Digibox - my channels list

Last updated 2004/08/21
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This is a really quick update added 1st January 2007, for those that still read this...
This information is woefully out of date (Aug 2004!!!) and I've not have my Digibox back on 19.2°E since then...
However I am aware of a few things:
  • MTV2 is no more. It apparently just vanished, became Nickelodeon or something. Same on analogue. Damn! I liked MTV2.
     
  • Oh, and no doubt half the frequencies have changed Just Because... :-)

 

I wish to make it VERY clear that these are the channels that I have decided to program into my Digibox. It is only capable of storing 50 channels, so I have elected not to include a number of German channels, etc.
There is a lot happening on Astra 19.2°E - more than this small selection! If, however, you are like me and don't mind seeing a broad selection of what is available, then you may find my selection useful to start off with.
If you would like to see a full list of channels, look for the Lyngsat list for Astra 19.2°E (sorry, don't have the URL handy!). Alternatively, you can look for yourself - read this for more.

 

The following things are listed:

 

Example picture Channel name T? P? Language Notes Tuning details
JPEG, 13K
Yet another conflict to solemnly report...
CNN Int. ttx epg English (US) 24hr news 11778 V
27500 3/4
CNN International prides itself on balanced and in-depth coverage. While I have grave suspicions about the 'unbiased' part, I cannot fault the range of programmes on CNN... "The Music Room" showcased t.A.T.u. several months before anybody else had heard of them, and it is often 'ahead of the game'. You're nobody if you have never heard of Larry King; and for a look at some more eccentric things, news anchorwomen such as Hala Goranni present programmes such as design 360 and Global Challenges.
Their teletext service is a little on the terse side (this is to be expected from teletext as it provides 40 columns by about 16 lines for content) however it is pretty up to date and there is LOADS of stuff available on CNN text.

JPEG; 8K
Home of the best ice cream in Rome, possibly the world...
Travel ttx English Holidays? 11778 V
27500 3/4
From what I've seen of this channel, it is a lot like an entire channel laid out in the style of The Travel Programme. It is informative and takes you all sorts of places, and doesn't ram the hard-sell down your throat.
The teletext programme guide is on p115 and refreshes itself quickly; however it appears that the content is only updated on Friday.


JPEG; 14K
If you like this Kumquat, gedda loada that one!
FRANCE 5
encrypted??
ttx epg French General 12207 V
27500 3/4
This is one of the few French channels broadcast 'in the clear'.
[update Oct '04 - this channel appears to be encrypted and no longer FTA, can anybody confirm this?]
It seems to show a range of medical and health related programmes, such as "Les Maternelles", "Enceinte et en forme", "Recherche Nounou Désespérément", "Le Journal De La Santé ..... you get the idea!

JPEG; 14K
Mmmm... If I jumped on the table and had wild sex with the microphone, these men wouldn't notice!
LCP
(La Chaîne Parlementaire)
epg French ? 12207 V
27500 3/4
This probably makes a lot more sense to a French person. To me, it just seems amazingly boring!

(no pictures) SKYROCK - - French RADIO 12207 V
27500 3/4
RADIO NOVA - - French RADIO
FUN RADIO - - French RADIO
CHERIE FM
(Chérie FM)
- - French RADIO
ALOUETTE - - French RADIO

(no picture available) CLEAR TV (dutch?) General entertainment? 12610 V
22000 5/6
Dutch general entertainment? I think...

JPEG; 11K
Scary movie? No - another day as a newsreader...
Say hello to Elisabeth Logean.
TV5 Europe ttx epg French General? 12610 V
22000 5/6
This channel is sort-of related to France 5; and more-often-than-not is showing something different to it's sister TV5 (lower down the list).
You'll find the TV schedule for this channel on teletext p315. If you can find anything else of use on this peculiar and disorganised teletext service, either you are better at French (than I am) or you have more patience...
Do not be surprised if the time shown in the news programmes are all wrong. The girl in the picture is presenting a news programme. It says "19:30" on the wall behind her, the on-screen clock reads "18:30", and the picture was actually taken at half midnight.
TV5 europe re-broadcasts news programmes ('journal') nearly every two hours, maybe from F3 or TSR and sometimes an African 'journal'.

(no picture) BBC World Service - - English RADIO 12610 V
22000 5/6
Having this available via satellite saves trying to find it on short wave - which has always seemed to be a rather hit-and-miss affair.

JPEG; 9K
No probs sport, we'll put 'er down on that funny shaped building, yeah?
Liberty TV.com French ? 12610 V
22000 5/6
This is a French version of The Travel Channel (and probably no relation) with slightly more 'hard sell'.

JPEG; 10K
Shannen Doherty, host of Scare Tactics, gets something pulled on her!
MTV Central ttx German Music 11739 V
27500 3/4
The German MTV network channels appear to be the only MTV channels broadcast in the clear, which seems to be in keeping with the German philosophy of not encrypting stuff.
This channel shows a number of US imports - Scare Tactics, Punk'd, Jackass, Viva la BAM, The Osbournes (etc) - which are mainly subtitled in German, but keep their English-language sound.

JPEG; 12K
Vanilla Ninja - Don't go too fast
Like the Spice Girls with loads more attitude...
MTV2 Pop Channel German Music 12226 H
27500 3/4
This, the MTV 'pop' channel plays more music in a striped schedule, rather like Channel 5 in England. My only grudge with MTV Pop is the habit of cluttering the screen of some programmes with daft SMS messages, but I guess if it brings in money to them they can maybe do more (or send it to MTV central to purchase more American programmes?).

JPEG; 11K
Honey, lose the hat. It makes you look stupid.
Viva ttx epg German Music 12670 V
22000 5/6
Viva is very much like MTV...

JPEG; 7K
Yvonne Catterfeld.
VIVA PLUS ttx epg German Music 12552 V
22000 5/6
VivaPlus does a lot of programming in a 'the viewer votes' format. With this; the left side of the screen shows the top three songs, the phone number instructions, and how long you have left to vote (usually a few seconds short of the song duration). The bottom of the screen is a scrolling list of songs that you can choose.
The song itself takes the upper/right, approx. 2/3 of the screen size. My only quibble here is the garish colours used for the voting distract from the music video you're supposed to be watching, however it is possibly the fairest way of choosing music to play, and sometimes you can see the top two entries swap a number of times as people try to vote their favourite song to be next - as recently happened with Evanescence's My Immortal and Christina Aguilera's The Voice Within.

JPEG; 8K
Where's Steve Irwin when you really need him?
Sky News Intl epg English 24hr news 11597 V
22000 5/6
Sky News is considered by some to be England's flagship news broadcaster, on par with CNN. Now, I don't really expect the 'press RED button' stuff on a non-Sky satellite, but there was no teletext, no nothing.
Incidentally, I find the Sky News DOG to be highly annoying, it's bright red and bright blue and... it might as well be 'wavering' in a radioactive sort of way, it almost does on an old TV hooked via UHF leads...

JPEG; 13K
Oh, look! More evidence of Coca's master plan of world domination...
EUROSPORTNEWS Spanish Sporting news 11597 V
22000 5/6

JPEG; 14K
Alla pasta dell'oro tagliatelle cuore punto...
CNBC Europe ttx English (US) Stock market info 11597 V
22000 5/6
CNBC Europe prides itself on being the stock information channel watched by the largest number of European CEOs, and given the depth of their coverage - charting the major stock markets' every move - I don't doubt this.
After hours, you may find boringly repetitive golf equipment adverts, or NBC's news programming (which appears to be pandering to a person with a fifteen second attention span and no intelligence, and is apparently the way things are over in the US: come back ITV - all is forgiven!).
On weekends, the highlight: three episodes of Jay Leno and three episodes of Conan O'Brien; which are essentially night time talk shows (Conan took over The Late Show from David Letterman (thank god)). And then, more golf.
Given that Conan/Jay are nightly, I'd like to see more episodes shown on CNBC, and also Saturday Night Live, if it is an NBC programme...

JPEG; 8K
Oh cuuuute! It's Ally McBeal and her grandaddy!
BBC WORLD English News? 12285 V
27500 3/4
From the few times I've watched this, it seems to carry all sorts of programming (akin to CNN). However since there is no teletext or any other form of information, I can't look to see what this channel offers.
BBC, you're letting the side down here...

JPEG; 6K
Note the thing protruding from the head - who is DUMB enough to wear that?
FashionTV French ? 12285 V
27500 3/4
Why, God, why!?!?!?

JPEG; 10K
Pierce Brosnan does the Bond act better than this guy...
TVC INT. ttx epg Spanish General 11686 V
22000 5/6
Television Catalunya.

JPEG; 9K
My God these girls speak quickly!
ANDALUCÍA TV ttx epg Spanish General 11686 V
22000 5/6
Andalucía is where all the Brits go on holiday - Málaga, Marbella, basically the bit down the south.

JPEG; 9K
A serious looking girl on a serious looking programme...
EUSKADI TV epg Spanish General 11686 V
22000 5/6
Euskadi is the Basque region to the northern part of Spain around where the left side of France joins, encompassing places such as St. Sébastian and Bilbao.
I think the logo 'etb' stands for euskaltelebiste while the web URL (eitb) stands for euskadi irratia telebiste.
The girl pictured, I think, was a guest on the programme Políticamente in correcto. This programme is hosted by Estibalitz Ruiz de Azua. How's that for a name?

No picture yet. TV GALICIA   Spanish General 11686 V
22000 5/6
If I remember correctly, Galicia is the northwestern region of Spain.
I've only just found this channel (it appears to be new) and have not had time to watch it much yet.

JPEG; 8K
Guess what happens next...
TV 5 ttx epg French 11568 V
22000 5/6
Sometimes this shows the same as TV5 Europe, more often it is showing something different.

JPEG; 11K
Eurovisione arrivare molto presto!
RAI 1 epg Italian General 11568 V
22000 5/6
This is the only Italian language channel. It appears to show a broad selection of programmes and films; however it seems that music programmes with sets resembling EuroVision-on-acid is something of an Italian speciality (I think this programme comes from Rimini), rather like ice cream that tastes like ice cream should...

JPEG; 9K
Only arte could have a forty-minute programme of a guy teaching the violin!
ARTE ttx epg French 11568 V
22000 5/6
Goodness... How does one describe 'arte'? Email me!

JPEG; 12K
Shouldn't she be wearing... more?
Al Jazeera Arabic 24hr news 11568 V
22000 5/6
I imagine this is put here for viewing by the Arabic speaking population in western Europe. Al Jazeera was apparently started (not so long ago) to provide a more pro-Arabic news service for Arabic people, who had until then been watching western news services that were seen as being less than complimentary towards the Arabic peoples.
A number of western news services seemed to respond by having Arabic and Indian anchors, and also by trying to provide a more 'balanced' view, while patting themselves on the back for doing what they should have done in the first place.
Sadly, however, the western news has a way to go as we still hear them utter phrases such as "Islamic terrorists". Trust me, I've never heard the likes of Radio Four describe the IRA as "Catholic terrorists", or the Americans as "political terrorists"...
By the way, if you wonder why the ticker bar is whizzing by 'backwards', it is because the Arabs read right-to-left.

JPEG; 10K
Two presenters, she's the pretty one. Don't ask about the other...
TVEi Spanish General? 11568 V
22000 5/6
Television España internacíonal...

JPEG; 12K
The talented Elena Sokolova is very happy with her performance in the Ladies Singles (2004).
Eurosport ttx epg German Sports 11954 H
27500 3/4

JPEG; 13K
I have absolutely nothing to add to this!
RTL Television ttx epg German General 12188 H
27500 3/4

JPEG; 7K
Budget sci-fi, dubbed; it's no wonder lots of Germans speak English...
RTL2 ttx epg German General 12188 H
27500 3/4

JPEG; 11K
You did what with my bladder?
SuperRTL ttx epg German General 12188 H
27500 3/4

JPEG; 8K
The girl is happy, the guys... do they ever smile?
EURONEWS epg German 24hr news? 11817 V
27500 3/4
This is supposed to be available in a number of different languages, however it appears to be available only in German on a Digibox... does anybody know how to alter the audio channels so I can get this in English?

JPEG; 10K
I don't get people that put their books in a glass-fronted cabinet...
CCVALENCIANA - GONE? epg Spanish General? 11436 V
22000 5/6
This frequency appears to be only one channel called 'test_1016'.
Either CCVALENCIANA has ceased broadcasting, or it has moved someplace and I've not found it yet...

 
There are only two large places on the Eastern coast of Spain. The first is Barcelona, which is not so far from France. The next, Valencia, which is about halfway down.
This channel covers Valenciana, the area around Valencia...

JPEG; 5K
# Hooooooold a chicken in the air, stick a deckchair up your nose...
TV CANARIAS
(no URL available)
epg Spanish General? 10979 V
22000 5/6
This channel was called CANAL CANARIAS...
 
The Canaries are a small set of islands lingering down off the southern coast of Morocco (well, maybe a hundred miles?). Tenerife is one of the islands, and Las Palmas is the capital. It is almost mind-boggling that the Astra satellite is actually capable of broadcasting over such a large area.
Madeira (Portuguese) is a few hundred miles north of the Canaries.
The Azores (also Portuguese), known for bringing good weather on an 'Azores High' is in line with Lisbon in Portugal, but is almost two-fifths of the way across the Atlantic Ocean - a seriously long way from anything!


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Copyright © 2004 Richard Murray