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Brussels tolerates satellite dishes despite ban
Despite a total ban on satellite dishes, the City of Brussels does not generally issue fines for the offense. The fines can reach up to €100,000 for a violation, but the City usually gives only a warning. "We want to be more strict, but it is not a priority right now," said Geoffroy Coomans de Brachène, Brussels minister for urban planning and heritage protection, in La Dernière Heure.
While many Brussels residents are aware that placing a satellite dish on the outside of their home comes with the risk of a hefty fine, they also know that the violation results in just a warning in most cases.
"The satellite dishes give the Brussels cityscape a dilapidated look," Coomans de Brachène told the newspaper. "You hardly see them in the European and Louise districts, but in some densely populated areas, they are commonplace. The inhabitants there install satellite dishes to access foreign channels."
In 90% of cases, the breach is reported by neighbourhood committees. However, most satellite dish owners have never received an official complaint. "The city has other priorities,” explains the minister. “Aesthetically speaking, their removal is important, but in terms of safety, they are not a problem.”
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Once again Belgium spends time passing laws and then never imposes them. Satellite dishes are a scourge to the eyesight and certainly adds to Brussels looking dilapidated and sad. Why make laws if never imposed.
That is nice that this law is not implemented. Law might have been created to restrict over use. However, it is also true that it might have been possible with a less severe law.
As for the people supporting such implementation, have you thought about those people who are using it. Remember "Necessity knows no law". Law is created by some of us in power to fulfill our point of view which might not reflect the necessity of others. I agree with the minister as long as it is not hurting someone that should be okay to use. Those people in that building probably do not have any balcony where they could put it. May be living in a small apartment with family and only option of entertainment is TV that they could afford. Many are living far from family in other countries & this is the way they could feel home. Or i tmight also be a choice of a Belgian who enjoys other culture & language. So do not be mean minded. See the broader perspective. Do not make the whole country a Prison cell where people has no freedom to talk , to walk, to eat, to watch, to listen...
The law is an ass.
A ban on satellite dishes may will be in breach of EU legislation on Television sans frontieres.
Satellite dishes are no more unsightly than the ubiquitous neon signs,television transmitters,mobile phone masts,etc .
Brussels has a large immigrant population.Satellite TV enables us to maintain cultural contacts with our home countries and in many cases give us access to other cultures,languages and experiences.
Leave them alone.
One must not be very intelligent to know the main reason of this indulgence from the local Authorities : the dishes are 99% used to get the Middle-East rubish TV programs and the consumers are mainly from the Berber lumpen (arabised people from Riff area). When you know that the local politicians in such areas rely upon their votes, your understand it all. Now if these programs produce delinquency and recently terrorists it is not their baby of course... they'll find reasons to cover themselves. This is called Politics !
While I don't know the full rationale of the "ban", I can confirm that these things can be a very real hazard, if not properly installed. A few years back one fell off my neighbouring building during a storm, landing on my terrasse / balcony and causing a fair bit of damage. I'd hate to think what would happen if someone would have been there. When approached, the neighbours denied its existence, though the insurance from the building's owner covered the damage.
The solution is simple: stream these channels over the Internet, put them on the cable, allow more competition on the market for TV broadcasting which is far too limited at the moment, so that everybody can watch the channels they want (and if possible not the ones they don't want). We may need a fiber optic network for that (for the necessary throughput/bandwidth). Something many advanced nations are rolling out at the moment, even in small towns, except for the capital of Europe.....We still use copper wires from 1960(?). I can understand why people in a multicultural city as Brussels want to see their 'home' channels in their own language. And why not? Don't force them to watch what others are watching. Just make sure we do not start broadcasting "propaganda" channels from extremist groups. Bring the channels online or via cable or other means and/or introduce more competition and the dishes will all miraculously disappear.