"Jeff Liebermann" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 21 Jul 2009 02:28:18 +0100, "Arfa Daily"
wrote:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/DiscontinuedModule.aspx?ModuleNo=47234
http://www.pulsat.com/satellite/site/details.php?product_id=330

Planning laws and building covenants can be very odd here. Many old
buildings in towns and villages are protected by a National Trust
'listing'.
Depending on the level of the listing, all sorts of provisions are made
about protecting the exterior appearance, and with high level listings,
even
the internal features, down to decor in some cases. On buildings like
this,
and indeed on some new buildings, the likes of satellite dishes are
expressly forbidden, particularly if they impact on the 'public' face of
the
building.

We have something similar with "historic buildings".
http://www.nps.gov/nr/
The owner gets a tax break to maintain the building in good condition.
Dishes aren't totally proscribed, but severely limited. For example:
www.concessions.nps.gov/...pp 26 GRCA Housing Policy.pdf
on Page 6 defines what dishes are acceptable.

As far as I know, transparent dishes were developed to try to get
around this, and I believe some planners and listing inspectors, were
sympathetic to their use. I don't know how successful DBS has been over
there, but here, probably 60% or more of houses in any given street, have
a
dish bolted on them, so disguise is quite a big issue in some areas. To
that
end, I believe that there were some 'microwave friendly' paints developed
as
well, to allow the dish to 'disappear' chameleon-fashion.

About half the UK density.
Satellite 30 million (about 31% of US homes passed)
CATV 60 million (about 62% of US homes passed)

Jeff Liebermann

I saw a "This Old House" programme with Steve and Norm where they were
working on an old place up Nantucket way somewhere as I recall. On an island
anyway. This place had an historic buildings listing, and the owners were
made to jump through hoops to keep everything about it original. But at
least over there, you are encouraged to do so with tax breaks. Over here,
there is no such thing - just a potential bunch of heartache, if you take on
one of these buildings which, although it might have a grade one listing,
has been left by National Heritage or the National Trust, to decay into a
pile of rubble.

We have a programme here called "Grand Designs". I'm sure that one of your
cable DIY channels probably carries it. In the last series, one of the
programmes followed a guy who had bought what was literally a pile of stones
on a remote hillside, with a view to restoring it to the small castle that
it originally was. Despite this place being grade one listed, and having
been left to decay for decades, he was offered no help financially or
otherwise, to do the work. However, once he had started, then the listing
body kicked in at full power, starting archeological digs on the site, and
insisting that everything was restored exactly as per the records that
existed before the building had crumbled to nothing - and I mean nothing. No
roof, no floors, almost no internal walls, and full of plants and trees. It
cracks me up that they are prepared to watch the place decay to nothing, but
as soon as someone shows an interest in restoring it, suddenly, they care,
but have no practical or financial help to offer.

Anyway, this guy was an architect by trade, and slowly managed to win
grudging admiration from the inspectors for his efforts, to the point where
he managed to successfully argue the case that buildings were 'living'
records and testaments to the times that they had survived through, and that
this particular building had been altered and modified and extended by every
owner since it was first built, and that as a consequence, he should be
allowed to add his own personalisation. They eventually agreed that he could
add a pitched slate roof to the top, where it was originally flat, and that
he could build the side of that roof which faced the nice view across the
hills, fully in glass.

This he did, leaving a flat area in front, to provide an 'attic' room with a
terrace in front of a fully glass wall, which opened right up. Being right
on the top - I would guess 60 or more feet up - the view was magnificent, as
you might imagine. The Heritage people were so impressed with the
sympathetic restoration work that he did on the place, and the modifications
that he made which fitted in seamlessly, that they offered him either a job
or a consultancy position - I can't remember which now. I was glad to see
this realistic and sensible attitude, but it often doesn't prevail. We have
another programme called "Property Ladder" which follows first time property
developers, who often make the mistake of buying a listed building at
auction for pennies, hoping to turn a huge profit. They will do things like
fit an entire set of home entertainment wiring, only to then find that they
are not allowed to put a sat dish or antenna on the outside of the building
....

We have a lot of cable here now, providing similar huge amounts of
programming as the sat service. In fact the biggest provider, Virgin, carry
a number of the sat programmes as well, when they are not falling out with
each other. A few years ago, there was a big push by the government to get
the whole country cabled up, probably to shove a pair of fingers up Mr
Maxwell's nose, as there is a long and historic animosity between he and
they, but that seems to have stalled now, probably due to financial
constraints, so in the meantime, Sky satellite services continue to
flourish, particularly now that they are the largest carrier of HD services,
allbeit for an additional subscription ...

Arfa