FTA (Free To Air) Satellite TV - Not just for Europe and Asia

[Marc]

I don't know about folks in the US, but I know Free To Air satellite TV is common around the world. But - It's becoming more common in the US.

I bought a 36" Fortec dish, an SG2100 rotor and a Pansat 2500A about 2 years ago. I just replaced my Pansat with a Coolsat 5000 Platinum. It's a pretty nice receiver.

Anyone here have a dish and ird (in the US or anywhere around the world) for unencrypted broadcasts?

[Al Dyer]

Marc,

I must still be stuck in my cave, I've never heard of FTA. Is it shere you gertraight from the satellite by bypassing the the cable company??

Al...

[Marc]

I assume you mean the satellite TV companies - Technically, yes. I'll go into it more tomorrow. I'm up to my ears in getting these user records corrected today.

[Bulksupplier]

Hi,
I'm an expat Brit living & working in Holland. I have a digital satellite system which enables me to pick up UK FTA transmissions - all BBC Channels (including regional) and all ITV. They are carried on the BSkyB (Astra) satellite and not intended for reception outside the UK, but the satellite footprint extends over most of Europe. FTA is growing in competion with set-top digital receivers (digital TV is transmitted alongside analogue) and cable.
The complete system only cost Euro199 ($238)
The UK government wants to switch off analogue completely in a few years time, and plans to sell off the frequencies. They have therefore mandated the satellite company to provide the analogue channels 'free to air'. Some other channels are available 'free to view' - you just have to buy a one-off decoder card, no subscription.
The only drawback as far as I can see is you need a receiver per TV - so if you want TV in bedrooms, kitchen etc it gets expensive. For this reason I still pay for the Dutch cable TV, which also carries BBC1 and BBC2 alongside CNN, National Geographic, Discovery, MTV etc.
Also one of the reasons the Dutch are such good English speakers is that they show TV programmes in their original language with dutch subtitles. Most of these are from the USA or UK. Dutch kids are usually fluent in English before they are 11 years old through watching TV!

[Marc]

I have DishNetwork. I subscribe to the 'Top 180'. But I found that there are a lot of FTA channels and, as much as a hobby as anything else, I got into FTA.

The limitations mentioned in the above post are real, such as needing an 'ird' (receiver) for each TV. It also gets more complicated in that different satellites have different locations. I put up a 36" dish on a rotor and only have 1 TV hooked up. But I live alone and I only have 1 TV that I watch. I've come to enjoy getting the 'extra' channels and with a linear LNB I get pretty much everything other than analogue transmissions (almost all of which require a BUG (big ugly dish).

Al - On most FTA receivers that are out today it is *possible* to get Dish Network and BEV (Canada) channels, but that is with illegal binary files you have to load on the receiver. These bins are pretty good now, but again - They are illegal just as 'pirate' cards are with DirectTV. And - Things happen. What I mean is there are times that the bin makers fail to keep up with changes and people expecting free scrambled channels (such as with Dish Network) end up with no TV for a while.

Due to the nature of this forum, I prefer we NOT get into discussions about the illegal aspects.

[Al Dyer]

Thanks for the education Marc. I get bombarded with offers to go dish but need to know what I'm getting into if I do switch.

Al...

[tomvehoski]

Marc,

What kind of programming can you get free, and legal? Is it continuous broadcast of cable networks, or more like searching for "rented time" for individual events on satellites that are not encrypted?

[Marc]

You need a dish minimum of about 36" (what I have) on a rotor to get them all.

Here are a few.

A6 C
3960 V 9997 4:2:2
World Feed

G11 KU
12085 V 6620 4:2:0
BSkyB Feed

SBS6 KU
11833 V 13020 4:2:2
World Feed

PAS 3R C
3919 V 5632 4:2:0
World Feed

G11 KU
11953 V 3979 4:2:0
ABC feed w/commercials

Here is a good Listing of Free TV stations in the US.

Here is a handy overview: FTA MPEG2 channel guide.pdf


The superbowl was on several wildfeeds, BTW:
11965V 3979 Super Bowl P8
11970V 3979 Super Bowl P9
11975V 3979 Super Bowl P10
11980V 3979 Super Bowl P11
12005V 3979 Super Bowl P1
12015V 3979 Super Bowl P3
12020V 3979 Super Bowl P4
12025V 3979 Super Bowl P5
12030V 3979 Super Bowl P6