Free Satellite TV For All

At one time you could get all the programming you wanted for free of your satellite dish, then over time things began to scramble and if you wanted to watch things you needed to subscribe to see those channels. Over the years many of the big dishes have come down and have been replaced by small dishes for services such as DIRECTV and DISH Network. But what goes around comes around and it appears there is some hope that soon with a small 33 inch KU band dish you can get free television in your home.

Normally when you see “Free Satellite TV” you probably think of some kind of satellite piracy scheme, but thankfully this is not that, but the service can take advantage of satellite receivers which were hacked at one time to steal satellite service. With security upgrades by the satellite companies many of these hacked “free to air” receivers are now being sold on places like Ebay a dirt cheep prices. To the satellite pirates they are useless since they can no longer steal subscription satellite services and they don’t really know the secret of all the great free satellite programming that is up their in the sky. And from the looks of things there could possibly be more up there for satellite fans to enjoy for free.

The free satellite movement kicked off in the UK back in May 2008 when the BBC and ITV partnered together to offer a new free satellite service called Freesat. If you live in the UK alls that you need to pick up Freesat is a small satellite dish and a low cost Freesat receiver. Once you are all hooked up you then get over 140 TV and Radio Stations for FREE. Freesat boasts such channels as all the BBC channels (including BBC HD) US originated channels such as CNN, Bloomberg, Food Network, TV Land and others.

Up North in Canada last year a new Freesat service was proposed by Bell Canada, which owns and operates Bell TV (formally known as Bell ExpressVU.) In its proposal to the Canadian government Bell proposed to “provide Canadians who currently rely on analog over-the-air television with a
package of local and regionally relevant over-the-air television channels free of charge as part of the transition to digital broadcasting” Since being announced nothing has really comes of Bell’s Canadian Freesat service, however another satellite mogul named Dave Lewis has filed an application with the Canadian Radio and Television Commission to launch a new satellite service called FreeHD. It appears the FreeHD business model is to sell equipment and giveaway HD versions of the Canadian broadcast networks for free while having a subscription option available which can give viewers access up to 250 channels. There have been a few hearing on what sounds like an exciting service at the CRTC which you can watch at the FreeHD Canada website found at http://www.freehdcanada.ca.

So what about us here in the USA? Yes there are hundreds of channels which are in the clear up in the sky now for us, but receiving these signals can be tricky and requires a movable dish to see everything. There is a dedicated group of “free to air” hobbyists who love to scan the skies and catch all of the programming available. But this type of viewing requires technical know how and the right equipment and there is no guarantee what channels you have today will be there tomorrow. But one group is looking to change that, enter a new group known as FreeDBS.ORG.

FreeDBS.ORG is a grassroots effort to launch a free direct broadcast satellite network so that home viewers can receive their programming using one simple to install satellite dish. Besides the dish the only other thing you will need to view the service is one of those inexpensive Free To Air satellite receivers that the satellite pirates are dumping like mad on Ebay.

The service is looking to aim to launch with 30 channels of family friendly programming and looks to expand to up to 200 channels in the future. And unlike the Freesat service in the UK which offers a lot of mainstream programming the FreeDBS service is looking to kick off with channels which many would not consider mainstream. But with that said some of the channels sound interesting and unique, such channels as The Golden Age of TV and the Cowboy TV have some free to air satellite fans ear perked up at the offerings.

With the ever rising costs of satellite and cable a free service such as FreeDBS might actually just take off. The service does not need blockbuster entertainment, just good family entertainment will have folks wanting to get a dish. Its something I hope takes off. I am going to be watching this one closely. You can find out more and follow along with their progress at freedbs.org.

Have a great weekend everyone!