One of the things that makes it easier to live here is the fact that we have been able to turn on the television and be "connected" with the USA but we have not had television since we returned to San Miguel. Actually it was going out when we left San Miguel back in May. That is the satellite service was going out not actually our television. We have survived for three weeks with absolutely no television. I would have thought that Ned would be a basket case by now but he has weathered withdrawal very well.
It is a long story about what is wrong. My friend Al tells the long side of the story here on his blog Rancho Santa Clara. My short story is that we were bootlegging satellite television from the States. We paid the provider of the service in the USA but they thought that they were providing service to someone in the northeastern USA. It seems that Mexico doesn't authorize the satellite company to provide their services in Mexico so we couldn't claim our actual address. That worked okay for us but not so well for Mexico. Although we would have been glad to pay a Mexican company for the service if they offered the same programming.
It seems that satellites get old and have to be replaced. Our service provider had to move to a new satellite and they set up their service area much more in-line with the boundaries of the USA. Maybe we could get the signal if we had an 8 ft. dish. Have you seen our house? Eight foot dish, goodbye terrace.
There aren't many options. The local cablevision company does have some USA programming but have you ever had to watch Joey the weatherman from Erie, Pennsylvania? They pick up the three networks from some, shall we say, less than mainstream locations.
Or there is another possibility, another bootleg situation. Good Morning.....Canada!
About Me
- Billie Mercer
- San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
- A widow, after 56 years of marriage, I'm starting a new phase in my life and the old Billieblog just didn't seem to fit. I'll be writing about finding my way.
2011 Books I Have Read
11 comments:
We have a mixture of Mexican cable, Apple TV (where you can pay for each program you watch) and Netflix using an ip hiding program. OH, and I also download some movies and tv via bittorrent. Kind of complicated!
Since you have family in Texas, perhaps you could put an extra cable box in their house and then use Slingbox?
I'll be interested in hearing what you come up with!
Lol, Canada is not that bad lol.
Good luck.
We have cable TV through Megacable and there is some English programming from the USA. I can't tell you how much as I watch very little TV, Roy is the expert on the TV..
Have you thought that perhaps it's time you and Ned starting doing Stuff White People Like? Like, not watching television.
Let me tell you, having been a WhitePerson for over twenty years, not watching television gives you more than just status among other WhitePeople. It frees up time for reading and productive activity.
We have the Canadian connection and we are very happy with it. Other than most of the US programming is from the northern cities and watching the weather from Canada in winter is pretty funny. Time shifting to watch different shows is convenient. I even found my LA news channel which is odd but I'm not complaining. Mainly I just watch HGTV anyway and the Canadian version has a lot more shows from Europe which are more interesting anyway. I highly recommend the Canadian solution. Oh, and you can brush up on your French - at least the Quebec version of it - if you want.
After all, there is always a solution. This is Mexico.
Hey all, thanks for your suggestions. I just hope that once we get Canadian TV that they don't change their signal output and we are back in the same boat.
Jennifer, Ned has to get his quota of sports on TV or he isn't a happy camper. I think I would be okay without TV but there have been a few programs that I would really miss. Except I haven't so far. I've been far too busy working with photography.
Without Megacable n CNN, we would have died, although hubby is still having a hard time letting go of his sports fishing channel. I'm curious to know how you (n with which company) you bootlegged US cable?! Inquiring minds would love to know!
Good luck on your quest!
Dreamer, Dish Network's signal came far enough south that it could be picked up in Mexico. An enterprising Mexican business man set up the service and "found" an address in the USA for his customers. People paid him to set up the service and paid Dish for the programming.
Would you like me to ask my stepfather if he'd be willing to lend Ned his library of sports videos? They're all on VHS, except for the Beta ones, and go back to 1980 or so. Oh, I should mention that they're all futbol, but it's not every day that a person can find footage of exciting games like Paraguay v. Bulgaria or Bhutan v. Surinam. Once you've seen one futbol game between countries you don't think about very often, you've seen 'em all, right?
Jennifer, no golf, no national basketball championships? Don't think that it will replace TV.
Another benefit that I forgot, if Ned is interested in watching curling, that's available on Shaw too :) However, the joy for us is that there is an NFL package as well that gives you all the (ahem) football as we know it games. Also, more hockey than I ever imagined existed. Did I mention that the Manitoba weather is an incredible watch in February?
As for cutting it off as Dish did, the Canadians are much more polite than that and they even support their citizens in watching from afar. If you are Canadian and have your set in Mexico you can even call their support and they will help you. What a difference!
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