Friday 23 March 2007

Satellite Dishes

I've noticed the massive rise in satellite dishes over the last few years in Brussels. Many of the new users are, like myself, expats wanting TV from home or international channels. Belgian TV doesn't broadcast on satellite yet.

One of the really strange things about Belgium is that there's no competition for many services. For TV we have the choice of Telenet... or nothing.We used Telenet for cable TV until recently. They're switching to digital and it's another example of fleecing the public.

They are charging 200 euro for a 'digibox' plus another 30 for actually connecting you... Then you've got to buy a 300 euro recorder as your old video won't work anymore.

So we chatted to this guy and got satellite TV installed and we get to watch all the free to air channels. Trust me, I'm a very happy customer.

I've noticed new dishes almost every day and I can tell if a houses occupants are English, French, Italian or Arabic by the way their dish points!

6 comments:

kissme said...

You could appear on one of those variety shows demonstrating your 'spot the nationality by their satellite dish' talent.

Or not.

The planes picture was prettier, but this is very representative of modern life.

Hayden said...

your pics are making me want to visit Brussels next.....

so if hoards of additional tourists sweep in and cluster around your favorite areas, you'll know who to blame.

SusannahS said...

It's amazing what advances technology has made. I remember when my aunt and uncle had their satellite dish in the 80s, it was monstrously huge.
Thanks for posting these photos--I've never been to Belgium but I loved Hercule Poirot mysteries. :)

quarsan said...

Thank you all for your kind words. I hope other people will put their pictures up here and provide a more diverse portrait of this city.

kissme, i'll try to look for a prettier one!

hayden, please do visit, it's a great place, and we're world famous for beer chocolate and waffles. What more do you want from a holiday?

susannahs, i knew satellite dishes were making their mark when, in jamaca in the eighties a hurricane hit the island and the wealthy on the kingston hills were hardest hit.

i remember a reggae song sending the rich victims up with a chorus of "where's me dish, me dish, where's me satellite dish"

MKWM said...

Sat dishes may be somewhat ugly but they do indeed make happy customers. I don't have a dish and hardly watch television nowadays (blogging aftermath, that is). But when living in Greece, I was glad to eventually have one and be able to watch TV5 regularly. I can't say I had forgotten my mother tongue but watching French programmes, after living many years away from Belgium, made me realise I had forgotten a lot of expressions and even unusual words. So those dishes can prove useful and I wonder whether Zoe has come to the same conclusion by now!

Congrats and thanks for sharing this spot with us. "Mannekin Pics" is such an inspiring name-title... As already mentioned before, I'll gladly provide you with some of my forthcoming Brussels shots.

quarsan said...

mkwm, you'd be most welcome. as ti the dish's, sadly zoe remains unconvinced, to put it mildly...