Just saw the notice rolling on the bottom of the screen: Cablecom is pulling BBC Prime out of the analog channels as of 3.10.2006, it will be only available on digital.

As dual tone is only available on Analog, the dish is becoming a distinct possibility.

Well this is really very irritating. Over the years I've seen the English channels disappear one by one. MTV used to be in English then it changed to German. I used to have an MSNBC type channel but that went about 3-4 years ago. Euronews (which broadcast dual language) went at the end of last year (or beginning of this year). CNBC disappeared last month wasn't it?

So that leaves just BBC Prime and CNN in English, and now BBC prime is going as well?

Very disappointed - but I know this - I'd rather fork out money on satellite TV than give it to Cablecom to buy their digital package which seemed to offer even poorer value for money. And all this in addition to the fact that I have to pay for cable access into my property which it looks like I most likely won't be using much anymore...

Anyone out there work for cablecom? Give us the inside scoop on their attitude to English channels?

Our MTV is still english, also with Cablecom.
Guess it depends on the area you live...

Where there is money to be be made, it will be made. "Come on" we are sitting ducks.

Quack.

Could this just be one more reason to turn to P2P?

CableCon as such b*st*rds they have a long history of doing whatever they want with the channels they supply.

There is no reason for closing down analog BBC Prime other than forcing punters onto digital. Obviously analog is dead and in 2 - 3 years the western world will be left with millions of bemused viewers watching analog snowstorms wondering were their telly went.

I suppose we should be thankful that we aren't Turkish, Portugese or French as their channels were hacked off to digital long ago.

Still, it's good news for satellite suppliers where the free to air choice from the UK has never been better...

Just the topic I was going to start. My partner is very upset and fuming so I have been assigned the job to get to the bottom of this Swiss TV crap!
Can someone clear few thinngs :-)

1) We pay Billag the money. What is their connection with cablecom the company? Are they in partnership or something?

2) This crap about BBC now will it be solved if I buy a digital TV? OR do I need to buy a digital subscription package as well?

3) There seems to be some "English Package" on cablecom. Any good? If we get it then would we still get all the normal channels that we are currently getting?

4) In UK when you pay yearly TV license you get 5 channels. What is the Swiss equivalent? IS the Swis equivalent the Billag which give access to those 30 or so channels that keep disappearing?

5) Why should I continue to py to Billag if I decide to go with some other company?

6) What are my alternatives for getting better choice of channels? Can I get sky like in UK? Will I have to pay to Billag and then to Sky?



Thanks and I find the Swiss TV system very confusing.

Did I mention that I hate cablecom? I hate their folks that are positioned in electronic shops. These cablecom pimps really irritate me and keep pimping even when I tell them to f off!

Billag (Bill AG - good eh?) collect the Swiss equivalent of the licence fee.
You'll need a digital package from CableCon and a set-top box from them - both cost and are on top of BillAg and Cablecon's basic charge AFAIK.
You can check the package at cablecom.ch
The Swiss equivalent - without cablecon - that is sticking an aerial out of window - will get you DRS1 and that's about it. You can get some German TV to from air. I beleive DRS2, repeat channel, Tele Zuri, +3, the French and Italian Swiss channels are all supplied in the Zurich area anyway only by cablecon.
If you have a TV you are legally oblidged to pay BillAG - think of it as the equivalent of the UK's TV licence.
A sky box - especially Sky Plus with a hard disc recorder included - is an excellent alternative. You'll get BBC1, 2 & 4, BBC News 24, ITV 1, 2, 3 & 4 and Film4 plus endless shopping and holiday channels all free to air. But you will still be oblidged to pay BillAG.

Ab Fab you are Fab :-)

On cablecon site...

At the bottom it has "Your free gift" and "PROMOTION sports & more option" list. So should I assume that the "Your free gift" channels will continue to come regularly/always and the "Promotional..." ones are just temporary teasers?

So if I get sky plus will I then need a dish? Where can I buy this dish in CH? From the other posts on this forum I read that I need a UK address as well which is not a problem as my parents are in UK. They already have sky plus, would that be an issue? I mean two at the same address? Do I need to bring the dish from UK? Does the signal come via satellite?

Remember you can also get a Free-to-Air satellite receiver and receive BBC and ITV without a Sky box or subscription.

This can also be an issue if you have shared (switched) satellite access and can't use Sky digital. (The DiscEq switching signals don't work properly with Sky digiboxes)

dave

So all this will work with my normal analogue TV once connected to the external box thing. Argh I was thinking of upgrading my TV as well :-) I could always tell my partner that we need a new TV that hangs on the wall for everything to work perfect

These external boxes normally connect via the SCART connector which is a big rectangular thing with which you often connect your video recorder to your TV. Most of the boxes also have Tv connector outputs.
dave

My wife decided to get naxoo with the English package as a suprise for me.

So now I enjoy BBC1 and BBC2 and also BBC Prime in English

There are some other English language programmes with that but they dont interest me

This should wipe that smile off your face:

Cablecom increased its shareholding in Naxoo to 49 percent on 28 August 2006 and is thus becoming the most important partner of the Geneva-based cable network company. Conjointly, Naxoo and cablecom will modernise the Geneva cable network over the next two years in order to introduce triple-play products. Upon completion of the modernisation process, 90,000 connected households will have access to cablecom’s broadband Internet and digital telephony services. The range of television channels currently offered will remain unchanged.

www.cablecom.ch/en/cablecom_Medienmitteilung_Naxoo_d_060904.pdf

So Naxoo punters can expect a good shafting in the near future. Do you get films from Swiss Romande TV in dual language on digital, like you do on analog??

Yeah we do get films in dual on digital

Only reason I like having BBC1 is the fact I can watch Match of the Day. Wife is happy because she gets to watch Eastenders :P

Anyway, was thinking of getting bluewin tv but have not yet decided.

Digital TV is not just so you have a better picture. The main problem today there are not enough bandwdith for all the TV channels, but if you can move everyone onto digital you can add more channels.

Better picture is what they try to sell you, but due to the high freqency used by the large sat dishes they are more exceptable to bad weather as everyone who has digital may notice which equals crapy picture.


Sauron, Book reader

it is laughable that Cablecom has people in every store who try to tell you that "in 2010 analogue is dead" and when you say "well I have a couple of satellite systems" they say "no, you won't be able to get anything from them".

Just ask them "where is HD!?!?!?"

Just wanted to add some further clarification to AdFab's comments. By the way, it's Cablecom not Cablecon.

Cablecom delivers the channels to you. Billag collects money only for the public channels, e.g. SF1,2.

You should probably check the cablecom website for this kind of info. We've also discussed whether Cablecom's digital offerring is worth it a few times on the forum before. See this thread.

Maybe - depends on what you get now and what your digital package would be. See the cablecom website.

No, in the UK when you pay your TV license you get 2 channels, BBC1 and BBC2. The other channels are broadcast free, they have nothing to do with the license. Think of content development and delivery as two separate things. You pay cablecom to deliver those 30 or so channels, but you don't get any say over the service they provide. You could always pull the plug on the whole thing, but the cablecom charge is usually included in your rent, so it might not be to easy to opt-out.

Because it's the law. Exactly the same stupidity as in the UK (and a few other places as well). We've discussed this a few times on this forum, specifically here and here.

As AdFab already said you'll have to pay Billag regardless, exactly as you would have to pay in the UK. You can't legally get Sky, since you have to be UK resident, again - specifics about Sky and how to get it have been done to death on this forum. You can't search for sky on the forum because the term is too short, but search for terms like "dish" or "receiver" instead and you'll turn up many sky related threads. Choose the thread most relevant to you and ask a specific question on there.

Please note: I'd prefer this thread not to degenerate into yet another thread where we discuss the specifics of sky, billag etc, so let's keep it on topic please. There should be no problem to mention the alternatives briefly, but please let's not get into specifics - we have other threads for that.

It's not that bad - almost the same insanity as in many countries, the thing which is probably new to you is that the Swiss do their "default" channel distribution over a cable system rather than from some big transmitters. This means more channels and better quality (usually), but the cable itself has to be paid for.

On a slightly different note, I'd like to see more internet-TV type offerings appear. With the increasing amount of bandwidth available these days, we should be seeing services like this already. Although my internet connection comes via cablecom, I'd like to see some independant internet-TV operators - after all, Cablecom won't really compete with its own offerings

Just wanted to post a small update on this thread.

The original complaint raised here was that cablecom is pulling yet another English-speaking channel and moving it to their digital service which we have to pay for. This leaves us with precisely one English channel (CNN) on the cable.

So what do to? A letter writing campaign? Probably wouldn't make the slightest bit of difference to a monopoly. Many people will fork over the extra money for digital, and cablecom will laugh all the way to the bank by continuing to charge for the cable and then collecting again on the digital subscriptions.

Well in my own way I've decided to do something about it. I've never felt the need to hand over large sums of money for a sky subscription - I just don't watch that much TV. I occassionaly watch BBC prime and get everything else I need from the Internet. But now that they are pulling BBC prime I'm pretty mad.

I've therefore decided to go for a satellite installation to get the English-speaking free channels from the UK. To be honest I'm baffled by the various messages on this forum with all sorts of satellite technical talk - I've no clue. But with the help of Lob Rockster I've just ordered the basic components that I need. I plan to mount the dish myself and have a go at plugging it all together. A friend his giving me his own sky box to use as a decoder and the entire bill for all the other components I'll need just cost me 280 francs.

Within a few days I'll have access to boatloads of English-speaking channels, without paying a single cent in subscriptions - all very easy and totally legal.

Some of you may have been wondering what to do about the situation and whether you should be forking out money for Cablecom digital. Maybe you are a bit intimidated about all this satellite talk, just as I was.

Therefore I'm going to post a little story in a few days called something like "A complete idiots guide to getting hundreds of English-speaking channels for free". I'll show you just how easy it was to set up, how I did it and a list of the parts I bought (I bought them all online). Maybe others will be inspired to do the same thing and we can all give a collective two fingers to Cablecom. What do you think?