Television receive-only (TVRO) is a term used chiefly in North America and South America to refer to the reception of satellite television from FSS-type satellites, generally on C-band analog; free-to-air and unconnected to a commercial DBS provider. TVRO was the main means of consumer satellite reception in the United States and Canada until the mid-1990s with the proliferation of encryption and the arrival of direct-broadcast satellite television services such as PrimeStar, USSB, Bell Satellite TV, DirecTV, Dish Network, Sky TV that transmit Ku signals. While these services are at least theoretically based on open standards (DVB-S, MPEG-2, MPEG-4), the majority of services are encrypted and require proprietary decoder hardware. TVRO systems relied on feeds being transmitted unencrypted and using open standards, which heavily contrasts to DBS systems in the region. The term is also used to refer to receiving digital television "backhaul" feeds from FSS-type satellites. Reception of free-to-air satellite signals, generally Ku band Digital Video Broadcasting, for home viewing is still common in Europe and India, although the TVRO nomenclature was never used there. Free-to-air satellite signals are also very common in the People's Republic of China, as many rural locations cannot receive cable television and solely rely on satellites to deliver television signals to individual homes.
"Big ugly dish" The term "BUD" (big ugly dish) is a colloquialism for C-Band satellite dishes used by TVRO systems. BUDs range from 4 to 16 feet in diameter, with the most popular large size being 10 feet. The name comes from their perception as an eyesore.
History
TVRO systems were originally marketed in the late 1970s. On October 18, 1979, the FCC began allowing people to have home satellite earth stations without a federal government license. The dishes were nearly 20 feet (6.1 m) in diameter, were remote controlled, and could only pick up HBO signals from one of two satellites. Originally, the dishes used for satellite TV reception were 12 to 16 feet in diameter and made of solid fiberglass with an embedded metal coating, with later models being 4 to 10 feet and made of wire mesh and solid steel or aluminum. Early dishes cost more than $5,000, and sometimes as much as $10,000. The wider the dish was, the better its ability to provide adequate channel reception. Programming sent from ground stations was relayed from 18 satellites in geostationary orbit located 22,300 miles above the Earth. The dish had to be pointed directly at the satellite, with nothing blocking the signal. Weaker signals required larger dishes. The dishes worked by receiving a low-power C-Band (3.7–4.2 GHz) frequency-modulated analog signal directly from the original distribution satellite – the same signal received by cable television headends. Because analog channels took up an entire transponder on the satellite, and each satellite had a fixed number of transponders, dishes were usually equipped with a modified polar mount and actuator to sweep the dish across the horizon to receive channels from multiple satellites. Switching between horizontal and vertical polarization was accomplished by a small electric servo motor that moved a probe inside the feedhorn throat at the command of the receiver (commonly called a "polarotor" setup). Higher-end receivers did this transparently, switching polarization and moving the dish automatically as the user changed channels. By Spring of 1984, 18 C-Band satellites were in use for United States domestic communications, owned by five different companies.
The retail price for satellite receivers soon dropped, with some dishes costing as little as $2,000 by mid-1984. Dishes pointing to one satellite were even cheaper. Once a user paid for a dish, it was possible to receive even premium movie channels, raw feeds of news broadcasts or television stations from other areas. People in areas without local broadcast stations, and people in areas without cable television, could obtain good-quality reception with no monthly fees. Two open questions existed about this practice: whether the Communications Act of 1934 applied as a case of "unauthorized reception" by TVRO consumers; and to what extent it was legal for a service provider to encrypt their signals in an effort to prevent its reception. The Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984 clarified all of these matters, making the following legal:
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
