TV in Crete...
This TV in Crete Page is from the Completely Crete Living in Crete Section.
There are many options available for ex-pats who want to enjoy a wide range of English Language programmes. Hollywood blockbusters, live sports, news, light magazine programmes, soaps – all manner of programming is available in English. TV Sets To watch TV in Crete you’ll need a television. One of the questions you may have if moving to Crete is: – should I bring my TV when I move, or should I buy one when I get to Crete? You can’t receive TV channels through an aerial with a UK TV. If you intend to subscribe to a satellite service then you can use your UK TV if it connects to the receiver with a Scart connection.
Otherwise, consider buying a Greek TV when you get here, to keep your options open. There’s some useful information on our We trudged our big UK TV 2,500 miles overland, and it sat in a corner of our Cretan lounge for 6 months. It worked fine when we got satellite. But in the meantime, we bought a Greek television so we could watch TV – mostly in Greek. Regular Greek TV You can buy a TV and plug in an aerial and get regular Greek TV. As you’d imagine, for the most part Greek TV is in Greek, and they have a wide range of programmes that are impossible to follow unless you speak Greek well. However, in addition, there are many English language programmes broadcast with Greek subtitles, mostly from America. There are also a few French and Italian language films too, again with Greek subtitles. TV in Crete is dominated by the main Greek Channels, although there are a few Crete based channels too. These are the main channels you can see:
Greek programmes are an eclectic mix of soaps, game shows, family dramas and films.
Greek cinema gets a good airing with, usually, a comic or dashing hero, supported by a gorgeous, sexy, blond leading lady. Hollywood films are regularly aired on free Greek TV, as are the popular series’ such as Desperate Housewives, Boston Legal, House MD, and the various CSI’s. You could get away with this, but in the winter you might get a little desperate – you can’t go out every night! It would be worth the pain and agony learning Greek if only to enjoy their TV. The schedules are full of programmes that rejoice in such titles as: "If you existed, I would divorce you" "Give your Frog a Kiss..." "Girls to Have in One's House" "Worth Seeing It!" "ALL... BLAH BLAH" (All programme descriptions courtesy of NOVA TV).
You will be grateful of the option to subscribe to some alternatives. For satellite in Crete options, read on…
BBC Prime
From the BBC Prime website: BBC Prime is widely available throughout Crete (and Europe). It’s a subscription channel and costs £85 (about €110). There’s also a "smartcard" admin fee of £30 (€40) - and you’ll need a dish. Any good satellite installer in Crete will sort this out for you. As the name and blurb suggests, BBC Prime is a good option for getting English language BBC content – great if you like Eastenders (coming from Bolton we’re a bit Coronation Street to be honest). You get:
Although it might be stuff you’ve seen before, it will be a very good friend on those long, dark, wintry nights when living in Crete. NOVA
It even has a souped up version called NOVA PVR, which is the eqivalent of SKY+. Some of the features of the NOVA PVR service include:
You can opt for one, some, or all of several packages including films and sports, just like Sky. Channels include:
Here's a summary of what you can get with NOVA:
OTHER SATELLITE OPTIONS There are other satellite services available in Crete, but many don't provide many more English language options than those mentioned above. Those wanting to get Sky TV can do it but it would mean buying a massive dish (3.5 metres - 6 metres, depending on who you ask!), costing thousands. Even then we know of people who have struggled getting all the channels living in, say, east Crete.
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Remember that TV in Crete doesn’t just mean Crete TV.
A SCART socket is a 21 pin connector fitted on many European TV, VCR, and Satellite products, it provides stereo sound and video signals both in and out of the item of equipment (obviously depending on the particular type of equipment). Most can do this, unless your TV is very old.
The Soaps are generally quite baffling, but there are a lot of game shows in familiar format with Greek versions of Deal or No Deal, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Fort Boyard, etc.
Nova is the closest thing to SKY TV in Crete. You buy a small dish and receiver and a skilled qualified engineer will set it up for you (for a fee) – and away you go.
