Satellite TV Installation and Services

In a period of just over 50 years, the satellite industry has evolved from one man's idea to its current status as a major home entertainment provider and a pivotal information delivery technology. The inception and growth of the satellite industry was made possible by a variety of factors, from major technological developments such as the advent of the space program, advances in digital technology and successive generations of more powerful hardware, to the efforts of a select group of pioneering individuals.

The industry's first 30 years, from 1945 to 1975, established the roots of satellite broadcasting. From the 1945 vision of Arthur C. Clarke, who first suggested the concepts for a worldwide satellite communications system, through the first Anik and Westar satellite launches, the framework for satellite broadcasting was initiated.

Satellite television is television delivered by way of orbiting communications satellites located 37,000 km (22,300 miles) above the earth's surface. The first satellite television signal was relayed from Europe to the Telstar satellite over North America in 1962. The first domestic North American satellite to carry television was Canada's Anik 1, which was launched in 1973.

The years 1976 to 1980 saw the beginnings of the satellite TV industry, with the first signals broadcast from HBO (Home Box Office), TBS (Turner Broadcasting System) and CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network, later The Family Channel), the establishment of SPACE, the Society for Private and Commercial Earth Stations (the Satellite Television Industry Association, Inc.) and COMSAT/Satellite Television Corporation's request to construct and operate a Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) system.

Satellite TV Installation and Services