# UK TV in Rome



## KayeRome

Hi, does anyone know how I can watch UK TV in Rome? I am coming back in a week - currently back in London - where I have an old Freeview box which I was considering bringing down. I have been told it works in Spain so was hoping it would in Italy. Any advise gratefully received...


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## Joppa

KayeRome said:


> Hi, does anyone know how I can watch UK TV in Rome? I am coming back in a week - currently back in London - where I have an old Freeview box which I was considering bringing down. I have been told it works in Spain so was hoping it would in Italy. Any advise gratefully received...


UK Freeview box may work in Italy but it will only receive local Italian digital channels if any, not British. To watch British TV, you either have to get a big dish plus Sky box (to get BBC and ITV in Rome, you need something like 3m dish!) or if you have broadband, you can watch many programmes online (streaming) through iPlayer and ITV player, plus VPN (which fools the broadcasters into thinking you are connecting from UK, with UK provider address; they cut you off if they detect overseas internet provider address).


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## unclejoe

You can always use an IP spoof to watch the catch-up on your computer. Or your Sky box but in that case you'll probably need a new dish - the small UK sized dish won't work in Italy and you'll need a much larger one.

English Language Television - The Italy Wiki


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## noanswer

I take it that would be the same in Milan, you would need a massive satellite dish to be able to receive any UK stations? 

I have some Italian friends living in Dublin and they somehow have regular Italian stations like RAI coming in. I'll have to check that out and see if it can be done the other way!


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## Joppa

noanswer said:


> I take it that would be the same in Milan, you would need a massive satellite dish to be able to receive any UK stations?
> 
> I have some Italian friends living in Dublin and they somehow have regular Italian stations like RAI coming in. I'll have to check that out and see if it can be done the other way!


RAI transmit using HotBird 2 satellite at 13 degrees East throughout Europe, and you only need a standard dish to receive it. Some programmes, esp sports, are scrambled. BBC and ITV, on the other hand, are on Astra 2D at 28.2 degrees East with a beam tightly centered on British Isles - hence the need for up to 3m dish to receive in Rome!

As I said, getting VPN is your best bet.


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## noanswer

Cheers for the info! The VPN seems quite complicated though, is there much to setting one up or do you have to buy any hardware.

I checked that link out in one of the earlier posts and was reading about that Slingbox thing, but it means having your Sky set up in your original country then having a high speed wifi connection. Could get quite expensive!


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## Joppa

noanswer said:


> Cheers for the info! The VPN seems quite complicated though, is there much to setting one up or do you have to buy any hardware.
> 
> I checked that link out in one of the earlier posts and was reading about that Slingbox thing, but it means having your Sky set up in your original country then having a high speed wifi connection. Could get quite expensive!


VPN is very easy. Sign up, pay subscription (there are free ones but they don't work at all or only occasionally) and configure your PC/laptop so that your broadband goes through your VPN (VPN operator tells you how to). Then go to BBC iPlayer or ITV Player and watch programmes live or delayed. 

Slingbox is much more versatile than VPN, in that you can watch everything that your Sky box can receive in UK, whereas iPlayer etc restricts you the channels you can watch. VPN is ok for standard UK channels like BBC 1 & 2, ITV1, Channel 4 etc, whereas Slingbox can have access to hundreds of channels including paid sports and film channels (if you subscribe to them in UK). You control your Sky box and Slingbox in UK remotely through a software installed on your PC/laptop.


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## noanswer

Joppa said:


> VPN is very easy. Sign up, pay subscription (there are free ones but they don't work at all or only occasionally) and configure your PC/laptop so that your broadband goes through your VPN (VPN operator tells you how to). Then go to BBC iPlayer or ITV Player and watch programmes live or delayed.
> 
> Slingbox is much more versatile than VPN, in that you can watch everything that your Sky box can receive in UK, whereas iPlayer etc restricts you the channels you can watch. VPN is ok for standard UK channels like BBC 1 & 2, ITV1, Channel 4 etc, whereas Slingbox can have access to hundreds of channels including paid sports and film channels (if you subscribe to them in UK). You control your Sky box and Slingbox in UK remotely through a software installed on your PC/laptop.


I reckon I'll go for the Slingbox, just because my folks still live back home so I could set it up with the Sky+ there and get the sports channels. Plus I kinda like the idea of controlling the sky remotely from a laptop :ranger: <enter geek laugh here>

Cheers for the help!


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## tortoise

noanswer said:


> I reckon I'll go for the Slingbox, just because my folks still live back home so I could set it up with the Sky+ there and get the sports channels. Plus I kinda like the idea of controlling the sky remotely from a laptop :ranger: <enter geek laugh here>
> 
> Cheers for the help!


I use filmon dot com - you can pay monthly or watch for free which times out after 5 minutes but you just need to click back in to it to carry on. you only need a computer for it too !


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