A Guide to Satellite TV

Satellite Television has been around for over twenty years, yet has never become as popular as today. It is gaining in popularity at quite a fast pace, mainly because of logistics, and its ability to overcome the limitations of competing technologies - cable television. Although satellite signals and regular cable tv signals are comparatively close, satellite television has some unique advantages. The first being access anywhere. Whether you have a cottage, or live in a remote location, satellite tv can be accessed anywhere on the planet. To learn more about satellite tv, visit
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The main limitations of satellite tv are;
You must have a line of sight to the satellite in orbit. If you reside in a remote area with trees, or any type of forest, then you must have a clean line of sight to the horizon. This may require some pruning of trees, or mounting the satellite dish higher up from the ground.

Weather conditions can also temporarily impact your reception, and cause signal loss. There is not much that can be done about this, however the average storm passes fairly quickly, and should cause no more tan a few minutes of signal loss annually.

Cable television requires underground cable lines to be run and connected to a main hub somewhere down line. This may be hundreds, or thousands of kilometers away. This not as cost effective and in many cases will not be available for decades - depending on your location. By the time cable tv lines are run, newer technologies will make cable tv obsolete anyway.

On the most generic level, satellite television consists of two components; a satellite dish, and a satellite receiver box. Satellite dishes are typically 18 inches to 30 inches in diameter, and are quite small in comparison with earlier satellite dishes, some of which exceeded 8 feet in diameter.

Satellite receivers are set top boxes that resemble television converter and digital cable terminal boxes. The technology behind them is basic, however the means to deliver satellite signals and to or protect them is quite extensive.

Satellite television can be somewhat confusing to many, as it is difficult to understand how information is relayed and retrieved. One thing to remember is that you cannot transmit to the satellite, there is absolutely no way for you to send any data to the satellite, unless you have a transmitter. These exist, and are very common for satellite Internet based systems, however unless you have purchased this equipment, you are using a satellite receiver only.

Satellite signals consist of many different types of information. The first is the actual content, or television channels. Next is data, such as programming guides, and then finally, information such as serial numbers, anti hacking codes and data to control access to the signals themselves. Most, if not al channels are subscription based. These are protected, and encrypted to prevent free access. Satellite signals have the ability to revive a damaged receiver, and to deactivate functioning receivers. The service provider can enable and disable your receiver, your account, and the channels you have subscribed to. All done using the data streams sent to your receiver. If you purchase pay-tv, or special programming your receiver has no way to relay those purchases, so a telephone line is required. You receiver accesses the telephone line to upload your purchase information, which is subsequently added to your monthly invoice.

Satellite receivers come in two common types, carded and cardless. Carded receivers have a small slot to facilitate a credit card sized access card. This card contains your account information, and your subscription details. Every channel on a satellite tv system is accesses using a subscription. This is created when you purchase the receiver and is written to the access card. The access card itself contains a small microchip that holds the subscription information. The card cannot be modified without special equipment.

The access card and your receiver both have unique serial numbers and these are married together upon your initial activation. The satellite tv service provider performs these tasks for you when your account is created. The card and receiver will not work apart from each other.

The second type of satellite receiver is a cardless system, where by the service provider handles all account activities, subscriptions and activation to an onboard access chip. The same as the access card, however the chip itself is contained within the satellite receiver.

A third option, although legally questionable is gray market equipment. This then breaks down into several categories.
- modifying your receiver, and the access card with electronic equipment, and software
- bypassing security protocols to "de-scramble" the tv signals
- using an emulator to pretend it is an access card, which electronically interfaces with your receiver
- modifying a microchip inside your receiver to bypass security
- using access card clone technologies to emulate an access card
- 3rd party satellite receivers (fta - free-to-air)

Free to air receivers are a concept that deserves an entire subsection, however, the basics are as follows. Satellite signals are not always encrypted, and some channels are designed to be free. Many others are not. FTA receivers are designed to access these free channels, however with current technologies, they are being used to access subscription channels. This is questionable - legally. Some argue, that they have the right to access any signal being sent over their property. Others say that that is not justification for stealing satellite tv signals. Each country has different laws, so there are no steadfast rules.

FTA receivers bypass the security and encryption protocols using modified chips and flash memory files. You routinely replace or update the flash memory programming within your receiver to access the programming. This is done on a routine basis, and sometimes can be done several times a day. This is the result of the service providers changing the security keys required to unlock the encrypted signals. FTA satellite receivers are fully programmable, thus making it easier to change the keys. This coupled with millions of individuals all working towards decrypting new codes, makes is a popular alternative to a subscription based service. For the most part this is illegal.

Required Equipment

Essentially, the concept of satellite tv is as follows:
- You have a satellite dish installed and aimed at the correct satellite (either professionally) or do it yourself.
- A good line of sight for year round viewing (accounting for leaves and vegetation growth in the summer)
- a subscription to a service provider (not essential with a FTA receiver)
- satellite receiver box (fta, Bell Expressvu, Direct TV, Dish Network, Starchoice)

If you opt for the fta receiver route, there are good brands, and clones. Viewsat and Pansat are top brands, while fortec and ariza are good clones. These require a pc, and a connection to the internet. Flash rom files, and new keys are manually updated either by a serial port cable, connected to the pc and fta receiver, or using a flash memory stick, like a usb memory stick.

Standard television has evolved into high definition signals, and set top boxes also, with integrated personal video recorders. Satellite television also offers these same features.
Satellite receivers now come with high definition capabilities and personal video recorders built in.

The FTA market is especially appealing as current fta receivers can be easily upgraded to increase recording times by the simple swap of a hard drive.