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www.TELE-satellite.com —
04-05/2012 —
TELE-satellite International — The World‘s Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine
A successful couple: Rick and Bobbie together run the satellite online shop Ricks Satellite in Blue Springs, Missouri,
USA. It’s an area with 60,000 inhabitants located east of Kansas City. It’s an excellent location: Kansas City likes to be
referred to as the heart of America; it’s not only the geographical center of the USA, it’s also the mathematical center of
USA’s population.
The young company managed to sell
50 receivers in the first year. 10 years
later sales have greatly increased: „We
sold over 1100 receivers in 2011 with
the AZBox Receivers being the biggest
seller.“ But receiver sales are only one
part of their business. “We also sell com-
plete systems for GALAXY 19 reception
at 97W. In 2011 it totaled 300 systems,
most of which were with 75cm dishes,
some shipped with 90cm antennas.” Rick
explains to us what all the fuss is about
with GALAXY 19: “It is currently the
most interesting of all satellites in North
America in terms of FTA.” The satellite
TV market in North America is supplied
by two large PayTV providers that each
have their own reception systems. Rick
provides us with even more background:
“The last analog terrestrial transmitters
were turned off about two years ago. The
problem is that the new digital terrestrial
transmitters don’t have the same range
as the old analog transmitters. And so,
for many people living in outlying regions
the only solution was to subscribe to a
satellite PayTV service. Rick says: “The
Satellite Pay Services normally require a
two year contract and then after you sub-
scribe to a basic package, you can then
subscribe at an extra fee to the same
local channels that they used to receive
for free with an terrestrial antenna when