Today, most satellite TV customers in developed television markets get their programming through a direct broadcast satellite (DBS) provider, such as DISH TV or DTH platform. The provider selects programs and broadcasts them to subscribers as a set package. Basically, the provider’s goal is to bring dozens or even hundreds of channels to the customer's television in a form that approximates the competition from Cable TV.

Unlike earlier programming, the provider’s broadcast is completely digital, which means it has high picture and stereo sound quality. Early satellite television was broadcast in C-band - radio in the 3.4-gigahertz (GHz) to 7 GHz frequency range. Digital broadcast satellite transmits programming in the Ku frequency range (10 GHz to 14 GHz ).

There are five major components involved in a direct to home (DTH) satellite system: the programming source, the broadcast center, the satellite, the satellite dish and the receiver.

Programming sources are simply the channels that provide programming for broadcast. The provider (the DTH platform) doesn’t create original programming itself; it pays other companies (HBO, for example, or ESPN or STAR TV or Sahara etc.) for the right to broadcast their content via satellite. In this way, the provider is kind of like a broker between the viewer and the actual programming sources. (Cable television networks also work on the same principle.)

The broadcast center is the central hub of the system. At the broadcast center or the Playout & Uplink location, the television provider receives signals from various programming sources, compresses these signals using digital compression (scrambling if necessary), and beams a broadcast signal to the proper satellite.

The satellite receives the signal from the broadcast station and rebroadcasts them to the ground.

The viewer’s dish picks up the signal from the satellite (or multiple satellites in the same part of the sky) and passes it on to the receiver in the viewer’s house.

The receiver processes the signal and passes it on to a standard television.

As long as you are on a fixed non-moving location the installation of a satellite antenna dish is pretty straightforward. You point the satellite dish to the desired satellite and your decoder does the rest. As geo-stationary satellites are always in the same location you do not have to change the direction your satellite dish is pointing to unless you want to aim it at another satellite (with eventually different channels).

At sea this becomes a more difficult situation because your ship (be it big or small) is traveling from one location to another and also it moves because of the waves it is floating on. To be able to receive a continuous TV signal you will have to have an antenna that automatically points towards the right satellite and corrects itself with every little movement of the ship.

These specific antennas are called Maritime Stabilized and provide a permanent tracking of the satellite of your choice.

Signal strength varies depending on the location you are. In satellite terms this is called a footprint. Every Satellite (with its different beams, has different footprints and will only cover those regions which fall within its footprint. Below you'll see an example of a footprint of an Astra satellite at 19.2°E

The footprint signal is strongest in the center and becomes weaker as you move to the outside of the footprint. If the area you are in is at the edge of the footprint then you will need a larger satellite antenna to receive enough signal strength so that your decoder can convert the received digital signal to a crisp image and high quality sound. You will notice the edge indicates the different minimum dish sizes needed to receive this satellite's signal correctly.

Not all antennas are of the same quality! Depending on the manufacturer of the antenna they will have created a satellite antenna with high quality reception or not. To compare the different antenna qualities you will need to check the antenna's minimum EIRP (Equivalent Isotropic Radiated Power). The lower the minimum EIRP of the antenna is, the better the signal strength received by your antenna will be.