''What Satellite and Digital TV'' was a

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...

cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

and

broadband In telecommunications, broadband is wide bandwidth data transmission which transports multiple signals at a wide range of frequencies and Internet traffic types, that enables messages to be sent simultaneously, used in fast internet connections. ...

television

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

published monthly in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

by MyHobbyStore. Although the magazine was primarily targeted for the UK market, it was also sold in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

History

The magazine was originally launched as ''What Satellite'' by WV Publications in May 1986, as an eight page monthly supplement with ''What Video'' magazine"The Countdown Starts Here." What Satellite and Digital TV, November 24, 2006: 178. It became a monthly magazine in May 1989, following the launch of the first Astra satellite and

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...

TV, and changed its name to What Satellite TV for the October 1992 issue. WV Publications was purchased by Highbury House Communications plc in 1998, which published the title until Summer 2005 when Future Publishing acquired What Satellite TV along with the majority of the Highbury House specialist consumer titles for £30.5 million. What Satellite TV focused exclusively on satellite television, including the Astra and

Eutelsat Eutelsat S.A. is a French satellite operator. Providing coverage over the entire European continent, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Americas, it is the world's third-largest satellite operator in terms of revenues. Eutelsat's satellit ...

satellites and the Sky Digital platform until June 2002 when it also started to cover digital terrestrial television, including

ITV Digital ITV Digital was a British digital terrestrial television broadcaster which launched a pay-TV service on the world's first digital terrestrial television network. Its main shareholders were Carlton Communications plc and Granada plc, owners o ...

Freeview Freeview may refer to: * Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia * Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand *Freeview (UK), ...

and

Top Up TV Top Up TV was a pay TV service in the United Kingdom which launched in March 2004, operating on the digital terrestrial television platform. The aim of the service was to "top up" Freeview customers by providing additional content and service ...

and renamed itself to its current name. It thereafter covered all aspects of digital TV, including broadband and internet-delivered services such as

Virgin Media Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, Cable television, television and Internet access, internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Engla ...

BT Vision BT TV is a subscription IPTV service offered by BT; a division of United Kingdom telecommunications company BT Group, and was originally launched as BT Vision in December 2006. As of the end of June 2019, BT TV had 1.9 million customers. ...

TalkTalk TV TalkTalk TV is a UK-based consumer television and video on demand service, operated by the TalkTalk Group that originally launched in 2000. In September 2012, the current TalkTalk TV was launched in partnership with YouView. Its television an ...

, the

BBC iPlayer BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones and tablets, personal computers and smart televisions. iPlayer services del ...

and 4oD, and digital radio. The magazine incorporated listings for many years, and did so since early editions. It also included features on upcoming TV shows, film reviews and interviews. In April 2002, What Satellite and Digital TV was the first magazine to discover secret military broadcasts of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

spy planes over

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...

being broadcast and received using a one metre

satellite dish A satellite dish is a dish-shaped type of parabolic antenna designed to receive or transmit information by radio waves to or from a communication satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radi ...

The United States

encrypted In cryptography, encryption is the process of encoding information. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plaintext, into an alternative form known as ciphertext. Ideally, only authorized parties can decip ...

the transmissions after the security breach was discovered. The magazine was merged with sister title ''Satellite TV Monthly'' (formerly known as ''Satellite TV Europe'', which was purchased by Highbury in 2001) when that magazine ceased publication in 2005; starting with the June 2005 issue. The May 2007 issue of ''What Satellite and Digital TV'' marked the 250th issue of the magazine's publication. In July 2011, Future Publishing announced its intention to either sell or close the magazine alongside other publications due to a slump in profits. On 11 October 2011, it was announced that MyHobbyStore had purchased the magazine along with sister publications ''Hi-Fi Choice'' and ''Home Cinema Choice''. In October and November 2014 a greatly reduced content (32 pages) plus a free ''Hi-Fi Choice'' (sister publication) was issued and subscriptions no longer being accepted. The November issue was the last and the website redirects to Home Cinema Choice.

Features

The magazine featured news, a letters page, reviews on satellite and terrestrial television

set-top box A set-top box (STB), also colloquially known as a cable box and historically television decoder, is an information appliance device that generally contains a TV-tuner input and displays output to a television set and an external source of sign ...

es,

es and

gadget A gadget is a mechanical device or any ingenious article. Gadgets are sometimes referred to as '' gizmos''. History The etymology of the word is disputed. The word first appears as reference to an 18th-century tool in glassmaking that was develo ...

s, in depth features on satellite and terrestrial television technology as well as satellite television channel line-up's by satellite and TV listings, plus Certificate X, an article on

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

in the

media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass el ...

, specifically, but not exclusively dealing with the

adult An adult is a human or other animal that has reached full growth. In human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social and legal concepts. In contrast to a " minor", a legal adult is a person who has attained the age of major ...

satellite television industry.

References

{{Reflist

External links

What Satellite and Digital TV website
1986 establishments in the United Kingdom 2014 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Defunct magazines published in the United Kingdom Listings magazines Magazines established in 1986 Magazines disestablished in 2014 Magazines published in London Monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom Satellite television Television magazines published in the United Kingdom