While many homes have television these days things are not as simple as getting an aerial fitted and plugging in your box. One thing you need to think about how to get your television signal delivered.
There are many different ways of receiving your television signal. As well as traditional terrestrial television broadcast to aerials (which is becoming less common), there is cable television, satellite television, and via the internet. Internet is a fairly new phenomenon.
Cable television is delivered via underground coaxial cables to the home. It requires a decoder or cable box, such as Eurovox, and cables may carry telephone, FM radio and broadband internet.
Satellite television is broadcast from communication satellites to a satellite receiver affixed to the home, to a set-top box and thus to the television.
Satellite television in the UK and many other areas of the world tends to be the domain of Sky – in the UK this is British Sky Broadcasting. This is a subscriber service. In recent years, however, an alternative free service known as FTA (free to air), has become available, which requires only purchase of the set-top box, such as the Dreambox.
Other subscriber providers (for satellite or cable) include Virgin Media in the UK, New Zealand’s TelstraClear, and Direct TV in the US.
There is plenty of help available at sites such as Satellite help and ezine articles, and many other websites.
Tags: cable tv, satellite tv, satellite vs cable