Renting slot on transponder for broadcasting?

[Turksat]

How much does it cost to rent a slot/frequency on a transponder? I am thinking it should be fairly cheap since I see bunch of channels with nothing but two dudes talking all day long, and in addition to renting that slot, do you have to have your own equipment to beam the signals up the satellite for distribution, or can that be done via intermediary company, I am thinking via internet somehow?

It's not like I would have my own channel, but it would be pretty interesting to learn how it works and about how much it costs to distribute those programming to millions of people, who can watch it for free.

 

[Wescopc]

$15,000 per month and some one will up-link for you. You can pay more and sometimes a little less.
Bob

 

[phpinfo]

Wow, that seems like quite a bit, especially for some of the programs or feeds you run across. Is that an average estimate or the cheapest it could be?

 

[Bill_KY]

I wonder if a tiny Low Powered TV station would be able to afford that.

 

[toucan-man]

Wow, that seems like quite a bit, especially for some of the programs or feeds you run across. Is that an average estimate or the cheapest it could be?

$21/hour. Sort of. Not too bad, eh?

 

[zamar23]

Well, such undertaking is either expected to generate money or be funded by the Government, Charity or Interest Group. The price is probably based on average margins in the industry, and reflects uplink & downlink expenses too. The fact that there is nothing to watch on some channels doesn't matter if the source of funding doesn't care or can't control that.

 

[Turksat]

Wow, it is more expensive than I thought. I can see why some channels disappear. I agree that without government (ethnic channels) or charity (religious channels) funding, it is not easy to maintain those channels where all we see is just straight talk, but for a national TV, it is really a small price to pay to get your programming across the country. I am pretty sure cable companies charge way more than that.

 

[Corrado]

Given that dollar figure, no wonder why DVB-S2 has become so popular. It has the ability to compress more channels on one transponder.

 

[Mr Tony]

Satelliteav mentioned the 15K per month and he works with stations and the uplinker so his numbers are pretty accurate

 

[skysurfer]

Wow, that seems like quite a bit, especially for some of the programs or feeds you run across. Is that an average estimate or the cheapest it could be?

If you can find someone to do a c-band uplink for you, you can probably find capacity for $2,000/month per MHz of satellite space on c-band on a long-term lease, bringing your cost to $4-6K/month (2-3 MHz for a video DVB-S or S2 signal with a symbol rate of 2500 or less) plus the monthly fee you are paying someone to uplink your service and add on the fee you are paying to get your service to the uplinker (fiber, another sat link, the internet, or sending DVDs to the uplinker with maybe an additional fee for them to "originate" your service by having someone encode the DVDs into an automation system to playout).

$15K/month doesn't sound too bad if it includes origination and a fiber or internet stream for you to get your program to them, but I have a feeling that just includes receiving the material on their end and uplinking it and excludes the extras.

 

[reshiramex26]

What about radio broadcasters?

What about radio broadcasters? I'm pretty sure radio station might be able to afford $15k/mo to rent transponder lease, but, ever since then, they broadcast on a special desired satellite. I don't even know where Premiere Radio sends their programs to. I think, if I'm correct, APM (American Public Media), broadcasts their programs on Galaxy 16. I check LyngSat, and these are the only FTA channels (including FTA radio channels):

Allegro 91.3 FM
WVXF-TV
LATV
WVGN-LP
WPRU-TV
WSJX-LP
NPR
The Pentagon Channel
World Harvest TV (This is the DirecTV feed)
KWHB-TV
KWHS-LP
KWHE-TV
Pulse FM (2 feeds)
WHRI Angel 1/2/5/6/1/2/5/6
T8WH Angel 3/4/3/4
Live Well Network (Both East & West Feeds)
--And--
Shalom TV + a bunch of weird, russian channels.

The rest is filled with not FTA channels, and mostly CBS/Fox feeds.

I don't see anything for American Public Media, Marketplace, or, the BBC World Service.

Although, I see NPR on the list. Maybe their partnering with APM, to carry those shows. Heck if I know. But, like I said, that's what it said online at their ContentDepot website.

So, how do you think radio broadcasters, are hiding their channels, except for NPR? Perhaps maybe they want to keep their frequencies top secret?

 

[SatelliteAV]

128k radio for a simple turn on 97w KU-band to a MCPC mux is typically less than $1,200 per month with a multi year contract. Seen as low as $800 and much higher.

Majority of North American Radio feeds can be found on the MCPC muxes on 139w C-band. Private network and station feed muxes and SCPC radio services are found on almost any satellite.

 

[Pi314]

Regarding nation wide radio programs, how would a program like the "Bob and Tom Show" be fed to other radio stations in that market?