saterlite.html -
noun (Lifestyle and Leisure) (Science and Technology) Short for satellite broadcasting or satellite television, the transmission of television programmes via an artificial satellite; a special television service using this technique and receivable by subscribers who have paid a fee and
own the appropriate satellite dish or other
antenna . Etymology: Formed by abbreviating satellite television; the satellite is the link in space between the broadcaster and the
subscriber , with signals being beamed up to it and the antennas or dishes so positioned
that they can receive the re-transmitted signal. History and Usage: Satellite television (at first known officially by the
more cumbersome name direct broadcasting by satellite) was
first tried experimentally in the late sixties, and the use of satellites for broadcasting became
commonplace during the following decade.
When , in the eighties, communications satellites were launched with the express purpose of providing a television service to compete with network television, the term satellite television and its abbreviated forms satellite TV and satellite
came to be applied specifically to these competing services, while direct broadcasting by satellite (
or simply direct broadcast) had to be used for the technique when employed by network stations. Satellite was introduced in the UK in the late eighties by two competing stations,
Sky TV and BSB, later merged as BSkyB. The unsightliness of the parabolic dishes used to receive satellite programming led to their
being banned by some local authorities and there were moves to
use cable (see
cable+television ) to 'pipe' the programmes from a central reception
point to individual homes in these areas. There are also several monthly magazines with a mix of technical information and features about the films and
other programmes on satellite and cable. Which? Sept. 1989, p.
444 While the dollarless majority
[in Poland] live in half-finished apartment blocks
[and] walk to queue in zloty shops...the wydeos live in ugly villas, drive to shop at Pewex and display satellite dishes in their garden. Correspondent Magazine 29 Oct. 1989, p. 37
