Minimum sub for RTE

suffolksat

My mother would love to be able to watch RTE etc.

Is there any way of me getting hold of a box and card from over there to use over here that doesn't have to be connected to the phone.

Do you have an equivalent to the £20 card that card doesn't advertise very much that we have here.

rlogue

The big problem for many ex-pat Irish is that the Irish channels are only available on Irish Sky subs with the Family pack (currently €35 per month I think) as the minimum sub that can be taken out before you can watch the Irish channels.

And you have to have the viewing card paired to the box as well.

There are companies out there who can arrange for Irish subs and boxes to be shipped to the UK and Europe, or if you can agree a swap of subs (and boxes) with an Irish friend or family then that's a possibility as well.

It really is ridiculous that three years on from the RTE-imposed death of Tara Television that those Irish outside Ireland who want to watch Irish TV have to resort to these cloak-and-dagger tactics...

el Bastardo

Nevermind that for a second. I'm inside Ireland and I still can't get RT-bloody-E without signing up to $ky. And they still expect me to stump up for a TV licence aswell?

Capt'n Midnight

el Bastardo wrote:

Nevermind that for a second. I'm inside Ireland and I still can't get RT-bloody-E without signing up to $ky. And they still expect me to stump up for a TV licence aswell?

The license is a government tax, at present they hand RTE some of the money, so talk to your TD.

If you can get SKY then you aren't in an apartment, so you must be able to get a high gain external aerial of the correct band. Look on the terresterial forum http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=56 for technical supportc ontact in RTE.

Do RTE do streaming for TV yet ? - cos unlike here there is affordable broadband in the UK, unlikley but it could be an option

sceptre

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

If you can get SKY then you aren't in an apartment, so you must be able to get a high gain external aerial of the correct band

Not necessarily. I can (I do), I am and I can't, respectively.

watty

RTE won't agree with this, but I would say approximately 20% of Off Air viewers get what I call unacceptable quality from RTE. For TV3 it could be 40%.

Maybe 10% can't get RTE, 15% TG4 and 20% TV3.

What BBC / ITV would call "fringe" reception, RTE calls reception.

Almost all the original VHF TX sites are badly chose from point of view of population coverage.

Three rock, Spur Hill and Woodcock on UHF fill in the worst excesses of the original planning policy. But Woodcock is 1/10th of power it should be, or possibly 1/100th.

I have line of sight and can *SEE* Woodcock across the Shannon, and with high gain aerial on 10ft pole on chimney with preamp the RTE /TG4 quality is merely acceptable and TV3 varies from watchable to very poor. I wonder if TV3 is frequently switching to a poor Off Air rebroadcast feed for Woodcock?


I would love the 4 Irish channels on Satellite. I have 3 Digital receivers (One is Sky, one FTA and one "HighEnd" PC PCI card.). Two dishes (one motorised, one with multiple fixed LNB).

But I won't sub to Sky at all, much less the "Family Pack". If there was a 1/3rd price pack of even just *EIGHT* channels including the Four Irish and pick your other four, I would take a sub.

Sky's package mixes are laughable if you don't want Sport, Movies (I buy the DVD if it something I will like) or Reality/"pop magasine" junk (i.e. Kirsty's Home movies, Footballers wives etc). I'm not interested in subscribing to Repeat Channels in the UK TV stable.

HarryD

watty wrote:

Almost all the original VHF TX sites are badly chose from point of view of population coverage.

??
Mt Leinster, covers most of the SE.
Kippure covers Dublin up to Drogheda and inland.

I think they're switching to UHF soon anyway..

Lennoxschips

My gran lives four miles down the hill from Spur Hill, but can't receive clear pictures.

Surely that's ridiculous?