There are three different types of television stations that people can receive in developed countries. These are terrestrial, cable, and satellite. The terrestrial channels are those that are available through a normal television aerial. The number of different stations that can be received this way is limited but they are free. Cable television is received via underground cables and involves having a special box that decodes these signals. Cable television is available via a number of subscription services. You can receive different combinations of channels based on the level of subscription that you pay for. Satellite television is similar to cable television, because you need to have a special box and also have to pay a subscription. However, the television signals are not received via underground cables, but are received from a group of satellites beaming onto a special satellite antenna, or satellite dish.

There are a number of issues that you need to consider before you decide whether to have cable television or satellite television. Obviously cost is one, as is the choice of channels available. The main issue relates to the satellite dish itself. You need to ensure that you have the required planning permission to be able to erect a satellite dish, especially if it is gong to be attached to the outside wall of a shared building, such as an apartment complex. You may well find that there are no issues, but it is better to make sure before you have the expense of paying for the dish, and then have to take it down.

The actual position of the satellite dish needs to be free from any obstruction to enable it to receive the signals from the satellites clearly. Common obstacles are another building and trees. Many people don't realise that trees and thick shrubbery can actually prevent the satellite signal from being received. It can be very expensive to call out an engineer to fix your reception if it turns out that you simply needed to trim back a few branches. It is important to maintain any trees that are close to the antenna to allow you to have uninterrupted satellite television viewing.