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It All Started with DIRECTV®

DIRECTV® is one of the two main satellite TV providers in the United States. There was a time when they had no competition at all. That time was 1984 and Hughes Electronics was just setting out to accomplish the feat of operating a direct broadcast satellite TV company.

Their first effort was with a satellite they named DIRECTV-1 and it was launched in the winter of 1993. Before this, digital broadcast services (DBS) were only existent in the minds of crazed scientists and crafty executives who had the notion that "this whole idea of sending television signals to individual homes" might actually work.

When DIRECTV® first started their service, the equipment used to receive signals was known as a 'minidish'. This was due to the fact that North American satellite owners had been use to dishes that were considerably larger. The new minidish satellite TV systems had the obvious advantage of being smaller and easier to manage but they also incorporated a new technology that would soon become the standard for the satellite TV industry. This is when digital technology truly took off and the days of analog broadcasts became numbered.

The new digital technology meant that consumers could now get much clearer audio and video signals. The systems were also simplified by the fact that the minidish systems received their signals from one geostationary satellite, located in the southern sky.

By 1994, DIRECTV® was ready to launch their second satellite, giving it the obvious moniker of DIRECTV-2. By the end of the same year, the DIRECTV® subscriber base had reached one million customers. In 1995, they launched DIRECTV-3 and by 1998, they were busy launching DIRECTV-6 and now had more than 4 million subscribers. In other words, business was booming.

Business continued to grow and by 2001, DIRECTV® reached the 10 million customer mark. At this time, they decided to merge with the parent company of Dish Network, EchoStar Communications. If that merger had of worked out then the satellite TV landscape would be quite different than it is today. As fate would have it though, the merger fell through and so today, you will still see some fierce competition between Dish Network and DIRECTV® as they battle for a wider customer base.

These days DIRECTV® still has a rather broad base of customers. They claim to have around 15 million subscribers. They are continually adding to their offerings by adding such features as high definition channels, specialty sports packages, and mobile programming options. DIRECTV® has plans for four new satellites so you might want to keep your eyes peeled for new offers from the original satellite TV Company.

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Information About HDTV - Best Deals are Online - Choosing Satellite TV Dealer
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Digital Satellite and Cable Television Services - It All Started with DIRECTV®

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