Free To Air Satellite Receiver systems provided a variety of niche programming for those seeking foreign language, ethnic, and religious programming. There is some traditional television programming, but FTA satellite TV does not replace DirecTV, Dish Network, or your Basic Cable TV service. To get an idea of the type of programming available, review Their FTA Programming Chart. For most current Free To Air TV information, Free To Air uses the international MPEG2 Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) standard. DVB Satellite TV offers a better image quality, for most channels, this results in the best non HD TV you will witness. Free To Air Satellite Receiver Systems use a dish larger then your basic DirecTV or Dish Network dish, but generally always under 1 meter in size.
There are several receivers’ available and motorized mounts that allow users to take advantage of all the programming from various satellites, although more dishes are fixed on one satellite. A motorized mount is powered through the similar coax that carries the satellite signal from the dish to the receiver. The device located at the front of the receiver is called a Low Noise Block (LNB). The LNB lowers the frequency from the satellite frequency of 12 Ghz to a frequency appropriate for transfer over a standard RG-6 coax cable. More LNBS only provide a single receiver connection, but there are LNBS with two and even four coax connections. This allows for up to four receivers to be connected to a single dish only. Free To Air has involved over the last few years to include Digital Video Recorder (DVR) FTA Receivers and Multi-Sat dishes for simultaneous reception of up to 16 satellite orbits. The more common FTA receiver manufacturers are Pansat, Fortec, Coolsat, and the DVR FTA receiver from DreamBox.
While mostly used for access to religious and ethnic programming, Free To Air can appeal to almost every one looking to expand their television viewing options. If you don’t see the programming you desire you may find your satellite programming available from Globe Cast World TV, which offers subscription based international programming.
There are over a dozen Free To Air receiver manufacturers and the bulk of their business for years has been for the overseas and Europe markets. The DVB/MPEG2 format has been around for years and a better standard for satellite distribution. There are over 3000 free-to-air TV and radio channels available through out the world. With the correct size of dish their selection of FTA receivers will allow you to enjoy that programming selection. Many of these channels are foreign language channels from around the world. There are approximately 100 satellites that are available from around the world and available in North America. Various people of different nationalities want to listen or watch TV from their old homeland. Several ethnic cultures enjoy being connected with their heritage and that is why a free-to-air satellite receiver has been popular for years.