BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5 in Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar and surrounding areas.

If you live in Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar or the surrounding areas such as Morroco, Cueta then you may already be aware that it is possible to receive broadcasts from the UK Satellite service provider Sky.

In Gibraltar a large community system exists with many channels being redistributed across RF depending on whether you live on a large Estate or private estate may dictate whether or not you can easily get a dish installed to receive SkyHD and take advantage of the excellent programming choice and superb picture quality, not to mention the excellant onscreen EPG.

Similar systems are found in community installations across much of Spain and expats enjoy the services at low cost, however such community systems are either limited by quality and reliability, programming choice, or even cost and many expats and locals will wish to have their own system.

We are based in Gibraltar although we arrange dispatch of goods from various locations throughout Europe, for example in Spain we may send goods depending on nature of the order from Malaga and or Gibraltar.

If you want to setup a community system we can supply the distribution equipment necessary to distribute channels (CATV) or the satellite signal from the dish (SMATV) - for large jobs we can also travel and install the system for you depending on the scope of work required.

Technically many people actually believe it's not possible to receive Sky Digital or BBC in Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco etc but this is simply not true, on this page you will find technical information relating to the dish size and equipment you may need to watch sky, since this page is a subsection - click on the links above or to the left if you wish to purchase equipment, we can supply the receivers, dishes, cabling etc.. needed to install and view BBC in Spain. We can recommend installers in some regions of Spain, Gibraltar and Portugal - if you are an installer and want us to refer clients to you then please contact us and we'll be glad to discuss various options with you. 

If you are considering moving to Iberia region to start up an installation business we can supply you with all the necessary equipment.

To avoid duplication of information it is suggested that you read the complimentary page about sky tv in Europe, all equipment we sell is suitable for BBC in Europe, the dish sizes are for guidance only, with  high quality equipment you may be able to reduce the dish size and in some areas you may need to use a slightly larger dish although in 99% of all cases using the dish size on our diagrams you should have very little problems, but local knowledge is paramount, especially around Alicante - this is because in some areas cold spots exist where it is harder to receive the signals in some villages compared to neighbouring communities only a few km's away. 

To this end the following map is more accurate than the high level overview on our Sky TV in Europe page. The dish sizes here are suggested for optimal reception of BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5 and other FTA/FTV channels on the Astra2D satellite at 28.2East. 

Click the image for a larger size, this map was found from public sources on the internet, we welcome contributions if you have more updated versions. 

In Gibraltar we have tested using a 1.2m solid dish and found some break up on CH4 and CH5 during various times of the day, the recommended dish size for Gibraltar is 1.5m, at this time we don't stock these, so to test the accuracy of our information - we tested using the 1.8m petalised dish we sell and a standard sky quad universal LNB - this is not the ideal combination by any means, and the losses by using incorrect equipment effectively give us similar results to a 1.5m dish - and  we have had no problems whatsoever even with older digiboxes. We chose this unorthodox approach merely to prove a point and demonstrate that it is not always necessary to buy the most expensive piece of equipment on the market, one of our clients locally was convinced that he should pay around 900 Euros for a 1.5m dish and we slung up our installation on the quick within 2hrs just to show that this was nonsense. 

You may ask why such a combination is not recommended, this is because the optimal focus cannot be achieved with a standard sky quad LNB, and moreover - these are designed for oval dishes - not round ones, for prime focus dishes - just so you know - it is recommended based on tried and tested knowledge with such prime focus antennas to use a high quality dedicated prime focus LNB - such as the Invacom 0.3db Quad LNB with a C120 flange and the latest generation of sky receiver, especially if you intend viewing channels which need a viewing card, which naturally we also supply. If you use other items results are still possible and need not cost you an arm and a leg.  

If you are wanting only the Sky subscription channels without BBC or ITV, CH4 etc then a much much smaller dish will suffice - this too is important because large dishes can be obtrusive, difficult to install and expensive depending on your supplier - we can supply large dishes but it should be noted that once supplied due to size and weight it will not be in your interests to return them, please contact us first to discuss your exact needs.

This page was added on 8th June 2007.