It was early 1990’s when satellite TV first hit the shelves, and the home dish was an expensive metal unit that ate up a lot of space in the yard. During those early years, most TV fanatics went through every hassle and cost of setting up a dish. Satellite TV then was something more difficult to get compared to cable and broadcast TV.

Today however, most houses have a compact satellite dish perched on rooftops, and even in rural areas that are beyond reach of cable companies. Major companies for satellite TV attract more and more consumers each day with sporting events, news, and movies from all across the globe, and the assurance of movie-quality sound and picture.

Satellite TV presents numerous solutions to cable and broadcast television problems. Despite the fact that the satellite technology is still “evolving”, it’s already become quite a popular choice for lots of television viewers.

Satellite TV vs. Broadcast TV

Conceptually speaking, satellite television is much like broadcast television. It is television delivered through “communication satellites”, in contrast to traditional cable and broadcast television. For short, satellite TV is the wireless system that delivers programming directly to the house of a viewer. Both satellite TV and broadcast TV transmit programming through a “radio signal”.

Broadcast stations utilize powerful antennas to transmit the radio waves to its surrounding area. Through much smaller antennas, viewers are able to pick up this signal. However, the major limitation for broadcast TV is the “range”. This is where satellite TV becomes advantageous –distortion and range problems are solved through transmitting signals via satellites that are orbiting the earth. Since satellites are way high above the sky, more customers are in its “line of sight”, offering a wider range and distortion-free signal.

The “Satellite TV System”

Satellites that are utilized for television signals are usually either in geostationary or highly elliptical orbit above the earth’s equator. Like any other similar type of communication sent out through a satellite, satellite TV begins from a “transmitting antenna” that’s situated in an “uplink facility”.

The uplink satellite dish is enormous in diameter, which means that the increased diameter results to more accurate aiming and heightened signal strength. The disk is positioned towards a particular satellite and “uplinked signals” are transmitted in a particular frequency range. A transponder aboard a satellite tuned in to that particular frequency receives them, and “retransmits” the signal back to earth with a different frequency band –this avoids interference with uplink signal, and is called “downlink”.

This downlink signal is rather weak after its great distance travel, and is then collected through the “parabolic receiving dish”. The weak signal is reflected to the focal point of the dish called “feedhorn”. This amplifies the slightly weak signals, then filters the frequencies, and converts them to lower-frequency range.

Usage Categories

There are primarily three categories for satellite TV usage –direct broadcast via satellite, television receive-only, and reception via headends to be distributed across global cable systems.

“Direct Broadcast via Satellite”

DBS or Direct Broadcast satellite is somewhat a recent development in the television world. This usage can either refer to communications satellites delivering DBS service, or actual TV service. DBS are commonly called “mini-dish” systems.

“Television Receive-Only”

TVRO are designed to receive digital and analog satellite feeds of audio or television from transponders on satellites. This system tends to use bigger satellite dish antennas, as it’s more likely for owners of this system to setup C-band-only instead of Ku band-only.

Today, in numerous places of the world, satellite TV services have become excellent alternatives, if not exceptional supplements of the older “terrestrial” signals. Through communication satellites, satellite TV has provided a more extensive range of services and channels that has expanded the world of viewing pleasures.