Fencing.Net - Your Guide to Fencing & Fencing Equipment

drippingwet · 01-10-2005, 02:44 AM

I was wondering everyone's experiences with foreign TV programmes. Here's some of what we get in UK:

Australia:

Neighbours
Home and Away

USA:

Murder she wrote
Diagnosis murder
ER
Friends
Sex & the city
Will & Grace
Simpsons
Futurama
etc, etc

What do you think of foreign telly and the telly that you export to me? Do Americans get things like Coronation Street or Neighbours?

Gav · 01-10-2005, 02:52 AM

AS far as I know, you americans do get BBC programmes. I can' remember what channel (BBC World? UKTV?) but you do get it. I'm sure you can find repeats of programmes like Dr Who somewhre.

drippingwet · 01-10-2005, 02:54 AM

What about Bergerac? I want to know if they get Bergerac.

Gav · 01-10-2005, 02:59 AM

I'm pretty sure they do. I think they get UKTV gold. So if that was the case then they will definitely get it. Hopefully someone from America will enllighten us. Why Bergerac?

Of that list you posted I really didn't like:

Friends, Will & Grace or Sex and the City. I probably didn't like Sex and the City because I'm a bloke. It astounds me how popular the other two are.

drippingwet · 01-10-2005, 03:04 AM

You have seen Bergerac? It's an old (maybe 80s) police drama thing set on Jersey. Is that where New Jersey got its name from (Jersey - not Bergerac)?

Gav · 01-10-2005, 03:11 AM

I'm not that old but yes I have seen Bergerac. I just didn't understand why you were so desperate to know whether anyone in the US had had it inflicted on them.

And he was a private detective. Bergerac now stars in Midsomer Murders which my other half watches religously (no, I don't know why either).

ReverseLunge · 01-10-2005, 03:13 AM

Why the hell would I want to watch foreign TV? I only have about 500 American stations to choose from.

Gav · 01-10-2005, 03:17 AM

Judging by what gets inflicted on me (and makes me switch off and read books), it's 500 channels with nothing on.

drippingwet · 01-10-2005, 03:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gav

I'm not that old but yes I have seen Bergerac. I just didn't understand why you were so desperate to know whether anyone in the US had had it inflicted on them.

And he was a private detective. Bergerac now stars in Midsomer Murders which my other half watches religously (no, I don't know why either).

I was born in the 80s, but I seen repeats or whatever.

It would be interesting to know what other cultures would make of things like Bergerac. Was he a private detective? He was a cop wasn't he. Anyway, not that I'm a fan or anything.

Midsomer Murders... is Midsomer an actual place, because wouldn't everyone either be dead or in jail by now? I'm not a fan of that either.

RL, don't you like Coronation Street?

ReverseLunge · 01-10-2005, 03:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gav

Judging by what gets inflicted on me (and makes me switch off and read books), it's 500 channels with nothing on.

Gav, you love to show of that you know how to read. You even say so on your profile.

OK! We know you read hard books! A lot of them!

drippingwet · 01-10-2005, 03:29 AM

Anyone from New Zealand... Is it true that they opened Parliament for urgent talks in New Zealand once, because Coronation Street had been taken off the telly?

Larrison · 01-10-2005, 03:29 AM

We get BBC America -- mixture of BBC shows, ranging from Red Cap to reruns of "the Saint" and "the Avengers" to Ground Force. Check out http://www.bbcamerica.com/

the US PBS stations also run a lot of UK series too.. mostly Mysteries and things like "Regence House" etc.

And then there's the usual Discovery/ History/ etc channels which I note are pretty much a mixtures of US/ UK/ Australian productions -- ranging from JunkYard Wars to Time Team to "Weapons that made Britain" (seriously.. tonights show was on the long bow)

drippingwet · 01-10-2005, 03:36 AM

BBC America... do you have to pay a TV license?

Gav · 01-10-2005, 03:45 AM

Quote:

And then there's the usual Discovery/ History/ etc channels which I note are pretty much a mixtures of US/ UK/ Australian productions -- ranging from JunkYard Wars to Time Team to "Weapons that made Britain" (seriously.. tonights show was on the long bow)

I've seen that show. Some of them are pretty good. The Longbow one is particularly good. If you've seen that, chances are you've seen War Walks. Another good show brings home the horror of war.

scrapinpeg · 01-10-2005, 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drippingwet

BBC America... do you have to pay a TV license?

What's a TV license?

Maeve_Mari · 01-10-2005, 12:56 PM

Depending on what cable service you purchase there are tons of British and South American television available. I can't say I ever see anything out of the rest of Europe or Australia, Africa or Asia.

From the UK, my favorites are Keeping Up Appearances and Father Ted.

mrbiggs · 01-10-2005, 01:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drippingwet

I was wondering everyone's experiences with foreign TV programmes. Here's some of what we get in UK:

Australia:

Neighbours
Home and Away

USA:

Murder she wrote
Diagnosis murder
ER
Friends
Sex & the city
Will & Grace
Simpsons
Futurama
etc, etc

What do you think of foreign telly and the telly that you export to me? Do Americans get things like Coronation Street or Neighbours?

I don't get jack from Britain, other than the occaisional show on PBS. (Such as "Keeping up Appearances") If you get like the super extended cable package, you get shows from Britain. But, we get 2 Spanish channels....

It's too bad. I went on vacation, and the hotel got BBC, and it was pretty funny.

Larrison · 01-10-2005, 02:07 PM

TV License --

No, in the US you don't need to pay an annual TV license fee. But, you may pay other ways for service.

For those folks outside the US, there are three ways to get TV in the US-- First, the standard over-the-air radio transmissions. Depending upon the local area you are in, this can be not bad in selection-- here in SoCal you get around 20 channels, which includes PBS (non commercial), national networks, foreign language (Spanish, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese and others on a part time basis), and local stations. Other areas, maybe 1-3 channels. This is free -- all you need is to purchase a set (one time price).

Secondly, there's Cable, where you get TV channels distributed over a wired co-ax connection from a central distribution point. In most urban areas in the US this is available, although at a cost that ranges from under $10 a month up to $80+/ month depending upon what you want. Typically cable will carry all the local channels, plus the national pay channels -- sports, education, movies etc. How much you want sets how much you pay, so that everything is around $100/ month. Typically the cable can also be used to deliver pay-per-view movies, high speed internet connections, and digital music -- which are also added charges. Most cable companies are transitioning over from an analog signal to a full digital system in order to offer the additional services.

Lastly, there are a couple of national satellite TV broadcasters. These folks provide cable equivalent programming through a small 18" (45 cm) dish antenna, which is a fully digital signal. Under some recent changes in the law, they now provide local programming in major urban areas, and all the national sports, education, movies, etc channels. Cost of this ranges from around $30 to around $80-100/ month depending upon what you want. What they offer different than cable is that you can take your setup from location to location, without having to be wired into a local cable system -- and seem to typically run around $5-10/ month cheaper than cable for the same service. You can't get movies on demand or high speed internet via the satellite TV system, although there are some specific setups you can put in for two way higher speed internet.

The latest system, just being installed is fiber optic cables directly to the home for telephone. With that, you'll also be able to request high speed internet and satellite-TV equivalent service, but without the dish. That's being just rolled out in a few areas around the country.

But as Gav noted, you can have 500 channels and still find nothing worth watching..

Red #40 · 01-10-2005, 05:50 PM

BBC America is available out where I live but you have to buy the super top o' the line ultra ultimate cable package for about $100 a month. I think its because I live in Texas and "that there foreign stuff" doesn't attract a lot of the Bush 04 crowd that dominates my neigborhood.

I considered getting it just so I could watch the Office but now its available on DVD here so no need for Cable.

esskreemr · 01-10-2005, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Larrison

You can't get movies on demand or high speed internet via the satellite TV system, although there are some specific setups you can put in for two way higher speed internet.

Yes, you can get moview on demand as long as you have a land line phone. You can also get high speed internet. I think it taps out at 800k and the ping times are slow so it's not for gamers. In addition, the equipment is expensive and it runs something like $30.00 more than cable broadband. The good thing is it gives rural folks an option that they wouldn't normally have.