Migration of Satellite Broadcasting

As I always said, broadcast operators are migrating from satellite to internet broadcasting. The satellite broadcasting costs over $7,000 per channel per month for Mpeg4 transmission format. Mpeg-4 transmission requires the bandwidth at around 1.5 Mbps to transmit a single channel via network to uplink to the satellite. 
In the other hand, the older process, which uses Mpeg2 type of transmission, would costs more since the bandwidth required has to be at about 2 Mbps. You can click on this link to learn the different between Mpeg2 and Mpeg4. The cost of Mpeg2 transmission over the satellite would cost an operator about $14,000 per channel per month to operate and maintain services. This cost is only cover the uplink company to obtain a space on a satellite slot. Broadcast operator also needs to concern about networking cost, which would be around $2,000 – $4,000 per month.

So the total cost to operate a satellite company is about $15,000 - $20,000 per month. They must have to gain advertising or income at about $700 a day for a 30 days period. It is very tough in today’s economy.  A lot of companies, from my experiences, assumed that earning income would be easy to gain $700 a day from the sponsors, sales, and etc., they are underestimated the market size. 
At the beginning of 2012, there were about 5 Thai/Lao television stations opened up in the same satellite, but as of right now, only 2 stations survive and not doing well.

Many companies could not compete with the cost of production and demand from the viewers. Viewers would love to see good programs, operators would try to save production cost as much as possible. With the limited income from product sales and sponsors, the broadcasting company could not survive in the satellite market. Many new comers are starting their company as Internet Broadcasting.

Financial issue is the main reason people are migrating from satellite broadcasting to Internet broadcasting instead.  Many people are starting the company as an IPTV.

The Demised of Satellite Television

IPTV or Internet television has become more advanced everyday. Not only computers can stream video and watch television, a lot of computer hardware manufacturers, such as Apple, Sony, Roku, and any other companies are entering in the internet television market.  The reason people are changing their focus from satellite set top box to Internet set top box is because of it’s cost effective and portable. Internet box can be used everywhere with the Internet access.

The prices for Internet set top box are varies

• Apple TV cost about 99 dollars per unit

• Sony Internet Player with Google TV is about 169.99 dollars per unit

• Roku starts at 49 dollars per unit

People do not have to use traditional television devices, such as antenna and satellite dish anymore. They can purchase this portable Internet streaming device cheaper than the satellite dish cost. Also, some locations do not allowed to install satellite dish because of its dish size. 

I have experienced some concerns from my work, people often ask about Internet set-top-box availability instead of satellite set-top-box. They put their concern about installation since they do not have experience installing dish and set up the set top box by themselves. They have to get the correct frequencies and symbol rate information, which are different by their area.

Customers are trying to eliminate installation issue with internet set top box because of its technical skills requirement for setting up correct information are high. Please review this link to see how technical requirements are to install a satellite dish.  It requires a lot of time to understand the process and successfully installed.

In the other hand, Internet TV box can be moved from room to room and only basic Internet connection required, neither from wire connection or wireless, to stream the video or music.

In my opinion Internet streaming will become more popular in the future because of its size, cost, and low technical skills required. It can be used with all ages because of its simplicity to use the device.

Race in Broadcasting Business and Content Management

Thai and Lao satellite broadcasting in the United States and Canada is very difficult to maintain and hard to survive in today’s market. There are more than 10 cable stations start up in this year (2012). During 2007 – 2011, there were only 4 stations existed in the market ( LaoChampa, Network of Asian Telecommunication (Nattv), Thai Global Network (TGN), and IPtv).  During 2007, there was a lawsuit (Channel 7 Thailand against IPtv) due to an unauthorized broadcast movies and music in the United States.  IPtv lost the case. It was forced to shut down in 2009 and pay the sum of 7 million dollars to Thai television in Thailand (channel 7 Thailand).

At that time, IPtv was the most powerful and the most popular station among Thai and Lao viewers in North America region. Because they had the most updated movies, live programs, music, and all variety shows from every station in Thailand. Unfortunately, IPtv broadcasted those content illegally. 

 Check out all of the cable stations at “Lingsat” under TP 22 (Transponder 22). This website shows all current television stations and radio stations on the Galaxy 19 satellite. According to Space Systems Loral, this satellite is very popular among investors because it covers the entire North America region.

In the past, IPtv controled their viewers by using subscription service and charged only small amount for each set top box they sold. Other stations including Nattv, Lao Champa tv, and TGN were doing business as free to air (FTA), which means no service charge for viewers, but stayed on market by selling products and gained advertisement. 

Not only unauthorized content is an issue with the race in satellite broadcasting,but also a method that many new satellite companies focus in is streaming broadcast service. They basically use high-speed network connection in the transmission process to stream via web browser instead of satellite. With today’s technology, high-speed connection is affordable and easy to have access to. People can search movies, music, and information from YouTube, Hulu, and other popular video streaming websites. 

In the past 4 years that I have been with my current company(NATTV), we are selling less Set-Top-Box for satellite receivers each year. This could be the demise of Satellite broadcasting in my opinion. 


Dootv is well known among Thai and Lao streaming viewers in America and Europe region. This website is streaming the most updated copyrighted materials from Thailand, Korea, Japan, and China. They are streaming movies, television series, game shows, and etc. This website is worldwide and also using subscription service to control and monitor their viewers. The subscription cost is very cheap. 

People who are using satellite Set-Top-Box would call us and ask if we can upgrade our service to broadband. Unfortunately, we cannot do as they request because we have to upgrade all of our equipments.


The Company has reviewed about the broadcast contract agreement, which we received from Thailand. The company is unable to compete with the copyright license fee, since the contract requires the station to re-broadcast content in specific regions (The United States and Canada). It cannot stream over Europe and Asia. The cost and return are not worth the effort to upgrade.

The company is now compiling research about broadband services. We are improving and producing new programs everyday to gain more viewers. We hope that we can resume satellite business and bring confident to the viewers.