Satellites and Channels
There are a wide variety of satellite TV and radio channels available to anyone with the right equipment. From Australian free to air channels to hundreds of channels from overseas.
Australian TV via Satellite
For the first time, all free-to-air digital television services, including the original three commercial and two national channels, and the new digital services such as ABC2, ABC3, SBS TWO, GO!, 7TWO and ONE HD, will be available to all Australians, no matter where they live.
The VAST service will provide regional viewers with access to the local news currently broadcast in their TV license area through a dedicated local news channel. It will also provide viewers with access to the ABCÕs new 24-hour news high definition multi-channel, which will be launched later this year.
More information is available on the digitalready government website.
Check Lyngsat's VAST package page for a current listing of what is available.
International TV via Satellite
There are many foreign language channels available free to air on a number of satellites visible to us in Australia. There are many channels from asian countries, including Thailand, China, Taiwan, Japan, and India. From Europe there are channels from Germany, France, Italy, Holland, Croatia, Greece, Turkey, England, and Portugal. Many of these channels require a 2.3m diameter mesh dish, while some require only a small 90cm dish as used for pay services.
A system for free international channels includes a digital satellite receiver, dish and cabling, and optionally can be motorised for watching channels from a number of satellites.
Up to date lists of channels can be seen at http://www.lyngsat.com/asia.html. These lists may appear confusing at first, but they are the most frequently updated lists of channels on each satellite. Take note of the colour codes at the bottom of the page, as most encrypted channels are unavailable to us in Australia. Also note the "beam" column on the right, to receive the channel you must be in an area covered by the beam.
The satellites of interest to us in Australia are:
Intelsat 2
Intelsat 8
Optus C1
Optus D1
AsiaSat 4
Palapa C2
AsiaSat 3s
AsiaSat 2
NSS6
Thaicom 5