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Free-to-air (FTA) television (TV) and radio broadcasts are sent unencrypted and may be received via any suitable receiver: Free-to-view (FTV) is, generally, available without subscription but is digitally encrypted and may be restricted geographically. Neither of these is pay-TV, which is an encrypted subscription (or pay-per-view) service. FTA is sometimes delivered by satellite television, but in various parts of the world free-to-air television channels are broadcast unencrypted on UHF or VHF bands. Free-to-air is often used for international broadcasting, making it something of a video equivalent to shortwave radio. Most authorized FTA retailers list free to air channel guides and content available in North America for free to air use. There are a number of competing systems in use, with early adopters having used C-band satellite dishes of several feet in diameter to receive signals which were originally analogue microwaves, and then digital microwave using the 3.9-4.2 GHz band. Today, in the 11.7-12.2 GHz Ku band, which enables the use of under one-meter dishes, with most often the DVB-S standard, FTA can be used from apartment balconies. The most common North American sources for free-to-air DVB satellite television are:
Most of these signals are carried by US satellites. There is little or no free Canadian DVB-S content available to users of medium-size dishes as much of the available Ku-band satellite bandwidth is occupied by pay-TV operators Shaw Direct and Bell TV, although the large style dish (over 3 feet/90cm) does have a few choices. FTA signals may be scattered across multiple satellites, requiring a motor or multiple LNBs to receive everything. The largest groups of end-users for Ku-band free-to-air signals were initially the ethnic-language communities, as often free ethnic-language programming would be sponsored by Multilingual American Communities and their broadcasters. Depending on language and origin of the individual signals, North American ethnic-language TV is a mix of pay-TV, free-to-air and DBS operations. Today, many American broadcasters send a multitude of programming channels in many languages, spanning many new channels, so they can get National support, which ultimately leads to carriage by cable systems, to additionally support the high costs of broadcasting signals in this way. Nonetheless, free-to-air satellite TV is a viable addition to any home video system, not only for the reception of specialized content but also for use in locations where terrestrial ATSC over-the-air reception is incomplete and additional channels are desired. Any Questions EMAIL US |
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