Direct broadcast satellite: Encyclopedia II - Direct broadcast satellite - Terminology confusion

Direct broadcast satellite - Terminology confusion

In certain regions of the world, DBS is used to refer to providers of subscription satellite packages, and has become applied to the entire equipment chain involved. With modern satellite providers in the United States using high power Ku-band tranmissions, which result in small dishes, and digital compression (hence bringing in an alternative term, Digital Satellite System), DBS is often mis-used to refer to these. DBS systems are often driven by pay television providers, which drives futher confusion. Additionally, in some areas it is used to refer to specific segments of the Ku-band, normally 12.2 to 12.7Ghz, as this bandwidth is often refered to as DBS or one of its synonyms. In comparison, European "Ku band" DBS systems can drop as low as 10.5Ghz, which is in fact in the X band.

Adding to the naming complexity, the ITUs original frequency allocation plan for Europe and the Soviet Union from 1977 introduced a concept of extremely high power spot-beam broadcasting which they termed DBS, although only a handful of the participating countries even went as far as to launch satellites under this plan, even fewer operated anything resembling a DBS service.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Terminology confusion", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki