Satellite Direct

[ask100]

Does any member know if Satellite Direct, which purports to offer TV programmes from all over the world for a one off fee, is genuine or is it a scam? I have looked on Google where I can see some sites saying it's great and others saying it's a rip off. It also gets confused with a company called SatelliteDirect UK which is a dubious satellite insurer.

[Buenchico]

(2 part post):

The 'satellite' part of the name is misleading. All that the software does is to provide a media player which is configured to take feeds from free internet TV services (which you can get anyway, without paying for Satellite Direct).

Most of what's available over the internet is either incredibly dull and boring or impossible to understand (because it's in a foreign language). For example, the BBC doesn't have international broadcasting rights for most of its output, so most channels aren't streamed live to the internet. (Even the BBC iPlayer isn't available to internet users outside of the UK). So you can't get BBC1, BBC2, CBeebies, etc over the internet. Only BBC News is available (and possibly BBC Parliament - I've not checked on that one). Similar situations apply elsewhere in the world.

You can get an idea of the (very limited) range of channels you can get with Satellite Direct by looking at this screen grab (taken from Satellite Direct's own website):
http://www.satellited.../help/images/main.png
Look at the 'genre' column. There are religious channels, shopping channels, educational channels and minority sports channels (e.g. Archery TV) but no entertainment or film channels. (There might be some further down the list than can be seen in the screenshot, but they'll certainly be in a minority).

[Buenchico]

If you want to be able to quickly switch from watching the proceedings of the Canadian parliament (in French) to listening to an Indian radio station (broadcasting in Hindi) and then onto US religious and shopping channels, 'Satellite Direct' might be for you. Otherwise don't bother with it.

Anyway, as I stated earlier, all of Satellite Direct's channels are available for free (using your existing media player) elsewhere on the internet. All you need is is a way of finding them. Problem solved:
http://www.tvover.net/TVStation.aspx

Chris

[ask100]

Thanks Chris, that was most informative.

[ChuckFickens]

a rarely disagree with Chris, but in this instance his statement "So you can't get BBC1, BBC2, CBeebies, etc over the internet." is incorrect.

http://www.tvguide.co.uk/

Click on the word watch under the channel names on the left.

[Jaybee_s]

Re: "a rarely disagree with Chris" (sic): I think you've mis-quoted or misunderstood him.

He was talking about access to BBC domestic content outside the UK.