A Brief History Of Fta (free To Air)

In the beginning there was analog satellite reception which was slow, and was incapable of sending much at all. In the early 90′s in Asia and the Pacific Rim MPEG-2 was introduced to the market. MPEG-2 satellite reception was much faster and more reliable then analog could ever be. With capabilities of holding up to 10 different TV Stations per signal. This was a huge improvement in the satellite world. After having been first introduced in Asia it slowly gained popularity among “regular” or common people because of the enormous satellite dishes required to get your setup working. There were also not many channels being broadcasted per signal so it made it almost impossible to have many tv stations to watch because you would basically need to get a dish per channel.

Then in the mid 90′s some big satellite TV companies starting MPEG-2 and streaming hundreds of channels into smaller more compact satellite dishes making it much easier for consumers to get their own satellite tv. These companies began in Europe mostly and then moved into North America. After these companies were global there was a new invention. The Free to Air Satellite Receiver.

FTA receivers are satellite receivers, FTA means free-to-air, incase you didn’t already know. There are many different brands of FTA receiver such as: Coolsat, Viewsat, Pansat, Captiveworks, Sonicview, Fortech Star and many more. Get channels from all over the world! Watch your favorite sports,
weather, and movie channels, and much more. FTA satellite receivers are easy to install and set up. In a flash you can let yourself be pampered by free TV, custom made to your FTA needs and wants.

Free to air receivers can connect to basically any of the satellites in space which broadcast MPEG-2 signals. And with more and more FTA Satellites going up all the time you can expect it to just get bigger and bigger.

Jim Deagle – Specializes in FTA and Free to Air Satellite Receiver Testing.