Free-to-air
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Free-to-air (FTA) is a term used to describe television (TV) and radio broadcasts which are broadcast unencrypted and may therefore be picked up via any suitable receiver. The term should not be confused with free-to-view (FTV) which describes TV which is available without subscription but which is encoded and may therefore be restricted geographically. Neither of these options can be described as pay-TV, however, which describes a subscription (or pay-per-view) service which is encrypted. The term usually refers to delivery by satellite television, but in various parts of the world where encrypted digital terrestrial television channels exist, broadcast on UHF or VHF bands, it can also be applied to those systems.
Although these channels are described as free the viewer does in fact pay for them. Some are paid directly by payment of a licence fee (as in the case of the BBC) or voluntary donation (in the case of educational broadcasters like PBS), others indirectly by paying for consumer products and services where part of the cost goes toward television advertising and sponsorship.
Free-to-air is often used for international broadcasting. It can be described as television's equivalent of shortwave radio.
Australia
Australia's main television services, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) are both free-to-air on digital satellite from Optus B1. The SBS and ABC channels also have free-to-air high definition services. Additionally, the private Seven Network is carried FTA on the same satellite. These are mostly intended for backhaul to digital terrestrial television transmitters, but are transmitted using methods that allow any consumers to view them.India / Pakistan
Around 33 FTA television channels are broadcast from three transponders on the NSS-6 satellite covering India, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and parts of Afganistan, China, and Myanmar. The channels are marketed by Doordarshan, India's national broadcaster as "DD Direct +", although other channels such as BBC World and Zee Music are also provided.Europe
In contrast to the United States, European countries have a tradition of most television services being free to air. Germany, in particular, receives in excess of 100 digital TV channels free to air, including MTV (which remains encrypted for much of Europe). Approximately half of the television channels on SES Astra 1 (19.2E) and 2 (28.2E), and Eutelsat Hotbird (13E) are free to air.In general, all satellite radio in Europe is free to air, but the more conventional broadcast systems in use mean that XM and Sirius style in-car reception is not possible.
A number of European channels which would likely be free-to-air, including many countries national terrestrial broadcasters, do not do so for copyright reasons - rights to purchase shows to show free-to-air are often higher in price than for encrypted broadcasts. However, these channels usually provide a scheme to offer free, but encrypted, viewing with free-to-view broadcasts. The UK's Channel 4 and Channel 5, certain programming on Italy's RAI, and the majority of Dutch channels are covered by such systems.
New Zealand
The national networks, Television New Zealand 1 and 2, are both free-to-air on Optus B1. The planned digital FreeView will also be free-to-air.North America
There are a number of competing systems in use, with early adopters having used C-band satellite dishes of several feet in diameter to receive signals which were originally analogue FM, later digital using the Motorola-proprietary Digicipher II system or later still going to Ku-band and under one-metre dishes with most often the international DVB standard.The most common North American sources for free-to-air DVB satellite television are:
- Ethnic-language broadcasters such as Globecast World TV on Intelsat America 5 (97°W)
- Christian broadcasters promoted by Glorystar Satellite Systems TV on Intelsat America 5 (97°W)
- Individual local stations of major US terrestrial TV networks, such as the Equity Broadcasting stations on Galaxy 10R (123°W)
- Public educational broadcasters including PBS on AMC3 (87°W)
The largest groups of end-users for Ku-band free-to-air signals were initially the ethnic-language communities, as often free ethnic-language programming would be sponsored by foreign governments or broadcasters. Depending on language and origin of the individual signals, North American ethnic-language TV is a mix of pay-TV, free-to-air and DBS operations.
Nonetheless, free-to-air satellite TV is a viable alternative for use in locations where terrestrial over-the-air reception is poor. Digital terrestrial signals, where available, most often tend to be low-power and therefore coverage outside major cities depends largely on analogue terrestrial reception, subscription TV or satellite TV.
Beginning in late 2003 the encryption system used on Bell Expressvu's Canadian satellite system and EchoStar/Dish Network's American system were comprimised in a fashion that permitted users of free to air receivers to receive these commercial broadcasts, including premium pay per view and pornography content, without payment to the service provider simply by downloading a binary file from various internet web pages or IRC channels and re-programming their free to air receivers. This has resulted in a "cat and mouse" game between the service providers and those responsible for the illegal binary files as the service providers attempt to turn off the unauthorized free to air reception through the use of ECMs, or Electronic Counter Measures, embedded in the satellite signals, aimed at defeating the unauthorized reception of their signals. These attempts have met with only limited success resulting in satellite piracy becoming a major concern to these service providers.
See also
External links
- [Free to air TV channels]
- [Free to air radio stations]
- [FTA Firmware, Tools and Software]
- [Free to air channel list in North America]
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