TV aerials and watching free channels

Hutch100uk

I'm about to move into a new rental property. Previous tenant had Virgin but I'm having BT phone and broadband installed.

In the living room there are a load of Virgin cables. One cable looks like the basic TV aerial but the end has been cut off.

I'm going back to using my Now TV smart box but wondered how I will be able to watch channels such as BBC, ITV (the free ones)? I have a modern smart TV.

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but do I need a basic aerial too? As you can probably tell, I'm hopeless with stuff like this.

DoaM

Technically you should be able to get most of the Freeview channels over the Internet via the various apps (BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, All 4, UKTV Player etc.), so you probably don't actually need a TV aerial.

Note: if you're watching live TV, even over the Internet, you'll still need a TV licence.

Hutch100uk

Ah yes, but I was more interested in live TV. Wasn't sure if I would be able to access that without an aerial?
I have a TV licence so that's not a problem.

neilmcl

In the absence of an aerial or sat dish then you may need to get on installed to access live TV. You won't get anything from the Virgin cable feed.

I had cable throughout my house so when I wanted to access Freeview via the aerial I got an installer to connect the existing Virgin cable feeds to a splitter attached to the aerial so I could use it without having to put down new coax cable.

Hutch100uk

OK thanks. I will try putting a coax connector onto the cable that I assume is the aerial and test it. If that doesn't work, looks like I'll have to get Sky in again :-(

neilmcl

Hutch100uk wrote: »

OK thanks. I will try putting a coax connector onto the cable that I assume is the aerial and test it. If that doesn't work, looks like I'll have to get Sky in again :-(

Do you actually have an aerial though?

mobileron

Buy a amazon firestick and stream all.

Hutch100uk

neilmcl wrote: »

Do you actually have an aerial though?

There is a cable coming out of the wall (separate from the virgin stuff) that looks like it would be the main aerial but it has no connector on it.

[Deleted User]

Hutch100uk wrote: »

There is a cable coming out of the wall (separate from the virgin stuff) that looks like it would be the main aerial but it has no connector on it.

That doesn't answer the question though, is there an aerial on the roof or in the loft?

Dewhirstn

It all depends what kind of dish/aerial that wire is connected to.

I was until recently with Sky and I'm swapping to Now TV, the Sky dish wiring won't work because it's for a satellite dish not a digital aerial, so you could have the same issue, if it is to a dish and not an aerial you're gunna have to get an aerial.

Use this website:
http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/coveragechecker/

To check what the signal is like in your area, and which direction and how far away the mast is, ideally if you need an aerial you want to put it outside facing towards the mast, but if you're close enough you can get one of those sexy slim line digital aerials.

I wasn't so lucky, I tried the slimline and no luck, got myself a loft/outdoor aerial, tried it in the loft wired up to the old wiring and no luck, so I popped it outside where the old Sky dish was and it worked fine.

Hope that helps.

bouicca21

A while ago I was renting and the freeholders refused to have an aerial installed. A portable aerial did the trick, though possibly because I was within 10 miles of the transmitter.