A feed......
A feed is different from a channel. A feed is something that is shown unencrypted on a satellite for a short time and quickly disappears. It could be a newscaster who is out doing a story and is relaying it via satellite to the studio. An example would be of a correspondent who is reporting in Iraq and is beaming their signal to the network to record for their newscast. Before they are shown live via satellite on shows such as NBC news for all primetime viewers to see, they will often already be broadcasting a signal to the satellite to prepare for the newscast ahead of time. People on here have remarked about reporters prepping and making mistakes and errors in their sentences before making clean cut statements on the newscast. Feeds are also shows that are shown in syndication. Before your local station shows Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight, Montel, Maury, Larry Elders, Dr. Phil, Oprah, Seinfield re-runs, Everybody Loves Raymond re-runs, etc., your station receives that station via a satellite and records that show. It may be shown an hour or two before your station broadcasts it and sometimes it can be early in the wee hours of the morning. Sometimes during an important event, there might also be a feed that pops up, such as sports, or something involving politics, or a news event such as what happened on the final day of the Michael Jackson case. Feeds are usually on and then gone whereas channels usually stay a good while before disappearing or becoming encrypted.