Satellite television
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.
For the television channel "Satellite Television" launched in 1982, see Sky One § History.
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]
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 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.[44] The signals were received and broadcast in North American and European countries and watched by over 100 million.[44] Launched in 1962, the Relay 1 satellite was the first satellite to transmit television signals from the US to Japan.[45] The first geosynchronous communication satellite, Syncom 2, was launched on 26 July 1963.[46]
The world's first commercial communications satellite, called Intelsat I and nicknamed "Early Bird", was launched into geosynchronous orbit on April 6, 1965.[47] 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.[48] The first commercial North American satellite to carry television transmissions was Canada's geostationary Anik 1, which was launched on 9 November 1972.[49] ATS-6, the world's first experimental educational and direct broadcast satellite (DBS), was launched on 30 May 1974.[50] 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.[51]
The first in a series of Soviet geostationary satellites to carry direct-to-home television, Ekran 1, was launched on 26 October 1976.[52] It used a 714 MHz UHF downlink frequency so that the transmissions could be received with existing UHF television technology rather than microwave technology.[53]
Beginning of the satellite TV industry, 1976–1980[edit]
The satellite television industry developed first 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.[54]
In the US, PBS, a non-profit public broadcasting service, began to distribute its television programming by satellite in 1978.[55]
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.[56] 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.[56] On October 18, 1979, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) began allowing people to have home satellite earth stations without a federal government license.[57] The front cover of the 1979 Neiman-Marcus Christmas catalogue featured the first home satellite TV stations on sale for $36,500.[58] The dishes were nearly 20 feet (6.1 m) in diameter[59] and were remote controlled.[60] The price went down by half soon after that, but there were only eight more channels.[61] The Society for Private and Commercial Earth Stations (SPACE), an organisation which represented consumers and satellite TV system owners, was established in 1980.[62]
Early satellite television systems were not very popular due to their expense and large dish size.[63] 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,[64] made of fibreglass or solid aluminum or steel,[65] and in the United States cost more than $5,000, sometimes as much as $10,000.[66] Programming sent from ground stations was relayed from eighteen satellites in geostationary orbit located 22,300 miles (35,900 km) above the Earth.[67][68]
Legal[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."[86]
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.[87]
