The history the satellite dish can be traced back to the 1970s when there were no satellite TV providers unlike today and while satellite TV was in its infancy in 1976 HBO was the first station to provide its programming to cable companies by satellite TV transmission. This, of course, was before high definition and due to the genius and curiosity of one Stanford professor who built his receiver dish and was able to see the transmissions that HBO was sending the C-band dish was born.
This same professor tried to pay HBO for his service and the payment was rejected, after this, the professor published a how-to book on the C-band dish because by this time other companies were also beginning to transmit their programs to the cable companies and these signal were sent without encryption
The C-band dish was extremely large and was placed in the yard rather as it was too large to be placed elsewhere and at this time they were also extremely expensive. As time went on companies developed the technology to build the C-band dish and because of that, the prices dropped and during the ’80s and this was a one-time investment for television viewers to see this programming. Until cable companies and the channels transmitting by satellite transmission realized the consumer market was there for them and began encrypting the signal for those who did not pay the cable company for service. By approximately 1984 Congress passed the Cable Act, which allowed cable companies to use the encryption to make people viewing these channels to subscribe to cable.
The encryption that was in use could be cracked and by the ’90s the companies began using digital transmissions.
The satellite TV provider Dish Network began their satellite TV programming in March of 1996 and along with DirecTV, they found themselves in competition with cable television providers.
Today the Dish Network Company has grown and offers digital television programming and HDTV. They are not the digital satellite TV company of the past, they are now a provider to many dish TV customers. They offer many channels and programs in high definition instead of providing their channels to the cable companies.
All television programming has changed since the ’70s and ’80s or even the ’90s, one of these changes is the equipment. No longer is the C-band dish an eyesore in the yard, now the satellite TV dish is small and able to fit on the roof where it is not very noticeable and it transmits great programming in DTV. These channels and programs that are digital television are clean clear programming with no interference and if the programming is transmitted in HDTV it transmits a picture that brings the program into the room instead of having the feeling of watching a television screen.
Technology has come a long way since the ’70s and it continues to improve in satellite TV, digital and high definition transmission technology, gone are the days of the big dish and the days of depending on what cable television providers have to offer because digital satellite TV can offer more HDTV programming and different packages to subscribers to fit the viewers taste.
