I'm pissed off. This state of mind usually turns up around this time of year when I get frustrated about not being able to watch Hogmanay programmes on Scottish TV. Namely BBC1 Scotland.
Now, I've been able to hack my Sky Digital satellite receiver to get Scottish Independent TV (STV), but not the superior BBC1 Scotland which is renowned for it's quality output on Hogmanay with at least two or three specials that they've been broadcasting on the 31st Decemeber for many, many years.
So, I've programmed in the correct digital frequencies and everything but I get a block message saying that I'm not permitted to watch BBC1 Scotland. The fascists.
About 18 months ago when we relocated from Scotland to England I foolishly emailed both BSkyB Broadcasting and the BBC to enquire as to how I could receive BBC1 Scotland, but after about 5 vapid ping-pong exchanges between both of their customer disservice departments, I gave up.
Annoyingly you can legitimately get BBC2 Scotland as a Sky digital satellite subscriber but not BBC1 Scotland, being forced instead to put up with the local BBC 1 London channel which isn't a patch on the Scottish BBC1 stuff. This is all the more painful as BBC2 Scotland is trailing BBC1 Scotland's Hogmanay output all this week. The sadists.
Now for the point of this ill intentioned rant. As a Sky Subscriber, I get access to hundreds of digital quality channels including US FOX News, Al Jazeera and many other foreign language channels from all over the world. But not BBC1 Scotland. But for the fact that I'm mainly upset because I can't watch the light entertainment on BBC1 Scotland tomorrow night, the bigger issue is one of native Scottish programming in Gaelic. I don't speak Gaelic, but if I did I wouldn't be able to receive any of my native BBC1 Scotland Gaelic programming in England. Yes, I know that someone could tape them for me but that's not the point, is it?
I can, however, freely watch Al Jazeera or FOX News. Or Star News, Bangla, PCNE and other foreign language channels. Mind, although I can watch them, after a few seconds I get all confused which in itself is about as entertaining as raindrop window racing when it's not raining.
Are my human rights being discriminated against or am I being an over-sensitive patriot?
Now, I've been able to hack my Sky Digital satellite receiver to get Scottish Independent TV (STV), but not the superior BBC1 Scotland which is renowned for it's quality output on Hogmanay with at least two or three specials that they've been broadcasting on the 31st Decemeber for many, many years.
So, I've programmed in the correct digital frequencies and everything but I get a block message saying that I'm not permitted to watch BBC1 Scotland. The fascists.
About 18 months ago when we relocated from Scotland to England I foolishly emailed both BSkyB Broadcasting and the BBC to enquire as to how I could receive BBC1 Scotland, but after about 5 vapid ping-pong exchanges between both of their customer disservice departments, I gave up.
Annoyingly you can legitimately get BBC2 Scotland as a Sky digital satellite subscriber but not BBC1 Scotland, being forced instead to put up with the local BBC 1 London channel which isn't a patch on the Scottish BBC1 stuff. This is all the more painful as BBC2 Scotland is trailing BBC1 Scotland's Hogmanay output all this week. The sadists.
Now for the point of this ill intentioned rant. As a Sky Subscriber, I get access to hundreds of digital quality channels including US FOX News, Al Jazeera and many other foreign language channels from all over the world. But not BBC1 Scotland. But for the fact that I'm mainly upset because I can't watch the light entertainment on BBC1 Scotland tomorrow night, the bigger issue is one of native Scottish programming in Gaelic. I don't speak Gaelic, but if I did I wouldn't be able to receive any of my native BBC1 Scotland Gaelic programming in England. Yes, I know that someone could tape them for me but that's not the point, is it?
I can, however, freely watch Al Jazeera or FOX News. Or Star News, Bangla, PCNE and other foreign language channels. Mind, although I can watch them, after a few seconds I get all confused which in itself is about as entertaining as raindrop window racing when it's not raining.
Are my human rights being discriminated against or am I being an over-sensitive patriot?