It's easy to feel that just because you pay more for something, your life is somehow enriched by it. However, as many cable TV customers will tell you, with the amount of time they spend watching their paid channels, the service ends up costing more per hour of watched time than they make at work! If you have a
multisystem LCD TV and a plane ticket, there is no need to arrange cable television, no matter what country you are in. Here we explore what is available as
free-to-air broadcasting around the world.
America
Americans are one of the main consumers of cable television in the world, yet also have an enormous choice in free-to-air channels that can be picked up with a
multisystem LCD television. Here is a list of the channels that are available across most of the continental United States:
- NHK World HD on Intelsat 9 (58°W)
- NASA TV Multi-channel(NASA HD, NASA Public, NASA Media, NASA Education) Broadcast on AMC 7 (137°W)
- Retro Television Network on AMC 9 (83°W)
- TVU Music channel and This TV on AMC 3 (87°W)
- ABC News Now on Galaxy 28 (89°W)
- Eternal Word Television Network on Galaxy 17 (91°W)
- My Family TV on Galaxy 3C (95°W).
- AMGTV and BYU Television on Galaxy 19 (97°W)
- English and foreign language broadcasters RT (TV network), MHz Worldview, Ebru TV, IRINN, Al Jazeera English and more up-linked by GlobeCast World TV on Galaxy 25 (97°W)
- Christian broadcasters The Word Network, Emmanuel TV, Daystar Television Network, JCTV, Trinity Broadcasting Network, The Church Channel, God's Learning Channel and more promoted by Glorystar & Spiritcast Satellite Systems TV on Galaxy 25 (97°W)
- Pentagon Channel on AMC 1 (103°W)
- Jewish Life Television, ResearchChannel, and University of Washington TV on Galaxy 18 (123°W)
- Classic Arts Showcase and Eternal Word Television Network HD on Galaxy 15 (133°W)
- Football, Basketball, Baseball, Soccer, and Hockey wildfeeds on various satellites
Australia
There are five major free-to-air networks in Australia: ABC, SBS, Seven, Nine and Ten. These networks currently have analog 'flagship' channels, as well as several digital-only channels associated with each network. ABC will soon have seven channels on the network. All in all, your multisystem LCD television can receive over 20 free-to-air channels in Australia.
Europe
Well, Europe is a big place, and you have big choice in television channels here! It isn’t possible to list every channel (but you can check out the full list if free to air television
channels in Europe at Wikipedia, if you like). The majority of cahnnels in European countries are free-to-air, and there is little demand for, or advantage in, having pay TV. Viewing figures for cable is extremely low across Europe.
New Zealand
New Zealand has seven free-to-air networks that you can pick up with your
multisystem LCD television. Some channels are only available with special satellites, but as in Europe, there is still little demand for pay TV.
Africa
The number of channels varies widely according to what country you are in - most have access to between five and fifteen free-to-air channels.