Dublin has the cheapest basic cable tv service in Europe...

[teilifis fraincis]

So you believed me? I can lie, I can lie. Yuppi!!!

Perhaps some readers can enlighten us on the price of the basic (cheapest) package of tv channels on cable in Europe...?

Price per year for the best value:

Ireland
Ntl (mono lingual service plus must carry TG4)
204 euro (14 channels)

Belgium
Coditel (Brussels) 123 euro 32 (39 channels)
multi-lingual including Eurosport (French and English) and TV5.

Netherlands
Casema (La Haye) 108 euro (34 channels)
multi-lingual including Eurosport (French and English) and TV5.

Over to you.......

[Mike]

NTL Belfast basic digital package costs us £60 per year

[teilifis fraincis]

For how many channels and what are they?
Are they routed via set top convertor/decoder?
Is your basic service multi-lingual?

The 39 channels in Bruxelles are routed directy through the frequencies in your tv set. This allows you to record one channel while watching another and to have a tv linked to cable in every room, the major advantages of normal cable tv.

Thanks for this info in advance.

[Liamo]

The 39 channels in Bruxelles are routed directy through the frequencies in your tv set. This allows you to record one channel while watching another and to have a tv linked to cable in every room, the major advantages of normal cable tv.

I'm movin' to Bruxelles!

How come other countries can do this and we can't! For ages I've been on about being ripped off by technological "advances" that leave us worse off.

Is it just an Irish thing, where they use maybe cheaper systems that can't cope with what's really required, in the hope that punters won't complain, or is it that requiring decoder boxes means they can rip us off by charging us for other TV sets and videos ?

[teilifis fraincis]

How much do you pay in Limerick......for how many channels and what are they - at the very basic (cheapest price)?

and they are all in analogue, I presume.
I understand that you do not need set top convertors in Limerick.

In Cork every cable subscriber has a set top convertor to receive all channels in analogue...... so when the system changes to all digital all Chorus will have to do is change the convertor box....so, effectively, nothing changes for the viewer.

[Mike]

Cork is one of the few cablenets in the republic to use encryption on its basic analouge service

I went to college in Limerick about ten years ago and I remember the cable "service" was incredibly overpriced and the picture quality was terrible. I suspect little has changed

Oh yeah the catch with the Belfast digital £60 package is that you have to subscribe to their telephone and/or broadband service to get it at that price but then ditching BT for your domestic landline is no real loss

Basic package would include All the freeview package (incl ITV2 and UK History), RTE1 and 2 (but no TV3 or TG4 yet) Sky One, Eurosport, A couple of pop music channels, About half a dozen news/business channels aother half a dozen shopping (groan) channels two free channels from their family pack (changes each month) and All the Irish and UK national radio services (including Virgin) and some of the DAB/Satellite radio channels

[ger.c]

The cable in Tenerife (Los Ginantes) is The 35 channels in routed directy through the frequencies in your tv set. This allows you to record one channel while watching another and to have a tv linked to cable in every room, the major advantages of normal cable tv.and set top box for payveiw and canal+ max.min tnt
Tve1.La2,tv3,Tele5,Canal+,CanariasTv and so on Skynews,Cnn,Euronews and Bbcworld,sky1 and (rte1(sometimes shared canal))
there is germany/french(some of the Clt/rtl)
you have cartoonnetwork
all for 109 euros

and in Palma de mallorca there is 50 canals and is for 112 euro

ya right

[Liamo]

Basic package costs €24, additional rooms €7, and includes:

RTE1,NETWORK2,TV3,TG4
BBC1 NI, BBC2 NI, UTV, CH4, E4
SKY ONE, SKY NEWS
EUROSPORT, DISCOVERY/DISC HOME & LEISURE (50% SHARE)
NICK/PARAMOUNT (50% SHARE)
CHORUS SPORTS, ATTHERACES

Quality on some channels is poor (particularly BBC2). VH1 was decrypted for a while, but is gone again for the past month
L