# [Video] Free Satellite TV Channels



## sadoun

> There are literally hundreds of unencrypted television channels that are available for free and unencrypted for those that have the right hardware. This video describes the free channels from 87 West to 125 West.


Christopher talks about FTA channels on his INet

[YOUTUBEHD]A3cqKIqj1Jg[/YOUTUBEHD]


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## matt

I don't understand why FTA isn't more popular.


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## BattleZone

It's not hard to figure out why not; most people want mainstream programming, and don't want to invest in hardware, adding another, larger dish to their house, just to get some mostly-international, low-interest (for most people) channels.


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## Davenlr

BattleZone said:


> It's not hard to figure out why not; most people want mainstream programming


Yea, like commercial free ballgames, nascar races, all 5 networks, 24/7 news channels, PBS from multiple time zones. Lots of stuff besides "international" low interest programming. Just not as easy as popping up a guide tho.

Here is an up to date list of available programming:
http://www.gofastmotorsports.com/channellist.html


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## sadoun

Great list, thanks for sharing.

Battlezone, what do you think now?


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## FTA Michael

Why isn't FTA more popular? It's the difference between renting a DVR vs. creating your own with a computer.

The big channel providers (cable, pay-TV satellite) promote their DVRs through lots of advertising. The monthly DVR fees pad the bottom line, and having lots of stored programming reduces the urge to leave for another provider.

OTOH, a viewer could take an ordinary computer, add a card or two and some software, sign up with a free listings service, and create his own DVR with zero monthly fees and full portability.

So why don't more viewers make their own DVR? Initial cost, time, technical competence, convenience, and promotion. Making a DVR costs a few hundred if you don't have a suitable spare computer sitting around. It takes time to find and install all the necessary pieces. It takes a small bit of technical competence (or at least technical confidence) to open up a computer and add a card. This is nowhere nearly as convenient as letting the nice installer hook up your ready-to-go DVR. Finally, if you're a techie, you've heard messages about home-grown DVRs about a tenth as often as providers' DVRs; if you're not a techie, you might never have heard of home-grown DVRs at all.

FTA is very similar. Compared to the millions the big providers pour into advertising, the promotion of FTA shines like a dime on the floor of a treasure vault. It takes real out-of-pocket cash to get started with FTA, and it takes a bit of work and technical competence. But folks who have figured it out know that it's worth it.

What FTA needs is a receiver that's as easy to use as a cable box. But FTA receivers also need to handle a variety of new and challenging DVB-S2 formats with high bit rates to support true HD programming. Right now, those two goals seem to be incompatible. I'm looking forward to the day when I get a receiver as rock-solid as my old Fortec Star yet able to handle every FTA HD signal that's thrown at it. Maybe in another year or so?


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## FTA Michael

I've got one more reason why FTA isn't as popular, but I couldn't work it cleanly into the last post. Piracy.

In some people's minds, FTA = piracy. That's because a lot of pirates use "FTA" to mean pirating signals. Charlie Ergen also likes taking about a "FTA problem" when he, no doubt, really means a piracy problem.

FTA feels a little too good to be true sometimes. (All these channels, and I never have to pay anyone for them, ever?) Take that thought and add in a distant echo of an old busted-pirate news story or your co-worker's second cousin's trailer-park friend, and you'll get some people who believe that any FTA must be illegal or immoral or something. It's not entirely logical, but I've seen it happen.

Personally, I think the answer is to come up with a new name for legal FTA. Imagine an association of equipment dealers and broadcasters (e.g. FreeDBS, or an reincarnated White Springs) coming up with a *trademarked* name for watching in-the-clear satellite TV signals. Then maybe we'd start transitioning to a discussion of KleerSat channels.


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## bidger

Correct me if I'm wrong, but when I check the channel lineup for HD channels available on FTA, I only see PBS. I can get that over-the-air. My SD viewing is very limited these days and if a service can't offer a healthy selections of HD channels, it's no go, even if it's free.


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## sadoun

bidger,

Here is an updated list of FTA channels:
http://www.gofastmotorsports.com/channellist.html

NBC HD has some feeds on AMC1 and AMC18.

Today they were showing feeds from the Gulf of Mexico Oil spill. These raw feeds are there but will get edited and cut. You will be lucky if you can see 30 seconds on the 6 o'clock national network news of the 1 or 2 hour feed.


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## Athlon646464

bidger said:


> Correct me if I'm wrong, but when I check the channel lineup for HD channels available on FTA, I only see PBS. I can get that over-the-air. My SD viewing is very limited these days and if a service cna't offer a healthy selections of HD channels, it's no go, even if it's free.


I see a lot of HD channels on that list, including all of the networks.


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## FTA Michael

Some of this might be a question of C band vs. Ku band. It's a couple orders of magnitude simpler to build a Ku-band system, (although a mobile C-band BUD is worth the effort if you can do it,) so a lot of FTA viewers are kind of stuck with what they can see on Ku band.


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## BattleZone

FTA Michael said:


> Some of this might be a question of C band vs. Ku band. It's a couple orders of magnitude simpler to build a Ku-band system, (although a mobile C-band BUD is worth the effort if you can do it,) so a lot of FTA viewers are kind of stuck with what they can see on Ku band.


Exactly. C-band offers a lot of stuff that many would find interesting, but few are willing to spend the money to install a BUD, and even fewer are able to, due to space and/or WAF.

Ku systems are much easier and cheaper, but most people aren't very interested in what's available in the clear on Ku.

Note: I got my start in the sat biz installing C-band dishes in the late 80's for my then-girlfriend's grandfather...


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## Jon Ellis

A couple of possibilities I didn't see already:
-FTA equipment isn't available in stores and isn't widely advertised
-You have to install the satellite dish yourself, and that's way too complicated for most people
-Most people only want to get their TV from one box and major channels aren't available on FTA


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## sadoun

Jon,

Good points. FTA is a small market (mostly Ethnic and Hobbyists).


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## matt

Before I got D*, I looked hard a FTA. It just didn't offer the networks that were must haves in my book.

While I love to tinker and build stuff and play with electronics, when I want to watch TV, I don't want to fool with motorized dishes and all the extra work that goes along with it.

Different strokes for different folks I guess.


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## sadoun

Some of the religious channels are only available on FTA satellites. For example, Christian Glorystar networks, 3ABN, Muslim channels, and Eastern religion channels are available on G19.


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## FTA Michael

I really agree with that one-box idea. I remember having to do an orientation lecture for every new babysitter. ("This controls the Dish receiver, this controls the TiVo, this is the FTA box, point here to adjust the volume ...") 

You can find folks to install FTA equipment. You just have to pay them when they do it, unlike Dish and DirecTV and cable, where you pay for installation with every month of service.



Jon Ellis said:


> A couple of possibilities I didn't see already:
> -FTA equipment isn't available in stores and isn't widely advertised
> -You have to install the satellite dish yourself, and that's way too complicated for most people
> -Most people only want to get their TV from one box and major channels aren't available on FTA


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## pmramirez

There's something I don't get. Let's say I want to record CNN programs. How do I do that? Is there a card that can descramble the signal so I can save it on my hard drive to view it later? Or this only can be done for OTA signals?


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## FTA Michael

If you hook the output of pretty much anything to a TiVo, you can use that to record it.

Otherwise, to record a FTA channel, you either need to have a FTA receiver with DVR functionality or a FTA tuner card or USB thingie hooked to a computer, which can typically record available programs.

Finally, unless you count the on-again off-again CNN that sometimes shows up on Galaxy 18, you really can't count on getting CNN from FTA.


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## kevinturcotte

sadoun said:


> bidger,
> 
> Here is an updated list of FTA channels:
> http://www.gofastmotorsports.com/channellist.html
> 
> NBC HD has some feeds on AMC1 and AMC18.
> 
> Today they were showing feeds from the Gulf of Mexico Oil spill. These raw feeds are there but will get edited and cut. You will be lucky if you can see 30 seconds on the 6 o'clock national network news of the 1 or 2 hour feed.


Would it be possible to get (In HD) NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, and CW? What would I need for a dish?


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## TheRatPatrol

So does the dish have to move in order for it to pick up different satellites, like the old C-band dishes, or are there multiple LNBs on the dish? Thanks.


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## sadoun

TheRatPatrol said:


> So does the dish have to move in order for it to pick up different satellites, like the old C-band dishes, or are there multiple LNBs on the dish? Thanks.


Yes, the dish will have to move to several satellites.

[YOUTUBEHD]KWh7nhMaLyU[/YOUTUBEHD]

There are mulitple LNBFs dishes like the T90 toroidal. But it is limited to 40 degrees of the arc and it costs a lot more than a motor to add LNBFs, switches, and the cost of the toroidal dish itself.


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## Davenlr

kevinturcotte said:


> Would it be possible to get (In HD) NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, and CW? What would I need for a dish?


All but FOX, they seem the think SCRAMBLING the Simpsons is a good idea 
If I recall, you are in Maine, or the far NE? If so, your minimum dish size would probably be about 10 feet, as ABC, CBS, and CW are on C band. NBC is Ku or C.


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## kevinturcotte

Davenlr said:


> All but FOX, they seem the think SCRAMBLING the Simpsons is a good idea
> If I recall, you are in Maine, or the far NE? If so, your minimum dish size would probably be about 10 feet, as ABC, CBS, and CW are on C band. NBC is Ku or C.


Yeah, Maine. 10 foot? Yeah, that would NOT go over well. I might get it up, but I'd be looking for a new place to live the next day :lol:


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## sadoun

C-Band has a lot of FTA channels, but it is not feasible to install a 6'+ dish for most people. Those who have a c-band dish, can switch to FTA and enjoy the available channels.


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## Davenlr

kevinturcotte said:


> Yeah, Maine. 10 foot? Yeah, that would NOT go over well. I might get it up, but I'd be looking for a new place to live the next day :lol:


I did it the opposite...I bought the dish, then looked for a house I could put it up. Believe it or not, I live on a double lot in the city...woods across the street. I have a 10' by the garage, a 6' in the back yard, three 3' along the south side of the house, and a 4' in the front yard. They are all practically invisible surrounded by honeysuckle and ivy vines 

I wish they still made reasonably priced 10' dishes. They were cheap and available back in the free HBO days, but now you pay $200 for a 6 foot, but the 10 footers are over $1000.


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## archer75

sadoun said:


> bidger,
> 
> Here is an updated list of FTA channels:
> http://www.gofastmotorsports.com/channellist.html
> 
> NBC HD has some feeds on AMC1 and AMC18.
> 
> Today they were showing feeds from the Gulf of Mexico Oil spill. These raw feeds are there but will get edited and cut. You will be lucky if you can see 30 seconds on the 6 o'clock national network news of the 1 or 2 hour feed.


There are quite a few networks there you would otherwise have to pay for from any of the providers. All of the major networks and FX, National Geographic, G4, speed, history channel, etc. And i'd like them in HD. Seems most are available that way.

Are you saying they are all free? Also what is ITC and ENC encryption? PowerVU? Are any of these encryption methods illegal to crack?

Is it possible to grab these channels with smaller dishes in the Northwest?


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## bonscott87

archer75 said:


> Are you saying they are all free? Also what is ITC and ENC encryption? PowerVU? Are any of these encryption methods illegal to crack?


ITC is just a common encryption that any FTA receiver can decode as far as I know. Only reason I surmise this is that all the channels listed on G19 at 97W I get free and clear on my FTA receiver and I don't have any special cards or anything. So I'm assuming that ITC is just a standard.

I'm not sure what ENC but would like to find out since my Glorystar 90 cm dish also picks up 101 and there are some channels there like Weather Channel and National Geo I wouldn't mind picking up. But I think ENC might need a card.

I believe that PowerVU is a pay service and you'd need a card from them.


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## bonscott87

Davenlr said:


> Here is an up to date list of available programming:
> http://www.gofastmotorsports.com/channellist.html


So are these all KU channels or are C band mixed in. I don't see a designation so I'm assuming KU since I pick up many of them on 97 and 101.


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## GutBomb

bonscott87 said:


> ITC is just a common encryption that any FTA receiver can decode as far as I know. Only reason I surmise this is that all the channels listed on G19 at 97W I get free and clear on my FTA receiver and I don't have any special cards or anything. So I'm assuming that ITC is just a standard.
> 
> I'm not sure what ENC but would like to find out since my Glorystar 90 cm dish also picks up 101 and there are some channels there like Weather Channel and National Geo I wouldn't mind picking up. But I think ENC might need a card.
> 
> I believe that PowerVU is a pay service and you'd need a card from them.


ITC means "in the clear"
ENC means encrypted but does not denote the type of encryption
PowerVU is a specific encryption scheme used by many channel providers. For an example, another encryption scheme is NagraVision which is the encryption of choice used by Dish Network and Bell.


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## FTA Michael

bonscott87 said:


> So are these all KU channels or are C band mixed in. I don't see a designation so I'm assuming KU since I pick up many of them on 97 and 101.


That fine list mixes C- and Ku-band channels together. On that list, four-digit frequencies are all C-band; five-digit frequencies are all Ku-band.

Hmm, if only there were a good site that listed all the Ku-band channels.


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## bonscott87

FTA Michael said:


> That fine list mixes C- and Ku-band channels together. On that list, four-digit frequencies are all C-band; five-digit frequencies are all Ku-band.


Perfect, thanks.



> Hmm, if only there were a good site that listed all the Ku-band channels.


It was a good site in the past but seems to be rarely updated anymore. Most recent update appears to be November last year.


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## tedb3rd

I've installed Dish and Direct stuff on houses, apartments, on docks at marinas, and on boats and was able to fix any glitches to get a signal... I tried FTA with a motorized dish and never could get the thing to work correctly. The receiver I had was a joke (if not a clone) because the instruction manual (if you can call it one) didn't match the on-screen GUI, etc., etc. I spent probably $200 for the whole setup, fooled with it for over a year off/on and never got anything more than a few channels to appear, and then only one audio channel worked. The place I bought the equip. from was later shut down by FBI for selling receivers that weren't really made by the manufacturer they said they were from. I would try it again except for I'm so bitter from the prior experience that I would kick myself if I spent any more $ and got the same results.


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## Davenlr

tedb3rd said:


> I've installed Dish and Direct stuff on houses, apartments, on docks at marinas, and on boats and was able to fix any glitches to get a signal... I tried FTA with a motorized dish and never could get the thing to work correctly.


Its seriously more involved, but if you follow a few rules, its not that hard.
1. Make sure the pole you are mounting the motor on is plumb
2. Make sure the pole you are mounting the motor on is plumb
3. Run motor east/west. Then select Center (or 0) on the motor.
4. Set elevation to the southernmost sat at your longitude.
5. Move motor (not dish) back and forth around pole until you find the satellte, jogging elevation up and down if needed.
6. Once found, and elevation locked in, choose easternmost or westernmost sat, and use the motor to rotate the dish to it. Jog the Motor around on the pole A LITTLE if you cant find the sat, and sweep the motor back and forth, etc. Once found, rotate MOTOR on pole to peak, then jog dish back and forth to peak, then MOTOR, then dish, until its as high as you can peak it.
7. Lock Motor on pole, go back to southernmost sat, peak, then peak elevation again.

From then on, it should track the arc. You should be able to see all the satellites. Just jog the dish back and forth to peak each one, and STORE it in the receiver memory.


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## tedb3rd

Thanks for the advise davenlr. I did all those steps. But the receiver would only direct the motor half the time. And sometimes it would just move all the way east, or all the way west. Blind scans would not pick up a transponder but then if you manually added it, it would be there. And when I would try to save transponder information into the receiver, sometimes it would loose the info as soon as you hit save, sometimes it would be there until you turned off the receiver. The signal meter and strength meter would show a signal, but then it would list 'no transponders found'.... And once I did get some channels going (a few sats close to due south for me)... to only have one audio channel... That was just like a kick in the stomach. I have separate speakers setup so it sounded like you had water in one ear. ..and even if the 'dealer' had not been shut down, it would have been way too long to return. I really think that receiver was a bogus. I tried to contact the manufacturer (Coolsat) to try to get some info on if/how to check to see if it was legit or not but they never returned e-mails.

I took the dish and motor down (in the garage, wife loves looking at a 35" dish lying around) and the receiver is in the original box (if Coolsat ever decides they want it).


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## dbspr

i see that Bio are ITC @ 97, ( i remember 20 year ago, that some pay tv channel are free en in C-band like (learning channel, E!, ect. "Info. from Sat. Orbit magazine, jajaja".)). will it impact the negotiations with a cable provider if you keep these cananles free.? for example i own a cable company and i pay .50 per sub, while other get free.


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