Satellite Radio is the future of broadcasting

Satellite Radio, in short, can be described as commercial-free music, news, sports and talk shows. Many of the biggest players and events are now available from Sirius radio and XM radio like Howard Stern, Fred Schneider (the B52s), NFL, English Soccer, NBA, NASCAR, NHL, Major League Baseball, INDY, and the PGA.

Satellite radio began in 1992, when the S spectrum was allocated by the FCC to four companies. The two main ones, Sirius and XM paid a pretty penny (in fact almost $80 million dollars worth) to buy a license. Satellite-based radio began on May 15th, 2001 when XM Radio completed their satellite system. Sirius followed shortly when they launched in July, 2001. Since then, expanded products and competition has changed the radio landscape.

While automobile manufacturers started installing satellite radio in 2001 and 2002, most new vehicles come equipped with one now. XM has two satellites (called Rock and Roll) in parallel orbits to cover the mainland US market, while Sirius has three. Both have recently been awarded licenses for the Canadian market.

So what are the differences between the two providers?

XM has a flat $9.99 a month fee with no contracts to sign. They have the latest portable equipment. XM offers some of the best varieties of programming available today. They offer 68 commercial-free music channels; 32 channels of News, Sports, Talk & Entertainment; and 21 channels of instant Traffic & Weather in major metro areas. Here’s the latest information of channels:

15 channels of Rock music

11 News channels (Fox, CNN, ABC, CNBC, MSNBC, BBC, C-SPAN, Bloomberg)

11 Talk & Variety channels (Discovery, E!, Experts & advice, African American Talk, Christian Talk)

10 channels of Pop music & Top Hits

7 Country music choices

7 channels of Blues & Jazz music

7 Hip Hop and Urban music choices

6 different channels of music by the Decades (40′s through 90′s)

5 Sports channels (ESPN, Fox, Sporting News, NASCAR)

4 Dance music channels

4 World music choices

3 Christian music choices

3 Comedy entertainment channels (adult comedy, family comedy)

3 Classical music channels

2 Kids entertainment channels (Disney)

2 Latin music choices

Sirius offers a $12.95 per month fee and you can pre-pay for a full year for a discount (works out to $9.99 per month). They offer better sports coverage with play-by-play of the NBA, NHL, and NFL. Sirius has signed some great talent of celebrity DJs. Sirius offers 60 channels of music with no commercials, 50 channels of News, Sports, Talk and Entertainment; and 20 channels of 24/7 Traffic & Weather in major cities. Here’s how Sirius stack up with their channel line up:

16 Talk & Variety channels (Discovery, E!, Talk for Women, CourtTV, Air America, Gay/Lesbian, Body/Mind/Spirit Talk)

14 channels of Rock music

12 channels of Pop music & Top Hits

10 News channels (CNN, CNBC, Fox, NPR, PRI, C-SPAN, BCC, World Radio, Bloomberg)

9 Hip Hop and Urban music choices

7 Sports channels (ESPN, play-by-play channels)

6 Country music choices

6 Jazz music channels

5 Dance music channels

4 different channels of music by the Decades (50′s through 80′s)

3 Classical music channels

2 Christian music choices (Catholic)

2 channels of Blues & Reggae

2 Latin music choices

2 Comedy entertainment channels (regular and uncensored)

2 World music choices

1 Kids entertainment channels (Disney)

To read more on Satellite TV and Radio, please visit my site: Satellite TV and Radio :: Your #1 Source for Satellite Television and Satellite Radio.

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Satellite TV and Radio :: Bringing a New World of Digital to You
Satellite TV and Radio :: Your #1 Source for Satellite Television and Satellite Radio.

Written By: Dale L

Even if you watch your satellite television 5 hours a day, I bet you can’t tell what a satellite TV system really is.

Satellite television is TV broadcast delivered by way of orbiting communications satellites located 22,300 miles above the earth’s surface. Satellite TV system, like other communications relayed by satellite, starts with a transmitting satellite antenna located at an uplink facility. Uplink satellite dishes are directed toward the satellite that its signals will be transmitted to, and are very large, as much as 9 to 12 meters (30 to 40 feet) in diameter.

There are mainly two types of satellite TV systems: TVRO and DBS. TVRO system, aka Television Receive Only, is the first satellite system available for home satellite viewing system. While the DBS system, Direct Broadcast Satellite is available later. These two satellite systems work in different band (C-band and Ku-band) and their working system specifications are quite a different.

Television Receive Only (TVRO) systems

TVRO systems in United States are often referred as Big Dish TV, C-Band Satellite TV or BUD (Big Ugly Dish). It was the first satellite TV system being commercialized and brought into the U.S. families.

Viewing TVRO broadcast requires a big and movable dish – which is why it is well known as big dish TV. The TVRO dish’s diameter ranged from 3 to 6 feet. It works in C-Band with frequencies of around 4 GHz. As news companies normally transmit their materials to their headquarters using a C-Band satellite; and as many of these types of feeds are not scrambled, chances to unedited news are great. Besides with TVRO systems, you can also receive free channels and independent feeds from for instance news companies.

Ever wonder why do we need such a big dish to receive TVRO signals? It’s because of TVRO’s wave length of these frequencies is longer than in Ku-Band which requires a much smaller dish of about 18 inches. Ku-Band, which is used by DBS, is at 12 to 14 G Hertz.

Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) system

Satellite TV services were popular only after Direct Broadcast Satellite system is introduced. DBS is meant for everyone with a simple, low cost installation of the system. Small dish, maintenance-free, and stable signals receptions — all these makes the satellite TV system a good commercial product.

Satellite broadcast via DBS system is done in the Ku-Band. These satellites work on higher frequencies and can transmit higher power signals. This is why smaller dishes can be used to receive satellite signal for DBS systems.

As you might know, a small TV dish of 18 inches is already good enough to receive all satellite TV signals by Satellite companies. This makes it possible to have satellite TV from an apartment on the 10th floor, if you have a clear line of sight to the south. Once installed the dish needs no maintenance since it is aimed at just one satellite. Some dishes actually have 2 or more feeds, which makes it possible to receive the signals from more than 1 satellite.

Unfortunately, there are no free channels available on DBS satellites broadcast. DBS broadcasting are often owned and used by the satellite TV provider (for example, Dish Network and DirecTV) it self. Often the installation is for free as it really is very easy to do. The only thing that is needed is a bit of knowledge of where to find the satellite thus a qualified installer will find the satellite and point it to maximum reception within minutes.

Currently in United States, Dish Network and DirecTV are the major DBS systems provides. As satellite TV services are the latecomer in home TV broadcasting services, they are now fighting hard to win the market segments with extremely low prices. Free satellite TV systems, free DVR systems, free DVD players, free shipping, free installations, free HD upgrades, free home protection plans they give free things as much as possible! All you need to be to qualify the deals condition is you must commit on the satellite TV deals for one year and you must be a first-time customer. With extremely low start up cost, online satellite TV retailers are now offering some very lucrative offers. To review more about these online satellite TV retailers: http://www.satellitetvissue.com/FreeSatelliteTV/SatelliteTVDealers.htm and if you would like to compare Dish Network and DirecTV, this page is suggested: http://www.satellitetvissue.com/DirecTVvsDISH%20Network.htm

About The Author

Teddy LC.– experienced writter on consumer products reviews. Check out his latest satellite TV related website and get recommendations on DirecTV or Dish Network deals.

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Written By: Teddy LC