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Direct broadcast satellite (DBS) is a term used to refer to satellite
television broadcasts intended for home reception, also referred to as
direct-to-home signals. The expression direct-to-home or DTH was, initially,
meant to distinguish the transmissions directly intended for home viewers from
cable television distribution services that sometimes carried on the same
satellite. The term predates DBS satellites and is often used in reference to
services carried by lower power satellites which required larger dishes (1.7M
diameter or greater) for reception. In Europe, the expression was common prior
to the launch of ASTRA-1 in 1988 as there were two markets: the DTH market which
required the larger dishes and the DBS (ASTRA) market which required smaller
(0.9M dishes). As higher powered satellites like ASTRA came into operation, the
acronym DBS gradually supplanted it.
The term DBS now covers both analog and digital television and radio reception,
and is often extended to other services provided by modern digital television
systems, including video-on-demand and interactive features. A "DBS service"
usually refers to either a commercial service, or a group of free channels
available from one orbital position targeting one country.
Terminology confusion
In certain regions of the world, especially in North America, DBS is used to
refer to providers of subscription satellite packages, and has become applied to
the entire equipment chain involved. With modern satellite providers in the
United States using high power Ku-band transmissions using circular
polarization, which result in small dishes, and digital compression (hence
bringing in an alternative term, Digital Satellite System, itself likely
connected to the proprietary encoding system used by DirecTV, Digital Satellite
Service), DBS is often misused to refer to these. DBS systems are often driven
by pay television providers, which drives further confusion. Additionally, in
some areas it is used to refer to specific segments of the Ku-band, normally
12.2 to 12.7 GHz, as this bandwidth is often referred to as DBS or one of its
synonyms. In comparison, European "Ku band" DBS systems can drop as low as 10.7
GHz.
Adding to the naming complexity, the ITU's original frequency allocation plan
for Europe, the Soviet Union and Northern Africa from 1977 introduced a concept
of extremely high power spot-beam broadcasting (see Ekran satellite) which they
termed DBS, although only a handful of the participating countries even went as
far as to launch satellites under this plan, even fewer operated anything
resembling a DBS service.
Commercial DBS services
The first commercial DBS service, Sky Television plc (now BSkyB), was launched
in 1989. Sky TV started as a four-channel free-to-air analogue service on the
Astra 1A satellite, serving the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. By 1991,
Sky had changed to a conditional access pay model, and launched a digital
service, Sky Digital, in 1998, with analogue transmission ceasing in 2001. Since
the DBS nomenclature is rarely used in the UK or Ireland, the popularity of
Sky's service has caused the terms "minidish" and "digibox" to be applied to
products other than Sky's hardware. BSkyB is controlled by News Corporation.
PrimeStar began transmitting an analog service to North America in 1991, and was
joined by DirecTV Group's DirecTV (then owned by GM Hughes Electronics), in
1994. At the time, DirecTV's introduction was the most successful consumer
electronics debut in American history. Although PrimeStar transitioned to a
digital system in 1994, it was ultimately unable to compete with DirecTV, which
required a smaller satellite dish and could deliver more programming. DirecTV
eventually purchased PrimeStar in 1999 and migrated all PrimeStar subscribers to
DirecTV equipment. In 2003, News Corporation purchased a controlling interest in
DirecTV's parent company, Hughes Electronics, and renamed the company DirecTV
Group.
In 1996, EchoStar's Dish Network went online in the United States and, as
DirecTV's primary competitor, achieved similar success. AlphaStar also launched
but soon went under. Astro was launched, using its direct broadcast satellite
system.
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 36 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. Sky Angel, although a separate and independent DBS
service, uses the satellites, transmission facilities, & receiving equipment
used for Dish Network through an agreement with Echostar. Because of this, Sky
Angel subscribers also have the option of subscribing to Dish Network's channels
as well.
In 2003, EchoStar attempted to purchase DirecTV, but the U.S. Department of
Justice denied the purchase based on anti-competitive concerns.
Free DBS services
Germany is likely the leader in free-to-air DBS, with approximately 40 analogue
and 100 digital channels broadcast from the SES Astra 1 position at 19.2E. These
are not marketed as a DBS service, but are received in approximately 12 million
homes, as well as in any home using the German commercial DBS system, Premiere.
The United Kingdom has approximately 90 free-to-air digital channels, for which
a promotional and marketing plan is being devised by the BBC and ITV, to be sold
as "Freesat". It is intended to provide a multi-channel service for areas which
cannot receive Freeview, and eventually replace their network of UHF repeaters
in these areas
India's national broadcaster, Doordarshan, promotes a free-to-air DBS package as
"DD Direct Plus", which is provided as in-fill for the country's terrestrial
transmission network.
While originally launched as backhaul for their digital terrestrial television
service, a large number of French channels are free-to-air on 5W, and have
recently been announced as being official in-fill for the DTT network.
In North America (USA, Canada and Mexico) there are over 80 FTA digital channels
available on Intelsat Americas 5, the majority of them are ethnic or religious.
Other popular FTA satellites include AMC-4, AMC-6, Galaxy 10R and SatMex 5. A
company called GloryStar promotes FTA religious broadcasters on IA-5 and AMC-4
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