Are you sick of paying the high prices that cable companies charge?  Even after paying these prices your channel choices are still limited.  There is an alternative. FTA meaning, "Free to Air," satellite signals.  The only decision you have to make with this program is which package best suits your budget. You get all the channels with all the programs but you have a choice of receivers to buy with extra features.

 

  The receiver that you choose would depend on the cost and how comfortable you are with  new technology.  Each T.V. in your house would require a receiver. Then you need one FTA compatible satellite dish and about 20-26 metres of conxal cable.

 

  For beginners starting with a receiver for under $200.00 allows you still some choice of brand of receiver you would like. Theer is the Conaxsat Mini, Captiveworks cw-600's, Coolsat 6000 premium and 5000 platinum. These receivers are easy to find and avaliable everywhere.  Customers with more knowledge about FTA programs might be interested in a more complex system ranging from $200-300. This allows you to have a larger variety of receivers to chose from. These receivers would have extra features such as PVR recording, DIVX movie watching, faster channel changing and enhanced guides and menus.  The receivers in this category would include the Conaxsat Duo, Viewsat Ultra, aaand Sonicview SV-4000.  The most experienced technological person might be interested in a high end HDTV FTA receiver.  This system would cost anywhere from $400-$500 and would include receivers such as the Coolsat 8000HD, Sonicview 8000HD, Captiveworks 3000HD and the brand new Viewsat 9000HD.  These of course are the best of the best at present. All the receivers at all the different prices still allow you to view the best TV opportunities with thousands of channels with no monthly costs.

 

  To most of us TV is TV whether it is high tech HD or just regular picture and with FTA you still have access to the best channel choices on TV. You could even put a different quality receiver on each TV in your home using the most advanced and expensive one on the TV you watch the most and use the cheaper receivers on TV's used less.

 

  The Conaxsats are a popular receiver to purchase. They have a very fast epg which is the channel guide and it is easy to read.

 

  Before buying a FTA satellite recever, do your homework and then you will be making an informed decision.  On the event of ECM which is when the satellite TV companies scrambles the signals going to the receiver all you need to do is to find a good FTA support site. The site will assist you in resprogramming your receiver with the latest FTA Keys and Files.