Getting To Know The Satellite TV System
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We are living in the information age, with access to anything at
our fingertips via the Internet and our televisions. With cable
television and satellite TV systems, we have access to hundreds
of channels that are address just about every interest: sports,
music, cooking, home decorating, children's shows, movies, cars,
history, and many more. Satellite TV systems in recent years
have stolen some of cable TV's thunder in their ability to offer
more channels, for a better price, and often with better
reception than standard cable TV. But, cable TV is striking
back, and has leveled the playing field in recent years. Since
its inception, satellite TV has provided a viable option to the
television consumer.
Satellite TV is brought into the home via communications
satellites high in the atmosphere, as opposed to cable TV, which
brings its service into the home via underground cables. Home
satellite TV service began in the 1980's with the introduction
of systems that received the same signals used for cable TV
distribution. Early satellite TV systems were quite expensive,
and the satellite dishes were often as large as 12 feet in
diameter.
DBS, or direct broadcast satellite, is known commonly as
"mini-dish systems", and is what is available to consumers
today. DBS requires special equipment for the home (a satellite
dish and a receiver box) that is encrypted by the specific
service provider chosen by the customer. The satellite equipment
uses a special card to decode the signal in order to allow
viewing access to the paying customer. The
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card is used to
permit only the customer paying for that specific service to
view the premium channels (if subscribed to), as well as the
free channels available to everyone.
In the infancy of satellite TV systems, all channels for free an
open for public consumption, including what we know today as
premium channels, such as HBO. This was highly appealing and
gave satellite TV systems a huge opportunity for growth.
However, when HBO decided to encrypt their signal in 1986, other
cable services followed suit, and satellite sales plummeted.
There was simply too much expensive equipment to purchase in
addition to paying monthly fees for TV channels. Thus cable TV
moved in.
Satellite TV saw a resurgence in the 1990's when the mini-dish
systems became an affordable and reliable alternative to cable
TV. Cable TV costs were climbing due to lack of competition, and
consumers took advantage of the new choice they were offered.
DirecTV was the first high-capacity home satellite TV system,
and it was made available in 1994. Several other services, like
Dish Network and Primestar followed soon after, creating
competition among satellite TV service providers, as well as
competition with the cable TV industry. So much competition was
good news for consumers. Prices came down, and incentives were
offered to lure customers from one service provider to another.
Cable TV has since leveled the playing field with the
introduction of digital cable, offering even more reliable
reception, more reasonable costs, just as many channels, and
such
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perks as no contract obligations.
Satellite TV systems do have their drawbacks for the consumer.
Though the high-quality picture is a definite bonus, the
reception is highly subject to atmospheric interference, such as
bad weather and sunspots. This can knock out service for hours
at a time, and can be very frustrating. In addition, if you
subscribe to a satellite TV system because you live in a remote
location, and cable TV is not available to you, you might not
have access to local TV channels. This might require using an
antenna to try to get local network broadcasts. Further, the
lure that satellite TV once had, that being the quantity of
additional channels available over cable TV, is a thing of the
past. Digital cable has opened more options to consumers,
offering them just as many, and sometimes more, channels as a
satellite TV system.
A satellite TV system is an affordable and often reliable
alternative to cable TV. Sometimes satellite TV is the only
alternative, due to location. Satellite TV offers the same
extras as cable TV, with DVR (Digital Video Recorder)
capabilities, pay-per-view channels, and music choice channels.
And because of the competition among the satellite TV service
providers themselves, the equipment prices are often greatly
reduced, and sometimes even free of charge. A satellite TV
system can be a viable alternative to cable TV.
About the author:
Learn the essential information for picking the right satellite
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