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BARFORD FEATURES :
With the recent announcement that analogue television broadcasts
to the Midlands will cease in 2010, we offer some practical advice for those
of you who are now looking to upgrade to digital TV, but don’t want to pay
a subscription to Sky and can’t get reception for Freeview on your normal
aerial.
Digital TV on the Cheap (What Sky doesn’t want you to know?)
An article by Mark Kelly.
Some info for anyone, like me, who's had trouble
with their TV reception and is considering upgrading to digital TV.
I moved
to Barford last summer and have been very happy with my new surroundings,
but as most residents are probably already aware, the quality of television
reception can leave a lot to be desired. I already had a freeview box,
but
this was next to useless as my poor reception meant it only worked on
a few channels at a time and was prone to cutting out.
I didn’t want to end up paying a Sky subscription for the rest of
my days so I looked into getting a better aerial. After talking to several
aerial fitting companies in the area it was looking like I’d have
to spend something like £300 to get a new aerial mounted extra high
on scaffold poles to get a strong enough signal to power my freeview
box. I didn’t fancy this because of the cost and due to the thought
of having poles mounted on my roof.
I was about to crack and sign up
for a Sky subscription, when I found a link on the BBC News website stating
that Sky were offering a flat fee freeview
service. I found this hard to believe as I’d just been on the Sky
website looking at what the cheapest deals would be and had found no
mention of this.
In the end it took me several hours to track down and
verify that Sky do offer this service, but they seem to be avoiding any
promotion of it. The
reason for offering it at all was to stop the BBC and/or the government
from setting up a satellite freeview service for the 25% of the UK population
who cannot get a suitable signal for terrestrial freeview.
The service
costs £150 and includes all the required equipment, installation
and set-up. There is no contract or monthly fee so there is no more to pay
- ever. For this you get perfect reception on the 5 regular channels plus
all the new BBC and ITV digital channels plus a wide selection of digital
radio stations and assorted free channels for news, shopping, holidays etc.
I’ve had it since before Christmas and am very pleased with it. I
can even use the BBC interactive (red button) services.
The only down
side is having a smallish dish on your south facing wall, but as this is
on the back of my house it wasn’t that big a deal and
is still better than the scaffold poles!
The details are (which I still
have never seen advertised anywhere)
Sky Freesat number 0870 606 1111
The offer should be available at most
electrical retailers including Comet, Hughes, Bennetts, and independent
electrical and satellite specialists.
or click here for the Sky Freesat
website.
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