Loss of BBC ITV in Spain and Portugal – beware of a “magic” solution from another satellite!
With the recent loss of BBC and ITV channels in southern most areas of Spain and Portugal, some installers are promoting and installing a “magic new satellite” for UK TV.
This “magic solution” is actually Intelsat 907, located at 27.5º west. It carries a small handful of BBC, ITV and C4 channels.
More about this service can be found at : https://www.satandpcguy.com/Site/intelsat_907_uk_tv_channels.php
However, all is not as good as it seems.
The channels on this satellite are basically a back up in case of a failure of the UK Freeview distribution system
Unlike the more commonly used public and free to air BBC and ITV channels, the chanensl on Intelsat 907 are encrypted. The BISS encryption is regularly broken by hackers, and so allowing access to these channels. When the codes change, the new codes are posted on the internet within days. sometimes weeks may pass. But it can leave poeple who do not know the codes with no TV. Again. and a potentially large bill for a system that can leave them with no UK TV as promised!
Some people who have had this system installed have expressed surprised when informed about the illegal hacking required to access these channels, and that their “installer” failed to tell them this. And they failed to be told that when the codes change there could be a delay of days or weeks until the new codes are known.
Thank you so so much for this post, I live in Southern Spain and this is the magic solution I was given for a small sum of £500!!!! no mention about hacking of course but they did say the channels were encrypted. It all makes perfect sense now 🙂 Thank you for your time.
Hi, not sure if anyone knows this, I’m sure you do, but I am in Denia, I have a 1.4 dish. My BBC has been breaking up for a couple of weeks and today my ITV is breaking up as well. However, with BBC, if you go to Sky channel 960 you can then scroll through all the BB1 and BBC2 regional channels. I get perfect reception BBC1 Wales, Scotland, NI, Channel Islands etc, and also BBC on some regional channels.
If you have channel break up on BBC and ITV on a “1.4m” dish in Denia, then your dish is not aligned correctly, and needs to be aligned correctly to receive the channels properly.
Oops, forgot to mention ITV1 works great on ITV1 plus 1, channel 173
on monday 17 th feb around lunch time i lost itv 1 granada bbc 1 northwest and channel 4 ,they have been removed from the channel list ,i can get itv 2,3,4 and bbc wales ,scotland and n ireland.i am in the ayora valley 90 klms inland between valencia and alicante.anyone else sufferd the same problem.
Those channels are still on Sky and Freesat channel lists – they have not gone anywhere.
And are nothing to do with any recent satellite changes, or this “magic” solution satellite that the main post talks about!
Perhaps a reboot of the box may work?
Hi
What do you sergest then for watching uk channel ?
I was told the bbc have 5 years left on this satellite lease.and they would not spend millions of share holders money on a new encryption .for something they don’t need to.
If you have lost channels, then this is because either your dish is now too small to receive them, or your current dish is large enough but not aligned accurately enough.
Why would BBC spend money on encryption when they have to be free to air under their charter?
They are spending their money on paying to be on the UK beam of the new satellites, so no need for encryption as well.
I see reports of engineers testing with 4Meter dishes in the south of Spain/Portugal with out any luck .i don’t think a larger dish will Help
So does this system (albeit with its problems) require a new box, can the sky box add channels not do this or does the dish also need aligning. As I’m in Cadiz no chance of picking up anything on the new satellite without becoming Jodrell Bank 2…!
It requires specific receivers that can scan the required frequency and that can process the specific encryption and that can “hack” into the encryption.
A Sky box is designed for Sky UK use, and not this system. Nor can a Sky box be used with this encryption, nor can it scan the required frequency.
And your dish will need aligning to the specific satellite that has this service on it.
What’s the solution then ? for all the expats in the south who cannot receive bbc itv channels.
As it is stated the magic satellite is legal to view and breaking the law.
I have here’d so much about iptv which is not good for me as my internet service is only 4meg and not stable.
And I was told streaming these channels was illegal .And if your iptv surpliers cannot provide you with a photo copy of a broadcasting licence then avoid then like the plage.as with the satellite system it all seems Humpty Dumpty
Hi I’m in torrevieja with a 1 m dish and lost most channels last week ,strangely some come back but they lost signal often,,I have a sky box and strangely ,Frequency 12207 is no longer working. Instead went back to the old 11788???and have some channels on this one,at night time the signal is worst!All very strange any idea?Cheers
A “1m” dish in torrevieja would be operating on the limits of the dish, hence why the signals are coming and going.
Very strange you cannot get frequency 12207 – so you cannot receive Sky News as that is on frequency 12207.
Do not confuse the default transponder frequency with reception of channels – the two are totally separate.
The default transponder only tells a sky box where to download the channel list when the box is booted up.
11778 is the main and correct default transponder to use – it always has been – as that is the only frequency that carries the full 7 day sky guide data.
Before Feb 2014, 11778 used to be hard to receive, so the sky box could not located a frequency to download the channels list data.
So you changed the default transponder to another frequency to tell the sky box to download the channel list from another frequency.
Changing the default transponder to another frequency does nothing for individual channel reception.
In fact there are only about a dozen channels on 12207 – Sky News, Sky Sports 2, Pick TV….
And UK TV comes from about 100 plus frequencies, and the sky box will use whichever of these frequencies it needs to for the channel you have selected to watch – totally ignoring you r manually input default transponder frequency.
And since 11778 is now on a much easier to receive beam than it has been for the last 10plus years, then there should be no reason to change it from 11778 if you are on mainland Spain!
Many thanks!
Hi, I live near Elche I have a 1.8 dish and get most of the free channels ok, I am an avid sports fan and like to keep up with sports news. But I cannot receive Sky Sports news. I have a pace2600 box with a white sky card should I receive it or do I need to be a sports package payer? Would be glad of any help on this.
Thanks
Sky Sports News (SD) has moved to a “north beam” from its previous “European beam”, resulting in a change of reception – especially at the north beams weakest time of the day – 5pm.
In fact it has returned to a similar reception it had about 2 years ago.
Please can you help about 2 weeks ago we lost all channels bbc itv even sky news goes of and comes on etc we have a 2 metre dish live in alcoy area never had any problems before early in the morning around 6am then all channels go no signal then comes on again then nothing at all for the rest of the day we have a open box v8 and up until now everything was great I can’t understand why we are having so many problems it seems a lot of people are suffering the same thing what can we do. Hope you can help thanks in advance elaine
Hi
I have not heard of many people having the same issue as you in the Alcoy area…
Nothing has changed regarding the satellites, so any issues you are having will be down to problems with your own satellite system somewhere.
This will be from dish alignment, ground moving (especially if the dish is on a large concrete area, you can find the heavy rain over Easter has “sunk” the dish out of alignment), LNB problems (damaged, insects), cabling problems (poor cable, poor connections, cables cracked by the sun and letting in water – very common), and even you receiver is going.
IF you want me to see if I can drop around, then email me with your contact details ,and I shall see what i can do for you.
(Do NOT post your details on here, as this is an open page, where everyone has access, and actually has nothing to do with the original post!)
will the Dune tv media box work delivering tv reception on my tv screen through the internet
I think so, but without a specific make and model I cannot be sure.
But I think you have to configure it for whichever pay iptv service you use.
A dune tv 102 and I am with Direct Telecom
It looks like it is designed to deliver paid IPTV services from the internet- so yes.
thanks. It is a Dune 102 and I am with Direct Telecom
It looks like it is designed to deliver paid IPTV services from the internet- so yes.
Thank you, Derrick
Hi We have an apartment in Turre Almeria and only have a basic Analogue TV with scart socket.
We also have a laptop with VGA socket and one with HDMI socket but unsure if Filmon would work ok.
Do we need any other leads?
Our internet provider is NEXT and we get 3 Mbps.
Thank you
Filmon will work on the laptop – but there have been some issues with it in recent weeks, with high demand
But getting it to your old TV will be the issue, unless there is a VGA to SCART adaptor…?
Forgot to mention we have a large dish but unsure the size of it. My husband says it’s larger than a metre….
A meter dish will not receive BBC ITV C4s and Fives 0- it is way too small.
Some people in your area are getting them using a 1.8m dish – but it is very location specific.
Thanks for the replies.
We are going to try and get a VGA to scart adaptor tomorrow in the UK.
I would like a new TV, but hubbie doesn’t want to pay 🙁
Note that VGA is for video only – it will not take sound from the laptop to the TV… to you either play the sound via the laptop speakers, or you will need an audio cable from the PC to the TV…if the TV has an audio input
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Hi I stay in Vilanova i la geltru ( 40 km,s south Barcelona )most of the year , am interested in getting back UK channels , you say not all receivers pick up INTELSAT 907 , which one is needed , i am using a sky box on astra 2 , regards Rob
If you want all your main UK TV channels back and use your sky digibox, then you will need a much larger dish than you are currently using. Maybe a 2.4m dish, maybe larger (3.1m??) I don’t know exactly.
IF you want I907, then you will need to align a dish to the satellite, located at 27.5 west, and use an appropriate receiver – like a GI Mini, Technomate 5402, where you will then need to located the “patched firmware” and the code keys.
But be aware that there are strong rumours of changes to the bbc satback service soon – see
Hi Rob, i’m coming to vilanova at the end of Nov. I’d b interested to know your dish size. do you get any signal with your sky box ? regards steve