How to get set up with SKY TV in Munich

Hiya - new bloke here! Been living here all of 3 weeks now and whilst not normally a major telly watcher I am away from mates etc in London so it is more of an issue for now.

I can speak a bit of the lingo but got the feeling that even if fluent the TV is pretty dismal over here (especially all those adverts in the films!!!).

Got a satellite dish that picks up BBC1 and BBC2 which is cool but wanna get SKYTV ideally. SKY are only officially allowed to supply to the UK and Ireland, but I ordered a set the other day (£1 installation) to get fitted at my old UK house (now rented) - and had the cunning and unoriginal plan of bringing it over on my next visit home.

Turns out that the new receivers MUST be connected permanently to a UK telephone line or it will not work. SKY will fit a non-phone-connected box but for £250?

I heard some specialist firms advertise in "Munich Uncovered" but have never seen a copy? If anyone has a copy with suitable phone numbers much appreciated.

Apologies that my 1st post is so dull - hope to have something a little more interesting to say in future.

p.s. I am in London Tuesday to Sunday if anyone needs "KitKats" or whatever you can't get easily.

try asking in the irish or aussie boozers mate, they'll be able to hook you up with a number. they all have sky.

Check this article for info on getting set up with Sky Satellite TV in Germany.

The short story is that it's not technically impossible to get set up with Sky Digital TV in Munich. The only problems are legal ones, i.e. it's illegal to do. Having said that I understand that there might still be ways. As mentioned, check the above article for details.

Contact Edwin or Geoff at Bavaria Satellite, they will be able to sort you out.

Yes new Sky boxes need to connected to the phoneline for 12 months. Once you've hit that 12 month point you have fulfilled your contract obligations and you can remove the phoneline. At that point you can also cancel your subscription and keep the box. Given the two options for obtaining a box from sky, the £250 straight away option is definately cheapest and quickest. Compared with prices I've seen from companies in Munich, £250 is pretty cheap. Alternately you could get a box from ebay, or you could check out the forums at www.digitalspy.co.uk for other tips.

Johnny,

Don't worry about the phone line thing - it is a load of garbage, partly encouraged by Sky to stop people doing what you want to do. You need a phone line in order to use interactive services and order films or sport, thats all. If you are not going to do that then worry not...

I have had Sky for about 4 years now and never once had it plugged into a phone line.

Go with plan A, get Sky to set it up at home and then ship ot over.

Thanks folks. Obviously "Spiders" idea with Plan A sounds cheapest, but from what I have read they use the phoneline these days to send software updates and I suspect may have tightened things up in this area? It will be total drama to get a 12 month subscription, ship it over and find it doesnt work. Or worse still it works for a couple of weeks and then dies when they "send an update" over the phone.

So I have bought myself a 2nd hand Sony Digibox thingie last night over Ebay (£125), and following Editor Bob's article will call from a UK landline this week and order a SKY subscription...hopefully. Slightly worried about Part II where I need to ring from a UK number whilst at the same time having the box plugged into my dish in Germany??!!!?

I'll let ya know if I get it working!

I'm fairly sure all software updates come via the satellite rather than the phone line

Yeah, I also think that, as the phone line would be too slow. Anyway the phone line thingy is a fairly recent thing. I remember enquiring about this in England, and they said that you should plug this into a phone line, but not a must.

Updates come via the sat signal not the phone line DEFINITELY!

Simply, they want you to have a phone line so that you will spend more money buying interactive games/films/sport etc.

I have been using SKY out here for over 2 years and in all that time it has never once been connected to the phone line. As spiderv6 says, it is all a ploy to make you spend more money ordering things using the phone line, but if you don't need it, you don't use it.

Even at home in the UK our box is not plugged in and has never been plugged in, it doesn't effect anything at all.

Hi all

The Telephone connection (for the first 12 months) is part of the contract that you have signed to get a Subscription.
If Sky feel the need, they will send a signal to the Receiver and ask it to Dial back, automatically... If this call-back is not made, the account will be Flagged, If the call back is not made after the second request, Sky MAY send a letter, or Phone the UK adress.

Technically, if the phone is not connected, you have brocken the Contract.. they can do what they like...

Yes, People do get away it, but the risk is always there for the 12month period.

G

Hi TTers

Must admit I am a novice when it comes to many things electrical in nature ...

Can anyone tell me out there what/where/how one needs to do to get set up to have SKY TV in Munich?

ie what equipment do you need, how much does it cost to 'subscribe (?)', and I'm, sure many other questions I dont know that I should be asking...

I mainly want it to watch SKY Sports for rugby union games (few opportunities to get to watch games in pubs) and SKY news.

We just have a standard box tv at home.

Would try to do some more research into this myself but time is rather limited when being the primary carer of an active 21 month old toddler !

Any tips or pointers would be greatly appreciated.

cheers

Topics merged by admin

Here's a tip, try typing Sky TV into the search box in the top righthand corner.

Use the search button, top right of the page.

On second thoughts, since you are incapable of finding the information on your own, you probably aren't capable of installing a set-up yourself without TT holding your hand, so I'd suggest you give Bavaria Satellite a call and ask Geoff to come round and install it for you and set up a Sky subscription with sports channels.

TTers to the rescue - thanks for the pointer !

all the important info on SKY is there.

cheers