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Receive British TV channels in Germany

DEUTSCHE VERSION

The satellite position 28.2° East (‘Astra 2’) is home to numerous unencrypted television channels from the UK. But unfortunately they are not broadcast evenly across Europe, but with the help of a so-called UK spotbeam, i.e. strongly focussed on the British Isles. A UK spotbeam does not mean that reception stops exactly at the UK border. There is still a certain transitional area. In the far west of Germany, for example in the Cologne/Bonn region, British channels can still be received well. But reception becomes increasingly difficult a little further east. In most regions of Germany, it no longer works at all.

This was not always the case. But with each new generation of satellites, the focus on the UK became stronger - and reception of British channels in Germany became even more restricted. This was finally followed by the switch-off of the BBC's SD channels in 2024. As the HD channels are harder to receive in the first place, the majority of Germany has been effectively excluded from reception ever since.
In the far western regions, dish sizes between 60 and 80 cm are still sufficient. However, the need for dish size increases with every kilometre towards the east. In the centre of Germany, you would probably need absurd sizes beyond 300 cm in diameter for permanently stable reception.
Not all British channels are equally hard to receive. The coverage of the three satellites Astra 2E, 2F and 2G is not completely congruent, so that although at the border area you can no longer get all the channels, you can still get a few of them with a reasonable dish size. In addition, the reception strength varies depending on the time of day and season: reception is somewhat stronger during the day than in the evening and somewhat stronger in the winter months than in summer. If you're unlucky, reception of certain channels may at your place of residence still appear to be stable in the afternoon in December, but completely fail in the evening hours in June. And even if the reception ‘just about’ works, you have no reserves for bad weather.

Due to all these imponderables, it is of course no longer possible to create a precise reception map. The map above therefore only gives a very rough indication of the area in which reception can work. Basically, unlimited reception can only be found in the far west. If you live in the ‘transitional regions’ in the western third of Germany and are keen to experiment, you can search satellite forums for empirical values for your own location and then test different dish sizes. With a bit of luck, you will still get sufficient reception.

In the eastern two thirds of Germany, reception of the UK spot beams from 28.2° East is virtually impossible. Here you can only receive the stations that are broadcast on the European beams and are therefore not subject to the spotbeam restrictions. (Unfortunately, these tend to be special interest channels, shopping channels and non-English-language programmes). In the “FootPrints” column of the FlySat channel table, you can see which channels are currently broadcast from which satellites and on which beams (only the channels highlighted in blue-grey or light green in the table are free-to-air). Critical are ‘2E UK’, ‘2F UK’ and ‘2G UK’ - i.e. the UK spot beams mentioned above. Only the channels whose footprint designation contains the word ‘Europe’ can be received well anywhere in Germany, even with smaller dishes.

The increasing restriction of British satellite reception over the last few years is an unpleasant development. Fortunately, however, there are today other ways of accessing English-language programmes. Many English-language radio stations are now available worldwide as streams. The English language dominates on video platforms such as YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. Streaming services in Germany also offer the original English soundtrack for films, television series and documentaries (as was the case with DVD and Blu-ray).
If you are particularly interested in British television programmes, you will find what you are looking for on the streaming platforms iPlayer (BBC only) and Freely (BBC, ITV, Channel 4/5). iPlayer can already be used with many different end devices. Freely currently only works with certain smart TVs, but further access options are in preparation.
Although not every service and/or content is available in Germany for licensing reasons, this restriction can usually be circumvented with the help of VPN services that simulate the IP addresses of other countries (and thus circumvent geoblocking).

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Questions and answers

Why aren't the British channels simply broadcast throughout Europe?
National television providers are subject to licence restrictions and may broadcast some content (films, shows, sports coverage, etc.) only in their own territory. They therefore have to prevent their programmes from being received in other countries as effectively as possible. For satellite reception, this is usually achieved today with the help of encryption, which, however, incurs higher costs and makes reception more complicated. Thanks to its island location, the UK can use a satellite spot beam and therefore does not need encryption.

Is it worth installing a satellite dish for reception of 28.2° East?
If you are interested in British television, live in the far west of Germany and have no problems installing a dish at your home, free satellite reception of British channels is still a good and recommendable option. However, a little further east, where reception of UK spot beams would require a very large dish diameter, the effort is only worthwhile in rare cases.

For how long will free-to-air satellite reception of British channels continue to work?
The Astra 2E, 2F and 2G satellites currently in use are expected to operate unchanged until at least 2030 - and will probably continue to do so for a few more years. However, it is unlikely that after that there will be a new generation of television satellites at the 28.2° East position. This is because the BBC is planning to withdraw from satellite broadcasting in the mid-2030s and would then like to rely entirely on the IPTV platform ‘Freely’.

What does ‘Freesat’ mean?
In the UK, the unencrypted satellite channels are advertised as a package under the name ‘Freesat’, and special Freesat receivers and smart TVs with Freesat reception are available to buy there. However, you can also receive the British channels with any standard DVB-S2 receiver; the Freesat receivers are therefore not absolutely necessary.

In the simplest case, what do I need to receive the free UK channels in Germany?
You need to live in the far west of Germany, have a digital satellite receiver, an LNB and a satellite dish.

Can I also receive German channels with the same dish?
German channels are broadcast on a different satellite position (19.2° East). With the help of ‘squinting’ LNBs (multifeed reception), both satellite positions can be received with a single dish and a single receiver. You can find more information on the technical implementation in the Einführung and Multifeed pages (both only available in German).

Which is better: normal receivers or the dedicated Freesat receivers?
Both variants have pros and cons. The Freesat receiver is more convenient: it has a special EPG (electronic programme guide) and updates itself automatically if channels are added or the reception data are changed. In addition, some Freesat receivers allow access to on-demand content via the Internet. However, the Freesat receiver can only be used for British channels. With a normal DVB-S2 receiver (or a TV with an integrated DVB-S2 tuner), you can receive both British and German channels. However, you have to tune in the channels manually and update them manually if necessary. There is also no EPG for British channels.

Which unencrypted British channels can I receive?
You can find a complete list at freesat.co.uk.

Can I still receive many channels further east by subscribing to Sky UK?
No. Unfortunately, most of the encrypted Sky channels are now also broadcast on the UK spotbeams.

Are there also British radio stations via satellite?
Yes, in addition to television stations, there are still numerous radio stations being offered. However, most people nowadays find listening to the radio locally with a satellite receiver too inconvenient and prefer to use Internet radio.

What does the abbreviation +1 after a channel name mean?
Many of the British channels are broadcast a second time on a separate channel with a one-hour delay. If you have missed something on the regular channel, you can watch it again an hour later on the delayed channel (with the abbreviation +1 in the channel name).

Is free reception of British channels in Germany legal?
The operators try to restrict reception outside the British Isles as much as possible by using a spot beam. But where reception is still possible, it is legal for private users. What would be illegal is ‘cracking’ encryption - but this is not necessary for the channels described here, as they are not encrypted in the first place. 

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