Help me understand TV internet services

Ash_Pole

I'm paying a ridiculous amount at the moment for Virgin internet/TV/skysports.

I was getting a haircut today and the guy there was telling me about something called an istar box he got on ebay. Says it's just about all the decent TV channels, 100's of them from all over the world, via an internet box. Skysports were there and BT and he paid way less than I'm paying.

I thought this has to be dodgy but he says it's legal. So what are these things? Are they legal? If not, where do they get their feeds from? Help me understand!

DCFC79

Ash_Pole wrote: »

I'm paying a ridiculous amount at the moment for Virgin internet/TV/skysports.

I was getting a haircut today and the guy there was telling me about something called an istar box he got on ebay. Says it's just about all the decent TV channels, 100's of them from all over the world, via an internet box. Skysports were there and BT and he paid way less than I'm paying.

I thought this has to be dodgy but he says it's legal. So what are these things? Are they legal? If not, where do they get their feeds from? Help me understand!

Looks like it's a box you need a satellite dish for eg like you do with sky. I don't have 1 of them myself.

The box might work similar to Drold player M8. They get the feeds from the Internet hence it needs an internet connection.

There are certain ways to view TV programmes for free, can't discuss them on here mind.

Rev

Ash_Pole wrote: »

I'm paying a ridiculous amount at the moment for Virgin internet/TV/skysports.

I was getting a haircut today and the guy there was telling me about something called an istar box he got on ebay. Says it's just about all the decent TV channels, 100's of them from all over the world, via an internet box. Skysports were there and BT and he paid way less than I'm paying.

I thought this has to be dodgy but he says it's legal. So what are these things? Are they legal? If not, where do they get their feeds from? Help me understand!

He lied. It's not legal.

You need a sat dish or a VM feed to your house. Then you get a box capable of decoding those feeds. Then you pay someone for something called a cline or nline (sky version). Or whatever the virgin equivalent of that is (sorry not sure).

You take out a monthly/3 month/6 month or year long sub and hope they don't sod off with your cash half way through (some don't, but some do and since it's illegal you've no recourse).

There are forums dedicated to all this if you know where to look.

But there's a lot of risk involved and it's not like a sky box. You have to keep it up to date yourself. Channel lists. Firmware updates. If you buy a clone accidentally it could just brick itself etc etc.

I don't have one myself but I did look into it. Decided it was too much hassle and got a humax freesat box instead.

Lingua

I'm not sure about sports, but most shows are available on iPlayer through catch-up, and failing that there is Netflix for shows and films rather than your typical tv soaps and dramas.

Don't think I'll ever bother with a TV licence, nevermind Sky or Virgin ...

For foreign channels, a lot of nationalised companies offer them on their website if you access them with a VPN. Not sure as to whether that's legal, as I've never had the need to do it myself so have not looked into it.

macman

It doesn't matter whether the channels are foreign, nationalised, or UK based. If you watch live broadcast TV, you require a TV licence.
The iPlayer catch up 'loophole' is to be removed by secondary legislation, possibly during the current parliamentary session, which ends in July, so you may need a licence sooner than you think.

brewerdave

macman wrote: »

It doesn't matter whether the channels are foreign, nationalised, or UK based. If you watch live broadcast TV, you require a TV licence.
The iPlayer catch up 'loophole' is to be removed by secondary legislation, possibly during the current parliamentary session, which ends in July, so you may need a licence sooner than you think.

...Can't believe that they are going to have time to change the legislation before the Summer recess -isn't there a little Referendum to prepare for ???
Also no-one has yet announced how they propose to enforce -and that ain't going to be a 5 minute job:rotfl:
To be fair the original post was about ways around Sky/Virgin subscription models NOT the TV license!
As far as I'm aware watching such streams on the net is not illegal, but making them available for others to watch is a civil offence.

robin58

brewerdave wrote: »

...Can't believe that they are going to have time to change the legislation before the Summer recess -isn't there a little Referendum to prepare for ???
Also no-one has yet announced how they propose to enforce -and that ain't going to be a 5 minute job:rotfl:
To be fair the original post was about ways around Sky/Virgin subscription models NOT the TV license!
As far as I'm aware watching such streams on the net is not illegal, but making them available for others to watch is a civil offence.

You will be surprised.

Things can get done very quickly in Parliament when it has to.

Also the 4 main parties aren't always at each others throat as the news papers would make you believe.

As for the legislation, they will just extend it to cover Iplayer, like they did when Video and Satellite came into being.

Then the already criminal prosecution for not having a license will come into force.

And don't forget it's a criminal offense so the Broadband supplier could be forced to give connection information.

Hell, the BBC will have your IP address you connected from anyway!!