Quote Originally Posted by ZandarKoad View Post
Also, I clicked on every single orbital Ku slot on 'THE LIST' here at satguys, and it appears that 97 has approximately TWENTY TIMES the number of un-encrypted channels than ANY OTHER orbital slot. I expected all FTA orbital slots to be more or less equivalent in the number of channels they provide... Guess I was wrong there.
The reason there are so many FTA channels on 97W is that there is a DTH (Direct To Home) service there called Globecast. They specialize in ethnic programming, and a large number of their channels are unencrypted. There are some that are encrypted, and require a subscription and Globecast's own crappy receiver to view.

Globecast is a rare example of an uplinker who is providing FTA channels for home use. Most channels that we receive FTA aren't intended for DTH, but rather are up there for other broadcasters and cable companies to receive.