Sky TV in Spain
Sky TV is a subscription based satellite TV service.
With a satellite dish of appropriate size for your area, a Sky digibox, a Sky viewing card and a Sky monthly subscription, you can receive and watch the main UK TV channels, including BBC ITV Channel Four and Channel Five, as well as the many Sky pay channels, like Sky One, Sky Atlantic, Dave, Discovery, National Geographic, Sky Sports and Sky Movies.
Sky TV offer a wide range of channels, including over 10 dedicated sports channels, over 15 dedicated movie channels, entertainment channel’s, documentary channels, and children’s channels.
The majority of the Sky pay channels are available across most of mainland Spain using a “small” satellite dish.
A satellite dish measuring 100x110cm should be easily capable of receiving the Sky pay channels signals across most of Spain.
Sky cannot sell or issue Sky viewing cards to addresses outside the UK and ROI. This is due to contractual and broadcasting contracts, as the UK broadcasters only hold the broadcast rights for their channels for the UK.
The use of a Sky card in Spain is a breach of the Sky terms and conditions in their contracts. And according to a EU Court judgement, under the freedom of movement of goods and services directives, it is not illegal to use a viewing card from one EU country in another EU country for a private residence. Although using the viewing card in a commercial or public premises in Spain may be in breach of copyright.
Be aware of some satellite installers in Spain offering cheap Sky TV in the way of card sharing systems. Some “installers” advertise these systems including “all Sky HD channels”, which is a lie, as due to Sky’s encryption there are NO Sky HD channels available – only the SD versions. It is also rumoured that these systems are living on borrowed time, again something that “installers” of these systems fail to mention to their clients, as the pay TV companies increase their security – for example Sky Italia have successfully removed ALL their Sky Italia channels from these card sharing systems.