Cable transmission of analog and digital programming offers only limited bandwidth, which is insufficient for digitally carrying several hundred channels. Digital transmission is no problem by satellite, nor are interactive services or the data-intensive, high-quality HDTV standard.
With satellite television, programming reaches the living room directly through a receiver without a contract or monthly charges. These facts, together with satellite reception’s wider choice of programs, availability throughout its coverage area and lossless delivery of digital television with excellent sound and picture quality, explain its clear advantage over cable reception. Former cable customers recognize this too: increasing numbers of distribution companies at the fourth level of cable networks are bypassing the third level and obtaining television signals by satellite or through their own headend for independent cable networks. The fourth level includes smaller cable companies, housing companies and owners of tenant communities.
When cable television was introduced in the 1980s under postal minister Schwarz-Schilling, it was already considered too expensive. Satellite television was available nationwide at the time, and there was no need for an additional transmission route. Nevertheless, the minister pushed the new system through. Curiously, the costs of cable television were effectively covered three times: the consumer paid cable and broadcasting fees; Deutsche Post helped finance the cable system with tax revenue; and ultimately the state did so again by selling networks now held by private investors, for which substantial fees are once more charged.
Satellite operators such as Astra, one of Europe’s largest providers of satellite infrastructure, are benefiting from the decline of Germany’s cable network. By the end of 2007, Astra reached 40.2 million cable and satellite households in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, with the figure continuing to rise.
