Human imagination has the power to visualize the future, seek visionary solutions to problems, guide people to inventions that change the face of the earth, and the fate of humankind. Inventions and discoveries for centuries, motivated by inspiring ideas of a few, including the heretic science fiction stories of Jules Verne, H.G. Wells and others, have helped us to reach this stage of modern technology.
Such has been the revelation of Arthur C. Clarke in his classic 'Extraterrestrial Relays', published in 1945, in which he wrote about having satellites in special orbits 22,300 miles above the equator, based on calculations done in 1928 by the astronautics pioneer Herman Potocnik Noordung, to facilitate global communication. The idea sparked and broke like fire, with the Russians coming up with the world's first satellite, Sputnik in 1957, closely followed by the Americans in early 1958.
Modest Beginning of Satellite TV
The first Satellite TV transmission across the Atlantic was in 1962, from the Telstar satellite launched by NASA. This was the first little step taken in preparation for the giant leap. Soon Arthur's vision of geosynchronous communication satellite came true, with the launch of Syncom 2 by NASA in 1963, delivering low quality TV transmission, which improved with NASA's Relay 1 in late 1963. This was credited with the first television program broadcast from the United States to Japan and Europe, on the life of John F. Kennedy after his assassination. The first geostationary communication satellite was Syncom 3, launched in 1964, which worked in tandem with Relay 1 to broadcast the Summer Olympics from Tokyo to the United States and Europe. Intelsat I, the world's first commercial communication satellite, is known for facilitating the first live global Satellite television broadcast in 1967 of 'Our World', a combined effort of 14 countries.
Mature Satellite TV Developments
Having tried and tasted the fruits of success, leading countries of the world hastened their research and development of Satellite television. The Russians led by creating Orbita in 1967, the nationwide network of Satellite television by using Molniya satellites. Canadians were the first to have national domestic satellites to carry television in 1972. It was in 1974 that NASA launched ATS-6, in collaboration with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), to experiment, study, and practically demonstrate the next step in the development of satellite television - the Direct-To-Home (DTH) television broadcasting. The Russians, with the launch of Ekran, started the first such national service in 1976.
The Early American Satellite TV Story
Benefiting from NASA's research and experimental initiatives of the 60s, there was a rush of further developments in the late 70s by many private companies. RCA Americom built and got its own communications satellite, Satcom 1, launched in 1975, which helped HBO and other cable TV channels like Superstation TBS and CBN, establish themselves, apart from helping the national television networks like ABC, CBS, and NBC, to distribute their programming among the local affiliate stations.
Home Box Office (HBO), which had leased a transponder on the satellite, became the first programmer to transmit programming signals to the cable TV providers, and that really encouraged the cable TV industry. In 1977, the first satellite-delivered basic cable service, Christian Broadcasting Network, or the CBN Cable Network started functioning, which was followed by Turner Broadcasting System (TBS).
Direct To Home Beginnings
The Birth of American Direct To Home (DTH) Satellite System for consumers took place in 1976, in the garage of H. Taylor Howard, who had been a NASA scientist and Professor at Stanford University. His experiments on receiving video transmissions from communications satellites, by using a big military radar dish and a self-made satellite receiver, resulted in picking up programming signals meant for the cable TV service providers, sent by the American as well as Russian communication satellites. He later tried to pay for the HBO programming he had been enjoying, though to his surprise the money was returned stating that they do not deal with individuals but only with cable companies. This incident inspired Taylor to write a "How to" guide about building of amateur satellite system, and later start a company for manufacturing the parts of his system.
Another development in 1975 was by the BBC transmitter engineer Stephan Birkill, who successfully experimented with his equipment, and received the NASA-ISRO Satellite Instructional Television transmission at his home in UK, which was originally meant for India. He also monitored the C-Band Russian TV and telecoms satellites with success.
The Big Dish and Free Satellite TV Era
The credit for the first launch of Television broadcast through satellite goes to the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), with its Public Television Satellite Service in 1978. There was a surge of interest in free-to-air Television Receive Only (TVRO) satellite technology, also known as the Big Ugly Dish (BUD) system. With many such players in the market, the government passed the Satellite Home Viewers Act, which allowed using their own home satellite system consisting of C-band equipment and a big signal-receiving dish. This was a revolution in itself, as the rural area, earlier devoid of cable TV, now got a chance to view good, quality television broadcast consisting of many channels, with just a one time investment and no monthly fees.
The Beginning of Pay Satellite TV
With increased objections from the Pay TV stations against the free use of their programming channels, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) founded the Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) in 1980, which required people to have a black box or DTH satellite receiver, purchased from the broadcaster to receive the scrambled programming signals.
Cable TV was still preferred in those times, as the big satellite dishes were cumbersome to install and the satellite TV system was very costly. With time and technological developments, the size of the dish kept reducing and the system prices dropped dramatically.
The satellite and cable TV industry still faced the illegal capturing and piracy of programming signals that compelled the U.S. Congress to pass the Cable Act in 1984, which declared the stealing of satellite signals as illegal, and allowed the encryption of signals.
Modern Stage of American Satellite TV
The early 90s saw the use of digital encryption technology that completely secured the programming signals, and saw the entry of many Satellite TV providers who were willing to act as brokers to all programming channels and build a strong subscriber base. Primestar was the first Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) system that started in 1991, followed by Hughes's DIRECTV Satellite System in 1994. EchoStar's Dish Network changed the Satellite TV market in 1996 by introducing lower rates and spurring tough competition.
Today only two major satellite service providers have stood the test of time and strength - DISH Network and DIRECTV. The Satellite TV industry has grown tremendously at a fast rate, with new technological developments enhancing its features, making it compact, integrating it with telecommunications, networking, music, entertainment, and other industries. It is now only a matter of imagination to see where satellite TV leads us in the future.
