Direct-to-home television

Direct-broadcast satellite television (DBSTV) also known as Direct-to-home television (DTHTV) is a type of communications satellites which usually broadcasts satellite television signals for home reception using dish antennas, satellite ground stations transmit the signals.

All the major services including DirecTV, Dish Network, Bell TV, Shaw Direct, and Sky use direct-broadcast satellites. Signals are transmitted using K_u band and are completely digital which means they have high picture and stereo sound quality.

Prior to the arrival of DBS services in the early to mid-1990s signals were sent from fixed service satellites on the C-band analog and received with television receive-only systems, which had more disadvantages including the requirement of large satellite dishes.

In Europe, prior to the launch of Astra 1A in 1988, the term DBS was commonly used to describe the nationally commissioned satellites planned and launched to provide television broadcasts to the home within several European countries (such as BSB in the United Kingdom and TV-Sat in Germany). These services were to use the D-Mac and D2-Mac format and BSS frequencies with circular polarization from orbital positions allocated to each country. Before these DBS satellites, home satellite television in Europe was limited to a few channels, really intended for cable distribution, and requiring dishes typically of 1.7 m.

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