Reading this thread made me think. How times have changed.
In 1989, when we bought our first house in the Herault, all we had was BBC World Service on short wave radio. But within a few years we could get a satellite signal and watch Sky News. Other channels would follow. A decade later we moved to the Cote Vermaille. No problems with the Astra signal but we were in a terrestrial TV blind spot. The Mairie created a local network so we could watch French TV. It eventually was discontinued as everybody installed satellite dishes. Then the UK satellite beam was tightened when the satellite system was upgraded. Bye bye UK TV. But we were saved by the internet. With a bit of juggling you could watch UK TV on line. We had enhanced ADSL replaced by fibre. Recently Orange upgraded our connection at no extra cost. BTW I seem to recall installing large dishes may require planning permission.
Many of us no longer even try to watch UK tv. Subscription services have come to our rescue. Itâs odd that the BBC can do nothing about Brits in France who can receive signals direct from the UK but attempt to identify and block those who watch via the internet. I, for one, would be happy to pay the licence fee. Word on the street is that they are especially good at identifying Firesticks.