The beginning of the end for Spain reception of British tv?

[polite]

SES Astra has ordered the new satellites for 28.2 east.
They will carry much tighter uk spot beams and even frequency reusage.
http://www.ses-astra.com/business/en/ne ... /index.php

[satandpcguy]

It is all speculation about tighter UK beams, and I am sure it will not affect ALL frequencies or all channels, but suffice to say that it is logical that the UK free to air broadcasters would be looking for a tighter footprint for their channels...infact it may not affect anything at all, we just do not know until the first official footprint maps are released. And even then those official maps for the current fleet of satellite are a bit incorrect also! And I am sure the pay tv operators would not like to cut off almost 1million expats subscriptions and the loss of the revenue for them by limiting their signals to just the UK.

It may be that the 4m dishes may be required in Spain, just as they are required currently in the Canaries and in Cyprus, but again until more information is available it is all speculation about what will happen.

The statement does not actually say that tighter UK spot beams will be used specifically for UK TV.....infact there is a Spot Beam already in use on Astra 2B, for Nigeria, so we know that they will need both Pan european and spot beam capabilites to cover this beams replacement. And the reception reports for the Polish beam and German beams on Astra 1 satellites show that these spot beams have not been as limiting as first thought.

The satellites currently in use are coming to the end of their lifespan, and it has always been know then sometime around 2012 to 2014 they would need replacing. And it is just speculation about how it will affect reception in Spain (and even in France where the current 80cm dishes may not be as good as they currently are)

[polite]

What is the dish size required for stable reception of the Polish beam in Spain?

[satandpcguy]

I hve not tried the Polish beam yet - its only been going a few months now and I have not had a chance to get to my dishes and have a look at whats about up in the skies for a while....

, but reports for the German beam include many transponders received on a 1.2m dish even in Madrid, even reports of getting them on a 1.2 in south italy, and I got all but a few on my 1.8 here in Valencia in a quick search, which i was surprised to see given the supposably tight beam.