Can my dish still be useful if the satellite has been decommissioned?

April 13, 2024 7:28 AM

The house we're renting in Spain has a satellite dish. We've been enjoying UK channels like BBC and ITV, but service was interrupted last week. We asked the friendly local satellite guy, and he said that Intelsat 907 has been decommissioned…

which means no more channels, throw out the dish and start from scratch. We don't really have any experience with satellite but our landlady told us she installed it once, years ago, and didn't pay any kind of monthly subscription. Couldn't the dish be reconfigured to tune in to some other service? The internet says that Intelsat 907 has been replaced by Intelsat 901. The satellite set-top box says Red and Opticum on it, and there's an 80 cm (31 inch) dish on the roof. Thanks.

posted by Silky Slim to Technology (3 answers total)

The service on Intelsat 907 that disappeared last week was a backup feed for the UK terrestrial TV transmitters - it was never intended for viewers to watch directly.

It's very likely that you can realign your dish to point at a different satellite cluster and reuse your existing receiver. If you've got a friendly local installer then I'd get them to do it, since it's much easier with the right equipment. However, I think it's unlikely that you'll be able to get the UK channels in Spain (at least without the kind of dish that's likely to make radio astronomers jealous), since there's an increasing tendency for satellite broadcasters to use beams that only cover the intended countries.

kingofsat is useful for seeing which channels are available. Assuming you were using Intelsat 907, your dish is currently pointing at 27.5 West.
posted by offog at 8:30 AM on April 13 [3 favorites]

Another thing to understand is that you were watching "unencrypted" or "free to air" channels. If you peruse those kingofsat listings above, I'd recommend setting the filter to only show those channels. You'll find that many satellites have ZERO unencrypyted channels, because they are used for subscription services, or are backhauls to cable companies, so obviously you can just skip those. (Well, you can pay for a subscription service, but they'll be sending you a new indoor receiver box and possibly a new antenna.)

Back in the day I used LyngSat and I'm happy they are still around. For example and picked at random, here's Eutelsat 16A at 16.0 deg E, also visible to you in Spain.

I'd hire your local friendly satellite guy to a) recommend a satellite to point to, and b) do the repointing for you. Or if you decide to spend on a subscription service, get his advice on that, and installation services if there's a new antenna involved.

EDIT: just saw that you are renting, presumably short term, so probably not interesting in paying much for any service. Maybe ask the host if they'll split the cost?
posted by intermod at 1:46 PM on April 13

This isn’t really what you’re asking but in case it’s useful - a British friend of mine living in France used to have a subscription to TV Mucho, which streamed British channels, as-broadcast, online. I just looked it up to be able to suggest it to you but it seem to have recently been closed down - but this page suggests a couple of alternatives doing the same thing. Obviously there a charge there, but in case it’s of use.
posted by penguin pie at 3:38 PM on April 13