What Is The Cheapest Legal Way To Watch Cnn/Bbc In Thailand

[joncl]

CNNi is a premium channel so is is not provided free to view anywhere at the moment. CNN Domestic is a feed provided by the USAF on Intelsat 8 from Direct TV in the USA. Also on this is satellite are two CNNi feed channels from their Hong Kong studios but in DVB 4:2:2 format so you need a DM box with a PC to view them or a simple pci / usb dvb-s card, or something like an Alteia (still over USD 1,000 for a 8 year old second hand one)

You do not need a smart card on the Australian Network channel, as it is only for the rugby as everything else is free to view on their channel, along with NHK Eglish (also in HDTV) and BBC World.

As an aside Fox News is also not free to view anywhere, and the only way to get a subscription is to some how convince Star TV in Hong Kong you do not want to pay THB250,000 for their set top box and yearly subscription.

Edited July 1, 2010 by joncl

[yabaaaa]

Yabaaa, I looked at the Happy Home Cable web site last night, and their list of provided channels.

According to their online list, they do offer BBC World, but I saw no mention of CNN (either the U.S. or International versions) being offered thru them.

CNN and BBC world news re available all over Bangkok for.............100 baht a month.

My wife has it in her room and w e have a lot of other rooms that also have it. Its some sort of basic tv channels with cnn bbc australia news a few movie channels and all the thai channels. I dont know how w e get it but every condo building seems to have access to it. 100 baht max

Yes Im sorry we own many condos and I sit in them when doing something ie checking electric meters so i may have confused it with one of those who had bought a package in our rooms.

The bbc is available though on happy home and also Fox news and a few others, I see someone has mentioned Fox is no longer available as Im not currently there i cant check on this

Edited July 1, 2010 by yabaaaa

[jfchandler]

I have no idea what you're talking about in most of what you say below...or what anyone's supposed to do with it.

Except, to point out, one of the prior posters in this thread provided a real working online link for CNN's U.S. cable network, and it appears to be working, though probably not legit...

http://www.online-television.tv/tv/CNN+News

CNNi is a premium channel so is is not provided free to view anywhere at the moment. CNN Domestic is a feed provided by the USAF on Intelsat 8 from Direct TV in the USA. Also on this is satellite are two CNNi feed channels from their Hong Kong studios but in DVB 4:2:2 format so you need a DM box with a PC to view them or a simple pci / usb dvb-s card, or something like an Alteia (still over USD 1,000 for a 8 year old second hand one)

[jfchandler]

Thanks for the update/correction...

Just trying to keep you honest, and keep the flow of information here in this thread somewhat based in fact.

Yes Im sorry we own many condos and I sit in them when doing something ie checking electric meters so i may have confused it with one of those who had bought a package in our rooms.

The bbc is available though on happy home and also Fox news and a few others, I see someone has mentioned Fox is no longer available as Im not currently there i cant check on this

[Phil Conners]

You do not need a smart card on the Australian Network channel, as it is only for the rugby as everything else is free to view on their channel, along with NHK Eglish (also in HDTV) and BBC World.

Oh, well I signed up for a card just in case .... but it's not really clear to me, is Australian Network not just one channel and the BBC just happens to be FTA on the same satellite? Be a bit much to realign the dish just for two channels.

[Phil Conners]

Since George has not re-surfaced since his original post here on RealNetworks and their SuperPass (which he reported includes online access to CNN), I went looking to see what I could find.

As best as I could find, there's no mention on the U.S. Superpass site of any particular news channel coverage including CNN. They do offer a basic package of music downloads, a game and some other lesser stuff for $4.95 per month, and then a $6.95 per month add on for streaming movies.

So then looking more broadly, I came across this UK RealNetworks site for SuperPass that does list CNN and a variety of other online news channels' content for 11.99 UK pounds per month.

Most of those channels are available elsewhere for free or at little cost. And 12 UK pounds per month works out to a lot more than a few U.S. $ per month.

So it would be great if anyone who's using the U.S. SuperPass at $4.95 per month can confirm whether or not it includes the same news channels as the much higher priced UK package. That would seem unlikely...but it'd be nice if it were true.

Channel access from the UK Real site includes the following:

SuperPass Channels

• 
  Al Jazeera
  For the Middle East's perspective.
  English 350kbps English 500kbps
• 
  BBC World News
  For the British perspective. (Sorry not available in the UK)
  English 500kbps
• 
  CNN
  For the American perspective.
  English 500kbps
• 
  Deutsche Welle - FREE
  For the German perspective.
  350kbps 500kbps Odd hours = English
  Even hours = German
• 
  Euronews
  For the European perspective.
  Arabic English French German Italian Portuguese Russian Spanish
• 
  France24 - FREE
  For the French perspective.
  English 350kbps English 500kbps French 350kbps French 500kbps Arabic 350kbps Arabic 500kbps

Huh 12 UKP/month .. 600 baht or about twice what it would cost be to get UBC (not the official way of course, who would pay those prices...)

Any way to get these channels without paying through the nose to Real.

[opalhort]

Since I have started this topic I think it is time to say Thank You to all your ideas and suggestion and also for the many PMs with links I have received from some members.

Here is now my battle plan:

Since we are currently on an annual subscription with UBC (gives 13 months for the price of 12) and we have to renew later this month we will renew but switch to payment per month. This will allow us to cut the service in 1-2 months without having to bother about refunds for advanve payments.

My son and wife are researching what is available to satisfy their needs. Looks like TRUE has a free offer or the Education package which would suit them.

As for CNNI (CNN International) I have today subscribed to CNNI via Livestation.com for a cost of US$7.49 per month.

It appears to work very well but of course it will take some time to evaluate the performance over time. I'll give it a month or so to make sure it is what I want.

opalhort

[citizen33]

You can get BBC World free-to-air on Intelsat 8 at 166E. The nearby Intelsat 5 at 169E also carries it, but may be harder to get than 8. These satellites are low in the sky so that tall buildings or trees will be a problem at some locations. Both satellites also have Australia Network Asia, but this is separate. The latter uses an Irdeto 2 smartcard but only for the rugby and special events - they will send it free if you want one. BBC does not require any smartcard. The point made above about the hassle of moving your dish just for two channels has some sense to it. The answer is to get a motorised moveable dish. It sounds like the OP could alternate between Thaicom C band on 78.5E, which has a large number of free Thai channels (more than the Truevisions Ku band freeview option) and Intelsat 8 (also C band) that I mentioned. This suggestion just involves the one-off charge for the equipment. The C band dishes are 6 foot plus, and not to be confused with the small Ku band dishes of about 70cm. The link below will give you an idea of what is viewable in Thailand - if you want things legal look at the free-to-air stuff.

http://www.lyngsat.com/asia.html

If you don't want to buy new equipment and can keep your True receiver without paying through the nose, you may be able to get a cable freeview card for your family. On the satellite receiver version the one-off charge is B900 (I think more from True direct)

http://www.eldsat.com/Smartcards-Official-Smartcards/c47_70/p151/UBC-Truevision-FREEVIEW/product_info.html

As I said though, you'll get more channels on the same satellite with a big dish free (no card).

Edited July 1, 2010 by citizen33

[jfchandler]

Phil, for all those news channels on the Real SuperPass list above except for CNN, I believe most are available for free in one site or another online, livestation.com being a good starting point.

And, as I posted above, there's now also an unofficial link for the U.S. version of CNN....however long it will last.

Huh 12 UKP/month .. 600 baht or about twice what it would cost be to get UBC (not the official way of course, who would pay those prices...)

Any way to get these channels without paying through the nose to Real.

[hawthorne]

Jut go to your nearest small dish store and ask them if you can recieve from the Nilesat Satellite. If so they can set up the dish and box for you. Nilesat has a good number of free channels and BBC for sure is one of them. I think I remember CNN being open as well. One Fox Channel is available i think it is Foxmovies but can't remember. Anyway they are quite a few free channels. Just not sure if you can reach Nilesat from Thailand. Maybe another reader can confirm this.

[citizen33]

Jut go to your nearest small dish store and ask them if you can recieve from the Nilesat Satellite. If so they can set up the dish and box for you. Nilesat has a good number of free channels and BBC for sure is one of them. I think I remember CNN being open as well. One Fox Channel is available i think it is Foxmovies but can't remember. Anyway they are quite a few free channels. Just not sure if you can reach Nilesat from Thailand. Maybe another reader can confirm this.

Sorry, this advice is okay for the Middle East but is way off beam for Thailand. It seems that some people don't realise the earth is round, and that distant satellites disappear below the horizon. I forget to say earlier that Telstar 18 at 138E also has BBC World News FTA. No need to guess or ask at 'small dish stores': just visit the link I already posted and it will tell you exactly what is on each satellite and what the reception footprint is.

http://www.lyngsat.com/asia.html

For instance here is the info for Nilesat:

http://www.lyngsat.com/nile.html

http://www.nilesat.com.eg/nilesat_eirp_Enlarg.htm

Pity it is out of range because it has a nice range of news channels.

[jfchandler]

I've recently created a new thread on watching U.S. and UK TV on the Internet via streaming links.

Because this thread is on a similar subject, I thought the readers here might also be interested...

This one particular post in the thread involves a list I've compiled of online links to major network content and am willing to share...

[sokal]

Your better off to watch Fox News. Fair and Balanced.

fox news is currently the most dangerous and vile terrorist organization on the planet.

nobody puts out more lies than o reilly huckabee glenn beck and co .

if americans are stupid, fox's contribution to it is enormous.

my opinion - of course.

:realangry::realangry::realangry::realangry:::

Looks like the internet is working in Afganistan....

[drink75]

I have found that the cheapest way to watch both US 7 UK tv while in Thailand is to get a VPN account. I use www.vpntv.co.uk as they are the cheapest but you have to have quite a reliable Thai ISP.

Based in Phuket, we use both ToT and TTnT and have found that the later is the most reliable where we are.

[jfchandler]

Thanks for that post... But, they really are NOT any kind of a television programming streamer or provider...

They are, as far as I can see, just a VPN service with available IP addresses in both the U.S. and U.K.

For that purpose, there are any number of other good VPN services with similar capability that aren't quite so expensive.

And, a bit contrary to their advertising, U.S. networks like CBS and Fox don't stream their content live on the Internet. They do post podcasts of various shows than can be streamed on demand after the fact -- using any VPN service for the correct country.

U.K. networks, I gather, do things a bit differently and do stream their programming live on the Internet.... But I've heard from a couple different people that the BBC I-Player doesn't work well with VPN connections outside of the UK...