By the time you readers read this we should be a little cooler and "Madrid" will have gone home !  Writing this on 14th August it has been an overcast day with some light rain here in Cartagena - SO welcome !   The garden has lapped it all up and mum has had the A/C off all day !  She always asks me "does it cost much to run ?" and I answer "not so much as your heating was in the UK for at least 5 months a year !".

I often get asked "how do you work in August up on roofs and over terraces ?" - and I always say that when I am up on a roof sweating profusely (men do sweat !) I think this or 3 months of cold in UK with 5 layers on and freezing hands ........................ easy to answer .....................

TV NEWS ………….. For some totaly unknown reason signals on the FREESAT service seem to have got a little stronger since the last newsletter.

I am getting reports of people on the smaller end dishes (1.35m) getting acceptable viewing - far from perfect but better than they were ? Mystery !

The real answer to good UK TV viewing is a 1.80m quality dish but 1.45s are giving acceptable viewing - better in some areas than others. Will this last ? No one can answer that 100% and the advise must be if you are going to install / upgrade go for the 1.80m quality unit.

There seems to be lots of rumour / bar talk about yet another new satellite - "G" - decreasing our signals yet again  ............................ I do not hold with that view but I can not be sure as the powers that control the satellite TV system are VERY secretive in their proposed actions ------- but having spent some 100 million plus getting us to where we are  (with a 15 year life of the new satellite) will they spend more money changing yet again ?

The new sports channel - SKY SPORTS 5 - was launched on 12th August. and will carry international football. Now those of you with SKY contracts in SKY boxes will not get this channel until October / November even though it is included in your pack. SKY are trying to make you "press the red button" to activate the channel when as well as doing that they will try to sell you SKY internet services with a very good offer!  We can not red button out here (unless you have a UK IP Address) - but if you phone SKY they will add SKY SPORTS 5 on to your pack without the internet hard sell ............. but as you are probably aware you must be careful about phoning SKY from out here as if they think you are in Spain they are legally obliged to cut your service. A disguised number UK mobile phone is usually OK or the safest way is to use my SKY UK agent but there is a euro 30.00 charge. This service can be used for any calls to SKY you need to make - ask me for details.

Clients with our IPTV boxes will be getting SKY SPORTS 5 automatically  ................ clients with FERGUSON or SKYBOX will need to install a new channel list but you should have had a seperate email about this. 
Internet TV (no dish) is a reality now but you MUST have good consistent internet supply from a server that will support internet TV ............ such servers do exist in Spain and thus UK TV with NO dish is a reality. Our system has the largest channel selection available , including all SPORTS and MOVIES with a movie pack of the very latest releases and many boxed sets ............. absolutely superb TV for a minimal subscription of less tha 70c a day ! - half a cup of coffee !   Ask us for details before you upgrade that dish to a monster - or even get rid of that monster dish you have !
I have said this in previous newsletters but internet TV is the way forward ------ ALL TV will be delivered this way within 10 to 15 years .


Thats it for this month ................... article written by Alan of Rainbow Satellites .............. (0034) 686 358 475 or rainbowsats@gmail.com .  Contact us for all your TV needs.