Italian TV

Not sure what you are asking? Sky TV is a cable network. It may be over the air also but it was always on a cable access in the hotel room. It is another network like CNN, BBC, etc.

Sky TV (part of Rupert Murdoch's empire) is both a satellite provider (like Direct TV) and also a content provider. It has it's own channels like Sky News, Sky Sports, etc. Its entertainment channels contain both original programing and programs imported from US networks.

As i seem to do I have asked a question without giving the right details. We have rented an apartment and I guess I was asking if any one knew if you could get cable for just two months. I know stupid question.

And miss the Fashion Channel!?
Twenty-four hours of continuous interviews of female and male models - you learn all about their aspirations, their unique outlooks on life and their personal struggles. And then there are the endless run-way walks introducing next season's styles that just makes my little head go, "What the ....?"

This is the best way I've found to improve Italian TV and thank Bacchus for it..... :)

That's one way to upgrade Italian TV.^^

Hopefully one of our residents will pop in (Ron, ya out there?), but I'm going to hazard a guess that even if you could upgrade to Sky TV for two months, the hassles of doing so would make you want to leap off the roof. Given the reputation of Italian efficiency (as in, they don't got any), you'd be lucky to have the tv hooked up 2 months AFTER you already left!

I submit that the best use for one's television is to subject it to the dramatic spectacle of an empty Limoncino magnum hurled into its soul-sucking glass eye.

After consuming said spirit, natch.

That is the first thing that Neil has posted that I agree with. Forget the TV.

Hmmm.... If you're renting an apartment then you're probably locked into whatever "service" is provided at the apartment. Getting cable for two months would be challenging as Liz says - probably impossible.

It took us 3 months just to get internet service and we had to sign a "commitment." Getting the service we had to show our permesso di soggiorno (permission to stay) and that form took 3 months to get AFTER the months it took us to get our Visa.... so Italian bureacracy would make this practically impossible.

Also, many houses do not have cable pre-installed. Next time your in Rome, look at the many, many antennas and satellite dishes on the rooftops. Folks throw their cable over the side of the roof and then drill a hole in the wall and thread their cable through... It may already there (doubtful because it's expensive) but perhpas this apartment caters to Americans (contact the landlord?) and see if it's installed...

Or do what we did - forget about expensive Italian statellite TV and purchase a Slingbox at Best Buy. Then - through the internet and their program installed on your laptop - you can watch American TV anywhere in the world where you can get a high speed connection. I was watching a ESPN SPortscenter on the high-speed train from Copenhagen to Stockholm last month that had WI-FI. Granted you're six hours AHEAD of the US programming.

We do not have cable, or SKY, although many of our friends have some version of it. As mentioned, there are MANY different Sky options.

Frankly though, we do not watch much TV here in Italy - American or Italian. We stay in touch "with the world" primarily through the internet and our entertainment is walking, talking, reading, exploring, or sitting at a cafe or restaurant with friends.

If it wasn't for backhanded compliments, I wouldn't get any compliments at all. "Ebony...and ivory...."

As Ron stated, and as some of my friends who have moved to Italy have told me, Italy does not run like the U.S. You can't just call up and get a service installed. The beauracracy is amazing.

You might call to get cable TV, but it would probably get hooked up the day before you left--and that's assuming you knew someone.

Might I suggest a copy of "War and Peace"?

As a matter of fact I just bought a copy of War and Peace but thought it was to big and fat to take on the plane but may change my mind. War and Peace and a bottle of Limencello sounds just about right.

Just do a google search for "Internet TV." The beautiful part of the web, is that it works the same around the world no matter how you access it.
I even found a web feed for Fashion TV! There are old sites like Hulu that are ever increasing their content and new sites pop up every week. If you go this TV/Internet route you'll be ahead of the curve since this is the future of TV programing distribution anyway.

Yup, sorry for the old info... Hulu even shut down the anon-proxy access. Me bad. There are still a whole bunch of other Web/TV content vendors. So I'd agree with Ron in Rome that the internet is still your best option.

Yeah, it took so long to get internet hooked up that I did not even want to bother asking about satellite or cable or anything.

the good news: the whole "less stress, slowww down" thing should rub off on you within the first month of living here though!