Local terrestrial
TV does have a high American/English content, but not in News. Apart from a few films, it’s mostly dire.
An alternative
is to try for Satellite. The Baltic is on the edge of UK Satellite TV and officially it needs a 3.5 (yes 3.5!) metre dish
(normal UK dishes are around 60 cm). Reports from Sweden indicate that in practice you will need at least a 1.5 metre dish
to get anything, although you can get away with a smaller one in Denmark. Clearly, dishes of this size are not practical
on a boat.
An additional problem is that BBC and ITV Channels are broadcast from the Astra 2D Satellite, which is somewhat weaker than
Astra 2B, which the rest of the Sky Channels are on. The only BBC Channels on Astra 2B are Radios 2 and 4.
 To
receive Satellite you’ll need a FTA (free-to-air) receiver or Sky Digibox. Pace make a nice little ‘Javelin’ digibox
(for about £180) designed for caravans. It’s smaller than the usual black boxes and will work off 12 volts. You’ll also need
a good low noise block (LNB) and a suitable dish.
You can’t simply take the Sky card out of your home receiver and take it to the boat, as the cards are ‘keyed’ to
the receiver. This means you will need another subscription or get one of the free so-called ‘Solus’ cards
which allows you to see free-to-air channels. Unfortunately, the BBC has recently announced that they are not going to
continue to pay for these so their future is uncertain. A good source for information on all things regarding Satellite
TV is Satcure
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