Italian football via satellite in UK

[tuna]

Hello. I was wondering whether you could provide me with some advice. I am a newbie to satellite TV, although I have read up on it recently on the internet.

Now the season has just started, I want to be able to watch Italian football in the UK but Bravo channel - which has the rights to broadcast it in the UK - one broadcasts one game every weekend which is not enough for me, so it looks like the best deal I can get is to have the Al Jazeera Sports +1 and +2 channels, which show 4/5 games a weekend.

I understand this channel operates from Hotbird 13 East, and with a subscription to it I can also see, free-to-air, Italian channels RAI 1, 2, and 3 and Italia 1.

I - living in Leicester, UK - was advised to get an 80cm dish, a receiver with embedded viaaccess and an Al Jazeera card valid for a year.

I went to a local Sky agent and was quoted a price of £300 for the lot, including installation. However, I went online to ebay - which I have not used before - and managed to hunt down the following:

- Global Orbit 80cm Solid Steel Satellite Dish, Pole Mount, LNB Arm & holder, +
0.2dB Platinum II Universal LNB ultra low noise, slide down water proof connector (£25)

- Samsung DSR 9400 VIA Digital Satellite Receiver with a viaccess smart card slot (£45)

- Al Jazeera card (£39)

It looks much cheaper to buy these three pieces of equipment myself and get someoen to install them, particularly because the agent told me the Al Jazeera card costs £85.

My two questions are:

- if I bought them from ebay and got someone to install them and tune in the channels, would that be exactly the same as what an agent is appearing to offer me at a higher price, and

- is the picture quality good for the channels which I want (Al Jazeera Sports +1 and +2, RAI 1, 2, and 3 and Italia 1)?

Thank you for any help you can give.

[Analoguesat]

The RAI channels scramble into secure Videoguard when showing big sporting events, so dont expect to be able to watch Serie A on them!

[nanochickin]

Yep the Global Orbit 80R is the same dish that i started out with. Its not a bad dish, well it works for me The guy that is selling it is probably the same guy on eBay thats sold me my dish.

I live in Wolverhampton and get everything from Astra 1 & Hotbird on it without any problems with you just being up the road it should be near enough the same.

The only advice i would say is to not bother with the 0.2dB Platinum II Universal LNB. I found it problematic and not as good as the cheaper Amstar Neosat 0.3dB lnb that i got of eBay.

[linsladeboy]

Hi Tuna,
I'm a newbie too with a couple of posts regarding equipment/advice(best forum for novices by the way).
I am amazed you can get Art Sport/Aljezeera 1+2 for £39! Is this a 12 month card?
Cheapest I have seen on Ebay from what look like reputable dealers is over £100. I also have been reading loads and loads lately online and it is becoming quite apparent to me that Sky/Premiership are getting fed and are very likely to pounce sooner rather than later at Arabesque/Aljezeera for having these cards sold outside their geographical limits as stated on small print(please correct me if I am wrong) as has happened previously with other channels.
I don't want to put you off getting a system as I really want satellite too, but I think I may wait a bit longer as I don't want to end up shelling out for a card that will end getting zapped without notice!

[BGonaSTICK]

OK, lots of points to make here, none of which are related - so I apologise for that up front!

Firstly, welcome to the forum tuna! (My mother would be proud that I haven't forgotten my manners totally )

Now, ART wasn't mentioned originally. The Al Jazeera card does indeed cover the Italian, Spanish and Portuguese leagues, as well as Champions League, FA and Carling cups, but make sure you're looking at the Viaccess card for Hotbird, and not the Irdeto version for Nilesat, as you won't easily get Nilesat in the UK.

The hardware you list is pretty cheap and cheerful, but there's nothing wrong with that. I can't comment on the compatability of the receiver you mention when combined with the Al Jaz card, but it should be OK.

I don't know exactly what your local agent includes in the package, so can't comment on the value or suitability, but you certainly could do it cheaper, as you have discovered. You could even install it yourself if you can use a drill gun and a compass.

linsladeboy is also right in what he says, but sometimes you just have to go for it. You can be too cautious in this game and miss out big-time. Things are only getting tighter, so enjoy them while they're still available.

Regards,

STICK

[linsladeboy]

Hi Tuna,
Apologies! ops: I didn't realise you could get Aljazeera card on its own; I have only ever seen it advertised as part of the Art sport package with includes Premiership football with is obviously dearer.

[BGonaSTICK]

I suppose they used to have a lot lower profile in the UK, but because they now carry the FA cup, Carling cup & Champs league (and swung a bundle deal with ART) that's all changed.

I could be totally wrong, but I think ART/Al-Jaz will stand up to the menace of Murdoch better than some of the others. There are large (powerful) Arab communities spread across Europe well outside of the Nilesat footprint, and the backers won't be so tempted to sell out as they're better funded than the minnows.

They've certainly been taunting Sky in the past with their 'relaxed' attitude to card distribution.

Just my opinion, of course!

[Jimdefruit]

Hi tuna, welcome to the forum.

If you are buying on ebay, make sure the seller has a good reputation. There are a number of reports about some art/al jazeera cards stopping working after a couple of months. Apparently there were some issued to cover the world cup period only.

[BGonaSTICK]

Yes, well done Jim.

I meant to post this a while back :

Here's a quote from one of the bigger UK suppliers:

Please be aware that many cheap cards in the market at present will stop working before the 10/08/06
this is because many cards (about 50000) sold in Algeria just before the worldcup were only intended as replacement cards for local subscribers that weren't able to watch the worldcup and will expire very soon.
most of these card were imported from Marseille and colored white and blue without the (365j) reference at the bottom corner.

These cards are being offered at about £80 for the 6 channels ART 1 to 6.

As many suppliers know very well the cards cost well over that price for bulk buy of hundreds at a time.

We know this from very reliable ART sources in the Middle East.

Only 2 types of cards are legitimate.
If buying on ebay - ask first if the card is red or if the card is blue and has 2 logos of Al Jazeera and ART on it and has a the 365j reference at the bottom (that stands for 365 days)

The quote mentions August 10th, but a whole handful of cards have apparently been switched off in the last 7 days.

[tuna]

Many thanks for the very helpful advice. I will heed it.

I think Al Jazeera Sports +1 and +2 channels are less vulnerable to any legal challenge by Sky UK because, unlike ART, they don't show Premiership football, and the Serie A games they broadcast on Saturdays do not start until 5.00pm.