Advice on Not being allowed to install a sky dish.

Aussie_in_London

Hi Everyone

I have been reading this forum for a while, and wanted to ask a question as I hope someone can help me out here.

I live in a fairly nice complex in Putney that comprises 2 blocks each with 6 flats, as well as 6 houses behind the 2 blocks of flats.

At the moment, there is a clause in our lease with the freeholder that states we cannot erect satelitte dishes or aerials onto the building. As well as this, we are in an area where we cannot get cable. Also, we are not in an area which has banned dishes due to the enviroment/history etc.

Currently I have a subscription to Talktalk/Tiscali, however at least once a night the system resets itself, and we have no access to HD content or the "red button" both of which are very important for a sports fan like myself, especially since I watch southern hemisphere rugby which often is not on the full channel.

Our Freehold landlord has agreed that if we get a letter signed by all parties, we will be allowed to put up a community dish on the blocks of flats, and the houses will be able to do the same (currently a number of the houses are breaking the rules and have dishes already installed)

We are in the process of getting the letter signed by all the landlords, but are coming across 2 issues
1.) A number of the tenants in the houses have a problem with the communal dish as they believe it will ruin the visage out of the front of their house. Currently all they see is the back of our building which isn't very attractive to begin with anyway....
2.) A landlord in one of the flats is refusing to sign unless all flats get Sky installed at least, and the costs of it are worked out. Sky, for obvious reasons, are not willing to install every house if not everyone is going to take a subscription.

Has anyone got any ideas how I can progress this as I am at stalemate. I believe I am being very reasonable, having investigated cable and the communal dish but people just seem to have odd ideas about satellite dishes. If the houses continue to make a fuss I can see myself putting in a formal complaint about their dishes as retribution and to try and get them to change their minds, but i dont want to go that far.

If anyone has had any similar issues/experiences or has any suggestions I would love to hear them.

Thanks

PS - Long shot, but there isn't a law anywhere which states you can't be denied TV is there?

withabix

Aussie_in_London wrote: »

PS - Long shot, but there isn't a law anywhere which states you can't be denied TV is there?

Short answer. No.

davemurgatroyd

As far as the law goes your freehold landlord is fully complying with that in agreeing to a communal dish installation. It is up to those interested to persuade all the other tenants.

NVRAM

1.) Theyd Probably come round

2.) Sounds like an !!!. The dish fitters will install the dish and the required conduits and then just connect up if someone requests sky. Guy sounds like he expects a sky setup with everyone subsidising his costs

We were told we couldnt have a dish on a certain wall at our last place (the front of the house) Sky fitter came and said he needed it on this wall. Just let him lol. Weve since moved out and got our entire deposit refunded. their own fault as they never fitted an aerial tbh.

Kurtis_Blue

Well I cant see how you are going to get it for free as clearly not every one will sign up for Sky, you would be surprised how discretely we can install communal dishes when required. If you were to pay for it your selves a system providing

• freeview
• fm
• dab
• Sky +
• hotbird

would set you back around £275 - 325 per flat.

Not a great deal of money really.

Moneymaker

If you are on the ground floor, your own dish mounted on the ground, suitably camouflaged, might be an option. Otherwise it will have to go behind a south-facing window or on a balcony.

EdW_2

My hint is.....if you have a decent broadband connection and HD TV, then get sky sports online package. Cheaper than the TV one, and you should be able to link your PC up to your TV.

I always shyed away from this, as I have always though of Internet Streaming such as this as horribly messy, but then a friend showed me a demo at his house, and, well, it was just like normal sky.

I have Sky, and there's not much else to recommend it other than Sports. In fact, if it stops your parents sky+'ing Kendra and the like, that can only be a bonus

[Deleted User]

Well i had the same problem.. then i had an idea.. Mother have full package.. so ask her if i pay half can i use her account. agreed so brought a HDMI for PC to tv ( i have a powerful gaming rig) and set up a skyiplayer account and link it to her sky account you need sky account number the person u using and now i can watch all the sky channel LIVE.. sorted. Next door called landlord says i got sky can he check where im getting it from as he cant find the disc.. LL comes round and was angry think i have sky disc up sumwhere and told him how it was done.. his reply was you aint stupid are ya lol...
Ask a mate if he has it and offer him half the subscription.. it can be use up to 6 pc i think..

Colin_London

Aussie_in_London wrote: »

2.) A landlord in one of the flats is refusing to sign unless all flats get Sky installed at least, and the costs of it are worked out. Sky, for obvious reasons, are not willing to install every house if not everyone is going to take a subscription.

It's impractical to get Sky to install such a multi-flat installation.

The usual method would be for the management committee to vote to have a MATV Satellite System installed in all the flats, assuming you meet the voting majority written into your constitution. You'll then be able to fund the installation via the management company service charge (if your accounts have a surplus) or via a special one-off charge on flat leaseholders (you'd have to determine this before the vote).

Assuming you get the agreement the MATV system would normally be installed by an independent (i.e. not Sky) satellite installer, and would provide all flats with a wallplate to which the tenants can attach a satellite receiver (should they wish) to receive the satellite cluster at 28.2E (Astra 2). The receiver chosen by the flat owner could be a Sky box, or it could be a Freesat box. The wallplate should have two outputs so that a recording receiver (e.g. Sky+ or Freesat+) could be used. Thus tenants do not have to subscribe to Sky to make use of the satellite system.

Unfortunately however you would not get any subsidy from Sky towards the installation!

Taking this equal and non-vendor specific approach to the problem should overcome most objections. Some landlords may still not want the wallplate installed in their flat, but they'd still have to contribute under the rules so most would take it up.

PS - Long shot, but there isn't a law anywhere which states you can't be denied TV is there?

I don't believe so, and anyhow this would only apply if the freeholder was preventing you from having any form of TV receiving method. From your post it doesn't sound as if this is the problem, as you can get TV via a standard aerial distribution.

You just have the usual problem of getting everyone on a building management committee to agree, which unfortunately is all too common. I state this as someone who used to own a flat leasehold, and who tried & failed to get the committees agreement to pay to get the TV distribution system updated to reliably receive freeview.

Colin_London

via an aerial don't you? And ESPN.

You need a Top Up TV box & subscription.

Alternatively you'll soon be able to buy a 'CAM' device from Top Up which slots into most modern HDTVs which will do the same job as the seperate box. Currently Top Up only sell CAMs for ESPN, but shortly they will sell 'CI+' CAMs for Sky Sports 1 & 2 as well.

brewerdave

Colin_London wrote: »

via an aerial don't you? And ESPN.

You need a Top Up TV box & subscription.

Alternatively you'll soon be able to buy a 'CAM' device from Top Up which slots into most modern HDTVs which will do the same job as the seperate box. Currently Top Up only sell CAMs for ESPN, but shortly they will sell 'CI+' CAMs for Sky Sports 1 & 2 as well.

But OP was after access to Southern Hemisphere rugby - that tends to be on Sky Sports 3 + 4 - also Topup TV prices very high -£39.99 pm for Sky Sports 1 + 2:(