Maybe someone in the know can confirm or deny that satellite dishes will soon become obsolete due to fta signals being blocked?
No they will not become obsolete.
I used to get amazing Sky HD tv from my 1.9 satellite dish. It now only gets the basics and I use a mag box for Sky.
Is that because you are saving money, or is a signal issue?
Signal issues are due to a combination of the signals being on the spot beam, not the strongest frequencies and a reduced bit error ratio, meaning less forgiving reception in weak signal areas & why the SD's or some of are easier to receive. Most of my Sky HD fine on 1.9 & Sky Sports & the main ones all should be ok on a 1.4, but it can vary from location and Torrevieja / Quesada / Rojales do have a secondary issue & that is of localised wireless internet providers 100+ of them, some of them out of designated frequency range (naughty) causing issues with other equipment. For example at the top of Quesada near Harry's bar, there is a block of flats with a number of local microwave transmitters, nearby we have seen all sorts of problems with reception, whether it be the satellite, another wireless internet provider etc. But that is very much a local/area issue. Not one of general satellite reception.
Either way satellite reception not going to disappear, not when Astra SRS has invested a few billion in the 3 UK satellites 2-3 years ago, with a proposed shelf live of 12-15 years, I suspect they'll want to get their money back on their investment.
It also cost fortunes every time they want to change a transponder - fringe signal reception is 'luck of the dice', we are lucky, Satellite wise compared to other parts of Spain - reception is not perfect, but 95% of the way there and given we are NOT in the UK, could be worse.
It is likely that we will see more hybrid type systems - where you have satellite / IPTV - for all of IPTV's facilities, you can't get a picture as good as a satellite 4K and nor does it rely on the internet, so will always be some market, just changes to hardware and how we interact with the satellite/IPTV.
Paul
http://www.televisiontechnology.eu966783944