Stuck: no working aerial, is it Virgin cable or nothing?

jess-the-cat_3

We have recently moved house and realised there is no working aerial so we cannot use our Freeview box as we did at our last property.

We have had a couple of quotes to sort an aerial in the region of £100. We're not flush atm so noticing there is are Virgin connections here I called up about JUST getting cable TV with them to avoid having to pay for the aerial. They quoted me a couple of monthly prices but also an installation fee of £49.

I am pretty annoyed that simply to watch Freeview I am going to have to pay (long story short, the LL did not realise the aerial connections didn't work and refuses to contribute anything towards this.) I suspect I know the answer already but not knowing much about cable TV, do Sky do cable or is it a case of if we want to watch TV I have to sign for 18 months with Virgin?

Also if we move before the 18-month contract is up will we have to continue with Virgin at a new house or would we not be tied in if we moved?

jannowretired

If all you want is freeview get an aerial installed for a ONE OFF payment.

If you move how do you know that Virgin will be available in your new home?

Moneymaker

Can't you simply chuck an aerial into the loft?
What's your postcode?
Check out your signal etc. http://www.wolfbane.com/cgi-bin/tvd.exe?

jess-the-cat_3

I realise we do appear to be looking at this crazily...

Two points...

First. We are rather peed off with the LL's attitude. Given we've only just moved in, it is apparent already we've got a good 'un :cool: We simply do not want to do anything to the house that would "better" it for the LL's benefit AFTER we've moved out, ie add a TV aerial.

Second. We had a TV engineer come round to check out the aerial situation. We are in an area that is notoriously bad with reception. Anything indoors isn't going to cut it (I actually found that link the other day and realised that.)

I can only think the best option financially is to get an aerial put up then take it down when we move... Stubborn? Yes.

Thank for replies.

Buzby

I don;t think it is your LL's responsibility to provide or supply good TV receiption (or mobile coverage for that matter). Usually a pervious tenant will have done something to facilitate reception. If there is a Virgin connection you may find you can still get the 5 terrestrial channels through this (as analogue, not digital) but this is progressively being switched off.

C_Mababejive

Go buy an antenna from screwfix and stick it somewhere convenient. Unless your in a fringe area,it will work. where ru by the way??

jess-the-cat_3

C_Mababejive wrote: »

Go buy an antenna from screwfix and stick it somewhere convenient. Unless your in a fringe area,it will work. where ru by the way??

Don't want to divulge precisely where we are, but we are in a bad area for reception due to a local big National Trust building. Have consulted with the neighbours and they have the same trouble. An indoor aerial doesn't work. It has to be outdoor and right at the top of the roof (yes, I know, but you should see some of the aerials on this house already as well as the neighbours...)

Enterprise_1701C

You say there's already aerials on the house? Is it just that you need a new distribution point in the loft, ie can you see coax cables in the loft.

Moneymaker

Under any law, the landlord is not obliged to provide you with a means of receiving TV. however, under European law, he must not unreasonably prevent you from receiving TV. In the case of satellite TV, this is covered by:
"COMMISSION COMMUNICATION ON THE APPLICATION OF THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF FREE MOVEMENT OF GOODS AND SERVICES - ARTICLES 28 AND 49 EC – CONCERNING THE USE OF SATELLITE DISHES"
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/ecomm/doc/info_centre/communic_reports/satellite_dish/antenna_en.pdf

(Sorry about the capital letters. I simply copied & pasted it.)

And this makes an interesting read: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2004_2009/documents/cm/610/610637/610637en.pdf