PBS Satellite Service (formerly PBS Schedule X) is a 24-hour alternate network from the Public Broadcasting Service

Public Broadcasting Service

The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....

 (PBS) that provided a mixed variety of programming selected from PBS's regular network service. It was multicast

Multicast

In computer networking, multicast is the delivery of a message or information to a group of destination computers simultaneously in a single transmission from the source creating copies automatically in other network elements, such as routers, only when the topology of the network requires...

 by some PBS member stations on an over-the-air DTV

Digital television

Digital television is the transmission of audio and video by digital signals, in contrast to the analog signals used by analog TV...

 subchannel along with their regular programming, or during overnight hours on their main channel to provide a second opportunity for viewers to watch or record primetime programming.

As of November 16, 2009, PBS-X can be received unscrambled via satellite on these coordinates:

• On SES Americom
  SES Americom
  SES Americom was a major commercial satellite operator based in the United States. Formerly RCA Americom and GE Americom, the company became one of the principal parts of SES S.A.....
  
   AMC-4
  AMC-4 (satellite)
  AMC-4 or AMERICOM-4, formerly GE-4, is a Dutch, previously American, commercial communications satellite.AMC-4 was launched in 1999 as GE-4, GE Americom's fourth A2100 hybrid C-band and Ku-band satellite. The C-band payload was home to national television networks broadcasting to thousands of cable...
  
   (at 101°W), on C-band
  C band
  The C band is a name given to certain portions of the electromagnetic spectrum, including wavelengths of microwaves that are used for long-distance radio telecommunications. The IEEE C-band - and its slight variations - contains frequency ranges that are used for many satellite communications...
  
   transponder
  Transponder
  In telecommunication, the term transponder has the following meanings:...
  
   16 (4020 MHz, horizontal polarity, in analog), since the 2006-05-31 switch from satellite Galaxy 26
  Galaxy 26
  Galaxy 26 is a communications satellite owned by Intelsat. It was built by Space Systems/Loral, as part of its FS-1300 line. Galaxy 26 was formerly known as Intelsat Americas 6 and Telstar 6. It was launched aboard a Proton-K/DM3 from Baykonur LC81.It spent most of its operational life at the...
  
   (IA6) (at 93°W)
• PBS-HD on the AMC-21 satellite (at 125°W), on: K_u-band
  Ku band
  The Kμ band is a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies. This symbol refers to —in other words, the band directly below the K-band...
  
   transponder
  Transponder
  In telecommunication, the term transponder has the following meanings:...
  
   22 (12140 MHz, vertical polarity, DVB AC3-only), unencrypted.
• PBS-X (east/west) and other secondary PBS services (in standard definition) are also on the AMC-21 satellite as K_u-band
  Ku band
  The Kμ band is a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies. This symbol refers to —in other words, the band directly below the K-band...
  
   transponder
  Transponder
  In telecommunication, the term transponder has the following meanings:...
  
   24 (12180 MHz, vertical polarity, DVB AC3-only), unencrypted.

Current satellite and transponder listings are available from LyngSat http://www.lyngsat.com and other online sources. Note that access to the Ku-band DVB feeds require AC3 (Dolby Digital) audio capability, as there is no MPEG2

MPEG-2

MPEG-2 is a standard for "the generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information". It describes a combination of lossy video compression and lossy audio data compression methods which permit storage and transmission of movies using currently available storage media and transmission...

 audio provided on these transponders. Support for this format varies between FTA receiver

FTA Receiver

A free-to-air or FTA Receiver is a satellite television receiver designed to receive unencrypted broadcasts. Modern decoders are typically compliant with the MPEG-2/DVB-S and more recently the MPEG-4/DVB-S2 standard for digital television, while older FTA receivers relied on analog satellite...

s and some may require external apparatus to convert this Dolby Digital

Dolby Digital

Dolby Digital is the name for audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. It was originally called Dolby Stereo Digital until 1994. Except for Dolby TrueHD, the audio compression is lossy. The first use of Dolby Digital was to provide digital sound in cinemas from 35mm film prints...

 audio to standard analogue.

Scheduling

PBS-X is freely and nationally available from AMC-21 at 125°W using free-to-air satellite dishes as small as three feet, and is also offered by U.S. direct broadcast satellite

Direct broadcast satellite

Direct broadcast satellite is a term used to refer to satellite television broadcasts intended for home reception.A designation broader than DBS would be direct-to-home signals, or DTH. This has initially distinguished the transmissions directly intended for home viewers from cable television...

providers to subscribers who lack a local PBS feed.

PBS-X provides two free national feeds in each format, one scheduled for the Eastern U.S., the other, PBS-XP, on a three-hour delay to fit timezone differences for the West Coast.

External links

• PBS Satellite Services