Three basic forms of television are provided in the Southfork area: Satellite, Broadcast, and Internet. Cable television is not available in this area.


Satellite

Satellite TV uses a small dish antenna mounted on a structure that has a good exposure to the southern sky; the antenna must be properly aligned with the satellite the service is broadcast from. The cable from the antenna is routed into the dwelling to a receiver that produces the television signal from the satellite broadcast. These systems also typically require a telephone connection and/or an internet connection as well. Service providers offer a range of options with respect to channels, movies and equipment.

There are currently two players in the satellite TV market:

DirecTV
Dish Network


Broadcast

Terrestrial broadcast (broadcast antenna is on the earth) stations in the Colorado Springs/Pueblo viewing area are available with good reception in the Southfork subdivision. These include affiliates of all the major broadcast networks: ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CW and PBS. For more information, see the Broadcast Stations and Antennas menu items.

Note that with broadcast television, the location within the neighborhood will affect reception. Those on the east slope may experience issues as the transmitter antennas are west of here, and this places east slope homes in the "shadow" of the hill.


Internet

Video can be obtained in a wide variety from the internet. Options range from free providers (typically include advertising) to paid services. Content ranges from short clips to full television episodes to complete uncensored movies. Note that to be able to effectively view most internet provided video, an internet connection speed of at least 1.5Mbps is required (and may still encounter buffering delays depending on server load).

The undisputed king of every variety of short internet video is YouTube (owned by Google), where short videos are available for free, and can also be posted for free.

Television content is available from most of the broadcast and cable networks for free and typically includes the most recent full episodes of the most popular shows. The following is a list (by no means exhaustive) of some of these networks: A&E, ABC, Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, CBS, CNN, Comedy Central, CW, Discovery, Disney Channel, Fox, Fox News, FX, History, Lifetime, MSNBC, MTV, National Geographic, NBC, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, PBS, Syfy, TBS, TNT, USA Network, VH1, and The Weather Channel.

There are also websites that have television and movies available for free, of which Crackle, Tubi and Pluto TV are the most prominent.

Finally, there are a variety of paid services. Some use a subscription model (monthly fee), while others have a specific usage charge (rental/purchase). Among these are: Netflix, Amazon (Instant Video), Sling, Google Play, iTunes (requires large software download), and Hulu.