Satellite Television: The Challenges of a Microwave Mass-Market

Television broadcasting direct to the home by satellite brings the first prospect of a real mass-production market for microwave electronic equipment. The paper outlines the satellite broadcasting systems coming into operation and then concentrates on the challenges posed in the design and implementation of the microwave hardware in the domestic receiver. The prospects for the more advanced technologies of MMICs and flat printed antennas are assessed. Overall, the paper identifies the many complex interacting technological, economic and marketing forces that are involved in bringing into being a new high-technology system of this type.