Satellite Television in the United Kingdom: 28.2°E

Satellite television in the United Kingdom is broadcast on 2 satellites. The Astra 2 satellites at 28.2°E and Eurobird 1 at 28.5°E. There is only 1 package on these satellites and that is Sky UK or BSKYB (British Sky Broadcasting). It has more channels than any other package in Europe and has a great selection of free to air channels including our national broadcasters (BBC 1, BBC 2, ITV 1, Channel 4 and Channel 5). The channels on 28.2°E are encrypted in NDS Videoguard and are decrypted by a Sky Viewing card. The card also decrypts the channels that are free to view, even if one is not subscribed to any specific TV pack.

28.2°E has strong beams that cover the UK and parts of Europe (e.g. France, Germany, Italy, Spain). 28.2°E is in fact receivable outside of it's intended beam. An example, I was on holiday in Turkey a few years ago and they managed to receive Sky UK with a good, watchable picture. Unless it rained then it would go to the "No satellite signal is being received" message as is standard on Sky Digiboxes. Here are some pictures of the Sky Digibox EPG and the minidishes found on houses across the UK.