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From: lauren@vortex.UUCP (Lauren Weinstein)
Newsgroups: net.tv
Subject: Re: Are there alternatives to CABLE TV?
Message-ID: <393@vortex.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 23-Aug-84 19:12:14 EDT
Article-I.D.: vortex.393
Posted: Thu Aug 23 19:12:14 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 1-Sep-84 09:35:47 EDT
References: <1118@hou4b.uucp>
Organization: Vortex Technology, Los Angeles
Lines: 20

Your alternatives are:

1) STV -- scrambled UHF programming (mostly movies and sports)
2) MDS -- microwave (mostly movies)
3) DBS -- direct satellite broadcast (to small dishes, still not
          available).  Many of the organizations that filed for
          DBS have now dropped out, apparently deciding that it
          wasn't as lucrative as they originally assumed.

All of the above are the sorts of services to which you can
subscribe when/if available.

As for big dishes and non-paying reception off of satellites, you
can spend a couple of thousand for a dish, but note that over the
next couple of years most of the premium programming sources and
many of the non-premiums will be scrambling with DES-based systems
that are "essentially" uncrackable.  So you might be throwing quite
a bit of money down a black hole.

--Lauren--