I was wondering if there are any free, unscrambled satellite signals that are available. Also, I’d love to hook up to a European satellite to receive local language programming. Short of paying Dish Network (which I don’t have) a fee for each language, does anyone know of any way that this can be accomplished? I don’t mind paying for a legal converter
I believe there may be some free or very low cost christian based sat TV providers. Also the old system IIRC was called CBAN or C-BAN which was the olde time free Sat TV option which may still be accessible.
In Europe there are about twenty or so satellite slots visible. Many have free to air channels and others use various encryption schemes.
However whether you can recieve the channel depends on whether you are within the footprint of the satellite signal. These are rather like spotlights shining down and the further you are from the centre of the footprint, the bigger your recieving dish has to be to be able to hear the signal. You many not even be able to see the satellite at all if you are far to the east or the west, which is probably the case if you are the other side of the Atlantic. Your choice then reduces down to satellite services you can see that carry syndicated content.
However, just like with radio, there is always the wonderful world of proxies and videostreams over the Internet.
It is C-Band, and has gone digital, which in encrypted. There may be some free analog signals still around. I haven’t had access to my dish for years.
The old big dishes that used to dot the countryside were for the C-Band satellites. My family moved to a rural subdivision without cable service in 1991 and got one. Ku-band, the little dishes that are ubiquitous today, was just starting up. We didn’t live there long, but I do remember watching the raw feed of Monday Night Football games. I don’t recall if the Sunday games were all broadcasted in the clear at the time, but I think they were. Wikipedia tells me NFL Sunday Ticket started with the 1994 season, so it wasn’t long before the NFL locked that down.
The encryption/block on the Playboy or Spice Network failed on a couple of notable occasions. It was a nightly ritual if I was up after my parents were asleep to check if there was a free porn jackpot going on.
Living in Wisconsin, all the satellites our dish could “see” were North American ones. Not sure if East Coasters have a view to the broadcasting satellites over Europe.