ITV Digital was a British digital terrestrial television broadcaster which launched a pay-TV service on the world's first digital terrestrial television network. Its main shareholders were Carlton Communications plc and Granada plc, owners of two franchises of the ITV network. Starting as ONdigital in 1998, the service was re-branded as ITV Digital in July 2001.
DISH Network Corporation is an American television provider and the owner of the direct-broadcast satellite provider Dish, commonly known as Dish Network, and the over-the-top IPTV service, Sling TV. Additionally, Dish offers mobile wireless service, Dish Wireless. On July 1, 2020, Dish acquired prepaid service Boost Mobile and intends to add postpaid service as well in the future. Based out of unincorporated Douglas County, Colorado, the company has approximately 16,000 employees.
Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of Sky Group and from 2018 onwards, part of Comcast. It is the UK's largest pay-TV broadcaster with 12.7 million customers as of the end of 2019 for its digital satellite TV platform. Sky's flagship products are Sky Q and the internet-based Sky Glass, and its flagship channels are Sky Showcase, Sky Sports and Sky Atlantic.
Shaw Direct is a direct broadcast satellite television distributor in Canada and a subsidiary of the telecommunications company Shaw Communications. As of 2010, Shaw Direct had over 900,000 subscribers. It broadcasts on Ku band from two communications satellites: Anik G1 at 107.3°W, and Anik F2 at 111.1°W. Anik F1R, which had been in service for 15 years, reached its end of life in the latter part of 2020, when the services on this satellite were migrated between the remaining two. These satellites are owned by Telesat Canada and otherwise are used primarily to distribute programming to various Canadian cable TV companies. The company was formerly known as Star Choice until April 15, 2009.
Sky Network Television Limited, more commonly known as Sky, is a New Zealand broadcasting company that provides pay television services via satellite, media streaming services and broadband internet services. It is also a wholesale channel provider to New Zealand IPTV provider Vodafone. As at 31 December 2022, Sky had 1,023,378 residential television subscribers consisting of 517,003 satellite subscribers and 506,375 streaming subscribers. Additionally, Sky had 23,156 broadband customers. Despite the similarity of name, branding and services, such as Sky Go and MySky shared with its European equivalent, Sky, there is no connection between the companies.
PrimeStar was a U.S. direct broadcast satellite broadcasting company formed in 1991 by a consortium of cable television system operators and GE Americom, the satellite arm of General Electric, collectively referred to as the PrimeStar Partners. PrimeStar was the first medium-powered DBS system in the United States but slowly declined in popularity with the arrival of DirecTV in 1994 and Dish Network in 1996.
Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, but also increasingly via digital terrestrial, and streaming television. In the United States, subscription television began in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the form of encrypted analog over-the-air broadcast television which could be decrypted with special equipment. The concept rapidly expanded through the multi-channel transition and into the post-network era. Other parts of the world beyond the United States, such as France and Latin America have also offered encrypted analog terrestrial signals available for subscription.
Bell Satellite TV is the division of BCE Inc. that provides satellite television service across Canada. It launched on September 10, 1997. As of April 2017, Bell Satellite TV provides over 700 channels to over 1 million subscribers. Its major competitors include satellite service Shaw Direct, as well as various cable and communications companies across Canada.
Eutelsat S.A. is a French satellite operator. Providing coverage over the entire European continent, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Americas, it is the world's third-largest satellite operator in terms of revenues.
Starz is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by Lions Gate Entertainment, and is the flagship property of parent subsidiary Starz Inc. Programming on Starz consists of theatrically released motion pictures and first-run original television series. Created in 1994 as a multiplex service of Encore, Starz operates six 24-hour, linear multiplex channels; a traditional subscription video on demand service; and a namesake over-the-top streaming platform that both acts as a TV Everywhere offering for Starz's linear television subscribers and is sold directly to streaming-only consumers.
AMC Networks Inc. is an American entertainment company headquartered in 11 Penn Plaza, New York.
Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna commonly referred to as a satellite dish and a low-noise block downconverter.
Dialog TV (DTV) is a direct broadcast satellite pay TV service provider based in Sri Lanka. A fully owned subsidiary of Dialog Axiata PLC, Dialog TV was launched in July 2005 under the name "CBNsat". It was later renamed to Dialog TV in February 2007 after the company was acquired by Dialog Axiata PLC.
Sky Ireland Limited is a subsidiary of Comcast-owned Sky and supplies television, internet and telephony services in Ireland.
Starz is a Canadian English language premium television network owned by Bell Media.
Satellite television varies in the different regions around the world.
VTV4 is a Vietnamese state-owned pay television network, serving as the international broadcaster of Vietnam Television. Launched on 7 January 1998, it offers a best-of package of programming from the three domestic channels to the Vietnamese diaspora worldwide. From March 31, 2018, Vietnam Television stopped broadcasting foreign satellite channels on VTV4. Specifically, Vietnam Television will stop broadcasting via satellites Thaicom5, Eutelsat Hot Bird 13B, Hispasat 30W-5, Galaxy 19. North America region). After satellite coverage is discontinued, viewers who are using satellite receivers and dish antennas in the above regions will not be able to watch this channel with the old method.
Sling TV is an American streaming television service operated by Sling TV LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dish Network. Unveiled on January 5, 2015, at the Consumer Electronics Show, the virtual multichannel video programming distributor aims to complement subscription video on demand services for cord cutters, offering a selection of major cable channels and OTT-originated services that can be streamed through smart TVs, digital media players and apps. The service is available in the United States and Puerto Rico as of 2015.
Sky Direct was a direct-broadcast satellite subscription television service in the Philippines owned and operated by Sky, a subsidiary of ABS-CBN. Sky Cable had been eyeing for a DBS service and considered on acquiring Dream Satellite TV from Antonio O. Cojuangco, Jr. The acquisition of Dream was reported to have reached an advanced stage but for some undisclosed reasons, the deal was not sealed. Sky's entry to the DBS market was hindered by various oppositions from the industry, citing legal issues and the slow growth of the pay TV market in the country. On December 23, 2015, Sky was granted by the NTC a provisional authority to operate and maintain a DBS service in 251 cities and municipalities in the country for a period of 18 months. Sky Direct offered both prepaid and postpaid packages with exclusive channels from ABS-CBN and Creative Programs such as ABS-CBN HD, ABS-CBN News Channel, ABS-CBN Sports+Action HD, Cinema One, Jeepney TV, Metro Channel, Liga, and Myx. As of March 2019, Sky Direct had over 1 million subscribers.
DirecTV Stream is a family of streaming multichannel television services offered in the United States by DirecTV.
