UKTVDirect from satellites on a small 60cm dish - Yeah Right

[satandpcguy]

"UKTVDirect from satellites using a small 60cm satellite dish" - Yeah Right!
There is a "new" type of rebroadcasting currently being pushed on a number of EXPAT forums, in Costa Blanca Newspapers, and around most of Europe, which claims that you can receive UK TV channels direct from the satellite using on an 60cm, and claim (again!) that it is 100% legal - which of course it isn't!
Its true, the signals are direct from a satellite - but they are not direct from the satellite used for the UKTV channels! The system uses a totally different satellite to rebroadcast channels to Spain. To put in simply, all this system does is rebroadcasting free to air channels via a satellite and not via a land based mast. You are getting these signals from a third party and not directly from he main UK TV satellite!
Some "distributors" of this system are saying that it is all in HD...which is correct...in about 1% of the sense. They are using HD technology to compress 24 channels onto one frequency. Non of the channels are in HD, although you do need a HD receiver to decode these channels. They are also encrypted...to stop people stealing their "stolen" signals. International Copyright law states that you cannot redistribute material, like TV channels, without permission from those channels, and especially not for profit without this permission!

Again, be wary of people offering this system. It comes with all the risks of a normal rebroadcaster, transmitting channels without the channel permission. Although many laws in the EU state that you can freely rebroadcast channels that are available free on satellite, many of these companies are overlooking all the national, EU and international copyright laws, that state that you can only broadcast copyrighted material (i.e. channels) "with the owners permission".

The BBC have reiterated the point that they do not licence any company in any EU country (apart from in Holland and in Switzerland) to rebroadcast their channels or copyrighted material, and those that would wish to do so would have to seek permission from them.
The kit is at least 500 euros and will require a annual subscription. Bear in mind that many of the channels offered can be easily received in Spain FOR FREE on an 80cm dish!!
Discussion of this service has been removed from many satellite and expat forums due to questions over its legality, and so far investigations have not revealed the company who is operating these signals...much contact has been via an untraceable HOTMAIL email account. And most questions about its legality have been "tactfully ignored" - as you can see from this thread where the agent "charles" repeatedly ignores questions about this service, and just insults those asking him! In fact most of the information about this service came from two other posters "mmmmmm" and "spanman", who look to be clued up about the system, but were continually told "you don't know nothing its all rumours" by "charles" who then does not supply any answers about why they are wrong! Why so secretive if the service is 100% legal!?!?! More on this thread
Another update on this story : 3rd August 2009: I have heard that the UK broadcasters are pursuing legal options with the satellite operator. These "new" rebroadcasters are using Intelsat - a satellite company which is also used for distributing Freeview to the UK, and for links and feeds (i.e. used by news channels), and this company has close business ties with many official broadcasters.

[satandpcguy]

I would not be surprised to find that the UK broadcasters will start pursuing legal options with the satellite operator. These "new" rebroadcasters are using Intelsat - a satellite company which is also used for distributing Freeview to the UK, and for links and feeds (i.e. used by news channels), and this company has close business ties with many official broadcasters.
I am sure it can only be a matter of time before the satellite operator decides to take action against the person / compnay who is uplinking the "copyrighted material" to their satellite...

[satandpcguy]

A few companies on the Costa Blanca have been advertising this sytem in some of the English newspapers....so please be warned....

It is not worth risking money on a "cowboy rebroadcasting system" that is transmitting unauthorsied channels and programmes, especailly via a third party satellite operator that can remove the channels at anytime once they are made aware of the situation...

[satandpcguy]

Various forums
http://www.satellites.co.uk/satellite/m ... posed.html
and Digital Spy and many others have done some of their own investigations onto this system and found that apparently:

The system is operated by a German man who is based in Murcia
The uplink for the satellites is actually in Morocco
They use a number of dishes around Spain to get a signal, which is why sometimes there is a poor BBC2 signal and then suddenly a good BBC2 as they switch from one location to another.
and apparently some of Intelsats Terms and Conditions of carriage have been broken

There have been other points made about the system, but they have been delected from the forums / internet pages, so I can no longer reference back to them.

I suppose its just a matter of time as to how long will the legal process take for the UK broadcasters to get Intelsat remove this system from their satellite.

Incidently according to certain forums, with the correct receivers, you can now access these channels without a viewing card, as it is now available on card sharing networks (not going into that on this website, but have a look around yourself!), so you can access it for free, as opposed to the 300euros a year being asked, for how ever long it lasts for! Yep, the pirates are being pirated....!

[satandpcguy]

there is a post or two in this thread
http://www.cyprus44.com/forums/22163.asp
that would interest any lawyers keeping an eye out on this system...

and it is a funny read also especially the "non answers" and "answer avoidance" techniques from the agent selling the system. in his first posts about the system he claimed the system was available on a 60cm dish, but now he says you may need a 1.8m dish (at least for Cyprus).

from a dealer selling this system

All our installers can sell our cards & receivers

I think this suggestes that that this is NOT a private / personal or a secure broadcast system, as viewing cards are on general sale. This is one suggestion as to why the system cannot be closed down (as it was seen to be a private / personal system and not open to the public, which we know it is actually is!)

A question posted by a forum member:

Is this system legally (ie have permission from the channels themselves) using the UK TV signals?

and the answer was a not surprising

NO

This proves the point that , although there are no TV channels identifiers on the actual satellite data, the the system is used for the illegal rebroadcast for profit of copyrighted material without the permission from the actual copyright holders, as confirmed by one of their "agents"

[satandpcguy]

interesting post from someone in the industry
http://177601.aceboard.net/177601-2-848 ... vision.htm

BEWARE new scam circulating from web site from btnsat.co.uk

These guys are claiming that you can get this with a 60 cm dish in all of europe. And then in their email show a link to intelsat 24e
In which all the channels are inderto encripted.
before coming to Spain I was installations manager for the cable network s in Manchaster, Leeds and Cambridge. prior to that I owned my own company installing motorised satellite systems all over the Uk and parts of Europe. Prior to that I was the senior installations instructor with a company called TAS who were the the main contractors for Sky installations. Before that I owned a shop selling and installing satellite systems.

Belive me this is a scam