[Rant] Why I hate broadcast TV

[NWW]

Over the past couple of days, I've had major disappointments, not so with my machine, but with the broadcasters.

Being a Greek guy, living in Belgium, I'm pretty much screwed if I want to watch TV. Belgium is a country that is historically very much cabled. In the analogue days, we used to get (by only paying our broadcast fee) up to 33 channels. No stb needed, no other subscription needed.

Then, in the wake of the rising of digital TV, cable operators felt the need to encrypt anything. No more recording on videotapes, and doing whatever we felt like with them, no more user friendly TV watching. Now, we have to have at least 2 remotes, two boxes just to watch TV. Those 33 channels that were available, now we have to pay another 10€ per month to only watch them, and another 8€ per month, to rent their boxes. I can't just "plug my TV in", no, I need to rent their stuff. I can't watch my TV wherever I want in the house, just were the box is. Not to mention that terrestrial TV is pretty much out of the picture, because our government sleeps at nights with our cableco's.

What about the Greek channels? My home country? Well, there, DVB-T is now all the craze, and that is good. Problem, I'm 2000 km away from it. But wait! There is satellite? Oh no, you have to pay 50€ per month to Nova to watch those 12 channels, rent their box. Ok, I'll do that. Weeeeell, nope, you can't, you live in Belgium.

Fine, I'll find another way then. We did some CS for a while, it was no good. Not user friendly enough, ton of picture freezing. What else can we do?

I set on to find another way to watch good TV, using my equipment (namely, my HTPC), as legaly as I can, and with the best programming available. Thank god, Britain is just a hundred km away, I can add an LNB, and have Freesat. That's great (unless they tighten the beam ever more over the UK). But then again, having grown up in a French community, I still want to watch French programming. Let's add DVB-T to the mix, 3 channels. And, also, TNTSAT, but starting tomorrow, that's no longer possible, because CanalSAT decided to pair all cards with their receivers. Fine then, I'll go over at Canal Digitaal Netherlands. My Dutch is pretty good, and their movies and tv shows are all in English. But, again, I can't give them my money, somehow, I fell no one wants my money.

So, here I am. A Greek that can't watch his home TV, living in Belgium, that can't watch Belgian TV, left only with Freesat. And again, I'm outside of the law, because I don't pay a British Licence Fee.

Sense, this makes none.

And, the icing on the cake, Microsoft has left WMC hanging, and all TV is going over the internet. That's fine, except it'll never be as good quality as broadcast TV, and what will happen to our network when 1 billion people watch TV through the internet.

Oh, and I'll try downloading my shows (illegally) but wait, I have a download cap.

[adam1991]

And, the icing on the cake, Microsoft has left WMC hanging, and all TV is going over the internet. That's fine, except it'll never be as good quality as broadcast TV, and what will happen to our network when 1 billion people watch TV through the internet.

And what happened when all audio started going through iPods, and a billion people started listening to lower bitrate audio through earbuds instead of analog vinyl through proper audio gear such as tube amplifiers?

The world changes, and somehow never falls apart.

[barnabas1969]

No, Adam, I get what he's saying. Imagine the outrage if we in the US were suddenly required to pay a monthly/annual "license fee" just for the privilege of having an antenna to receive "free" broadcasts Over-The-Air (OTA). We in the USA may complain about the decisions of the FCC, but at least we can get free, un-encrypted broadcasts... and we don't have to buy any equipment (besides a TV with an ATSC tuner and an antenna) or pay any recurring fees. In fact, our laws protect us... nobody can stop us from putting up an antenna of a size and height necessary to receive OTA broadcasts. It's a right that is protected by law.

I live 60 miles (96km) from the nearest large city, and I still can receive 23 channels with my outdoor antenna... without rotating it. Many of those channels have sub-channels too. I counted once, and found more than 40 separate channels. Most of them come in perfectly clear HD, with others in digital SD. In all of those channels, I get all of the major networks (CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, CW, ION) and several very good independent channels. Only about 9 are channels that I watch frequently, but those 9 channels account for almost 2/3 of my household's TV watching... even though I subscribe to digital cable for $108.00 per month (83 euros), not including Internet service. If I couldn't afford to pay for cable, I could definitely be happy with what I receive OTA.

I guess we're pretty spoiled in the USA.

Now, on the subject of Windows Media Center. It's the best DVR ever made for US digital cable or free OTA broadcasts. No rental fees, nothing. It's a shame that Microsoft is apparently letting it go. Hopefully, someone will develop a replacement soon. Even better... I hope someone is able to take/buy Media Center from Microsoft and continue development. Some people complain about the cumbersome SDK that is used to develop plugins for Media Center... but they never seem to consider the fact that no other commercial (closed-source) DVR software allows anyone to develop plugins.

[STC]

FYI the license fee covers BBC programming which is commercial free.

[barnabas1969]

FYI the license fee covers BBC programming which is commercial free.

Wow, that's nice. And we pay tons of money to our cable companies... and have commercials even on the cable-only channels!

[foxwood]

Wow - I just had a quick look at the Wikipedia page fpr Belgian Television stations and if it's accurate, most of the available stations aren't actually "broadcasting", they're only availale on cable/satellite.

Given the geography and relatively small size of Belgium, that seems just mad!

[barnabas1969]

Wow - I just had a quick look at the Wikipedia page fpr Belgian Television stations and if it's accurate, most of the available stations aren't actually "broadcasting", they're only availale on cable/satellite.

Given the geography and relatively small size of Belgium, that seems just mad!

OK, so they have 11 DVB-T (OTA) stations. The closest US state by land area is Maryland. Maryland has 16 OTA television stations. Of those, 3 are duplicate major networks on two different stations (ABC, CBS, NBC), and 6 are PBS (which may or may not broadcast the same content).

So... it looks like Belgium has just about as many OTA broadcasts as Maryland. What's the problem?

[foxwood]

Look again - most of the DVB-T stations are only available in one or the other of Wallonia (French speaking) or Flanders (Dutch speaking). So if you're not near Brussels, you've only got 4 or 5 Belgian stations available OTA (and "spillover" from other countries is not as available since the digital switchover).

But the crux of the matter is probably summed up in this line: "The Belgian commercial TV stations are currently only available on cable, satellite and IPTV. Terrestrial broadcasting is limited to public service TV stations because of the high adoption rate of cable (95%) in Belgium which makes it unnecessary to broadcast commercially."

(From television in Belgium)

[bobbob]

FYI the license fee covers BBC programming which is commercial free.

the licence fee goes to the BBC but a licence is required to receive any of the free programming delivered by aerial, satellite or cable. only the bbc is independent and commercial free (in theory)

[NWW]

Look again - most of the DVB-T stations are only available in one or the other of Wallonia (French speaking) or Flanders (Dutch speaking). So if you're not near Brussels, you've only got 4 or 5 Belgian stations available OTA (and "spillover" from other countries is not as available since the digital switchover).

But the crux of the matter is probably summed up in this line: "The Belgian commercial TV stations are currently only available on cable, satellite and IPTV. Terrestrial broadcasting is limited to public service TV stations because of the high adoption rate of cable (95%) in Belgium which makes it unnecessary to broadcast commercially."

(From television in Belgium)

Exactly. This bothers me, but that is a problem that is local only to our country. What really bothers me, is the fact that in Europe, we can't subscribe to the packets we want. So, I can't watch TV LEGALLY.

[barnabas1969]

Look again - most of the DVB-T stations are only available in one or the other of Wallonia (French speaking) or Flanders (Dutch speaking). So if you're not near Brussels, you've only got 4 or 5 Belgian stations available OTA (and "spillover" from other countries is not as available since the digital switchover).

But the crux of the matter is probably summed up in this line: "The Belgian commercial TV stations are currently only available on cable, satellite and IPTV. Terrestrial broadcasting is limited to public service TV stations because of the high adoption rate of cable (95%) in Belgium which makes it unnecessary to broadcast commercially."

(From television in Belgium)

Exactly. This bothers me, but that is a problem that is local only to our country. What really bothers me, is the fact that in Europe, we can't subscribe to the packets we want. So, I can't watch TV LEGALLY.

I don't think the police in the UK (or the BBC) is going to come after you for not paying the license fee.

[NWW]

True. But isn't it odd, that I can't even subscribe to packages that I want over Europe?

I would love to have cable TV (it carries both Dutch and French programing, whereas satellite only carries one or the other) for cheaper that what I'm paying now to my ISP for internet + landline. But I don't want to rent their utterly useless box.
I would love to PAY to Greece (god knows they need it) to have their channels, but they won't let me.
And I would also love to pay either to Sky or to Canal Digitaal to have their packages, because they have the best value in Europe. But they also won't let me subscribe.

All in all, this system is so malfunctioning, that to counter that, the only solution that I have is to pirate my TV/Movies. Or to use cardsharing services.

And that's what I meant by "wanting to watch TV legally".

[bobbob]

Look again - most of the DVB-T stations are only available in one or the other of Wallonia (French speaking) or Flanders (Dutch speaking). So if you're not near Brussels, you've only got 4 or 5 Belgian stations available OTA (and "spillover" from other countries is not as available since the digital switchover).

But the crux of the matter is probably summed up in this line: "The Belgian commercial TV stations are currently only available on cable, satellite and IPTV. Terrestrial broadcasting is limited to public service TV stations because of the high adoption rate of cable (95%) in Belgium which makes it unnecessary to broadcast commercially."

(From television in Belgium)

Exactly. This bothers me, but that is a problem that is local only to our country. What really bothers me, is the fact that in Europe, we can't subscribe to the packets we want. So, I can't watch TV LEGALLY.

I don't think the police in the UK (or the BBC) is going to come after you for not paying the license fee.

the assumption on behalf of the authorities in the UK now, is that every registered address requires a TV licence and therefore they will chase / visit every address that doesn't have a tv licence registered to it. Its a much easier process and (unless you're not actually in the UK) you will not get away with evading your tv licence fee.

[barnabas1969]

the assumption on behalf of the authorities in the UK now, is that every registered address requires a TV licence and therefore they will chase / visit every address that doesn't have a tv licence registered to it. Its a much easier process and (unless you're not actually in the UK) you will not get away with evading your tv licence fee.

NWW is not in the UK, he's in Belgium. I don't think the "TV police" are going to knock on his door for receiving BBC transmissions.

[foxwood]

The OP is in Belgium, so nobody is going to pursue him for watching an "overspill" signal from the UK without paying the UK TV license.

Though I'd expect the overspill to be less useful since the digital switchover - I was under the impression that the digital signals aren't as viable at great distances, and that the footprint was more "tunable", so the overspill is smaller.

[barnabas1969]

Though I'd expect the overspill to be less useful since the digital switchover - I was under the impression that the digital signals aren't as viable at great distances, and that the footprint was more "tunable", so the overspill is smaller.

I don't know about that. I live in Melbourne, Florida. Back in the analog days, OTA TV from the Orlando stations was nearly unwatchable here... unless you had a huge antenna on a huge tower. Now, I have a fairly small antenna on a 20' (6m) mast, and I get a perfect picture with no dropout or pixellation.

[foxwood]

They can send the signal further if the want, but why would the Arqiva, (who manage the DVB-T network in the UK) want to send the signal to Belgium, if they don't have to? Though given that the terrain in the part of the UK closest to Belgium is fairly flat (just like Florida!), maybe they just use one big tower with a very strong signal (and therefore lots of overspill), rather that a network of smaller towers as they do in hillier regions.

[dmagerl]

I live in Melbourne, Florida. Back in the analog days, OTA TV from the Orlando stations was nearly unwatchable here... unless you had a huge antenna on a huge tower. Now, I have a fairly small antenna on a 20' (6m) mast, and I get a perfect picture with no dropout or pixellation.

My experience has been exactly the opposite. I'm about 70 miles from Chicago. I used to get near perfect analog reception. Since the switch to digital, the stations that elected to stay on VHF are totally gone and the UHF stations are wiped out most evenings when the atmosphere quiets down and troposkip kicks in. The change to digital was definitely not a good thing here.

I am most definitely not looking forward to losing more TV channels to the cellular companies and then having to live with the resulting co-channel interference from the more densely packed, closer spaced TV stations. This is a rural area so cable doesnt exist. Satellite is do-able but it'd mean cutting down some trees to get line of sight. But then I'd be in the same boat as the OP, having to pay for what was formerly free, and I still dont know of any way to get HD into MCE from a satellite box.

[barnabas1969]

@dmagerl: Have you checked out the tvfool.com website? There is lots of helpful information there and a forum too, where you can find helpful people who know a lot about antennas, etc. I'd bet that if you got the right setup, you'd have no problem receiving those VHF channels. UHF is a funny thing... it bounces off of everything. It's entirely possible that simply moving your antenna up/down/sideways just a little might solve your problems with the UHF.

Check out their website, and make sure to use the TV Signal Locator tool. If you put in all the information (address, antenna height), you'll get some very useful info, including how the obstructions between you and the TV stations (trees, hills, tall buildings) are affecting your reception.

[bobbob]

the assumption on behalf of the authorities in the UK now, is that every registered address requires a TV licence and therefore they will chase / visit every address that doesn't have a tv licence registered to it. Its a much easier process and (unless you're not actually in the UK) you will not get away with evading your tv licence fee.

NWW is not in the UK, he's in Belgium. I don't think the "TV police" are going to knock on his door for receiving BBC transmissions.

I can read. thats why i put the bit in the brackets