Satellite TV

Satellite Television in India dates back to January 1991 when Transnational Satellite Broadcasting debuted in India with reception of CNN (Cable News Network) covering the Persian Gulf War. The foremost among satellite channels in India was Star TV that initialized broadcast of serials like “The Bold and the Beautiful” and some MTV programs in India. This pioneered the revolution of Satellite broadcasting with local entrepreneurs entering the markets and erecting Dishes as satellite receivers and transmitting the signals via cable television.

Doordarshan was the only free to air satellite channel in India, with advent of Star TV and Zee TV, Sun TV and various other satellite channels, its market was majorly captured by the private channels for Satellite TV in India. Then came DD metro, the entertainment based channel by Doordarshan that became a rage in places that did not receive cable TV.

In India, Direct-to-home or DTH Satellite Television is a recent phenomenon. The key players in the market for Satellite TV in India include DishTV and Tata Sky . These dish satellite television are becoming increasingly popular due to the several problems cable television had been giving in large doses. The quality of signals, availability, pirated channels, and professionalism prevalent among Cable service networks and providers had become a nuisance. The Dish TV, Tata Sky and other such DTH service providers would provide an efficient solution to this problem.

The first satellite television signal was relayed from Europe to the Telstar satellite over North America in 1962. The first geosynchronous communication satellite,Syncom 2, was launched in 1963. The world’s first commercial communication satellite, called Intelsat I (nicknamed Early Bird), was launched into synchronous orbit on April 6, 1965. The first national network of satellite television, called Orbita, was created in Soviet Union in 1967, and was based on the principle of using the highly elliptical Molniya satellite for re-broadcasting and delivering of TV signal to ground downlink stations. The first domestic North American satellite to carry television wasCanada’s geostationary Anik 1, which was launched in 1972. ATS-6, the world’s first experimental educational and Direct Broadcast Satellite, was launched in 1974. The first Soviet geostationary satellite to carry Direct-To-Home television, called Ekran, was launched in 1976.