ATV (Austria)

ATV is the largest commercial television station in Austria, and was the first commercial station to be aired via transmitters after a long time when commercial broadcasts in Austria were only possible via satellite or cable and the national public broadcaster ORF held a monopoly of using the airwaves. According to the current broadcasting legislation in Austria, ATV has to be transmitted nationwide alongside the two public channels ORF1 and ORF2 via digital terrestrial television and satellite as well as all cable companies in Austria have to provide at least these three channels to their subscribers. Satellite broadcasts are encrypted as are the ORF channels but it is possible to watch ATV by using the decoding cards issued by ORF. These cards can be obtained only by people living in Austria and paying the television license fees. Another important Austrian commercial television stations available on digital terrestrial television, satellite and cable is Puls 4, although these have to arrange their broadcasting independently since they are not covered by the aforementioned Austrian television legislation regulating the two ORF channels and ATV.