Satellite communication knows no boundaries. And when applied to television, it has been anrnagent of globalization that has brought people and events around the world closer to one another.rnThis paper analyses the use and possible impacts of free-to-air satellite television on the watches'rnmedia preferences and on the way they view themselves and the rest of the world. Usingrnquantitative survey and qualitative focus group discussions, the paper attempts to give arncomprehensive analysis of the individual audience as well as the social context of watching byrnusing the uses and gratifications and ethnographic audience research approaches.rnThe findings show that demographic variables such as age, gender and religion have theirrnimpacts on the cognitive and affect uses and gratifications the watchers sought after from theirrndishes. The overall analysis indicates that the audiences use the dish more to gratify theirrncognitive needs than affect ones. It was also found out that in the face of the ever expandingrnfree-to-air satellite television use the state-run broadcaster (ETV) is losing its audiences to therndishes. The focus group discussions revealed that the audiences of the free-to-air satelliterntelevision seem to be watching the content they receive taking into consideration their livedrnreality. Unlike the thoughts articulated in the cultural imperialism thesis, the watchers seem to bernactive decoders of the content they receive from the dish. The rmdings also support the idea thatrnthe imperialism thesis is overly simplistic, for as it is found out, t1le watchers seem to be highlyrnvaried in their choices and outlooks. On the importance of the system [or them, many of thernwatchers stated the dishes' role as their biggest bridge to get complected with the rest other worldrnas the best advantage they get. Their dishes have brought them global news and entertainmentrncloser to home at an affordable price.rnOn the other hand, the family use of the dishes seems to be marred with conflicts that arise due torndifferences in taste. This, in addition to the impact of the dish as an alternative to avoid thernnational television has led to the conclusion that the dish while connecting the watchers to thernworld, seems to be playing a disconcerting role at two levels: it has become a destructingrnelement in family relations, and it is also disconcerting the watchers from local happenings inrnthe country.