SATELLITE TAKE-A-TOWN: WALTHAM CROSS.

SUMMARY

No contest in this North London suburb. DH Leake proved that a committed little `un will always beat a couple of ho-hum multiples.

Apart from feeling extremely comfortable in Leake's impressive showroom, the success of the independent was all down to the interest the

The questions he asked enabled him to neatly home in on my viewing preferences. I also liked the way the salesman went and retrieved a dish to show me the size.

Another difference was the Leake's salesman clearly knew his stuff.

DP LEAKE TV

A quaint, pedestrianised street in nearby Waltham Abbey led me to Euronics member DP Leake. The double-fronted store was split into brown and white goods. An array of televisions flanked the walls -- including a Toshiba back projection model at 1,999 [pounds sterling] just inside the door.

After a quick circuit of the impressive brown goods display (with various pieces of Sky and Open p-o-s scattered around) I established the Sky Digital display -- complete with a Pace digibox and a subscription card securely taped in.

A white-shirted salesman, made eye contact, and quickly finished a piece of admin before joining me. "Sorry," he smiled apologetically, "it's all gone bang at once this morning."

The dish and box would be free, he told me, and installation would be between 40 [pounds sterling] and 70 [pounds sterling]. ("We don't do that we have a qualified Sky installer.")

Basically, he explained, I would be walking out of the store with a digibox worth 400 [pounds sterling] for free. "The box," he continued, pointing to the Pace, "has to be connected to your phone line -- that's so that if you want to use the interactive sports side you can."

Packages started at 10 [pounds sterling] a month -- but he advised I took the full package at 34 [pounds sterling]. "Let me show you a breakdown of what you'll get," he said reaching for a Sky leaflet. He gave a pretty good run-down of the channels.

However, he also sensed I was itching to get at the Sports channels -- and asked if I'd like to have a look at the cricket. (England was playing Sri Lanka on that very morning).

"I'll quickly run through it for you," he said pulling out a Sky remote and bringing the EPG on the screen. His demonstration of how the EPG worked -- and how easy the remote control was to use -- was excellent.