Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

There are many different uses for satellite technology, and television broadcasting is only one of them. In fact, communications satellites are also used for maritime applications, intercontinental telephony, business systems, and broadcasting television programming. In television, satellite is the easiest way to transmit a large number of services and thus a wide range of choices across a wide region, thereby overcoming the need for the complex infrastructure of terrestrial transmitters that a terrestrial network needs to broadcast its signals throughout a country. By and large, satellite offers instant and almost total coverage within its footprint, giving it an advantage over both terrestrial and →  cable television . Limitations on the reception of terrestrial television were one of the motivations underlying the initial development of alternative delivery systems. Cable is disadvantaged in areas of lower population density where network construction costs are high in comparison to the number of homes passed ( Bunting & Chapman 1996 ). On the other hand, satellite television is limited by the number of homes under the satellite footprint, and further limited by the number of homes with receiving dishes. In fact, a signal carrying the television programs is beamed – from the “earth station” via a large dish (9 to 12 meters in diameter) – up to the satellite, where it is amplified ... log in or subscribe to read full text