Job Discussion Forums

[tomjones7]

What's the best package for Sky ? How much does it cost and do you think it's worth it ?

Also on Blue Pack you get 100 radio channels. Does anyone have this, and what kind of stuff do you get ? There's nothing on the website.
Thanks guys

[kitano]

Seems like there is tons of info on the website. Which website are you looking at?

[tomjones7]

skyperfectv.co.jp english version. where is the info about the radio channels ? can't see it.
also wanted recommendations re the best package.

[moot point]

I have sky-perfect tv. I don't know what kind of info. you are searching for?

We pay a considerable amount each month. It is close to 5000yen. It is one of the colour packages that is advertised in their monthly magazine (which will cost you 500yen to receive). Included in that 5000yen package are the Star movie channels, ESPN, CNN, BBC, FOX (drama-like stuff, but not their extremely pro-Replubican news channel), old dramas on others channels, etc.

With our optional package, which I believe was "the blue pack", we are also able to receive 100 radio channels. It's a good choice as they have practically any genre you'd like to hear. That said, you're not going to hear obscure music on any of those channels as they mostly follow the most popular songs. You can also recieve Inter-FM and J-FM radio broadcasts, which is nice if you are out of broadcasting range for these Tokyo radio stations.

[tomjones7]

Thanks for the input. I had a look on the website and it did look like the blue pack was the best, but u still need to add on a few extras right ?.
I have Usen cable radio, 400 channels, 90% cr*p, but the sound is great, and it has a good range, but not everything (use internet for the rest). It came free with the appartment, otherwise I wouldn't pay for it.
Where can you get the radio list ? From the magazine ? Only copy I've seen is Japanese.

[moot point]

I don't know of any English version. We used to order the monthly magazine which was all in Japanese. I don't know how good you your ears are, however, I much prefer to listen to my favourite radio station back home over the internet. Where the ska-pa (Japanese pronunciation) radio comes in handy is when you have guests at your home and you can turn in to whatever genre they like.

I also like to tune into different genres depending on the day/tiime of the day. For example, Sunday mornings I listen to the "Light Classic" station. Summer comes and we tune into the "Samba" or "Reggae" channel. While we get ready to go to work we listen to "Inter-FM".

[tomjones7]

Point taken. I don't have much time for Japanese FM. The playlists are lousy (1 good song followed by 4 bad ones, and they keep talking over the music!). NHK only plays classical a few hours a day. Can you imagine it ? An "international" city like Tokyo, 12 million odd pop. can't even support a public classical fm station ! But I digress...
I also prefer internet radio. I discovered one called radio paradise (.com) which plays a great "eclectic" mix. I have itunes which has 100's of stations pre-tuned. But sometimes it's nice to have a different source..
Still miss Ruch, though...

[tomjones7]

I meant "Rush.."

[J.]

Usually when you have your dish installed there is a first month "free trial" which means that you can see all except the pay per view channels, including the music channels.　You can listen and decide if it's worth it to sign up for them or not. Then once a month on the anniversary of the day you signed up there's a repeat "free trial" day so you can decide if you want to make any changes. Good luck.

[tomjones7]

Thanks for the tip. I remeber the free day when I had/didn't have cable. used to tune in every month to get a fix, always to decide it wasn't worth the 5 grand a month! Seems there a only a few good channels/programs to watch on a regular basis.
Anyway, I've got free internet and cable radio so i might stick to that...
thanks again

[dtomchek]

Hello:
I personally have the yellow package---3000 yen for basic (BBC, CNN, one movie channel, ESPN, Discovery, National Geographic, Fox, Channel 360 which is like old 80s-90s programs like Charlie's Angels along with more recent ones like West Wing), History Channel, La La, AXN...pay another 2000 for star channel, star channel plus, star channel classic, and one other movie channel...well worth it if you are stuck in the sticks with not much to do..good luck...

[tomjones7]

Sounds like the yellow channel is a good deal, has most of what you'd want. 3000Y is reasonable, as you say, even if you're stuck in the City, there's really not much on free tv except b-grade movies anyway. You really only need some news, movies and drama.

I guess I'll look into the yellow option. Thanks again, this is probably helpful for a lot of others thinking of making the move.

[Celeste]

I too went with the yellow package. It seems to be sufficient. During the American football playoffs, my husband got one extra channel so that he could watch more of the games, but that was the only thing that the yellow package seemed to lack, and just for that 6 weeks.

Have you got the dish yet? When we got our dish, we set it up and called the English help line in Tokyo. They took our credit card info and then they started a 2 week trial of most of the channels they offer. In a few days we got the magazine (English Version) in the mail along with the order form for the channels. It was all very easy to decide after sampling the channels for a week.

[moot point]

Hey TomJones, Q-107 has a good internet broadcast. They play lots of Rush songs being a local band and all. Also, Kim Mitchell is now working there as radio host. Check it out; http://www.q107.com/

[tomjones7]

Thanks for the tip about Rush, I'll check it out ! Thanks to everyone for the info. I'll be surfin' that remote in no time!