dublin wrote: »

So you're telling me that if there was a 2k square foot apartment available for a grand a month and it didn't have sky you'd reject it?

If not go check out some of the penthouses up in stepaside.

The only thing UPC can't offer at the moment here is a few crap channels and hd. After that with their additional services their offering with bb is far superior

Well, put it this way. If there were two appartments and one had choice of sky and the other didnt i would go with the one with choice. For me it has nothing to do with who offers what. If i was with upc and was having problems with their system or customer service i want to be able to tell them to shove it knowing i could order an alternative. With no choice i am forced to put up with it. This goes both ways. Also with choice you also have negotiation to get the best price, not only that but if i already have sky and am moving i could be in contract so would have to keep sky or pay my way out.

JustinF

matt-dublin wrote: »

So you're telling me that if there was a 2k square foot apartment available for a grand a month and it didn't have sky you'd reject it?

If not go check out some of the penthouses up in stepaside.

The only thing UPC can't offer at the moment here is a few crap channels and hd. After that with their additional services their offering with bb is far superior

I came back only 10 months ago from a house with Sky to the Crescent after leaving it for over 2 years, the TV quality is a different standard altogether, I myself am a bit of a gadget freak and I like to have the latest in technology as a lot of people do, I have a tv worth 3k and the color quality difference with NTL is outrageous, there is no HD, everybody has these HD TV's but are getting none of the benefit.
With Sky the images on the same TV are of a different quality,they are poor to say the least with NTL. We have two young kids so we don't watch tv till after 9 as our hands are tied till then, so almost everything we watch is recorded, with NTL you can only record one thing at a time. It speaks for itself that while driving up Charlesland 90% of the Duplex apartments have sky dishes and the duplex block at the top has a communal dish.
If giving the option its very clear the majority of people would take Sky over NTL and I believe if a door to door was done you would get that result, the only benefit NTL has over Sky is the fact there is no Dish, there customer services in my opinion is rubbish, the TV quality is poor, its blatantly obvious that sky is the 21st century and NTL are in the shadows trying to catch up. All new developments are built and pre wired for Sky. It speaks for itself really.
And I also know lots of people who would not rent a property because of a tv service. A lot of people now have more of a social life at home rather than going out due to money and there luxury is there tv. I also think they should have the option not whats forced on them.

JustinF

matt-dublin wrote: »

plus cabling to everyones gaf etc, probably works out closer to 5k after everything for a small block!

JustinF i've never heard of someone moving out of an apartment because they don't have sky, i have however heard of people moving out of an apartment because it was too expensive for them to occupy....

what sort of ludicrous statement is that?

Also Matt as outlined I spoke to the people in <<snip>> they got permission from the landlord and they contacted the management company who subsequently told them to remove it. They personally told me prior to this if they where made take it down they where leaving... and so be if they moved out.

I also know another few people with Sky dishes in the crescent who told me if there dishes are taken down they too will be leaving.. so it may be ludicrous to you but obviously not to everybody.