Friday, April 16, 2010

The TV switch off

The switch form analogue to digital TV here in Spain has meant that those who have older TVs have had to invest in a digibox and possibly a new aerial. The promise though is better sound quality and a clearer picture but only if you can pick up a decent signal.

Thousands of residents living in Cabo Cervera and Los Balcones are in the shadow of the 14 high rise apartment blocks at Cabo Cervera and therefore barely get any signal at all. The buildings which reach up to 6 or 7 stories (63 metres) in the urbanisations; Balcón de Torreblanca, Los Leandros, Vila Nova and Vila Nova are causing the problem and nobody seems to have a solution.

The only signal these houses can get comes from the Sierra de Aitana and it is very weak. Like with mobile phones, if the digital signal is weak, you get nothing - the picture and the sound just breaks up all the time.

For those people, the promise of better reception when they moved from analogue to digital hasn’t happened. Their only recourse is to buy a dish and see if they can pick up a signal from one of the satellites. However, they won’t get the same programmes and if it is Canal+ or Digital+ then it will cost them dearly each month. No wonder the residents in these areas are tearing their hair out with frustration.

The good news for us is that, by moving the indoor aerial from one side of the television to the other, we now get perfect reception on seven digital channels.

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