Freesat Reception

[jonalba]

I am moving to live in a block of flats which possibly has a communal Sky dish. Will I be able to simply connect a new Freesat HD box through the existing aerial connection to receive Freesat HD in the spring of 2008? I have an HD ready TV.

If there is no communal dish would it be possible to erect a dual purpose communal dish for both Sky and Freesat?

[flashgordon1952]

i csnt see a problem myself most new flat developements have a communal dish. now there could be a problem regarding the erection of the antenna or dish. you have to get permission from the landlord. if you are buying the property yu have a better chance of gaining permission on houseing Association flats its generally no. same with council flats. private rented flats again speak to the landlord. also the direction of where the satellite is could be a problem as if you flat is faceing the opposite direction of the satellite it could mean that yu could not have a dish anyway. Most houseing association flats and some private ones they quite often ban all external antennas and even washing lines. here i am lucky the previous tenant in this house had a dish put on the outside wall. i wish you luck. remember to lookat the small print in your agreement

[Geofbob]

Judging by some of the posts on this thread - What is Freesat? - if there's already a communal Sky dish, it should also be OK for BBC/ITV Freesat reception . As regards having a new communal dish installed, this may not be straightforward, as you'll not only have to get the agreement of the landlord, but also of other residents (unless you're thinking of paying for it all yourself). Planning permission from the local Council may also be required.

There may be a further snag concerning the Freesat equivalent to Sky+. Apparently, Sky+ requires two connections from the satellite dish, and few communal systems seem to allow for this. If Freesat recorders are of a similar format, then a communal dish may not be very useful, and you may have to think of installing your own dish - or of course sticking with a Freeview OVR which doesn't require two connections from the aerial.