TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Cable T.V.

Is sxm cable up and running? If not, is there another company doing cable?

No it's not and Telem took them over . The new system we have is via ROKO . Tons of channel.

Are they in the same location? Where do we go to get this??? We used to go to Madame estates, please let us know, we are coming on Island in a few weeks, and want to have t.v. thanks

No , but please check with the Telem Company.

Oh thanks... Is tel em still in simpson bay, or did the hurricane destroy there office???? Cable had a hard time keeping things up and running anyway... Constant outs... Hope this company can do better...

Office in Simpson Bay is open .

I just read that Telem has closed SXM Cable. SXM Cable Closure

Uhmmm. What would that mean?? No television?

Direct TV, Dish, get a fire stick. Apple TV or Roku and use Internet. We never got TV hooked up and when I asked many they kind of thought it was funny that I wanted to hook up cable!!

Cable TV and internet are two different connections/service methods on SXM? Usually the same feed does both....

Somehow I always thought you can't get Direct TV in SXM? Telem bought the cable company and then closed it down? Doesn't make sense to me. Wonder what the resorts will do for TV?

That was my first thought, Carol!

As far as I know, there was no Direct TV. There was Dish. And that was satellite not internet.
But yes check with TelEm for Cable TV if that's what you are looking for.

Carol, St Maarten Cable TV never recovered from Irma. TelEm bought it and has just fires all Cable's employees. I have not been following closely as I don't deal with either company. We gave up on SXM Cable years ago due to their crap programming and crap service. It went off every day and no one ever answered the phone. Ever.

I ordered a Fire Stick from Amazon and have spent hours trying to get it to work down here with no luck - just a blank screen on my TV showing the channel. Finally decided I should have done this in the Sates before I came down, and that my Chromebook isn't recognizing it. Does anyone have any input?

Where is the TelEm office in Simpson Bay, please? I spent quite a long time in the one in Phillipsburg last week and got nowhere try to get news on Cable.

Thanks!

Across the street from little thai savanh . Think we've already told you our experience with firestick.

Thanks, Elaine. And yes, on the Fire Stick!

I have used my Firestick in France and SXM but the last time was a year ago. I remember seeing "We've noticed you are in a different country and some programs will not be available" on the TV BUT I was able to watch what I wanted. Another method i use is just cast from my laptop to the tv using Chrome and the Stick or a Chromecast dongle. Netflix can also be used this way.

I'm sure you already saw this but the FAQ is a bit confusing and combines Amazon Video (rentals) and Prime TV (regular shows) and involves changing your country of origin in settings...a bit involved.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201624360

I have two sticks..one for travel and one stays connected at home.

In what country did you initiate your firestick the first time?

We give up Cable T.V and now it is ROKU Network that we are using. This comes with the T.V and using the Internet .

Home...1st gen stick which is now the travel one....2nd gen stick stays put.

Maybe it is the fact that it does have to be initiated at home first but I have also found that some travel wifi networks block either casting or stick use because of bandwith issues. Couldn't use either in Grand Cayman. Even in a Marriott in Florida I couldn't cast but the stick worked.

I will also relate an issue that a friend had....plugged in Fire Stick....changed imput to appropriate one for stick...nothing...blank screen...upset. Called me and I asked if she had pushed the big middle button to turn it on...answer: no. Worked after that

I understand if it won't let you watch certain programs but I can't see why the screen is blank unless the stick isn't turned on.

I do believe that to be the case, has to be initiated by a US IP. And I know there are ways to do that, we choose not to. Friends had trouble here with out of the box firesticks and other similar devices. Our son in CT gave us his Chromecast and Firestick that he had been using for some time. Plugged in, synced the devices and they have worked perfectly about 3 years for us. Only thing we pay for is $6.99 for Netflix, everything else WE care about is free. If we want to watch a proper football (soccer) match, it's more fun at a bar on the beach.

Elaine--what are you currently using?

See the posting above, I listed the hardware.

I just took the Firestick out of my drawer and hooked it up again to make sure i had pushed ALL of the buttons. Nothing happens. Apparently, the remote doesn't light when it's working, so I wondered if it might be defective. I also tried different batteries, in case those included were defective.
I'm going with Bill's assessment that it needs to be initiated in the States. I'm less frustrated that way!

Leslie, I looked into ROKU after reading your post, but I'm reluctant to invest more money in these things if they're not going to work for me. Also, what I REALLY want to be able to watch is CNBC, and it appears that the only way to get it live is with cable..

Yup....need a VPN to watch live CNBC outside the USA

Pre Irma I looked into everything. Sharon suggested sling box since I have TV at home. Once I get proper internet in the condo I may try that again. I know the Roku will work on the island as a friend got it installed and works fine.

Not sure if this is of any help but per my communication with the Atrium Hotel, they have cable TV and internet service. Not sure who the provider is.

I'm thinking they are prevaricating, when they say cable TV, since there is none currently operational.

We arrive on 2/03. It will be interesting to see what is really going on.

Please do post what you find when you arrive.

Will do.