Satellite Dish Management company

ddub11

Hi guys hoping to get some advice here.

I live in an apartment complex with the usual rule regarding sat dish(not allowed) so no problem i got myself hooked up to the communal dish.

However last week i lost the signal and got my end checked out and the engineer said everything's fine my end and thinks its the communal dish so i contacted the management co and this is where the problem lies.

I am not a sky customer i watch free to air tv and the management co told me the dish is not their responsibility and i need to ring sky but im not a sky customer and sky wont entertain me.

My argument is its a communal dish for all of us and sky should not have a monopoly on what tv service i use,imo the dish should be serviced by an independent business and everyone in the complex would benefit but the management co will not listen.

And to make things worse for me most people are now use internet for tv and those who dont have their own dishes(mad i know)so im the only one complaining so i have basically been told that nothing will be done.

I could get my own dish(believe it or not the management suggested this)but why should i splash out when theres a communal dish available.I have also pointed out to the management company that its in my contract and everybody elses that dishes are not allowed and it would be everybodys interest if they enforced the rule and used the communal dish.

carveone

Just my 2c. As far as I know there's nothing special about the feed from the LNB. I guess in your case there's a bunch of feeds - like from an octo LNB or similar.

Do other people with sky or whatever have a signal? If they do, then it might be youe cable rather than the dish. I'd start by checking the signal at your cable with a signal meter. I got one from Lidl years ago, pretty cheap.

If nothing, then you'll have to trace back. If you can get access to the dish that would help you a bunch.

In the event, the management company's opinion isn't relevant. It's the owners that make the rules. If you're a owner, talk to the others.

I got nowhere myself though so I now have a sneaky little flat panel dish lurking on the balcony. Covered in a black plastic bag. It's a "potted plant" and noone can say otherwise cause it doesn't look dish shaped so they don't know what it is.

ddub11

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121251167#Comment_121251167

Thanks for the reply,as i said had a guy out and he checked everything he could from my end and said im not getting a signal and while it could be a number of things i still need to try the communal dish checked to see if theres an issue with that,can i ask you where you got your flat panel dish?tia.

carveone

It's a selfsat model I got from Satworld.ie out on the Kylemore road. The reception is weaker than a dish would be but I've good line of sight from my balcony (first floor).

I've seen a few dishes where the connector to the LNB is cheap and uncovered. So it rusts through and one day just falls off. If your dish is difficult to get to, as they usually are, it can be a real chore to replace it.

goingnowhere

These setups are normally done by the OMC contracting a provider, e.g. Sky as the provider to install and maintain equipment. This is basically a free lunch for the OMC as they are spared the capital costs of the installation.

Residents contract with Sky for service. Typically Sky will install some equipment i.e the dish and some distribution kit and will only patch in active subscribers to the system. The dish belongs to Sky not the OMC and handle all customer service relating to the service. The internal wiring is the OMC's back to the comms room/panel somewhere in the building where its patched to the sky system.

Most likely case is someone else subscribed to Sky, technician went out and found they didn't have a spare port on the distribution head, check up the subscribers in building and unplugged you.

In my case we installed a TV antenna for Saorview and contracted Sky, you can have one or the other service, if you are not subscribed to Sky you are connected to Saorview.

The Sky setup consists of a dish with an optical LNB, run of fibre down to a comms room where there is a Sky distribution head and a single output for each apartment

Dav010

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121253384#Comment_121253384

This is exactly what happened in a development I was on the BoM, we got complaints from apartment owners that their access to Sky dish was gone, Sky had done some maintenance in the dish/upgraded the hub and disconnected non subscribers from the dish.

Nickindublin

We have a communal dish and there has being a few problems over the years. Last time the Sky guy was out about 2 years ago(working since) he told me sky will not be fixing these long term as they are making no money out of them as most apartment owners are not subscribing. Sky installed and own the equipment in our complex. We never went through the management company for any issues. IMO you should look at internet tv options to see if they suit you. In our complex anyone who installed a dish(and didnt remove it after warnings) had it removed by the management company and billed for the cost of removal.

ddub11

Seems Management cant help me as the dish is sky owned.Its possible i was disconnected but i have my doubts as sky have told the management company they will only come out if they have a complaint from a customer(i am not)so i doubt they came out also their are very few people (if any)using the sat dish these days as they stream their tv from sky.

Its all a bit crazy,i mean we have a communal dish and all apartments are wired up and yet unless you use sky you cannot use the dish and yet they tell us we can not have individual sat dishes.

Imo the dish should only have been allowed if it was allowed to be used by all residents especially when you consider we are paying fees which contribute to the maintenance of the building to which the dish is attached.

Also sky should never have been giving exclusive rites to provide sat tv in the complex and by going down the route they did this is what happened.

Dav010

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121260385#Comment_121260385

It’s likely many occupants benefitted from that dish when it was installed and the only access to sky was through said dish. It is becoming obsolete, unfortunately that means you are going to have to subscribe to some provider for the channels you previously enjoyed free of charge. It’s unfortunate but technology has moved on and as you said, we now rely more on the internet for our viewing content. The link between your management fees and the sky dish is a tenuous one, Sky own and maintain the hardware, the OMC does not pay anything for this service so unfortunately, you are in a position whereby you are complaining to a company you are not a customer of, about their service.

Nickindublin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121260385#Comment_121260385

The only reason there is a dish there is because Sky offered it to the management company at no cost to the OMC in return for them to subscribe to their service. Sky pay a contractor to install and maintain the dishes in all apartment blocks they have installed them. Why should they fix a dish for someone who is not a customer. I dont think they can block you from using it so more likely its damaged. So if none of your neighbours have sky using the dish they wont fix it. They do break every few years.

enfant terrible

Could he sign up to sky and one is running cancel it in the cooling off period?

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121260385#Comment_121260385

You don't really have a communal dish, at least, not in the sense that the dish belongs to the residents. Sky have put one of their dishes in your apartment complex, so that any of the residents who wish to become Sky customers can use it. Sky own the dish. Sky incur all the costs related to the maintenance of the dish.

If the OMC had said you can only install the dish if it's usable by all residents then Sky would just have said no, and you would have no dish. Why would Sky pay to install and maintain a dish to be used by people who aren't even their customers?

Very unlikely they have exclusive rights either. There's nothing to stop other TV providers making their service available too, they just probably aren't interested as it's not financially viable. A limitation on availability of TV providers is normal in apartment situations.

You've had a free lunch here for a while, fair play, but I don't think you've any legitimate grievance now. You can either pay for Sky, or get your TV via streaming options.

ddub11

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121262602#Comment_121262602

If it was requested sky allowed the dish to be used by all and they refused we could have got a dish from an interdependent?private company and allowed sky and others to use it,that would have made more sense.Just because sky say no to that request it does not mean we can not have a dish.

Its was the wrong call to go down the sky route,ok at the time it may have seemed to be the rite call but times and circumstances have changed and the board should be more proactive in dealing with it,i can see at least 8 private dishes on the walls from my bedroom window and when i mentioned this to the omc they said ye we let it slip.