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{{Short description|Broadcasting of television using artificial satellites}}
{{weasel}}
{{for|the television channel "Satellite Television" launched in 1982|Sky One#History}}
[[Image:Astra 2A 2C Boeing 601.JPG|thumb|250px|Artist's impression of a [[Boeing Satellite Systems|Boeing]] 601 satellite, as configured for digital television transmission by [[SES Astra]]]]
'''Satellite television''' is [[television]] delivered by way of [[communications satellite]]s, as compared to conventional [[terrestrial television]] and [[cable television]]. In many areas of the world satellite television services supplement older terrestrial signals, providing a wider range of channels and services, including subscription-only services.


[[File:Sat TV dishes.jpg|thumb|A number of satellite dishes]]
==History==

The first satellite television signal was relayed from [[Europe]] to the [[Telstar]] satellite over [[North America]] in 1962. The first [[geosynchronous]] [[communication satellite]], [[Syncom|Syncom 2]] was launched in 1963. The world's first commercial communication satellite, called [[Early Bird]], was launched into synchronous orbit on [[April 6]], [[1965]]. The first national [[television network|network]] of satellite television, called [[Orbita]], was created in [[Soviet Union]] in 1967, and was based on the principle of using the highly elliptical [[Molniya]] satellite for re-broadcasting and delivering of TV [[Signalling (telecommunication)|signal]] to ground [[downlink]] stations. The first domestic North American satellite to carry television was [[Canada]]’s geostationary [[Anik 1]], which was launched in 1973. [[ATS-6]], the world's first experimental educational and [[Direct Broadcast Satellite]], was launched in 1974. The first Soviet geostationary satellite to carry [[Direct-To-Home]] television, called [[Ekran]], was launched in 1976.
'''Satellite television''' is a service that delivers [[television]] programming to viewers by relaying it from a [[communications satellite]] orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location.<ref name=":0">ITU Radio Regulations, Section IV. Radio Stations and Systems – Article 1.39, definition: ''Broadcasting-satellite service''</ref> The signals are received via an outdoor [[parabolic antenna]] commonly referred to as a [[satellite dish]] and a [[low-noise block downconverter]].
[[File:Satellite TV diagram.png|thumb|Diagram showing how modern satellite television works]]
A satellite receiver decodes the desired [[television program]] for viewing on a [[television set]]. Receivers can be external [[set-top box]]es, or a built-in [[television tuner]]. Satellite television provides a wide range of channels and services. It is usually the only television available in many remote geographic areas without [[terrestrial television]] or [[cable television]] service. Different receivers are required for the two types. Some transmissions and channels are unencrypted and therefore [[free-to-air]], while many other channels are transmitted with encryption. [[Free-to-view]] channels are encrypted but not charged-for, while [[pay television]] requires the viewer to subscribe and pay a monthly fee to receive the programming.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Campbell |first1=Dennis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kRJCwqzE3iwC&q=satellite+tv+free+to+air+free+to+view+must+pay&pg=PA161 |title=Copyright Infringement |last2=Cotter |first2=Susan |publisher=Kluwer Law International |year=1998 |isbn=90-247-3002-3 |access-date=18 September 2014}}</ref>

Modern systems signals are relayed from a communications satellite on the [[X band]] (8–12&nbsp;GHz) or [[Ku band|K<sub>u</sub> band]] (12–18&nbsp;GHz) frequencies requiring only a small dish less than a meter in diameter.<ref name="m101" /> The first satellite TV systems were a now-obsolete type known as [[television receive-only]]. These systems received weaker analog signals transmitted in the [[C band (IEEE)|C-band]] (4–8&nbsp;GHz) from [[Fixed Service Satellite|FSS]] type satellites, requiring the use of large 2–3-meter dishes. Consequently, these systems were nicknamed "big dish" systems, and were more expensive and less popular.<ref name="fcc">{{cite web|title=Installing Consumer-Owned Antennas and Satellite Dishes|url=http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/consumerdish.html|publisher=FCC|access-date=2008-11-21|archive-date=2011-04-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429095843/http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/consumerdish.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Early systems used [[analog signal]]s, but modern ones use [[Digital signal (broadcasting)|digital signals]] which allow transmission of the modern television standard [[high-definition television]], due to the significantly improved [[spectral efficiency]] of digital broadcasting. As of 2022, [[Star One D2]] from Brazil is the only remaining satellite broadcasting in analog signals.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Star One D2 at 70.0°W |url=https://www.lyngsat.com/Star-One-D2.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231210210307/https://www.lyngsat.com/Star-One-D2.html |archive-date=2023-12-10 |access-date=2023-12-10 |website=lyngsat.com |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Lista completa de frequências |url=https://portalbsd.com.br/satelite_canais.php?sat=sc2 |access-date=2023-12-10 |website=Portal BSD |language=pt |archive-date=2023-12-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231210210307/https://portalbsd.com.br/satelite_canais.php?sat=sc2 |url-status=live }}</ref>


==Technology==
==Technology==
The satellites used for broadcasting television are usually in a [[geostationary orbit]] {{convert|36,000|km|mi|abbr=on}} above the earth's [[equator]]. The advantage of this orbit is that the satellite's orbital period equals the rotation rate of the Earth, so the satellite appears at a fixed position in the sky. Thus the satellite dish antenna which receives the signal can be aimed permanently at the location of the satellite and does not have to track a moving satellite. A few systems instead use a highly elliptical orbit with [[inclination]] of +/−63.4 degrees and an orbital period of about twelve hours, known as a [[Molniya orbit]].
Satellites used for television signals are generally in either highly elliptical (with inclination of +/-63.4 degrees and orbital period of about 12 hours) or geostationary orbit 37,000 km (22,300 miles) above the earth’s [[equator]].


Satellite television, like other communications relayed by satellite, starts with a transmitting antenna located at an [[uplink]] facility. Uplink satellite dishes are very large, as much as 9 to 12 meters (30 to 40 feet) in diameter. The increased diameter results in more accurate aiming and increased signal strength at the satellite. The uplink dish is pointed toward a specific satellite and the uplinked signals are transmitted within a specific frequency range, so as to be received by one of the transponders tuned to that frequency range aboard that satellite. The transponder 'retransmits' the signals back to Earth but at a different frequency band (to avoid interference with the uplink signal), typically in the [[C band|C-band]] and/or [[Ku band|K<sub>u</sub>-band]]. The leg of the signal path from the satellite to the receiving Earth station is called the downlink.
Satellite television, like other communications relayed by satellite, starts with a transmitting antenna located at an [[uplink]] facility.{{sfn|Pattan|1993|p=207}} Uplink satellite dishes are very large, as much as 9 to 12 meters (30 to 40 feet) in diameter.{{sfn|Pattan|1993|p=207}} The increased diameter results in more accurate aiming and increased signal strength at the satellite.{{sfn|Pattan|1993|p=207}} The uplink dish is pointed toward a specific satellite and the uplinked signals are transmitted within a specific frequency range, so as to be received by one of the [[transponder]]s tuned to that frequency range aboard that satellite.{{sfn|Pattan|1993|p=330}} The transponder re-transmits the signals back to Earth at a different frequency (a process known as translation, used to avoid interference with the uplink signal), typically in the 10.7-12.7&nbsp;GHz band, but some still transmit in the [[C band (IEEE)|C-band]] (4–8&nbsp;GHz), [[Ku band|K<sub>u</sub>-band]] (12–18&nbsp;GHz), or both.{{sfn|Pattan|1993|p=207}} The leg of the signal path from the satellite to the receiving Earth station is called the downlink.{{sfn|Pattan|1993|p=327}}


A typical satellite has up to 32 transponders for Ku-band and up to 24 for a C-band only satellite, or more for hybrid satellites. Typical transponders each have a bandwidth of about 36 to 50 Mbit/s. Each geo-stationary C-band satellite needs to be spaced 2 degrees from the next satellite (to avoid interference). For K<sub>u</sub> the spacing can be 1 degree. This means that there is an upper limit of 360/2 = 180 geostationary C-band satellites and 360/1 = 360 geostationary K<sub>u</sub>-band satellites. C-band transmission is susceptible to terrestrial interference while K<sub>u</sub>-band transmission is affected by [[Rain fade|rain]] (as water is an excellent absorber of microwaves).
A typical satellite has up to 32 [[Ku band|K<sub>u</sub>-band]] or 24 [[C band (IEEE)|C-band]] transponders, or more for [[Ku band|K<sub>u</sub>]]/[[C band (IEEE)|C]] hybrid satellites. Typical transponders each have a bandwidth between 27 and 50&nbsp;MHz. Each geostationary [[C band (IEEE)|C-band]] satellite needs to be spaced 2° longitude from the next satellite to avoid interference; for [[Ku band|K<sub>u</sub>]] the spacing can be 1°. This means that there is an upper limit of 360/2 = 180 geostationary [[C band (IEEE)|C-band]] satellites or 360/1 = 360 geostationary [[Ku band|K<sub>u</sub>-band]] satellites. [[C band (IEEE)|C-band]] transmission is susceptible to terrestrial interference while [[Ku band|K<sub>u</sub>-band]] transmission is affected by [[Rain fade|rain]] (as water is an excellent absorber of microwaves at this particular frequency). The latter is even more adversely affected by ice crystals in thunder clouds. On occasion, [[sun outage]] will occur when the sun lines up directly behind the geostationary satellite to which the receiving antenna is pointed.{{sfn|Tirro|1993|p=279}}


The downlinked satellite signal, quite weak after travelling the great distance (see [[inverse-square law]]), is collected by a [[parabolic reflector|parabolic]] receiving dish, which reflects the weak signal to the dish’s focal point. Mounted on brackets at the dish's focal point is a device called a [[feedhorn]]. This feedhorn is essentially the front-end of a [[waveguide]] that gathers the signals at or near the focal point and 'conducts' them to a [[Low-noise block converter|low-noise block downconverter]] or LNB. The LNB converts the signals from [[Electromagnetic waves|electromagnetic]] or [[Radio waves|radio]] waves to electrical signals and shifts the signals from the downlinked C-band and/or K<sub>u</sub>-band to the [[L band|L-band]] range. Direct broadcast satellite dishes use an LNBF, which integrates the feedhorn with the LNB. (A new form of [[wiktionary:omnidirectional|omnidirectional]] satellite antenna, which does not use a directed parabolic dish and can be used on a mobile platform such as a vehicle, was recently announced by the [[University of Waterloo]]. [http://newsrelease.uwaterloo.ca/news.php?id=4072])
The downlink satellite signal, quite weak after traveling the great distance (see [[path loss]]), is collected with a [[parabolic reflector|parabolic]] receiving dish, which reflects the weak signal to the dish's focal point.{{sfn|Minoli|2009|p=60}} Mounted on brackets at the dish's focal point is a device called a [[feedhorn]] or collector.{{sfn|Minoli|2009|p=27}} The feedhorn is a section of [[waveguide]] with a flared front-end that gathers the signals at or near the focal point and conducts them to a probe or pickup connected to a [[low-noise block downconverter]] (LNB).{{sfn|Minoli|2009|p=194}} The LNB amplifies the signals and [[Downconverter|downconverts]] them to a lower block of [[intermediate frequency|intermediate frequencies]] (IF), usually in the [[L-band]].{{sfn|Minoli|2009|p=194}}


The original [[C band (IEEE)|C-band]] satellite television systems used a [[low-noise amplifier]] (LNA) connected to the feedhorn at the focal point of the dish.<ref name="ewww">{{cite journal|year=1985|title=Europe's Best Kept Secret|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yDFWAAAAMAAJ&q=low-noise+amplifier+connected+to+the+feedhorn+at+the+focal+point+of+the+dish+c-band|journal=Electronics World + Wireless World|publisher=Reed Business Publishing|volume=95|pages=60–62|access-date=28 July 2014}}</ref> The amplified signal, still at the higher microwave frequencies, had to be fed via very expensive low-loss 50-ohm impedance [[Coaxial cable#Hard line|gas filled hardline]] [[coaxial cable]] with relatively complex [[N connector|N-connectors]] to an indoor receiver or, in other designs, a downconverter (a mixer and a voltage-tuned oscillator with some filter circuitry) for downconversion to an intermediate frequency.<ref name="ewww"/> The channel selection was controlled typically by a voltage tuned oscillator with the tuning voltage being fed via a separate cable to the headend, but this design evolved.<ref name="ewww"/>
The L band signal, now amplified, travels to a satellite receiver box, typically through [[coaxial cable]] (RG-6 or RG-10, etc.; cannot be standard RG-59). The satellite receiver then converts the signals to the desired form (outputs for television, audio, data, etc.). Sometimes, the receiver includes the capability to [[Scrambler|unscramble]] or [[Encryption|decrypt]]; the receiver is then called an [[Integrated receiver/decoder]] or IRD.


Designs for [[microstrip]]-based converters for [[amateur radio]] frequencies were adapted for the 4&nbsp;GHz [[C band (IEEE)|C-band]].<ref name="hrmz">{{cite journal|year=1984|title=Microstrip Impedance Program|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9ztQAAAAYAAJ&q=microstrip+amateur+radio+c-band|journal=Ham Radio Magazine|publisher=Communications Technology, Incorporated|volume=17|pages=84|access-date=28 July 2014}}</ref> Central to these designs was concept of block downconversion of a range of frequencies to a lower, more easily handled IF.<ref name="hrmz"/>
==Standards==
Analog television distributed via satellite is usually sent scrambled or unscrambled in [[NTSC]], [[PAL]], or [[SECAM]] television broadcast standards.


[[File:Universal-euro-sat-lnb.jpg|200px|thumbnail|left|Back view of a linear polarised [[Low-noise block downconverter|LNB]].]]
If the signal is a digitized television signal or multiplex of signals, it is typically [[Phase-shift keying|QPSK]].
The advantages of using an LNB are that cheaper cable can be used to connect the indoor receiver to the satellite television dish and LNB, and that the technology for handling the signal at [[L-band]] and UHF was far cheaper than that for handling the signal at [[C band (IEEE)|C-band]] frequencies.<ref name="mji2">{{cite journal|year=2000|title=Microwave Journal International|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X0pKAQAAIAAJ&q=lnb+70+ohm+satellite+75+ohm|journal=[[Microwave Journal International]]|publisher=[[Horizon House]]|volume=43|issue=10–12|pages=26–28|access-date=28 July 2014}}</ref> The shift to cheaper technology from the hardline and N-connectors of the early [[C band (IEEE)|C-band]] systems to the cheaper and simpler 75-ohm cable and [[F connector|F-connectors]] allowed the early satellite television receivers to use, what were in reality, modified [[UHF]] television tuners which selected the satellite television channel for down conversion to a lower [[intermediate frequency]] centered on 70&nbsp;MHz, where it was demodulated.<ref name="mji2"/> This shift allowed the satellite television [[Direct To Home|DTH]] industry to change from being a largely hobbyist one where only small numbers of systems costing thousands of US dollars were built, to a far more commercial one of mass production.<ref name="mji2"/>


In the United States, service providers use the [[intermediate frequency]] ranges of 950–2150&nbsp;MHz to carry the signal from the LNBF at the dish down to the receiver. This allows for the transmission of UHF signals along the same span of coaxial wire at the same time. In some applications ([[DirecTV]] AU9-S and AT-9), ranges of the lower [[B-band]]{{Ambiguous|reason=Exactly which frequencies? B-band is ambiguous|date=July 2016}} and 2250–3000&nbsp;MHz, are used. Newer LNBFs in use by DirecTV, called SWM (Single Wire Multiswitch), are used to implement [[single cable distribution]] and use a wider frequency range of 2–2150&nbsp;MHz.{{citation needed|date=December 2014}}
In general, digital television, including that transmitted via satellites, are generally based on open standards such as [[MPEG-2|MPEG]] and [[DVB|DVB-S]].


The satellite receiver or [[set-top box]] demodulates and converts the signals to the desired form (outputs for television, audio, data, etc.).{{sfn|Dodd|2002|p=308}} Often, the receiver includes the capability to selectively [[unscramble]] or [[decrypt]] the received signal to provide premium services to some subscribers; the receiver is then called an [[integrated receiver/decoder]] or IRD.{{sfn|Dodd|2002|p=72}} Low-loss cable (e.g. [[RG-6]], [[RG-11]], etc.) is used to connect the receiver to the LNBF or LNB.{{sfn|Minoli|2009|p=194}} [[RG-59]] is not recommended for this application as it is not technically designed to carry frequencies above 950&nbsp;MHz, but may work in some circumstances, depending on the quality of the coaxial wire, signal levels, cable length, etc.{{sfn|Minoli|2009|p=194}}
The encryption/scrambling methods include [[BISS]], [[Conax]], [[Digicipher]], [[Irdeto]], [[Nagravision]], [[PowerVu]], [[Viaccess]], [[Videocipher]], and [[VideoGuard]]. A large number of these schemes are known to be ineffective, however.


A practical problem relating to home satellite reception is that an LNB can basically only handle a single receiver.<ref name="newscientist2">{{cite journal|last=Fox|first=Barry|year=1995|title=Leaky dishes drown out terrestrial TV|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lz4eAQAAMAAJ&q=LNB+can+only+handle+a+single+receiver+problem|journal=[[New Scientist]]|publisher=[[Reed Business Information]]|volume=145|pages=19–22|access-date=28 July 2014}}</ref> This is because the LNB is translating two different [[circular polarization]]s (right-hand and left-hand) and, in the case of K-band, two different frequency bands (lower and upper) to the same frequency range on the cable.<ref name="newscientist2"/> Depending on which frequency and polarization a transponder is using, the satellite receiver has to switch the LNB into one of four different modes in order to receive a specific "channel".<ref name="newscientist2"/> This is handled by the receiver using the [[DiSEqC]] protocol to control the LNB mode.<ref name="newscientist2"/> If several satellite receivers are to be attached to a single dish, a so-called [[multiswitch]] will have to be used in conjunction with a special type of LNB.<ref name="newscientist2"/> There are also LNBs available with a multi-switch already integrated.<ref name="newscientist2"/> This problem becomes more complicated when several receivers are to use several dishes (or several LNBs mounted in a single dish) pointing to different satellites.<ref name="newscientist2"/>
==Categories of usage==
There are three primary types of satellite television usage: reception direct by the viewer, reception by local television affiliates, or reception by [[headend]]s for distribution across terrestrial [[Cable television|cable systems]].


A common solution for consumers wanting to access multiple satellites is to deploy a single dish with a single LNB and to rotate the dish using an electric motor. The axis of rotation has to be set up in the north–south direction and, depending on the geographical location of the dish, have a specific vertical tilt. Set up properly the motorized dish when turned will sweep across all possible positions for satellites lined up along the [[geostationary orbit]] directly above the equator. The dish will then be capable of receiving any geostationary satellite that is visible at the specific location, i.e. that is above the horizon. The [[DiSEqC]] protocol has been extended to encompass commands for steering dish rotors.{{citation needed|date=December 2014}}
Direct to the viewer reception includes [[direct broadcast satellite]] or DBS and [[television receive-only]] or TVRO, both used for homes and businesses including hotels, etc.


There are five major components in a satellite system: the programming source, the broadcast center, the satellite, the [[satellite dish]], and the [[Set-top box|receiver]]. "Direct broadcast" satellites used for transmission of satellite television signals are generally in [[geostationary orbit]] {{convert|37,000|km|mi|abbr=on}} above the earth's [[equator]].<ref name="sspt">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0GJWEro9ea4C&q=sun+outage+satellite|title=Satellite Systems:Principles and Technologies|last=Pattan|first=Bruno|date=31 March 1993|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=9780442013578|location=Berlin|access-date=29 July 2014}}</ref> The reason for using this orbit is that the satellite circles the Earth at the same rate as the Earth rotates, so the satellite appears at a fixed point in the sky. Thus satellite dishes can be aimed permanently at that point, and do not need a tracking system to turn to follow a moving satellite. A few satellite TV systems use satellites in a [[Molniya orbit]], a highly [[Elliptical orbit|elliptical]] orbit with [[inclination]] of +/-63.4 degrees and an orbital period of about twelve hours.
===Direct broadcast via satellite===
[[Direct broadcast satellite]], (DBS) also known as "Direct-To-Home" is a relatively recent development in the world of television distribution. “Direct broadcast satellite” can either refer to the communications satellites themselves that deliver DBS service or the actual television service. DBS systems are commonly referred to as "mini-dish" systems. DBS uses the upper portion of the K<sub>u</sub> band.


Satellite television, like other communications relayed by satellite, starts with a transmitting antenna located at an [[uplink]] facility.<ref name="sspt" /> Uplink facilities transmit the signal to the satellite over a narrow beam of [[microwave]]s, typically in the [[C band (NATO)|C-band]] frequency range due to its resistance to [[rain fade]].<ref name="sspt" /> Uplink satellite dishes are very large, often as much as 9 to 12 metres (30 to 40 feet) in diameter<ref name="sspt" /> to achieve accurate aiming and increased signal strength at the satellite, to improve reliability.<ref name="sspt" /> The uplink dish is pointed toward a specific satellite and the uplinked signals are transmitted within a specific frequency range, so as to be received by one of the [[transponder]]s tuned to that frequency range aboard that satellite.<ref name="sspt" /> The transponder then converts the signals to [[Ku band|K<sub>u</sub> band]], a process known as "translation," and transmits them back to earth to be received by home satellite stations.<ref name="sspt" />
Modified DBS systems can also run on C-band satellites and have been used by some networks in the past to get around legislation by some countries against reception of K<sub>u</sub>-band transmissions.
[[File:DTH Satellite Dish - India - IMG 3474.jpg|thumb|A DTH Satellite dish from India.]]
The downlinked satellite signal, weaker after traveling the great distance (see [[path loss]]), is collected by using a rooftop [[Parabolic antenna|parabolic]] receiving dish ("[[satellite dish]]"), which reflects the weak signal to the dish's focal point.<ref name="sseipv6">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4yJi1UQDPp8C&q=feedhorn+satellite+system|title=Satellite Systems Engineering in an IPv6 Environment|last=Minoli|first=Daniel|date=3 February 2009|publisher=[[CRC Press]]|isbn=978-1420078688|location=[[Boca Raton, Florida]]|access-date=29 July 2014}}</ref> Mounted on brackets at the dish's [[Focus (optics)|focal point]] is a [[feedhorn]]<ref name="sseipv6" /> which passes the signals through a [[waveguide]] to a device called a [[low-noise block converter]] (LNB) or low noise converter (LNC) attached to the horn.<ref name="sseipv6" /> The LNB amplifies the weak signals, filters the block of frequencies in which the satellite television signals are transmitted, and converts the block of frequencies to a lower frequency range in the [[L-band]] range.<ref name="sseipv6" /> The signal is then passed through a [[coaxial cable]] into the residence to the satellite television receiver, a [[set-top box]] next to the television.


The reason for using the LNB to do the frequency translation at the dish is so that the signal can be carried into the residence using cheap [[coaxial cable]]. To transport the signal into the house at its original [[Ku band|K<sub>u</sub> band]] [[microwave]] frequency would require an expensive [[waveguide]], a metal pipe to carry the radio waves.<ref name="mji2"/> The cable connecting the receiver to the LNB are of the low loss type [[RG-6]], quad shield RG-6, or RG-11.<ref name="egt">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H4POZ66FaS0C&q=set-top+box+converts&pg=PA308|title=The Essential Guide to Telecommunications|last=Dodd|first=Annabel Z.|publisher=[[Prentice Hall]]|year=2002|isbn=0130649074|edition=5th|location=[[Upper Saddle River, New Jersey]]|pages=307–10|access-date=29 July 2014}}</ref> [[RG-59]] is not recommended for this application as it is not technically designed to carry frequencies above 950&nbsp;MHz, but will work in many circumstances, depending on the quality of the coaxial wire.<ref name="egt" /> The shift to more affordable technology from the 50{{nbsp}}ohm impedance cable and [[N connector|N-connector]]s of the early [[C band (IEEE)|C-band]] systems to the cheaper 75{{nbsp}}ohm technology and [[F-connector]]s allowed the early satellite television receivers to use, what were in reality, modified [[UHF]] television tuners which selected the satellite television channel for down conversion to another lower [[intermediate frequency]] centered on 70&nbsp;MHz where it was demodulated.<ref name="mji2" />
DBS systems are generally based on proprietary transport stream encoding and/or [[television encryption|encryption]] requiring proprietary reception equipment. Service providers sometimes license several manufacturers to provide equipment capable of receiving the proprietary streams. This equipment typically uses a [[smart card]] as part of the decryption system or [[conditional access]]. This measure assures satellite television providers that only authorised, paying subscribers have access to Pay TV content but at the same time can allow [[free-to-air]] (FTA) channels to be viewed even by the people with standard equipment available in the market.


An LNB can only handle a single receiver.<ref name="newscientist2"/> This is due to the fact that the LNB is mapping two different circular polarisations – right hand and left hand – and in the case of the [[Ku band|K<sub>u</sub>-band]] two different reception bands – lower and upper – to one and the same frequency band on the cable, and is a practical problem for home satellite reception.<ref name="newscientist2" /> Depending on which frequency a transponder is transmitting at and on what polarisation it is using, the satellite receiver has to switch the LNB into one of four different modes in order to receive a specific desired program on a specific transponder.<ref name="newscientist2" /> The receiver uses the [[DiSEqC]] protocol to control the LNB mode, which handles this.<ref name="newscientist2" /> If several satellite receivers are to be attached to a single dish a so-called [[multiswitch]] must be used in conjunction with a special type of LNB.<ref name="newscientist2" /> There are also LNBs available with a multi-switch already integrated.<ref name="newscientist2" /> This problem becomes more complicated when several receivers use several dishes or several LNBs mounted in a single dish are aimed at different satellites.<ref name="newscientist2" />
===Television receive-only===
[[Television receive-only]], or TVRO, refers to satellite television reception equipment that is based primarily on open standards equipment. This contrasts sharply with direct broadcast satellite, which is a completely closed system that uses proprietary reception equipment. TVRO is often referred to as "big dish" satellite television.


The [[set-top box]] selects the channel desired by the user by filtering that channel from the multiple channels received from the satellite, converts the signal to a lower [[intermediate frequency]], [[Decryption|decrypts]] the [[encrypted]] signal, [[Demodulation|demodulates]] the radio signal and sends the resulting video signal to the television through a cable.<ref name="egt" /> To decrypt the signal the receiver box must be "activated" by the satellite company. If the customer fails to pay their monthly bill the box is "deactivated" by a signal from the company, and the system will not work until the company reactivates it. Some receivers are capable of [[decrypting]] the received signal itself. These receivers are called [[integrated receiver/decoder]]s or IRDs.<ref name="egt" />
TVRO systems are designed to receive analog and digital [[Communications satellite|satellite]] feeds of both television or audio from both C-band and K<sub>u</sub>-band [[transponder]]s on [[Fixed Service Satellite|FSS]]-type satellites. TVRO systems tend to use larger rather than smaller satellite dish antennas, since it is more likely that the owner of a TVRO system would have a C-band-only setup rather than a K<sub>u</sub> band-only setup. Additional receiver boxes allow for different types of digital satellite signal reception, such as DVB/MPEG-2 and [[4DTV]].


Analog television which was distributed via satellite was usually sent scrambled or unscrambled in [[NTSC]], [[PAL]], or [[SECAM]] television broadcast standards. The analog signal is [[frequency modulated]] and is converted from an FM signal to what is referred to as [[baseband]]. This baseband comprises the video signal and the audio subcarrier(s). The audio subcarrier is further demodulated to provide a raw audio signal.
The narrow beam width of a normal parabolic satellite antenna means it can only receive signals from a single satellite at a time. [[Simulsat]] is a quasi-parabolic satellite earthstation antenna that is capable of receiving satellite transmissions from 35 or more C- and K<sub>u</sub>-band satellites simultaneously.


Later signals were digitized television signals or multiplex of signals, typically [[Phase-shift keying|QPSK]]. In general, digital television, including that transmitted via satellites, is based on open standards such as [[MPEG-2|MPEG]] and [[DVB-S]]/[[DVB-S2]] or [[ISDB-S]].{{citation needed|date=September 2014}}
Direct broadcasting satellites which can be received by what are known in Chinese as ''little ears'' have had a major role in breaking the government monopoly of information on [[Mainland China]]. Although met with frequent and generally unsuccessful efforts to regulate them, these small satellite dishes are fairly common in urban China. Satellite television has also played an important role in broadcasting to expatriate communities such as Arabs, and [[overseas Chinese]].


The [[conditional access]] encryption/scrambling methods include [[NDS Group|NDS]], [[BISS]], [[Conax]], [[Digicipher]], Irdeto, [[Cryptoworks]], [[DG Crypt]], [[Beta digital]], [[SECA Mediaguard]], [[Logiways]], [[Nagravision]], [[PowerVu]], [[Viaccess]], [[Videocipher]], and [[VideoGuard]]. Many conditional access systems have been compromised.
==Satellite television by continent and country==
{{weasel}}
===Africa===
[[South Africa]]n-based [[Multichoice]]'s [[DStv]] is the main digital satellite television provider in sub-Saharan Africa, broadcasting principally in [[English language|English]], but also in [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], [[German language|German]] and [[Afrikaans]]. [[Canal Horizons]], owned by [[France]]'s [[Canal Plus]], is the main provider in [[French language|French-speaking]] [[Africa]]. Another entrant into the satellite television circuit in Africa is MyTvAfrica, a subsidiary of Dubai based Strong Technologies. Satellite television has been far more successful in Africa than cable, primarily because the infrastructure for cable television does not exist and would be expensive to install since majority of Africans cannot afford paid cable television. Furthermore, maintaining a cable network is expensive due to the need to cover larger and more sparesly populated areas though there are some terrestrial pay-TV and [[MMDS]] services.


===The Americas===
=== Sun outage ===
An event called [[sun outage]] occurs when the sun lines up directly behind the satellite in the field of view of the receiving satellite dish.<ref name="scsd">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AdwFdgykaMUC&q=sun+outage+satellite&pg=PA279|title=Satellite Communication Systems Design|last=Tirró|first=S.|date=30 June 1993|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-0306441479|location=[[Berlin]]|pages=279–80|access-date=29 July 2014}}</ref> This happens for about a 10-minute period daily around midday, twice every year for a two-week period in the spring and fall around the [[equinox]]. During this period, the sun is within the [[main lobe]] of the dish's reception pattern, so the strong microwave [[Radio noise|noise]] emitted by the sun on the same frequencies used by the satellite's transponders drowns out reception.<ref name="scsd" />
====Canada====
{{seealso|Multichannel television in Canada}}
In Canada, the two legal DBS services available are [[Bell Canada]]’s [[ExpressVu]] and [[StarChoice]]. The [[Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission|CRTC]] has refused to license American satellite services, but nonetheless hundreds of thousands (up to a million by some estimates) of Canadians access or have accessed American services [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1035231116797_30640316//] — usually these services have to be billed to an American address and are paid for in [[United States dollar|U.S. dollars]]. Whether such activity is [[grey market]] or [[black market]] is the source of often heated debate between those who would like greater choice and those who argue that the protection of Canadian firms and Canadian [[culture]] is more important.


==Uses==
Most recently [[as of 2004]], an October 2004 ruling by judge Danièle Côté of [[Quebec|Québec]] has determined Canada's [[Radiocommunication Act]] to be in direct violation of the [[Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms]]; the judgement gave the federal government a one-year deadline to remedy this breach of the Constitution as the fundamental law of the land. However this goes contrary to prior [[Supreme Court of Canada]] decisions and will likely be appealed.
===Direct-to-home and direct broadcast satellite===
[[File:Dishing out the truth.JPG|250px|thumbnail|DBS satellite dishes installed on an apartment complex.]]
'''Direct-to-home''' (DTH) can either refer to the communications satellites themselves that deliver service or the actual television service. Most satellite television customers in developed television markets get their programming through a '''direct broadcast satellite''' (DBS) provider.<ref name="tr101198"/> Signals are transmitted using [[Ku band|K<sub>u</sub> band]] (12 to 18&nbsp;GHz) and are completely digital which means it has high picture and stereo sound quality.<ref name=m101>{{cite journal|title=Frequency letter bands|url=http://www.microwaves101.com/encyclopedia/letterbands.cfm|website=Microwaves101.com|date=25 April 2008|access-date=30 January 2014|archive-date=14 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714171156/http://www.microwaves101.com/ENCYCLOPEDIA/letterbands.cfm|url-status=dead}}</ref>


Programming for satellite television channels comes from multiple sources and may include live studio feeds.<ref name="itea">{{Cite web|url=https://itea3.org/innovation-report/jedi-brings-blu-ray-3d-quality-to-broadcast.html|title=JEDI Innovation report|access-date=2014-07-22|archive-date=2014-07-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140727223611/https://itea3.org/innovation-report/jedi-brings-blu-ray-3d-quality-to-broadcast.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The broadcast center assembles and packages programming into channels for transmission and, where necessary, encrypts the channels. The signal is then sent to the [[uplink]]<ref name="introsatcom">{{cite book|title=Introduction To Satellite Communications|author=Bruce R. Elbert|publisher=Artech House|year=2008|chapter = 9 Earth Stations and Network Technology|isbn=9781596932111}}</ref> where it is transmitted to the satellite. With some broadcast centers, the studios, administration and up-link are all part of the same campus.<ref name="popmechAug94">{{cite journal|journal=Popular Mechanics|date=August 1994|title=Space TV|pages=57–60|issn=0032-4558|volume=171|issue=8|publisher=Hearst Magazines}}</ref> The satellite then [[Heterodyne|translates]] and broadcasts the channels.<ref name="Intelsat">{{Cite web|url=http://www.intelsat.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/New_Media_brochure.pdf|title=Intelsat New Media Brochure|access-date=2014-07-21|archive-date=2014-04-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407193413/http://www.intelsat.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/New_Media_brochure.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
In addition, Canadian satellite providers continue to be plagued by the unquestionably black market devices which "pirate" or "steal" their signals as well as by a number of otherwise completely lawful devices which can be reprogrammed to receive [[pirate decryption|pirate TV]].


Most systems use the [[DVB-S]] standard for transmission.<ref name="tr101198">{{Cite report|author=Antipolis, Sophia|date=September 1997|title=Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); Implementation of Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK) modulation in DVB satellite transmission systems|url=http://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_tr/101100_101199/101198/01.01.01_60/tr_101198v010101p.pdf|publisher=[[European Telecommunications Standards Institute]]|pages=1–7|docket=TR 101 198|access-date=20 July 2014|archive-date=13 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161213074039/http://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_tr/101100_101199/101198/01.01.01_60/tr_101198v010101p.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> With [[pay television]] services, the data stream is encrypted and requires proprietary reception equipment. While the underlying reception technology is similar, the pay television technology is proprietary, often consisting of a [[conditional-access module]] and [[smart card]]. This measure assures satellite television providers that only authorized, paying [[subscriber]]s have access to pay television content but at the same time can allow [[free-to-air]] channels to be viewed even by the people with standard equipment available in the market.
One [[cable TV]] CEO (Karl Péladeau of [[Québecor]], which owns [[Vidéotron]]) is on public record as demanding conditions be placed on the CRTC license issued to [[Bell ExpressVu]], due to BEV’s reputation for vastly inferior security compared to its cable rivals and [[Shaw Cable]]–owned StarChoice.


Some countries operate satellite television services which can be received for free, without paying a subscription fee. This is called [[free-to-air]] satellite television. [[Germany]] is likely the leader in free-to-air with approximately 250 digital channels (including 83 [[HDTV]] channels and various regional channels) broadcast from the [[Astra 19.2°E]] satellite constellation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kabelfernsehen-kabelanschluss.de/artikel/satellitenfernsehen-in-deutschland|title=Satellitenfernsehen in Deutschland|language=de|trans-title=Satellite TV in Germany|access-date=5 April 2016|work=kabelfernsehen-kabelanschluss.de|archive-date=15 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160415182906/http://www.kabelfernsehen-kabelanschluss.de/artikel/satellitenfernsehen-in-deutschland|url-status=live}}</ref> These are not marketed as a DBS service, but are received in approximately 18 million homes, as well as in any home using the ''[[Sky Deutschland]]'' commercial DBS system. All German analogue satellite broadcasts ceased on 30 April 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kabel-internet-telefon.de/news/36645-zdfneo-3sat-br-ndr-swr-wdr-phoenix-kika-starten-hd-kanaele|title=ZDFneo, 3sat, BR, NDR, SWR, WDR, Phoenix, KiKa starten HD Kanäle|date=13 March 2012|language=de|trans-title=ZDFneo, 3sat, BR, NDR, SWR, WDR, Phoenix, KiKa launch HD channels|access-date=8 April 2012|work=kabel-internet-telefon.de|archive-date=27 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190227181957/http://kabel-internet-telefon.de/news/36645-zdfneo-3sat-br-ndr-swr-wdr-phoenix-kika-starten-hd-kanaele|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://digital.t-online.de/hdtv-neue-hd-kanaele-von-ard-und-zdf-ab-30-april-2012/id_53311006/index|title=HDTV: Neue HD-Kanäle von ARD und ZDF ab 30. April 2012|date=20 January 2012|language=de|trans-title=HDTV: New HD channels from ARD and ZDF after 30 April 2012|access-date=8 April 2012|work=T-online.de|archive-date=27 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121227104827/http://digital.t-online.de/hdtv-neue-hd-kanaele-von-ard-und-zdf-ab-30-april-2012/id_53311006/index|url-status=live}}</ref>
Although there are no official statistics, the use of American satellite services in Canada appears to be declining as of 2004.


The [[United Kingdom]] has approximately 160 digital channels (including the regional variations of [[BBC]] channels, [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] channels, [[Channel 4]] and [[Channel 5 (UK)|Channel 5]]) that are broadcast without encryption from the [[Astra 28.2°E]] satellite constellation, and receivable on any [[DVB-S]] receiver (a [[DVB-S2]] receiver is required for certain high definition television services). Most of these channels are included within the [[Sky (United Kingdom)|Sky]] [[EPG]], and an increasing number within the [[Freesat]] EPG.
Some would claim that this is probably due to a combination of increasingly aggressive police enforcement and an unfavourable [[exchange rate]] between the [[Canadian dollar|Canadian]] and U.S. currencies. As the U.S. dollar has been declining [[as of 2005]] versus other international currencies, the decline in DirecTV viewership in Canada may well be related not to a cost difference as much as to the series of smart card swaps which have rendered the first three generations of DirecTV access cards (F, H and HU) all obsolete.


[[India]]'s national broadcaster, [[Doordarshan]], promotes a free-to-air DBS package as "[[DD Free Dish]]", which is provided as in-fill for the country's terrestrial transmission network. It is broadcast from [[GSAT-15]] at 93.5°E and contains about 80 FTA channels.
====Latin America====
Latin America’s main satellite system are [[SKY Television]], which has up to one million subscribers in [[Brazil]] and [[Mexico]] and [[DirecTV]] Latin America, which provides service to the rest of the [[Americas]]. Pay-TV is not popular among Latin American TV viewers and fees are expensive in [[purchasing power parity|PPP]] terms.


While originally launched as [[Backhaul (TV industry)|backhaul]] for their [[digital terrestrial television]] service, a large number of French channels are free-to-air on satellites at 5°W, and have recently been announced as being official in-fill for the DTT network.
====United States====


In North America (United States, [[Canada]] and [[Mexico]]) there are over 80 FTA digital channels available on [[Galaxy 19]] (with the majority being ethnic or religious in nature). Other FTA satellites include [[AMC-4]], [[AMC-6]], [[Galaxy 18]], and [[Satmex]] 5. A company called [[GloryStar]] promotes FTA religious broadcasters on [[Galaxy 19]].
''Copyright violation text removed from this location, discussing growth and decline of TVRO satellite television in the United States from 1980 to today. Please rewrite this section.''


Satellite TV has seen a decline in consumers since the 2010s due to the [[cord-cutting]] trend where people are shifting towards internet-based [[streaming television]] and free [[over-the-air television]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Newman |first=Jared |date=2019-02-13 |title=Cable and satellite TV companies need a miracle to save them from cord-cutting |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/90306775/cord-cutting-q4-2018-cable-and-satellite-providers-need-a-miracle-now |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200226224538/https://www.fastcompany.com/90306775/cord-cutting-q4-2018-cable-and-satellite-providers-need-a-miracle-now |archive-date=2020-02-26 |access-date=2019-07-05 |website=Fast Company |language=en-US}}</ref>
In 1975 [[RCA]] created [[Satcom 1]], the first satellite built special for use by the three national television networks. At the same year, [[HBO]] leased transponder of Satcom and began transmission of television programms via satellite to cable systems. Owners of cable systems paid $ 10 000 to install 3-meter dishes to receive TV signal in [[C-band]].
In 1976 [[Taylor Howard]] built an amateur system, consisted of dish and satellite receiver, for home receiving of TV signal from satellite. Taylor's system could be used for receiving TV programmes both from American and Soviet communication satellites.


===Television receive-only===
[[Hughes Electronics|Hughes]]’s DirecTV, the first national high-powered DBS system, went online in 1994 and was the first North American DBS service; it is now owned by News Corporation. In 1996, [[EchoStar Communications Corporation|EchoStar]]’s [[Dish Network]] went online in the [[United States]] and has gone on to similar success as DirecTV’s primary competitor. Dominion Video Satellite Inc's [[Sky Angel]] also went online in the United States in 1996 with its DBS service geared toward the faith and family market. It has since grown from six to more than 30 TV and radio channels of family entertainment, Christian-inspirational programming and 24-hour news. Dominion, under its former corporate name Video Satellite Systems Inc., was actually the second from among the first nine companies to apply to the FCC for a high-power DBS license in 1981 and is the sole surviving DBS pioneer from that first round of forward-thinking applicants. In 2004, [[Cablevision]]’s [[Voom]] service went online, specifically catering to the emerging market of [[high-definition television|HDTV]] owners and aficionados, but folded in April 2005, with the service’s “exclusive” high-definition channels currently being migrated to the Dish Network system. Commercial DBS services are the primary competition to cable television service, although the two types of service have significantly different regulatory requirements (for example, cable television has [[Public access television|public access]] requirements, and the two types of distribution have different regulations regarding carriage of local stations).
{{main|Television receive-only}}
[[Image:Antenne-toroidale.jpg|right|250px]]
[[File:Satellite dish 1 C-Band.jpg|190px|thumbnail|left|A C-band [[Andrew Corporation]] satellite dish used by TVRO systems.]]
The majority of [[ethnic-language]] broadcasts to North America are carried on K<sub>u</sub> band free-to-air; the largest concentration of ethnic programming is on Intelsat Americas 5 at 97°&nbsp;W. [[GlobeCast World TV]] offers a mix of free and pay-TV ethnic channels in the internationally-standard DVB-S format, as do others. [[Home2US]] Communications Inc. also offers ethnic programming, the platform is on AMC-4 at 101°&nbsp;W, with several ethnic channels as well as free and pay-TV. Several U.S.-English language network affiliates (representing [[CBS]], [[NBC]], [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]], [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]], [[Fox Broadcasting Corporation|Fox]], [[The CW Television Network|the CW]], [[i (TV network)|i]] and [[MyNetworkTV]]) are available as free-to-air broadcasts, as are the three U.S.-Spanish language networks ([[Univisión]], [[Telefutura]] and [[Telemundo]]). The number of free-to-air specialty channels is otherwise rather limited. Specific FTA offerings tend to appear and disappear rather often and typically with little or no notice, although sites such as [http://www.lyngsat.com/ LyngSat] do track the changing availability of both free and pay channels worldwide.
The term [[television receive-only]], or TVRO, arose during the early days of satellite television reception to differentiate it from commercial satellite television uplink and downlink operations (transmit and receive). This was the primary method of satellite television transmissions before the satellite television industry shifted, with the launch of higher powered DBS satellites in the early 1990s which transmitted their signals on the [[Ku band|K<sub>u</sub> band]] frequencies.<ref name=fcc/><ref name="latimes">James, Meg. [http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/business/la-fi-gaspin26jul26,1,4482109.story?coll=la-headlines-business-enter NBC tacks on Telemundo oversight to Gaspin's tasks] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200226121452/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-jul-26-fi-gaspin26-story.html |date=2020-02-26 }}. Los Angeles Times, July 26, 2007. Retrieved on May 14, 2010.</ref> Satellite television channels at that time were intended to be used by [[cable television]] networks rather than received by home viewers.<ref>{{cite journal|date=February 1986|title=Satellite Communications Training from NRI!|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=113OPTBSLVkC&q=tvro|journal=Popular Science|volume=228|publisher=Bonnier Corporation|access-date=16 December 2014}}</ref> Early satellite television receiver systems were largely constructed by hobbyists and engineers. These early TVRO systems operated mainly on the [[C band (IEEE)|C-band]] frequencies and the dishes required were large; typically over 3 meters (10&nbsp;ft) in diameter.{{sfn|Prentiss|1989|p=274}} Consequently, TVRO is often referred to as "big dish" or "Big Ugly Dish" (BUD) satellite television.


TVRO systems were designed to receive analog and digital [[Communications satellite|satellite]] feeds of both television or audio from both [[C band (IEEE)|C-band]] and [[Ku band|K<sub>u</sub>-band]] [[transponder]]s on [[Fixed Service Satellite|FSS]]-type satellites.{{sfn|Prentiss|1989|p=246}}{{sfn|Prentiss|1989|p=1}} The higher frequency [[Ku band|K<sub>u</sub>-band]] systems tend to resemble DBS systems and can use a smaller dish antenna because of the higher power transmissions and greater antenna gain. TVRO systems tend to use larger rather than smaller satellite dish antennas, since it is more likely that the owner of a TVRO system would have a [[C band (IEEE)|C-band]]-only setup rather than a [[Ku band|K<sub>u</sub> band]]-only setup. Additional receiver boxes allow for different types of digital satellite signal reception, such as DVB/MPEG-2 and [[4DTV]].
===Asia===
====Malaysia====
[[Image:102_0242.JPG|thumb|right|Astro's "mini-dish".]]
Malaysia's sole satellite television operator, Measat Broadcast Network Systems (a subsidiary of [[Astro All Asia Networks plc]]) launched [[Astro (satellite TV)|Astro]] in [[1996]]. It currently holds exclusive rights from the Malaysian government to offer satellite television broadcasting services in the country through the year 2017.


The narrow beam width of a normal parabolic satellite antenna means it can only receive signals from a single satellite at a time.{{sfn|Prentiss|1989|p=293}} [[Simulsat]] or the Vertex-RSI TORUS, is a quasi-parabolic satellite earthstation antenna that is capable of receiving satellite transmissions from 35 or more [[C band (IEEE)|C]]- and [[Ku band|K<sub>u</sub>-band]] satellites simultaneously.<ref>{{cite news|date=1 November 2009|title=Sensing SATCOM Success Is New Simulsat From ATCi|url=http://www.satnews.com/story.php?number=1617607397|newspaper=Satnews|access-date=16 December 2014|archive-date=16 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141216221448/http://www.satnews.com/story.php?number=1617607397|url-status=live}}</ref>
====Japan====
First Japanese experimental broadcasting satellite, called BSE or [[Yuri]], was launched in 1978. [[NHK]] started experimental broadcasting of TV program using BS-2a satellite on May, 1984.


==History==
The satellite BS-2a was launched in preparation for the start of full scale 2-channel broadcasts. [[Broadcasting Satellite]] BS-2a was the first national [[DBS]] (direct broadcasting satellite), transmitting signals directly into the home of TV viewers. Attitude control of the satellite was conducted using the 3 axial method (zero momentum), and design life was 5 years. The TV transponder units are designed to sufficiently amplify transmitted signals to enable reception by small, 40 or 60 cm home-use parabolic [[Antenna (radio)|antennas]]. The satellite was equipped with 3 TV transponders (including reserve units). However, one transponder malfunctioned 2 months after launch (March 23, 1984) and a second transonder malfunctioned 3 months after launch (May 3, 1984). So, the scheduled satellite broadcasting had to be hastily adjusted to test broadcasting on a single channel.


=== Early history ===
Later, NHK started regular service (NTSC) and experimental [[HDTV]] broadcasting using BS-2b on June, 1989. Some japanese producers of home electronic consumer devices began to deliver [[TV]][[set]]s, [[VCR]]s and even home acoustic systems equipped by built-in satellite [[tuner]]s or [[receivers]]. Such electronic goods had a specific ''BS'' logo.
In 1945 British [[science fiction]] writer [[Arthur C. Clarke]] proposed a worldwide communications system which would function by means of three satellites equally spaced apart in earth orbit.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.clarkefoundation.org/archives/1996.php |title=The Arthur C. Clarke Foundation |access-date=2016-06-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725175706/http://www.clarkefoundation.org/archives/1996.php |archive-date=July 25, 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Campbell|first1=Richard|last2=Martin|first2=Christopher R.|last3=Fabos|first3=Bettina|date=23 February 2011|title=Media and Culture: An Introduction to Mass Communication|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WuqjReIZ4TcC&q=satellite+tv+1945+arthur+c.+clarke&pg=PA152|location=London, UK|publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers]]|page=152|isbn=978-1457628313|access-date=15 August 2014}}</ref> This was published in the October 1945 issue of the [[Wireless World]] magazine and won him the [[Franklin Institute]]'s [[Stuart Ballantine Medal]] in 1963.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://lakdiva.org/clarke/1945ww/|title=The 1945 Proposal by Arthur C. Clarke for Geostationary Satellite Communications|website=lakdiva.org|access-date=2019-12-06|archive-date=2020-03-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200308041008/http://lakdiva.org/clarke/1945ww/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|date=September 1995|title=Wireless technologies and the national information infrastructure.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S2f8q2c0R5cC&q=arthur+c.+clarke+october+1945+wireless+world&pg=PA138|publisher=DIANE Publishing|page=138|isbn=0160481805|access-date=15 August 2014|archive-date=2 May 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502060537/https://books.google.com/books?id=S2f8q2c0R5cC&q=arthur+c.+clarke+october+1945+wireless+world&pg=PA138#v=snippet&q=arthur%20c.%20clarke%20october%201945%20wireless%20world&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>


The first satellite relayed communication was achieved early on in the space age, after the first relay test was conducted by [[Pioneer 1]] and the first radio broadcast by [[SCORE (satellite)|SCORE]] at the end of 1958, after at the beginning of the year [[Sputnik I]] became the first satellite in history.
On April, 1991, Japanese company [[JSB]] started pay TV service while BS-3 communication satellite was in use. In 1996 total number of households that receive satellite broadcasting exceeded 10 million.


[[File:TIROS-1-Earth.png|thumb|In 1960 [[TIROS 1]] sent back the first televised [[Timeline of first images of Earth from space|image of Earth from space]], becoming the first [[weather satellite]].<ref name="n834">{{cite web | title=20 Years Ago: First Image of Earth from Mars and Other Postcards of Home | website=NASA | date=7 March 2024 | url=https://www.nasa.gov/history/20-years-ago-first-image-of-earth-from-mars-and-other-postcards-of-home/ | access-date=28 September 2024}}</ref>]]
The modern two satellite systems in use in Japan are [[BSAT]] and [[JCSAT]]; the modern [[BS digital]] service uses BSAT satellites, while other system of digital TV broadcasting [[SKY PerfecTV!]] uses JCSAT satellites.


===First satellite relayed broadcasts===
====India====
[[File:Master-pnp-ppmsca-39600-39668u.tif|thumb|[[AT+T]] [[Telstar 1]] test (first satellite TV broadcast, July 11 1962)]]
India has the indigenously built [[INSAT]] series satellites from [[Indian Space Research Organisation]] ([[ISRO]]) alongwith some private operators [http://www.indiantelevision.com/satreckon/satelliteindia/satellitesoverindia.htm] . INSAT-2E, INSAT-3C and INSAT-3E carry multiple channels for Indian television viewers. Thaicom-2 and Telstar 10 are the other major private satellites over India. Notable service providers offering a bouquet of multiple channels are state-owned [[Doordarshan]], [[News Corporation]] owned [[STAR TV]] and [[Sony]] owned [[Sony Entertainment Television]].


The first public satellite television signals from [[Europe]] to [[North America]] were relayed via the [[Telstar]] satellite over the [[Atlantic]] ocean on 23 July 1962, although a test broadcast had taken place almost two weeks earlier on 11 July.<ref name="histchannel">{{cite web|url=http://www.history.com/news/the-birth-of-satellite-tv-50-years-ago|title=The Birth of Satellite TV, 50 Years Ago|last1=Klein|first1=Christopher|date=23 July 2012|website=History.com|publisher=History Channel|access-date=5 June 2014|archive-date=25 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141025145749/http://www.history.com/news/the-birth-of-satellite-tv-50-years-ago|url-status=live}}</ref> The signals were received and broadcast in North American and European countries and watched by over 100 million.<ref name="histchannel"/> Launched in 1962, the ''[[Relay program|Relay 1]]'' satellite was the first satellite to transmit television signals from the US to Japan.<ref name="relay1">{{cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1962-068A|title=Relay 1|website=NASA.gov|publisher=NASA|access-date=2014-07-20|archive-date=2019-07-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190714115947/https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1962-068A|url-status=live}}</ref> The first [[geosynchronous]] [[communication satellite]], [[Syncom 2]], was launched on 26 July 1963.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1963-031A|title=Syncom 2|last1=Darcey|first1=RJ|date=16 August 2013|website=NASA.gov|publisher=NASA|access-date=5 June 2014|archive-date=14 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190714115947/https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1963-031A|url-status=live}}</ref> The subsequent first [[geostationary]] [[Syncom 3]], orbiting near the [[International Date Line]], was used to telecast the [[1964 Summer Olympics|1964 Olympic Games]] from [[Tokyo]] to the [[United States]].<ref name="NASA-SP-93">{{cite web|url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19660009169_1966009169.pdf|title=Significant Achievements in Space Communications and Navigation, 1958–1964|year=1966|work=NASA-SP-93|publisher=NASA|pages=30–32|access-date=2009-10-31|archive-date=2013-11-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103023426/http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19660009169_1966009169.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1964-047A |title=Syncom 3 |date=26 April 2011 |access-date=16 May 2011 |publisher=[[NASA]] |archive-date=14 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200214081046/https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1964-047A |url-status=live }}</ref>
Recently the TATA group has forged into the business with their TATA SKY service.


[[File:INTELSAT I (Early Bird).jpg|thumb|[[Intelsat I]] (1965), the world's first commercial communications satellite, was used among others to relay the [[Our World (1967 TV program)|Our World]] multi-national broadcast (1967), the first multi-satellite relayed television broadcast]]
===Europe===
====Continental Western Europe====
In Europe, DBS satellite services are found mainly on [[SES Astra|Astra]] satellites and [[Hotbird]] (operated by Eutelsat.) [[British Sky Broadcasting|BSkyB]] (known as Sky) serves the [[United Kingdom|UK]]. [[Sky Italia]], [[Canal Digitaal]] and [[United Pan-Europe Communications N.V.|UPC]] being the main providers in [[Italy]], the [[Netherlands]] and [[Central Europe]].


The world's first commercial communications satellite, called [[Intelsat I]] and nicknamed "Early Bird", was launched into geosynchronous orbit on April 6, 1965.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.astronautix.com/craft/intlsat1.htm|title=Encyclopedia Astronautica - Intelsat I|access-date=5 April 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100116224556/http://astronautix.com/craft/intlsat1.htm|archive-date=16 January 2010}}</ref> The first national [[television network|network]] of television satellites, called [[Orbita (TV system)|Orbita]], was created by the [[Soviet Union]] in October 1967, and was based on the principle of using the highly elliptical [[Molniya (satellite)|Molniya]] satellite for rebroadcasting and delivering of television signals to ground [[downlink]] stations.<ref>{{cite press release|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title=Soviet-bloc Research in Geophysics, Astronomy, and Space|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pyRx2ssMQ6MC|location=Springfield Virginia|publisher=U.S. Joint Publications Research Service|page=60|year=1970|issue=221–230|access-date=16 December 2014|archive-date=2 May 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502060538/https://books.google.com/books?id=pyRx2ssMQ6MC|url-status=live}}</ref>
The overall market share of DBS satellite services in 2004 was 21.4% of all TV homes, however this highly varies from country to country. For example, in Germany, with many free-to-air TV-stations, DBS market share is almost 40%, and in Belgium and the Netherlands, it’s only about 7%, due to the widespread cable networks with exclusive content.


[[File:Apollo 11 Landing - first steps on the moon.ogv|thumb|right|Clip of the international broadcast of the first [[Moon landing]], [[Neil Armstrong]] making humanity's first step onto an extraterrestrial body, transmitted from [[Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station]]<ref name="f242">{{cite web | last=Hitch | first=Georgia | title=The Dish made Parkes famous, but the first pictures from the Moon actually came from Honeysuckle Creek | website=ABC News | date=18 July 2019 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-18/the-dish-is-a-great-comedy-but-certainly-not-a-documentary/11318862 | access-date=28 September 2024}}</ref> and distributed globally via the [[Intelsat III F-4]] satellite.<ref name="d664">{{cite web | title=TV seen in Western Australia | website=A Tribute to Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station | date=15 July 1972 | url=https://honeysucklecreek.net/Apollo_11/A11_TV_Perth.html | access-date=28 September 2024}}</ref>]]
====Russian Federation====
First Soviet communication satellite, called Molniya, was launched in 1965. By November, 1967 national system of satellite television, called Orbita, was deployed. The system consisted of 3 highly elliptical Molniya satellites, Moscow-based ground uplink facilities and about 20 downlink stations, located in cities and towns of remote regions of [[Siberia]] and [[Far East]]. Each station had 12-[[meter]] receiving parabolic antenna and trasmitters for re-broadcasting TV signal to local householders.


===Development of the direct satellite TV industry===
However, a large part of Soviet central regions were still not covered by transponders of Molniya satellites.
The first domestic satellite to carry television transmissions was [[Canada]]'s geostationary [[Anik 1]], which was launched on 9 November 1972.<ref>{{cite news | last = Robertson | first = Lloyd | title = Anik A1 launching: bridging the gap | publisher = CBC English TV | date = 1972-11-09 | url = http://archives.cbc.ca/500f.asp?id=1-75-92-594 | access-date = 2007-01-25 | archive-date = 2007-12-19 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071219220502/http://archives.cbc.ca/500f.asp?id=1-75-92-594 | url-status = live }}</ref>
By 1976 Soviet engineers developed a relatively simple and inexpensive system of satellite television especially for Central and Northern Siberia. It included geostationary satellites Ekran equipped by powerful 300 W [[UHF]] transponders, a broadcasting uplink station and various simple receiving stations located in various towns and villages of Siberian region. Typical receiving station, also called ''Ekran'', represented itself as home-use [[analog]] [[satellite]] [[receiver]] equipped by simple [[Yagi-Uda]] antenna. Later, Ekran satellites have been replaced by more advanced Ekran-M series.


[[File:Elvis Presley - Aloha From Hawaii Publicity - Australia.jpg|thumb|An advertisement by the Australian [[Overseas Telecommunications Commission]] (OTC) for the [[Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite]], broadcast via the [[Intelsat IV F-4]] satellite, an early international broadcast event featuring [[Elvis Presley]] live in concert.]]
In 1979 Soviet engineers developed ''Moskva'' (or Moscow) system of broadcasting and delivering of TV signal via satellites. New type of geostationary communication satellites, called [[Gorizont]], were launched. They were equipped by powerful onboard transponders, so the size of receiving parabolic anntennas of downlink stations was reduced to 4 and 2.5 meters (in comparison of early 12- meter dishes of standard Orbita downlink stations).


[[ATS-6]], the world's first experimental educational and [[direct broadcast satellite]] (DBS), was launched on 30 May 1974.<ref name="ats">{{cite web|url=http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/missions/ats_prt.htm|title=NASA - ATS|last1=Ezell|first1=Linda N.|date=22 January 2010|website=Nasa.gov|publisher=[[NASA]]|access-date=1 July 2014|archive-date=6 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130406164505/http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/missions/ats_prt.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> It transmitted at 860&nbsp;MHz using wideband FM modulation and had two sound channels. The transmissions were focused on the Indian subcontinent but experimenters were able to receive the signal in Western Europe using home constructed equipment that drew on UHF television design techniques already in use.<ref name="tvdx">Long Distance Television Reception (TV-DX) For the Enthusiast, Roger W. Bunney, {{ISBN|0900162716}}</ref>
By 1989 an improved version of ''Moskva'' system of satellite television has been called ''Moskva Global'naya'' (or Moscow Global). The system included a few geostationary Gorizont and [[Express]] type of communication satellites. TV signal from Moscow Global’s satellites could be received in any country of planet except Canada and North-West of the USA.

The first in a series of Soviet geostationary satellites to carry [[direct-to-home]] television, [[Ekran]] 1, was launched on 26 October 1976.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.astronautix.com/craft/ekran.htm|title=Ekran|year=2007|website=Astronautix.com|publisher=Astronautix|access-date=1 July 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112153322/http://www.astronautix.com/craft/ekran.htm|archive-date=12 November 2013}}</ref> It used a 714&nbsp;MHz UHF downlink frequency so that the transmissions could be received with existing [[UHF television broadcasting|UHF television technology]] rather than microwave technology.<ref name="Ekran">{{Cite web|url=https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/ekran.htm|title=Ekran (11F647)|website=space.skyrocket.de|access-date=2019-12-06|archive-date=2020-01-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200102171328/https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/ekran.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

The satellite television industry developed in the US from the [[cable television]] industry as communication satellites were being used to distribute television programming to remote [[cable television headend]]s. [[Home Box Office]] (HBO), [[Turner Broadcasting System]] (TBS), and [[Christian Broadcasting Network]] (CBN, later [[Freeform (TV channel)|The Family Channel]]) were among the first to use satellite television to deliver programming. [[Taylor Howard]] of [[San Andreas, California|San Andreas]], [[California]], became the first person to receive [[C band (IEEE)|C-band]] satellite signals with his home-built system in 1976.<ref name="tayhoward">{{cite news|last=Feder|first=Barnaby J.|date=15 November 2002|title=Taylor Howard, 70, Pioneer In Satellite TV for the Home|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/15/business/taylor-howard-70-pioneer-in-satellite-tv-for-the-home.html|newspaper=[[New York Times]]|access-date=19 July 2014|archive-date=2 May 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502060517/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/15/business/taylor-howard-70-pioneer-in-satellite-tv-for-the-home.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the US, [[PBS]], a non-profit public broadcasting service, began to distribute its television programming by satellite in 1978.<ref name="pbs78">Public Service Broadcasting in the Age of Globalization, Editors: Indrajit Banerjee, Kalinga Seneviratne. {{ISBN|9789814136013}}</ref>
In 1979, Soviet engineers developed the Moskva (or [[Moscow]]) system of broadcasting and delivering of TV signals via satellites. They launched the [[Gorizont]] communication satellites later that same year. These satellites used [[geostationary orbit]]s.<ref name="gorizont">{{cite web|url=http://www.astronautix.com/craft/gorizont.htm|title=Gorizont|publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica|first=Mark|last=Wade|access-date=2008-06-29|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080617211454/http://www.astronautix.com/craft/gorizont.htm|archive-date=2008-06-17}}</ref> They were equipped with powerful on-board transponders, so the size of receiving parabolic antennas of downlink stations was reduced to 4 and 2.5 metres.<ref name="gorizont"/> On October 18, 1979, the [[Federal Communications Commission]] (FCC) began allowing people to have home satellite earth stations without a federal government license.<ref name="dms">{{Cite web|url=http://www.dmsiusa.com/glory-days.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140303133328/http://dmsiusa.com/glory-days.html|url-status=dead|title=The "Glory Days" of Satellite|archive-date=March 3, 2014}}</ref> The front cover of the 1979 [[Neiman-Marcus]] Christmas catalogue featured the first home satellite TV stations on sale for $36,500.<ref name="uspopcult">{{cite book|last=Browne|first=Ray|year=2001|title=The Guide to United States Popular Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U3rJxPYT32MC&q=neiman+marcus+satellite+dish+1979&pg=PA706|location=[[Madison, Wisconsin]]|publisher=Popular Press|page=706|isbn=9780879728212|access-date=1 July 2014|archive-date=2 May 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502060549/https://books.google.com/books?id=U3rJxPYT32MC&q=neiman+marcus+satellite+dish+1979&pg=PA706#v=snippet&q=neiman%20marcus%20satellite%20dish%201979&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> The dishes were nearly {{convert|20|ft|m}} in diameter<ref name="lat">{{cite news|last=Giarrusso|first=Michael|date=28 July 1996|title=Tiny Satellite Dishes Sprout in Rural Areas|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-07-28-mn-28792-story.html|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|location=[[Los Angeles]]|access-date=1 July 2014|archive-date=15 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715000736/http://articles.latimes.com/1996-07-28/news/mn-28792_1_small-dishes|url-status=live}}</ref> and were remote controlled.<ref name="denverpost">{{cite news|last=Keating|first=Stephen|year=1999|title=Stealing Free TV, Part 2|url=http://extras.denverpost.com/business/cutt1101.htm|newspaper=[[The Denver Post]]|location=[[Denver, CO]]|publisher=The Denver Post|access-date=3 July 2014|archive-date=14 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714124304/http://extras.denverpost.com/business/cutt1101.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> The price went down by half soon after that, but there were only eight more channels.<ref name=Stein>{{cite news|title=Whatta dish : Home satellite reception a TV turn-on|last=Stein|first=Joe|work=[[Evening Tribune]]|date=1989-01-24|page=C-8}}</ref> The Society for Private and Commercial Earth Stations (SPACE), an organisation which represented consumers and satellite TV system owners, was established in 1980.<ref>{{cite news|date=21 December 1980|title=Earth Station Is Very Popular Dish|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19801221&id=v_UhAAAAIBAJ&pg=3196,441027|newspaper=[[Reading Eagle]]|location=[[Kansas City, Missouri]]|access-date=21 July 2014|archive-date=13 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813113156/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19801221&id=v_UhAAAAIBAJ&pg=3196,441027|url-status=live}}</ref>
Modern Russian satellite broadcasting services based on powerful geostationary buses such as [[Gals]], Express, [[Yamal]] which provide mostly free-to-air television channels to millions of householders. [[Pay-TV]] is still not popular among Russian TV viewers and only the [[NTV Russia]] news company broadcasts a few encrypted channels via its own comsat satellite constellation.


Early satellite television systems were not very popular due to their expense and large dish size.<ref name="baltsun"/> The satellite television dishes of the systems in the late 1970s and early 1980s were {{convert|10|to|16|ft|m}} in diameter,<ref name="deseret"/> made of [[fibreglass]] or solid [[aluminum]] or [[steel]],<ref name="baylin">''Ku-Band Satellite TV: Theory, Installation and Repair''. Frank Baylin et al. {{ISBN|9780917893148}}.</ref> and in the United States cost more than $5,000, sometimes as much as $10,000.<ref name=Stecklow/> Programming sent from ground stations was relayed from eighteen satellites in [[geostationary orbit]] located {{convert|22,300|mi|km}} above the Earth.<ref name=Reibstein>{{cite news|title=Watching TV Via Satellite Is Their Dish|last=Reibstein|first=Larry|work=[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]]|date=1981-09-27|page=E01}}</ref><ref name=Akron>{{cite news|title=Satellite TV Dishes Getting Good Reception|last=Dawidziak|first=Mark|work=[[Akron Beacon-Journal]]|date=1984-12-30|page=F-1}}</ref>
====United Kingdom====
[[Image:Sky minidish.JPG|thumb|250px|right|[[Sky Digital (UK)|Sky Digital]] "mini-dish"]]
The first commercial DBS service in the [[United Kingdom]], [[Sky Television plc|Sky Television]], was launched in 1989, providing 4 analogue TV channels. In the following year [[British Satellite Broadcasting|BSB]] was launched, broadcasting five channels in [[Multiplexed Analogue Components|D-MAC]] format; the two services subsequently merged to form British Sky Broadcasting. In 1994 17% of the group was floated on the [[London Stock Exchange]] (with [[American Depositary Receipt|ADRs]] listed on the [[New York Stock Exchange]]), and [[Rupert Murdoch]]’s News Corporation owns a 35% stake.


===TVRO/C-band satellite era, 1980–1986===
By 1999, following the launch of several more satellites (at 19.2°E by SES Astra, the number of channels had increased to around 60 and BSkyB launched the first subscription-based digital television platform in the UK, offering a range of 200 channels broadcast from the Astra satellites at 28.2°E under the brand name Sky Digital. BSkyB’s analogue service has now been discontinued, with all customers having been migrated to Sky Digital.
{{further|Television receive-only}}
By 1980, satellite television was well established in the [[Satellite television in the United States|US]] and Europe. On 26 April 1982, the first satellite channel in the UK, Satellite Television Ltd. (later [[Sky One]]), was launched.<ref name=bbcable>{{cite web |url=http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2eedi1l&s=6 |title=Broadband Cable 10th Anniversary |publisher=TinyPic |access-date=5 May 2013 |archive-date=6 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306214801/http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2eedi1l&s=6 |url-status=live }}</ref> Its signals were transmitted from the [[ESA]]'s [[Orbital Test Satellite]]s.<ref name=bbcable/> Between 1981 and 1985, TVRO systems' sales rates increased as prices fell. Advances in receiver technology and the use of [[gallium arsenide]] [[FET]] technology enabled the use of smaller dishes. Five hundred thousand systems, some costing as little as $2000, were sold in the US in 1984.<ref name=Stecklow/><ref name="sbca"/> Dishes pointing to one satellite were even cheaper.<ref name="wichita">{{cite news|title=Research Needed in Buying Dish: High Cost Is Important Consideration for Consumer|last=Stecklow|first=Steve|work=[[Wichita Eagle]]|agency=Knight-Ridder News Service|date=1984-10-25|page=6C}}</ref> People in areas without local broadcast stations or cable television service could obtain good-quality reception with no monthly fees.<ref name=Stecklow>{{cite news|title=America's Favorite Dish|last=Stecklow|first=Steve|work=[[The Miami Herald]]|agency=[[Knight-Ridder News Service]]|date=1984-07-07|page=1C}}</ref><ref name=Akron/> The large dishes were a subject of much consternation, as many people considered them [[eyesore]]s, and in the US most condominiums, neighborhoods, and other homeowner associations tightly restricted their use, except in areas where such restrictions were illegal.<ref name="fcc"/> These restrictions were altered in 1986 when the Federal Communications Commission ruled all of them illegal.<ref name="baltsun">{{cite news|last=Brooks|first=Andree|date=10 October 1993|title=Old satellite dish restrictions under fire New laws urged for smaller models|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/1993/10/10/old-satellite-dish-restrictions-under-fire-new-laws-urged-for-smaller-models/|newspaper=[[The Baltimore Sun]]|location=[[Baltimore, MD]]|publisher=The Baltimore Sun|access-date=1 July 2014|archive-date=14 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714140527/http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1993-10-10/business/1993283244_1_community-association-satellite-dish-associations-institute|url-status=live}}</ref> A municipality could require a property owner to relocate the dish if it violated other zoning restrictions, such as a setback requirement, but could not outlaw their use.<ref name="baltsun"/> The necessity of these restrictions would slowly decline as the dishes got smaller.<ref name="baltsun"/>


Originally, all channels were broadcast [[Plaintext|in the clear]] (ITC) because the equipment necessary to receive the programming was too expensive for consumers. With the growing number of TVRO systems, the program providers and broadcasters had to [[television encryption|scramble]] their signal and develop subscription systems.
====Nordic countries====
The first satellite service specifically set to the Nordic region was [[TV3 (Viasat)|TV3]] which launched in 1987. With the launch of [[Astra 1A]], getting the TV3 channel got easier. The first Nordic-specific satellite, [[Tele-X]], was launched in 1989. The services directed at Scandinavia were then scattered among several satellites. In 1993, the former BSB satellites were bought by a Swedish and a Norwegian company, respectively. These two satellites were renamed [[Thor 1]] and [[Sirius 1]], moved to new positions and started broadcasting services intended for people in the Nordic region. With the launch of additional Thor and Sirius satellites later in the 1990s, Astra and other satellites were abandoned by the Nordic services with almost all Nordic satellite television migrating to the Sirius and Thor satellites.


In October 1984, the [[U.S. Congress]] passed the [[Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984]], which gave those using TVRO systems the right to receive signals for free unless they were scrambled, and required those who did scramble to make their signals available for a reasonable fee.<ref name=Akron/><ref name=Chicago>{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1987/05/22/satellite-tv-skies-brighten-as-war-with-programmers-ends/|title=Satellite TV Skies Brighten As War With Programmers Ends|last=Takiff|first=Jonathan|work=[[Chicago Tribune]]|agency=[[Knight-Ridder Newspapers]]|date=1987-05-22|access-date=2014-04-10|archive-date=2014-04-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140415124849/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1987-05-22/entertainment/8702080056_1_satellite-dish-satellite-tv-week-dish-owners|url-status=live}}</ref> Since cable channels could prevent reception by big dishes, other companies had an incentive to offer competition.<ref name=Turned>{{cite news|title=Direct-Broadcast TV Is Still Not Turned On|last=Wolf|first=Ron|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|date=1985-01-20|page=C01}}</ref> In January 1986, [[HBO]] began using the now-obsolete [[VideoCipher]] II system to [[television encryption|encrypt their channels]].<ref name="deseret">{{cite news|last=Nye|first=Doug|date=14 January 1990|title=SATELLITE DISHES SURVIVE GREAT SCRAMBLE OF 1980S|url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/81378/SATELLITE-DISHES-SURVIVE-GREAT-SCRAMBLE-OF-1980S.html?pg=all|newspaper=[[Deseret News]]|location=[[Salt Lake City]]|publisher=Deseret News|access-date=30 June 2014|archive-date=7 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171007120130/https://www.deseretnews.com/article/81378/SATELLITE-DISHES-SURVIVE-GREAT-SCRAMBLE-OF-1980S.html?pg=all|url-status=dead}}</ref> Other channels used less secure [[television encryption]] systems. The scrambling of HBO was met with much protest from owners of big-dish systems, most of which had no other option at the time for receiving such channels, claiming that clear signals from cable channels would be difficult to receive.<ref name="philly"/> Eventually HBO allowed dish owners to subscribe directly to their service for $12.95 per month, a price equal to or higher than what cable subscribers were paying, and required a [[descrambler]] to be purchased for $395.<ref name="philly"/> This led to the [[broadcast signal intrusion|attack]] on HBO's transponder [[Galaxy 1]] by [[John R. MacDougall]] in April 1986.<ref name="philly">{{cite web|last1=Lyman|first1=Rick|last2=Borowski|first2=Neill|title=On The Trail Of 'Captain Midnight'|url=http://articles.philly.com/1986-04-29/news/26079191_1_satellite-transmissions-captain-midnight-satellite-industry-officials|publisher=Philly|date=April 29, 1986|access-date=May 20, 2014|archive-date=May 21, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140521032227/http://articles.philly.com/1986-04-29/news/26079191_1_satellite-transmissions-captain-midnight-satellite-industry-officials|url-status=dead}}</ref> One by one, all commercial channels followed HBO's lead and began scrambling their channels.<ref name="prodpiracy"/> The [[Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association]] (SBCA) was founded on December 2, 1986, as the result of a merger between SPACE and the Direct Broadcast Satellite Association (DBSA).<ref name="sbca">{{cite web|url=http://www.sbca.com/receiver-network/history-satellite-providers.htm|title=Industry History|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|year=2014|website=sbca.com|publisher=Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association|access-date=5 June 2014|archive-date=19 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140219073604/http://www.sbca.com/receiver-network/history-satellite-providers.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Initially the basic channels were free-to-air. This caused several rights problems since viewers throughout Europe were able to see very much acquired English language programming as well as sports for free on the Nordic channels, although the channels only held broadcasting rights for specific countries. One way of avoiding that was to switch from PAL to the [[D2MAC]] standard, hardly used anywhere outside the Nordic region. An unencrypted channel could still be seen in all the Nordic satellite homes, so eventually all channels went encrypted (several of them only being available in one country).


Videocipher II used analog scrambling on its video signal and [[Data Encryption Standard]]–based encryption on its audio signal. VideoCipher II was defeated, and there was a [[black market]] for descrambler devices which were initially sold as "test" devices.<ref name="prodpiracy">{{cite book|last=Paradise|first=Paul R.|date=1 January 1999|title=Trademark Counterfeiting, Product Piracy, and the Billion Dollar Threat to the U.S. Economy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ny0vvUpBzCYC&q=black+market+for+illegal+satellite+signal+descramblers&pg=PA147|location=[[Westport, Connecticut]]|publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group]]|page=147|isbn=1567202500|access-date=3 July 2014|archive-date=2 May 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502060550/https://books.google.com/books?id=ny0vvUpBzCYC&q=black+market+for+illegal+satellite+signal+descramblers&pg=PA147|url-status=live}}</ref>
There are two competing satellite services: [[Canal Digital]] (Norwegian [[Telenor]]) and [[Viasat]] ([[Kinnevik]]). Canal Digital launched in 1997 and was digital from the start, broadcasting from Thor. Kinnevik had been operating an analogue subscription service since the late 1980s, but waited until the year 2000 before launching a digital service. All analogue services from Thor and Sirius will have ceased in 2006, when the three remaining Danish channels go digital-only. The competition between Viasat and Canal Digital has caused some homes in Scandinavia to have to buy two set-top boxes and have two subscriptions to get the full range of channels. Viasat doesn't provide their own channels (TV3, TV3+, ZTV, TV1000 and the Viasat-branded channels) on the Canal Digital platform. Canal Digital does however have exclusive distribution of channels from [[SBS Broadcasting Group|SBS Broadcasting]], [[Discovery Communications|Discovery]], [[TV 2 (Denmark)|TV2 Denmark]] and [[Eurosport]]; for several years the Swedish [[Sveriges Television|SVT]] and [[TV4 AB|TV4]] channels were also exclusive to Canal Digital.


===Middle East & North Africa===
=== 1987 to present===
By 1987, nine channels were scrambled, but 99 others were available free-to-air.<ref name=Chicago/> While HBO initially charged a monthly fee of $19.95, soon it became possible to unscramble all channels for $200 a year.<ref name=Chicago/> Dish sales went down from 600,000 in 1985 to 350,000 in 1986, but pay television services were seeing dishes as something positive since some people would never have cable service, and the industry was starting to recover as a result.<ref name=Chicago/> Scrambling also led to the development of [[pay-per-view]] events.<ref name=Chicago/> On November 1, 1988, [[NBC]] began scrambling its [[C band (IEEE)|C-band]] signal but left its [[Ku band|K<sub>u</sub> band]] signal unencrypted in order for affiliates to not lose viewers who could not see their advertising.<ref name=sfc/> Most of the two million satellite dish users in the United States still used [[C band (IEEE)|C-band]].<ref name=sfc/> [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] and [[CBS]] were considering scrambling, though CBS was reluctant due to the number of people unable to receive local [[network affiliate]]s.<ref name=sfc>{{cite news|title=Scrambled NBC Bad News for Satellite Pirates|work=[[The San Francisco Chronicle]]|agency=United Press International|date=1988-11-03|page=E3}}</ref> The piracy on satellite television networks in the US led to the introduction of the [[Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992]]. This legislation enabled anyone caught engaging in signal theft to be fined up to $50,000 and to be sentenced to a maximum of two years in prison.<ref name="cableact">{{cite act|title=Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992|number=1460|language=en|date=8 October 1992|article=STATUTE-106-Pg1460.pdf|url=http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-106/pdf/STATUTE-106-Pg1460.pdf|access-date=3 July 2014}}</ref> A repeat offender can be fined up to $100,000 and be imprisoned for up to five years.<ref name="cableact"/>
The [[Middle East]] has a high penetration of homes receiving TV channels via DTH satellite. One of the pioneers of free-to-air digital satellite television is considered to be [[MBC 1|MBC]], which began broadcasting in [[c band]] through Arabsat and is the first network in the world to offer a free-to-air Western based English language movie channel to the Middle East audience via its spinoff channel [[MBC 2]]. Its direct rival is considered to be [[Dubai]], UAE based [[One TV]], earlier called Channel 33, which was the first channel in the Middle East to provide English language general entertainment programming for the expatriate community.


Satellite television had also developed in [[Satellite television by region#Europe|Europe]] but it initially used low power communication satellites and it required dish sizes of over 1.7 metres. On 11 December 1988, however, [[Luxembourg]] launched [[Astra 1A]], the first satellite to provide medium power satellite coverage to Western Europe.<ref name="n2yo">{{cite web|url=http://www.n2yo.com/satellite/?s=19688|title=ASTRA 1A Satellite details 1988-109B NORAD 19688|publisher=N2YO|date=9 July 2014|access-date=12 July 2014|archive-date=30 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140630055725/http://n2yo.com/satellite/?s=19688|url-status=live}}</ref> This was one of the first medium-powered satellites, transmitting signals in [[Ku band|K<sub>u</sub> band]] and allowing reception with small dishes (90&nbsp;cm).<ref name="n2yo"/> The launch of Astra beat the winner of the UK's state Direct Broadcast Satellite licence holder, [[British Satellite Broadcasting]], to the market.
The first digital DTH pay-TV network to provide Western Entertainment was [[Orbit Satellite Television and Radio Network]] broadcasting via [[Arabsat]] (C band), later on [[Showtime Arabia]] a joint venture between [[Viacom]] (21% stake) and [[KIPCO]] (79% stake) started broadcasting, via [[PanAmSat]] (C band), but later switched over to [[Nilesat]] ([[KU band]]). [[Arab Radio & Television]] (ART) now known as [[Arab Digital Distribution]] although a late comer, gained ground by broadcasting exclusive sports events. Most of the popular channels are transmitting from these satellites and orbital positions: Arabsat at 26°E, [[Asiasat]] at 100.5°E and 105.5°E, [[Eutelsat]] [[Hot Bird]] at 13°E, Nilesat at 7°W, and PanAmSat at 68.5°E.


Commercial satellite broadcasts have existed in Japan since 1992 led by [[NHK]] which is influential in the development of regulations and has access to government funding for research. Their entry into the market was protected by the [[Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (Japan)|Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications]] (MPT) resulting in the [[WOWOW]] channel that is encrypted and can be accessed from NHK dishes with a decoder.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Buckley |first1=Sandra |title=Encyclopedia of Contemporary Japanese Culture |date=2002 |publisher=Routledge}}</ref>
===Australia===
Satellite television in [[Australia]] has proven to be a far more feasible option than cable television, due to the vast distances between population centres. The first service to come online in Australia was [[Galaxy (Australian TV)|Galaxy]], which was later taken over by Cable Television giant [[Foxtel]], which now operates both cable and satellite services to all state capital cities (except Darwin and Hobart) and the whole of Western Australia. Its main metropolitan rival was [[Optus Vision]], while rural areas are served by [[Austar]], both of which just rebroadcast Foxtel as of 2005. In 2006 [[SelecTV]] began operating, aiming at providing comparatively low cost packages and catering to specialised market segments.


In the US in the early 1990s, four large cable companies launched [[PrimeStar]], a direct broadcasting company using medium power satellites. The relatively strong transmissions allowed the use of smaller (90&nbsp;cm) dishes. Its popularity declined with the 1994 launch of the [[Hughes Communications|Hughes]] [[DirecTV]] and [[Dish Network]] satellite television systems.
===New Zealand===

In [[New Zealand]], [[SKY Network Television]] offers multichannel digital satellite TV, in addition to its terrestrial [[Ultra high frequency|UHF]] service. The upcoming [[FreeView]] service will also be available on satellite.
[[Digital television|Digital]] satellite broadcasts began in 1994 in the United States through [[DirecTV]] using the [[Digital Satellite Service|DSS]] format. They were launched (with the [[DVB-S]] standard) in [[South Africa]], [[Middle East]], [[North Africa]] and [[Asia-Pacific]] in 1994 and 1995, and in 1996 and 1997 in European countries including France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy and the Netherlands, as well as Japan, North America and Latin America. Digital DVB-S broadcasts in the United Kingdom and Ireland started in 1998. Japan started broadcasting with the [[ISDB-S]] standard in 2000.

On March 4, 1996, EchoStar introduced Digital Sky Highway (Dish Network) using the EchoStar 1 satellite.<ref name="ctu10e">{{cite book|last=Grant|first=August E.|title=Communication Technology Update| year=2010 |edition=10th|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|page=87|isbn=978-0-240-81475-9}}</ref> EchoStar launched a second satellite in September 1996 to increase the number of channels available on Dish Network to 170.<ref name="ctu10e"/> These systems provided better pictures and stereo sound on 150–200 video and audio channels, and allowed small dishes to be used. This greatly reduced the popularity of TVRO systems. In the mid-1990s, channels began moving their broadcasts to [[digital television]] transmission using the [[DigiCipher]] [[conditional access]] system.<ref name="insead">{{cite journal|last1=Bell-Jones |first1=Robin |last2=Berbner |first2=Jochen |last3=Chai |first3=Jianfeng |last4=Farstad |first4=Thomas |last5=Pham |first5=Minh |date=June 2001 |title=High Technology Strategy and Entrepreneurship |url=http://faculty.insead.edu/adner/projects/Set%20Top%20Boxes.pdf |journal=INSEAD Journal |location=[[Fontainebleau]] |publisher=INSEAD |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140724233622/http://faculty.insead.edu/adner/projects/Set%20Top%20Boxes.pdf |archive-date=2014-07-24 }}</ref>

In addition to encryption, the widespread availability, in the US, of DBS services such as PrimeStar and DirecTV had been reducing the popularity of TVRO systems since the early 1990s. Signals from DBS satellites (operating in the more recent [[Ku band|K<sub>u</sub> band]]) are higher in both frequency and power (due to improvements in the [[solar panel]]s and [[energy conversion efficiency|energy efficiency]] of modern satellites) and therefore require much smaller dishes than [[C band (IEEE)|C-band]], and the [[digital modulation]] methods now used require less [[signal strength]] at the receiver than analog modulation methods.<ref name="nctfe">Mirabito, M., and Morgenstern, B. (2004). ''Satellites: Operations and Applications: The New Communication Technologies'' (fifth edition). Burlington: Focal Press.</ref> Each satellite also can carry up to 32 transponders in the [[Ku band|K<sub>u</sub> band]], but only 24 in the [[C band (IEEE)|C band]], and several [[digital subchannel]]s can be [[Multiplex (TV)|multiplex]]ed (MCPC) or carried separately ([[SCPC]]) on a single transponder.<ref name=artcn>{{cite book|last1=Khaplil|first1=Vidya R.|last2=Bhalachandra|first2=Anjali R.|date=April 2008|title=Advances in Recent Trends in Communication and Networks|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QchLipDixBUC&q=32+transponders+ku+band+24+c+band+multiplexed+satellite&pg=PA119|location=[[New Delhi]]|publisher=Allied Publishers|page=119|isbn=978-1466651708|access-date=16 July 2014|archive-date=2 May 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502060519/https://books.google.com/books?id=QchLipDixBUC&q=32+transponders+ku+band+24+c+band+multiplexed+satellite&pg=PA119#v=snippet&q=32%20transponders%20ku%20band%2024%20c%20band%20multiplexed%20satellite&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> Advances in [[noise reduction]] due to improved microwave technology and [[semiconductor]] materials have also had an effect.<ref name=artcn/> However, one consequence of the higher frequencies used for DBS services is [[rain fade]] where viewers lose signal during a heavy downpour. [[C band (IEEE)|C-band]] satellite television signals are less prone to rain fade.<ref name="dishcable">{{cite web|url=http://dish-cable.com/rain_fade.htm|title=Rain fade: satellite TV signal and adverse weather|year=2010|website=Dish-cable.com|access-date=16 July 2014|archive-date=15 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140615055718/http://dish-cable.com/rain_fade.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

In a return to the older (but proven) technologies of satellite communication, the current DBS-based satellite providers in the US (Dish Network and DirecTV) are now utilizing additional capacity on the [[Ku band|K<sub>u</sub>-band]] transponders of existing FSS-class satellites, in addition to the capacity on their own existing fleets of DBS satellites in orbit. This was done in order to provide more channel capacity for their systems, as required by the increasing number of High-Definition and simulcast local station channels. The reception of the channels carried on the [[Ku band|K<sub>u</sub>-band]] FSS satellite's respective transponders has been achieved by both DirecTV & Dish Network issuing to their subscribers dishes twice as big in diameter (36") than the previous 18" (& 20" for the Dish Network "Dish500") dishes the services used initially, equipped with 2 circular-polarized LNBFs (for reception of 2 native DBS satellites of the provider, 1 per LNBF), and 1 standard linear-polarized LNB for reception of channels from an FSS-type satellite. These newer DBS/FSS-hybrid dishes, marketed by DirecTV and Dish Network as the "SlimLine" and "[[SuperDish]]" models respectively, are now the current standard for both providers, with their original 18"/20" single or dual LNBF dishes either now obsolete, or only used for program packages, separate channels, or services only broadcast over the providers' DBS satellites.

On 29 November 1999 US President [[Bill Clinton]] signed the [[Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act]] (SHVIA).<ref name="shvia">{{cite act|title=Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act|number=00-96|date=29 November 1999|url=http://transition.fcc.gov/mb/shva/shviafac.html|access-date=30 July 2014|language=en}}</ref> The act allowed Americans to receive local broadcast signals via direct broadcast satellite systems for the first time.<ref name="shvia" />

==Legal==
The [[1963 Radio Regulations]] of the [[International Telecommunication Union]] (ITU) defined a "broadcasting satellite service" as a "space service in which signals transmitted or retransmitted by space stations, or transmitted by reflection from objects in orbit around the [[Earth]], are intended for direct reception by the general public."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gotlieb |first1=A.E. |title=Direct Satellite Broadcasting: A Case Study in the Development of the Law of Space Communications |journal=The Canadian Yearbook of International Law 1969 |year=1969 |volume=7 |pages=33–60 |doi=10.1017/S0069005800011826|s2cid=169142288 }}</ref>

In the 1970s some states grew concerned that external broadcasting could alter the cultural or political identity of a state leading to the [[New World Information and Communication Order]] (NWICO) proposal. However, satellite broadcasts can not be restricted on a per-state basis due to the limitations of the technology. Around the time the [[MacBride report]] was released, satellite broadcasting was being discussed at the [[UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space]] (COPUOS) where most of the members supported prior consent restrictions for broadcasting in their territories, but some argued this would violate [[freedom of information]]. The parties were unable to reach a consensus on this and in 1982 submitted [[UNGA Res 37/92]] ("DBS Principles") to the [[UN General Assembly]] which was adopted by a majority vote, however, most States capable of DBS voted against it. The "DBS Principles" resolution is generally regarded as ineffective.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |author=Francis Lyall |title=satellite Broadcasting |encyclopedia=UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space |date=2019}}</ref>


==See also==
==See also==
{{cmn|
* [[Satellite dish]]
* [[Basic Interoperable Scrambling System]]
* [[Satellite dish installation]]
* [[Microwave antenna]]
* [[Cable television]]
* [[List of satellite television companies]]
* [[Television receive-only]]
* [[Satellite television by region]]
* [[Commercialization of space]]
* [[Commercialization of space]]
* [[Free-to-air]]
* [[Microwave antenna]]
* [[Molniya orbit]]
* [[Murphy v Media Protection Services Limited]]
* [[Satellite dish]]
* [[Satellite subcarrier audio]]
* [[Smart TV]]: provides television via internet connection
* [[SMATV]]
* [[Television antenna]]
}}

==References==
{{reflist}}


==External links==
==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline}}
* [http://www.dbstalk.com/ DBSTalk.Com Satellite Discussion Forum]
*[https://org.uib.no/smi/ksv/DigFaq.html Digital Satellite Television by Chris Muriel (June 21st, 2000)]
* [http://www.sat-sales.com/Satellite_Terminology_Glossary.php Satellite Terminology and Glossary]
* [http://www.lyngsat.com/ Lyngemark Satellite Charts]
* [http://www.satelliteguys.us/ SatelliteGuys.US Satellite Discussion Forum]
* [http://www.broadcastengineering.com Broadcast Engineering]
* [http://www.faqs.org/faqs/Satellite-TV/TVRO/ C-Band FAQ List]
* [http://satellite.information.in.th Satellite TV in Thailand]
* [http://www.linowsat.com/ Linowsat PID-Lists and Videobitrate Charts]
* [http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/29920/how_satellite_tv_works.html How satellite tv works]
* [http://web-japan.org/factsheet/m_media/digital.html Satellite and Digital Broadcasting]
* [http://www.skyrocket.de/space/index_frame.htm?http://www.skyrocket.de/space/doc_sdat/bse.htm Broadcasting Satellite Experimental & Broadcasting Satellite]
* [http://www.geocities.com/ikuwara Satellite Television Hobby Information]
* [http://www.dishnetworkissue.com/DishNetowrk_intro.html SBC Dish Network Satellite Overview]


{{Broadcasting}}
{{CATV}}
{{CATV}}
{{Wireless video}}
{{Satcomm}}
{{Telecommunications}}
{{Authority control}}


[[Category:Satellite television|*]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Satellite Television}}
[[Category:Satellite television| ]]
[[Category:Television technology]]
[[Category:Television technology]]
[[Category:Broadcasting]]
[[Category:International broadcasting]]
[[Category:Television terminology]]

[[ca:Televisió per satèl·lit]]
[[da:Satellit-tv]]
[[de:Satellitenfernsehen]]
[[eo:Satelita televido]]
[[fr:Télévision par satellite]]
[[it:Televisione satellitare]]
[[ja:衛星放送]]
[[pl:Telewizja satelitarna]]
[[ru:Спутниковое телевидение]]

Latest revision as of 00:26, 8 November 2024

A number of satellite dishes

Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location.[1] The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna commonly referred to as a satellite dish and a low-noise block downconverter.

Diagram showing how modern satellite television works

A satellite receiver decodes the desired television program for viewing on a television set. Receivers can be external set-top boxes, or a built-in television tuner. Satellite television provides a wide range of channels and services. It is usually the only television available in many remote geographic areas without terrestrial television or cable television service. Different receivers are required for the two types. Some transmissions and channels are unencrypted and therefore free-to-air, while many other channels are transmitted with encryption. Free-to-view channels are encrypted but not charged-for, while pay television requires the viewer to subscribe and pay a monthly fee to receive the programming.[2]

Modern systems signals are relayed from a communications satellite on the X band (8–12 GHz) or Ku band (12–18 GHz) frequencies requiring only a small dish less than a meter in diameter.[3] The first satellite TV systems were a now-obsolete type known as television receive-only. These systems received weaker analog signals transmitted in the C-band (4–8 GHz) from FSS type satellites, requiring the use of large 2–3-meter dishes. Consequently, these systems were nicknamed "big dish" systems, and were more expensive and less popular.[4] Early systems used analog signals, but modern ones use digital signals which allow transmission of the modern television standard high-definition television, due to the significantly improved spectral efficiency of digital broadcasting. As of 2022, Star One D2 from Brazil is the only remaining satellite broadcasting in analog signals.[5][6]

Technology

[edit]

The satellites used for broadcasting television are usually in a geostationary orbit 36,000 km (22,000 mi) above the earth's equator. The advantage of this orbit is that the satellite's orbital period equals the rotation rate of the Earth, so the satellite appears at a fixed position in the sky. Thus the satellite dish antenna which receives the signal can be aimed permanently at the location of the satellite and does not have to track a moving satellite. A few systems instead use a highly elliptical orbit with inclination of +/−63.4 degrees and an orbital period of about twelve hours, known as a Molniya orbit.

Satellite television, like other communications relayed by satellite, starts with a transmitting antenna located at an uplink facility.[7] Uplink satellite dishes are very large, as much as 9 to 12 meters (30 to 40 feet) in diameter.[7] The increased diameter results in more accurate aiming and increased signal strength at the satellite.[7] The uplink dish is pointed toward a specific satellite and the uplinked signals are transmitted within a specific frequency range, so as to be received by one of the transponders tuned to that frequency range aboard that satellite.[8] The transponder re-transmits the signals back to Earth at a different frequency (a process known as translation, used to avoid interference with the uplink signal), typically in the 10.7-12.7 GHz band, but some still transmit in the C-band (4–8 GHz), Ku-band (12–18 GHz), or both.[7] The leg of the signal path from the satellite to the receiving Earth station is called the downlink.[9]

A typical satellite has up to 32 Ku-band or 24 C-band transponders, or more for Ku/C hybrid satellites. Typical transponders each have a bandwidth between 27 and 50 MHz. Each geostationary C-band satellite needs to be spaced 2° longitude from the next satellite to avoid interference; for Ku the spacing can be 1°. This means that there is an upper limit of 360/2 = 180 geostationary C-band satellites or 360/1 = 360 geostationary Ku-band satellites. C-band transmission is susceptible to terrestrial interference while Ku-band transmission is affected by rain (as water is an excellent absorber of microwaves at this particular frequency). The latter is even more adversely affected by ice crystals in thunder clouds. On occasion, sun outage will occur when the sun lines up directly behind the geostationary satellite to which the receiving antenna is pointed.[10]

The downlink satellite signal, quite weak after traveling the great distance (see path loss), is collected with a parabolic receiving dish, which reflects the weak signal to the dish's focal point.[11] Mounted on brackets at the dish's focal point is a device called a feedhorn or collector.[12] The feedhorn is a section of waveguide with a flared front-end that gathers the signals at or near the focal point and conducts them to a probe or pickup connected to a low-noise block downconverter (LNB).[13] The LNB amplifies the signals and downconverts them to a lower block of intermediate frequencies (IF), usually in the L-band.[13]

The original C-band satellite television systems used a low-noise amplifier (LNA) connected to the feedhorn at the focal point of the dish.[14] The amplified signal, still at the higher microwave frequencies, had to be fed via very expensive low-loss 50-ohm impedance gas filled hardline coaxial cable with relatively complex N-connectors to an indoor receiver or, in other designs, a downconverter (a mixer and a voltage-tuned oscillator with some filter circuitry) for downconversion to an intermediate frequency.[14] The channel selection was controlled typically by a voltage tuned oscillator with the tuning voltage being fed via a separate cable to the headend, but this design evolved.[14]

Designs for microstrip-based converters for amateur radio frequencies were adapted for the 4 GHz C-band.[15] Central to these designs was concept of block downconversion of a range of frequencies to a lower, more easily handled IF.[15]

Back view of a linear polarised LNB.

The advantages of using an LNB are that cheaper cable can be used to connect the indoor receiver to the satellite television dish and LNB, and that the technology for handling the signal at L-band and UHF was far cheaper than that for handling the signal at C-band frequencies.[16] The shift to cheaper technology from the hardline and N-connectors of the early C-band systems to the cheaper and simpler 75-ohm cable and F-connectors allowed the early satellite television receivers to use, what were in reality, modified UHF television tuners which selected the satellite television channel for down conversion to a lower intermediate frequency centered on 70 MHz, where it was demodulated.[16] This shift allowed the satellite television DTH industry to change from being a largely hobbyist one where only small numbers of systems costing thousands of US dollars were built, to a far more commercial one of mass production.[16]

In the United States, service providers use the intermediate frequency ranges of 950–2150 MHz to carry the signal from the LNBF at the dish down to the receiver. This allows for the transmission of UHF signals along the same span of coaxial wire at the same time. In some applications (DirecTV AU9-S and AT-9), ranges of the lower B-band[ambiguous] and 2250–3000 MHz, are used. Newer LNBFs in use by DirecTV, called SWM (Single Wire Multiswitch), are used to implement single cable distribution and use a wider frequency range of 2–2150 MHz.[citation needed]

The satellite receiver or set-top box demodulates and converts the signals to the desired form (outputs for television, audio, data, etc.).[17] Often, the receiver includes the capability to selectively unscramble or decrypt the received signal to provide premium services to some subscribers; the receiver is then called an integrated receiver/decoder or IRD.[18] Low-loss cable (e.g. RG-6, RG-11, etc.) is used to connect the receiver to the LNBF or LNB.[13] RG-59 is not recommended for this application as it is not technically designed to carry frequencies above 950 MHz, but may work in some circumstances, depending on the quality of the coaxial wire, signal levels, cable length, etc.[13]

A practical problem relating to home satellite reception is that an LNB can basically only handle a single receiver.[19] This is because the LNB is translating two different circular polarizations (right-hand and left-hand) and, in the case of K-band, two different frequency bands (lower and upper) to the same frequency range on the cable.[19] Depending on which frequency and polarization a transponder is using, the satellite receiver has to switch the LNB into one of four different modes in order to receive a specific "channel".[19] This is handled by the receiver using the DiSEqC protocol to control the LNB mode.[19] If several satellite receivers are to be attached to a single dish, a so-called multiswitch will have to be used in conjunction with a special type of LNB.[19] There are also LNBs available with a multi-switch already integrated.[19] This problem becomes more complicated when several receivers are to use several dishes (or several LNBs mounted in a single dish) pointing to different satellites.[19]

A common solution for consumers wanting to access multiple satellites is to deploy a single dish with a single LNB and to rotate the dish using an electric motor. The axis of rotation has to be set up in the north–south direction and, depending on the geographical location of the dish, have a specific vertical tilt. Set up properly the motorized dish when turned will sweep across all possible positions for satellites lined up along the geostationary orbit directly above the equator. The dish will then be capable of receiving any geostationary satellite that is visible at the specific location, i.e. that is above the horizon. The DiSEqC protocol has been extended to encompass commands for steering dish rotors.[citation needed]

There are five major components in a satellite system: the programming source, the broadcast center, the satellite, the satellite dish, and the receiver. "Direct broadcast" satellites used for transmission of satellite television signals are generally in geostationary orbit 37,000 km (23,000 mi) above the earth's equator.[20] The reason for using this orbit is that the satellite circles the Earth at the same rate as the Earth rotates, so the satellite appears at a fixed point in the sky. Thus satellite dishes can be aimed permanently at that point, and do not need a tracking system to turn to follow a moving satellite. A few satellite TV systems use satellites in a Molniya orbit, a highly elliptical orbit with inclination of +/-63.4 degrees and an orbital period of about twelve hours.

Satellite television, like other communications relayed by satellite, starts with a transmitting antenna located at an uplink facility.[20] Uplink facilities transmit the signal to the satellite over a narrow beam of microwaves, typically in the C-band frequency range due to its resistance to rain fade.[20] Uplink satellite dishes are very large, often as much as 9 to 12 metres (30 to 40 feet) in diameter[20] to achieve accurate aiming and increased signal strength at the satellite, to improve reliability.[20] The uplink dish is pointed toward a specific satellite and the uplinked signals are transmitted within a specific frequency range, so as to be received by one of the transponders tuned to that frequency range aboard that satellite.[20] The transponder then converts the signals to Ku band, a process known as "translation," and transmits them back to earth to be received by home satellite stations.[20]

A DTH Satellite dish from India.

The downlinked satellite signal, weaker after traveling the great distance (see path loss), is collected by using a rooftop parabolic receiving dish ("satellite dish"), which reflects the weak signal to the dish's focal point.[21] Mounted on brackets at the dish's focal point is a feedhorn[21] which passes the signals through a waveguide to a device called a low-noise block converter (LNB) or low noise converter (LNC) attached to the horn.[21] The LNB amplifies the weak signals, filters the block of frequencies in which the satellite television signals are transmitted, and converts the block of frequencies to a lower frequency range in the L-band range.[21] The signal is then passed through a coaxial cable into the residence to the satellite television receiver, a set-top box next to the television.

The reason for using the LNB to do the frequency translation at the dish is so that the signal can be carried into the residence using cheap coaxial cable. To transport the signal into the house at its original Ku band microwave frequency would require an expensive waveguide, a metal pipe to carry the radio waves.[16] The cable connecting the receiver to the LNB are of the low loss type RG-6, quad shield RG-6, or RG-11.[22] RG-59 is not recommended for this application as it is not technically designed to carry frequencies above 950 MHz, but will work in many circumstances, depending on the quality of the coaxial wire.[22] The shift to more affordable technology from the 50 ohm impedance cable and N-connectors of the early C-band systems to the cheaper 75 ohm technology and F-connectors allowed the early satellite television receivers to use, what were in reality, modified UHF television tuners which selected the satellite television channel for down conversion to another lower intermediate frequency centered on 70 MHz where it was demodulated.[16]

An LNB can only handle a single receiver.[19] This is due to the fact that the LNB is mapping two different circular polarisations – right hand and left hand – and in the case of the Ku-band two different reception bands – lower and upper – to one and the same frequency band on the cable, and is a practical problem for home satellite reception.[19] Depending on which frequency a transponder is transmitting at and on what polarisation it is using, the satellite receiver has to switch the LNB into one of four different modes in order to receive a specific desired program on a specific transponder.[19] The receiver uses the DiSEqC protocol to control the LNB mode, which handles this.[19] If several satellite receivers are to be attached to a single dish a so-called multiswitch must be used in conjunction with a special type of LNB.[19] There are also LNBs available with a multi-switch already integrated.[19] This problem becomes more complicated when several receivers use several dishes or several LNBs mounted in a single dish are aimed at different satellites.[19]

The set-top box selects the channel desired by the user by filtering that channel from the multiple channels received from the satellite, converts the signal to a lower intermediate frequency, decrypts the encrypted signal, demodulates the radio signal and sends the resulting video signal to the television through a cable.[22] To decrypt the signal the receiver box must be "activated" by the satellite company. If the customer fails to pay their monthly bill the box is "deactivated" by a signal from the company, and the system will not work until the company reactivates it. Some receivers are capable of decrypting the received signal itself. These receivers are called integrated receiver/decoders or IRDs.[22]

Analog television which was distributed via satellite was usually sent scrambled or unscrambled in NTSC, PAL, or SECAM television broadcast standards. The analog signal is frequency modulated and is converted from an FM signal to what is referred to as baseband. This baseband comprises the video signal and the audio subcarrier(s). The audio subcarrier is further demodulated to provide a raw audio signal.

Later signals were digitized television signals or multiplex of signals, typically QPSK. In general, digital television, including that transmitted via satellites, is based on open standards such as MPEG and DVB-S/DVB-S2 or ISDB-S.[citation needed]

The conditional access encryption/scrambling methods include NDS, BISS, Conax, Digicipher, Irdeto, Cryptoworks, DG Crypt, Beta digital, SECA Mediaguard, Logiways, Nagravision, PowerVu, Viaccess, Videocipher, and VideoGuard. Many conditional access systems have been compromised.

Sun outage

[edit]

An event called sun outage occurs when the sun lines up directly behind the satellite in the field of view of the receiving satellite dish.[23] This happens for about a 10-minute period daily around midday, twice every year for a two-week period in the spring and fall around the equinox. During this period, the sun is within the main lobe of the dish's reception pattern, so the strong microwave noise emitted by the sun on the same frequencies used by the satellite's transponders drowns out reception.[23]

Uses

[edit]

Direct-to-home and direct broadcast satellite

[edit]
DBS satellite dishes installed on an apartment complex.

Direct-to-home (DTH) can either refer to the communications satellites themselves that deliver service or the actual television service. Most satellite television customers in developed television markets get their programming through a direct broadcast satellite (DBS) provider.[24] Signals are transmitted using Ku band (12 to 18 GHz) and are completely digital which means it has high picture and stereo sound quality.[3]

Programming for satellite television channels comes from multiple sources and may include live studio feeds.[25] The broadcast center assembles and packages programming into channels for transmission and, where necessary, encrypts the channels. The signal is then sent to the uplink[26] where it is transmitted to the satellite. With some broadcast centers, the studios, administration and up-link are all part of the same campus.[27] The satellite then translates and broadcasts the channels.[28]

Most systems use the DVB-S standard for transmission.[24] With pay television services, the data stream is encrypted and requires proprietary reception equipment. While the underlying reception technology is similar, the pay television technology is proprietary, often consisting of a conditional-access module and smart card. This measure assures satellite television providers that only authorized, paying subscribers have access to pay television content but at the same time can allow free-to-air channels to be viewed even by the people with standard equipment available in the market.

Some countries operate satellite television services which can be received for free, without paying a subscription fee. This is called free-to-air satellite television. Germany is likely the leader in free-to-air with approximately 250 digital channels (including 83 HDTV channels and various regional channels) broadcast from the Astra 19.2°E satellite constellation.[29] These are not marketed as a DBS service, but are received in approximately 18 million homes, as well as in any home using the Sky Deutschland commercial DBS system. All German analogue satellite broadcasts ceased on 30 April 2012.[30][31]

The United Kingdom has approximately 160 digital channels (including the regional variations of BBC channels, ITV channels, Channel 4 and Channel 5) that are broadcast without encryption from the Astra 28.2°E satellite constellation, and receivable on any DVB-S receiver (a DVB-S2 receiver is required for certain high definition television services). Most of these channels are included within the Sky EPG, and an increasing number within the Freesat EPG.

India's national broadcaster, Doordarshan, promotes a free-to-air DBS package as "DD Free Dish", which is provided as in-fill for the country's terrestrial transmission network. It is broadcast from GSAT-15 at 93.5°E and contains about 80 FTA channels.

While originally launched as backhaul for their digital terrestrial television service, a large number of French channels are free-to-air on satellites at 5°W, and have recently been announced as being official in-fill for the DTT network.

In North America (United States, Canada and Mexico) there are over 80 FTA digital channels available on Galaxy 19 (with the majority being ethnic or religious in nature). Other FTA satellites include AMC-4, AMC-6, Galaxy 18, and Satmex 5. A company called GloryStar promotes FTA religious broadcasters on Galaxy 19.

Satellite TV has seen a decline in consumers since the 2010s due to the cord-cutting trend where people are shifting towards internet-based streaming television and free over-the-air television.[32]

Television receive-only

[edit]
A C-band Andrew Corporation satellite dish used by TVRO systems.

The term television receive-only, or TVRO, arose during the early days of satellite television reception to differentiate it from commercial satellite television uplink and downlink operations (transmit and receive). This was the primary method of satellite television transmissions before the satellite television industry shifted, with the launch of higher powered DBS satellites in the early 1990s which transmitted their signals on the Ku band frequencies.[4][33] Satellite television channels at that time were intended to be used by cable television networks rather than received by home viewers.[34] Early satellite television receiver systems were largely constructed by hobbyists and engineers. These early TVRO systems operated mainly on the C-band frequencies and the dishes required were large; typically over 3 meters (10 ft) in diameter.[35] Consequently, TVRO is often referred to as "big dish" or "Big Ugly Dish" (BUD) satellite television.

TVRO systems were designed to receive analog and digital satellite feeds of both television or audio from both C-band and Ku-band transponders on FSS-type satellites.[36][37] The higher frequency Ku-band systems tend to resemble DBS systems and can use a smaller dish antenna because of the higher power transmissions and greater antenna gain. TVRO systems tend to use larger rather than smaller satellite dish antennas, since it is more likely that the owner of a TVRO system would have a C-band-only setup rather than a Ku band-only setup. Additional receiver boxes allow for different types of digital satellite signal reception, such as DVB/MPEG-2 and 4DTV.

The narrow beam width of a normal parabolic satellite antenna means it can only receive signals from a single satellite at a time.[38] Simulsat or the Vertex-RSI TORUS, is a quasi-parabolic satellite earthstation antenna that is capable of receiving satellite transmissions from 35 or more C- and Ku-band satellites simultaneously.[39]

History

[edit]

Early history

[edit]

In 1945 British science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke proposed a worldwide communications system which would function by means of three satellites equally spaced apart in earth orbit.[40][41] This was published in the October 1945 issue of the Wireless World magazine and won him the Franklin Institute's Stuart Ballantine Medal in 1963.[42][43]

The first satellite relayed communication was achieved early on in the space age, after the first relay test was conducted by Pioneer 1 and the first radio broadcast by SCORE at the end of 1958, after at the beginning of the year Sputnik I became the first satellite in history.

In 1960 TIROS 1 sent back the first televised image of Earth from space, becoming the first weather satellite.[44]

First satellite relayed broadcasts

[edit]
AT+T Telstar 1 test (first satellite TV broadcast, July 11 1962)

The first public satellite television signals from Europe to North America were relayed via the Telstar satellite over the Atlantic ocean on 23 July 1962, although a test broadcast had taken place almost two weeks earlier on 11 July.[45] The signals were received and broadcast in North American and European countries and watched by over 100 million.[45] Launched in 1962, the Relay 1 satellite was the first satellite to transmit television signals from the US to Japan.[46] The first geosynchronous communication satellite, Syncom 2, was launched on 26 July 1963.[47] The subsequent first geostationary Syncom 3, orbiting near the International Date Line, was used to telecast the 1964 Olympic Games from Tokyo to the United States.[48][49]

Intelsat I (1965), the world's first commercial communications satellite, was used among others to relay the Our World multi-national broadcast (1967), the first multi-satellite relayed television broadcast

The world's first commercial communications satellite, called Intelsat I and nicknamed "Early Bird", was launched into geosynchronous orbit on April 6, 1965.[50] The first national network of television satellites, called Orbita, was created by the Soviet Union in October 1967, and was based on the principle of using the highly elliptical Molniya satellite for rebroadcasting and delivering of television signals to ground downlink stations.[51]

Clip of the international broadcast of the first Moon landing, Neil Armstrong making humanity's first step onto an extraterrestrial body, transmitted from Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station[52] and distributed globally via the Intelsat III F-4 satellite.[53]

Development of the direct satellite TV industry

[edit]

The first domestic satellite to carry television transmissions was Canada's geostationary Anik 1, which was launched on 9 November 1972.[54]

An advertisement by the Australian Overseas Telecommunications Commission (OTC) for the Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite, broadcast via the Intelsat IV F-4 satellite, an early international broadcast event featuring Elvis Presley live in concert.

ATS-6, the world's first experimental educational and direct broadcast satellite (DBS), was launched on 30 May 1974.[55] It transmitted at 860 MHz using wideband FM modulation and had two sound channels. The transmissions were focused on the Indian subcontinent but experimenters were able to receive the signal in Western Europe using home constructed equipment that drew on UHF television design techniques already in use.[56]

The first in a series of Soviet geostationary satellites to carry direct-to-home television, Ekran 1, was launched on 26 October 1976.[57] It used a 714 MHz UHF downlink frequency so that the transmissions could be received with existing UHF television technology rather than microwave technology.[58]

The satellite television industry developed in the US from the cable television industry as communication satellites were being used to distribute television programming to remote cable television headends. Home Box Office (HBO), Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), and Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN, later The Family Channel) were among the first to use satellite television to deliver programming. Taylor Howard of San Andreas, California, became the first person to receive C-band satellite signals with his home-built system in 1976.[59]

In the US, PBS, a non-profit public broadcasting service, began to distribute its television programming by satellite in 1978.[60]

In 1979, Soviet engineers developed the Moskva (or Moscow) system of broadcasting and delivering of TV signals via satellites. They launched the Gorizont communication satellites later that same year. These satellites used geostationary orbits.[61] They were equipped with powerful on-board transponders, so the size of receiving parabolic antennas of downlink stations was reduced to 4 and 2.5 metres.[61] On October 18, 1979, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) began allowing people to have home satellite earth stations without a federal government license.[62] The front cover of the 1979 Neiman-Marcus Christmas catalogue featured the first home satellite TV stations on sale for $36,500.[63] The dishes were nearly 20 feet (6.1 m) in diameter[64] and were remote controlled.[65] The price went down by half soon after that, but there were only eight more channels.[66] The Society for Private and Commercial Earth Stations (SPACE), an organisation which represented consumers and satellite TV system owners, was established in 1980.[67]

Early satellite television systems were not very popular due to their expense and large dish size.[68] The satellite television dishes of the systems in the late 1970s and early 1980s were 10 to 16 feet (3.0 to 4.9 m) in diameter,[69] made of fibreglass or solid aluminum or steel,[70] and in the United States cost more than $5,000, sometimes as much as $10,000.[71] Programming sent from ground stations was relayed from eighteen satellites in geostationary orbit located 22,300 miles (35,900 km) above the Earth.[72][73]

TVRO/C-band satellite era, 1980–1986

[edit]

By 1980, satellite television was well established in the US and Europe. On 26 April 1982, the first satellite channel in the UK, Satellite Television Ltd. (later Sky One), was launched.[74] Its signals were transmitted from the ESA's Orbital Test Satellites.[74] Between 1981 and 1985, TVRO systems' sales rates increased as prices fell. Advances in receiver technology and the use of gallium arsenide FET technology enabled the use of smaller dishes. Five hundred thousand systems, some costing as little as $2000, were sold in the US in 1984.[71][75] Dishes pointing to one satellite were even cheaper.[76] People in areas without local broadcast stations or cable television service could obtain good-quality reception with no monthly fees.[71][73] The large dishes were a subject of much consternation, as many people considered them eyesores, and in the US most condominiums, neighborhoods, and other homeowner associations tightly restricted their use, except in areas where such restrictions were illegal.[4] These restrictions were altered in 1986 when the Federal Communications Commission ruled all of them illegal.[68] A municipality could require a property owner to relocate the dish if it violated other zoning restrictions, such as a setback requirement, but could not outlaw their use.[68] The necessity of these restrictions would slowly decline as the dishes got smaller.[68]

Originally, all channels were broadcast in the clear (ITC) because the equipment necessary to receive the programming was too expensive for consumers. With the growing number of TVRO systems, the program providers and broadcasters had to scramble their signal and develop subscription systems.

In October 1984, the U.S. Congress passed the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984, which gave those using TVRO systems the right to receive signals for free unless they were scrambled, and required those who did scramble to make their signals available for a reasonable fee.[73][77] Since cable channels could prevent reception by big dishes, other companies had an incentive to offer competition.[78] In January 1986, HBO began using the now-obsolete VideoCipher II system to encrypt their channels.[69] Other channels used less secure television encryption systems. The scrambling of HBO was met with much protest from owners of big-dish systems, most of which had no other option at the time for receiving such channels, claiming that clear signals from cable channels would be difficult to receive.[79] Eventually HBO allowed dish owners to subscribe directly to their service for $12.95 per month, a price equal to or higher than what cable subscribers were paying, and required a descrambler to be purchased for $395.[79] This led to the attack on HBO's transponder Galaxy 1 by John R. MacDougall in April 1986.[79] One by one, all commercial channels followed HBO's lead and began scrambling their channels.[80] The Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association (SBCA) was founded on December 2, 1986, as the result of a merger between SPACE and the Direct Broadcast Satellite Association (DBSA).[75]

Videocipher II used analog scrambling on its video signal and Data Encryption Standard–based encryption on its audio signal. VideoCipher II was defeated, and there was a black market for descrambler devices which were initially sold as "test" devices.[80]

1987 to present

[edit]

By 1987, nine channels were scrambled, but 99 others were available free-to-air.[77] While HBO initially charged a monthly fee of $19.95, soon it became possible to unscramble all channels for $200 a year.[77] Dish sales went down from 600,000 in 1985 to 350,000 in 1986, but pay television services were seeing dishes as something positive since some people would never have cable service, and the industry was starting to recover as a result.[77] Scrambling also led to the development of pay-per-view events.[77] On November 1, 1988, NBC began scrambling its C-band signal but left its Ku band signal unencrypted in order for affiliates to not lose viewers who could not see their advertising.[81] Most of the two million satellite dish users in the United States still used C-band.[81] ABC and CBS were considering scrambling, though CBS was reluctant due to the number of people unable to receive local network affiliates.[81] The piracy on satellite television networks in the US led to the introduction of the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992. This legislation enabled anyone caught engaging in signal theft to be fined up to $50,000 and to be sentenced to a maximum of two years in prison.[82] A repeat offender can be fined up to $100,000 and be imprisoned for up to five years.[82]

Satellite television had also developed in Europe but it initially used low power communication satellites and it required dish sizes of over 1.7 metres. On 11 December 1988, however, Luxembourg launched Astra 1A, the first satellite to provide medium power satellite coverage to Western Europe.[83] This was one of the first medium-powered satellites, transmitting signals in Ku band and allowing reception with small dishes (90 cm).[83] The launch of Astra beat the winner of the UK's state Direct Broadcast Satellite licence holder, British Satellite Broadcasting, to the market.

Commercial satellite broadcasts have existed in Japan since 1992 led by NHK which is influential in the development of regulations and has access to government funding for research. Their entry into the market was protected by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) resulting in the WOWOW channel that is encrypted and can be accessed from NHK dishes with a decoder.[84]

In the US in the early 1990s, four large cable companies launched PrimeStar, a direct broadcasting company using medium power satellites. The relatively strong transmissions allowed the use of smaller (90 cm) dishes. Its popularity declined with the 1994 launch of the Hughes DirecTV and Dish Network satellite television systems.

Digital satellite broadcasts began in 1994 in the United States through DirecTV using the DSS format. They were launched (with the DVB-S standard) in South Africa, Middle East, North Africa and Asia-Pacific in 1994 and 1995, and in 1996 and 1997 in European countries including France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy and the Netherlands, as well as Japan, North America and Latin America. Digital DVB-S broadcasts in the United Kingdom and Ireland started in 1998. Japan started broadcasting with the ISDB-S standard in 2000.

On March 4, 1996, EchoStar introduced Digital Sky Highway (Dish Network) using the EchoStar 1 satellite.[85] EchoStar launched a second satellite in September 1996 to increase the number of channels available on Dish Network to 170.[85] These systems provided better pictures and stereo sound on 150–200 video and audio channels, and allowed small dishes to be used. This greatly reduced the popularity of TVRO systems. In the mid-1990s, channels began moving their broadcasts to digital television transmission using the DigiCipher conditional access system.[86]

In addition to encryption, the widespread availability, in the US, of DBS services such as PrimeStar and DirecTV had been reducing the popularity of TVRO systems since the early 1990s. Signals from DBS satellites (operating in the more recent Ku band) are higher in both frequency and power (due to improvements in the solar panels and energy efficiency of modern satellites) and therefore require much smaller dishes than C-band, and the digital modulation methods now used require less signal strength at the receiver than analog modulation methods.[87] Each satellite also can carry up to 32 transponders in the Ku band, but only 24 in the C band, and several digital subchannels can be multiplexed (MCPC) or carried separately (SCPC) on a single transponder.[88] Advances in noise reduction due to improved microwave technology and semiconductor materials have also had an effect.[88] However, one consequence of the higher frequencies used for DBS services is rain fade where viewers lose signal during a heavy downpour. C-band satellite television signals are less prone to rain fade.[89]

In a return to the older (but proven) technologies of satellite communication, the current DBS-based satellite providers in the US (Dish Network and DirecTV) are now utilizing additional capacity on the Ku-band transponders of existing FSS-class satellites, in addition to the capacity on their own existing fleets of DBS satellites in orbit. This was done in order to provide more channel capacity for their systems, as required by the increasing number of High-Definition and simulcast local station channels. The reception of the channels carried on the Ku-band FSS satellite's respective transponders has been achieved by both DirecTV & Dish Network issuing to their subscribers dishes twice as big in diameter (36") than the previous 18" (& 20" for the Dish Network "Dish500") dishes the services used initially, equipped with 2 circular-polarized LNBFs (for reception of 2 native DBS satellites of the provider, 1 per LNBF), and 1 standard linear-polarized LNB for reception of channels from an FSS-type satellite. These newer DBS/FSS-hybrid dishes, marketed by DirecTV and Dish Network as the "SlimLine" and "SuperDish" models respectively, are now the current standard for both providers, with their original 18"/20" single or dual LNBF dishes either now obsolete, or only used for program packages, separate channels, or services only broadcast over the providers' DBS satellites.

On 29 November 1999 US President Bill Clinton signed the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act (SHVIA).[90] The act allowed Americans to receive local broadcast signals via direct broadcast satellite systems for the first time.[90]

[edit]

The 1963 Radio Regulations of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) defined a "broadcasting satellite service" as a "space service in which signals transmitted or retransmitted by space stations, or transmitted by reflection from objects in orbit around the Earth, are intended for direct reception by the general public."[91]

In the 1970s some states grew concerned that external broadcasting could alter the cultural or political identity of a state leading to the New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO) proposal. However, satellite broadcasts can not be restricted on a per-state basis due to the limitations of the technology. Around the time the MacBride report was released, satellite broadcasting was being discussed at the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) where most of the members supported prior consent restrictions for broadcasting in their territories, but some argued this would violate freedom of information. The parties were unable to reach a consensus on this and in 1982 submitted UNGA Res 37/92 ("DBS Principles") to the UN General Assembly which was adopted by a majority vote, however, most States capable of DBS voted against it. The "DBS Principles" resolution is generally regarded as ineffective.[92]

See also

[edit]

References

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