Sparklies

Sparklies is a form of interference on analogue satellite television transmissions.
Sparklies are black or white 'hard' interference dots, caused either by too weak or too strong a signal. When within the satellite's rated reception footprint, sparklies are most likely to be caused by a misaligned dish, or LNBs which are too high- or too low-gain for the dish and receiver.
The term "sparklies" is used by British Sky Broadcasting and a number of hardware makers including Amstrad and Pace.
Sparklies do not occur on digital satellite systems; similar problems with digital signals cause MPEG artifacts.