📡 Satellite dishes: Still in our orbit

Give me more channels Satellite dishes are a building’s favorite ornament. To many, they’re tools that open up a world of entertainment. Movies, sports, and news—you name it, and typically satellites can beam it, often at rates cheaper than cable TV and with better picture quality. The process is simple: A dish picks up signals from brethren in orbit, and a receiver connected to it decodes the desired television channel for viewing. It’s a system that’s handy for people in remote areas where there’s poor or no terrestrial or cable television. To some though, satellite dishes are an eyesore that should be removed. There’s even a term for this: “dish blight.” Plus, cable and streaming are replacing satellite television faster in the West. But in the rest of the world, dishes are still basking in glory. Let’s transmit some facts. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( [Quartz Weekly Obsession] Satellite dishes March 09, 2022 Give me more channels --------------------------------------------------------------- Satellite dishes are a building’s favorite ornament. To many, they’re tools that open up a world of entertainment. Movies, sports, and news—you name it, and typically satellites can beam it, often at rates cheaper than cable TV and with better picture quality. The process is simple: A dish picks up signals from brethren in orbit, and a receiver connected to it decodes the desired television channel for viewing. It’s a system that’s handy for people in remote areas where there’s poor or no terrestrial or cable television. To some though, satellite dishes are an eyesore that should be removed. There’s even a term for this: “dish blight.” Plus, cable and streaming are replacing satellite television faster in the West. But in the rest of the world, dishes are still basking in glory. Let’s transmit some facts. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( By the digits [$36,500:]( Price of the first home satellite dish antenna sold by the then-hyphenated Neiman-Marcus in 1979 [0:]( Number of Neiman-Marcus dishes sold [About $250:]( Cost of a satellite dish antenna today [10:]( Years satellite dishes last on average[177 million:]( Number of homes with direct-to-home satellite dishes globally in 2008 [16 ft (5 m):]( Length in diameter of the first home satellite dish, made in 1976 by Stanford University professor and NASA scientist Taylor Howard [43-80 cm (18-31 inches):]( Diameter of modern satellite dishes for home TV use Francois Lenoir/Reuters Explain it like I’m 5! How does a satellite dish work? --------------------------------------------------------------- Earth is round. Radio signals travel in a straight path. This limits the range of any signal being broadcast—go too far and good luck trying to catch the game or the 10:00 news. Satellite television addresses this problem by using a giant satellite dish to [send signals from an Earth-based]( broadcast center to an orbiting satellite. The satellite receives the station’s signals and rebroadcasts them to Earth. Back on the ground, a satellite dish pointed to the sky picks up the signal from the orbit satellite. The parabolic shape of the dish reflects the signals to the dish’s focal point, where a waveguide gathers them and transmits them to a receiver such as a decoder or set-top box connected to a TV. Early users of satellite dishes freely accessed TV channels. Consumers can still do this, but with the emergence of direct-broadcast satellite providers, which offer paid programming with premium content, many opt to subscribe to them instead. Giphy Pop quiz What's the part that collects radio waves and converts them to a signal? WaveMicrowaveParabolaLow-noise block downconverter Correct. It doesn't really roll off the tongue, does it? Incorrect. If your inbox doesn’t support this quiz, find the solution at bottom of email. The way we 📺 now From satellite to streaming --------------------------------------------------------------- The way people watch television has changed over time. Initially, there was terrestrial television, whereby television signals were transmitted by radio waves from the terrestrial (or Earth-based) transmitter of a television station to a television receiver with an antenna. This traditional broadcast method still exists in some parts of the world. Cable television, with which TVs got their signals through coaxial cables, emerged in the 1940s, followed by satellite television in the 1960s. The age-old [cable versus satellite]( debate was rendered nearly moot when streaming emerged, [marking a major shift]( in how people consume content. Fun fact! In 2005, Clark, Texas changed its name to Dish, Texas after [entering a commercial agreement]( with the satellite television company Dish Network. All residents received a free basic television service of about 200 channels, installation, and equipment such as a digital video recorder from Dish Network. Brief history [1945:]( British science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke proposes a worldwide communications system that would function by means of three satellites equally spaced in the Earth’s orbit. [Early 1950s:]( John Pierce, an American science fiction writer and engineer with Bell Telephone Laboratories—now known as Bell Labs—makes calculations for sending microwave signals from one part of the world to another using communications satellites. [1967:]( The USSR institutes the world’s first multi-station satellite television distribution system. [1976:]( Home Box Office starts satellite delivery of programming to cable operators. [1979:]( The US Federal Communications Commission allows the use of home satellite Earth stations without a federal license. [Early 1980s:]( Satellite dishes made of wire mesh are released, making them smaller and more affordable. [1988:]( Luxembourg’s Astra 1A satellite begins transmitting analog television signals on the Ku band for Europe, allowing smaller dishes of 90 cm (35 inches) to be used reliably. [Early 1990s:]( Four American cable companies start Primestar, a broadcasting company using medium-power satellites. [1995:]( MultiChoice, a South African company, launches DStv, a direct-broadcast satellite television service for Africa. [1996:]( EchoStar introduces the Dish Network, allowing dishes as small as 51 cm (20 inches) to be used, even on vehicles. [2015:]( AT&T and DirecTV merge to become the largest pay-TV company in the US. Reuters/Petr Josek Million-dollar question How do you solve dish blight? --------------------------------------------------------------- Globally, millions of satellite dishes lie on house rooftops and others are attached on the sides of buildings—installed but abandoned as consumers move to cable and internet for their TV, but don’t bother to take down the dish. Some authorities are taking action. In the US in 2001, Philadelphia issued an ordinance restricting satellite dishes in the city, but the FCC [invalidated the order in 2018](, saying it infringes on individual rights. And In 2016, the Easton City Council in Pennsylvania [passed a resolution]( requiring the removal of television satellite dishes 30 days after the service is disconnected. Quotable “Most of these satellite channels not only weaken the foundation of families but also cause disruptions in children’s education and children who are under the influence of satellite have improper behavior.” —[General Mohammad Reza Naghdi](, the head of Iran’s Basij militia in 2016, who oversaw the destruction of 100,000 satellite dishes Take me down this 🐰 hole! Satellite dishes are so good at connecting one part of the world to media from another that some repressive governments have banned them. 🇮🇷 Satellite dishes are illegal in Iran, where many citizens use them to access Western and other foreign programming. For years, authorities in the country have [cracked down on their use]( by searching for them, dismantling them, and confiscating them, saying they “[deviate morality and culture](.” 🇲🇲 In Myanmar, the military junta in 2021 [banned satellite dishes]( as part of a crackdown on access to independent news outlets. 🇹🇲 Turkmenistan’s government, which strictly controls the country’s media, [has tried several times]( to force people to abandon satellite television. This risks further isolating one of the most closed countries in the world. Youtube Watch this! Beam another day --------------------------------------------------------------- Outdated technology doesn’t have to be condemned to a life of uselessness. It only takes a couple of hours and some extra parts to turn what was destined to become rusty metal into a wifi hotspot or an egg fryer. Eric Helgas, styling by Alex Citrin-Safadi Listen up! Does your satellite radio have a disco station? --------------------------------------------------------------- If it does, give it a try. If it doesn’t, time to start making demands. The [latest episode of the Quartz Obsession]( podcast explores how the stubbornly upbeat genre came out of an economically turbulent moment, was relegated to the joke heap by those who didn’t understand, but lent its vibe to much of what came after. In this turbulent moment, we could use some stubborn upbeatness. What is it about a crisis that just makes us want to dance? 🎧 Learn why disco deserves a second look with [the latest episode of the Quartz Obsession podcast](. 🕺 Listen on: [Apple Podcasts]( | [Spotify]( | [Google]( | [Stitcher]( 👀 Read: the [transcript]( Sponsored by Alumni Ventures [Listen now]( Look into the 🔮 Where satellite and internet meet --------------------------------------------------------------- Some types of satellite dishes can be used to provide internet, like SpaceX’s Starlink. Satellite internet uses radio waves to communicate with satellites orbiting the Earth. Though expensive, it could really change things—especially [during times of crisis](. The pandemic showed us how crucial the internet is for education and connection, and the war in Ukraine, so far, has shown how quickly satellite internet can be set up (albeit with the help of super rich business owners) when traditional systems are targeted. Giphy Poll Do you have a satellite dish? [Click here to vote]( YesNoI have Netflix. Duh. 💬 let's talk! In last week’s email about [bureaucracy](, 56% of you said your workplace is a bit bureaucratic, 30% of you are drowning in red tape, and 14% of you are able to go with the flow. 🤔 [What did you think of today’s email?](mailto:obsession%2Bfeedback@qz.com?cc=&subject=Thoughts%20about%20satellite%20dishes&body=) 💡 [What should we obsess over next?](mailto:obsession%2Bideas@qz.com?cc=&subject=Obsess%20over%20this%20next.&body=) 🎲 [Show me a random Obsession]( Today’s email was written by [Carlos Mureithi]( (growing up, always wondered why a bowl-shaped device could receive more channels than an antenna), edited by [Morgan Haefner]( (never could work her grandparents’ Dish controller), and produced by [Jordan Weinstock]( (actively interested in moving to Dish, Texas). [facebook]([twitter]([external-link]( The correct answer to the quiz is Low-noise block downconverter. Enjoying the Quartz Weekly Obsession? 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