110/119 Listings Post 129 Transition (Updated 6/1/2024)

[zippyfrog]

To start the new year, I went through and checked all my channels, as well as updated all the data on posts 2-4 of this thread so we have an accurate representation on what is on Western Arc. The one thing I did is proactively removed all the holiday themed channels from the count (Yule logs, Dish Search, previous Dish Scapes). There were only a couple of national channels that switched transponders. Overall the Western Arc configuration has been very stable since the conversion was completed in July.

Update: the 1/3/2024 afternoon uplink removed all the remaining holiday channels

 

[zippyfrog]

For this afternoon's uplink, I see that Dish has re-linked the satellite EPG back to the OTA EPG channels here in Chicago. Previously Dish unlinked the NBC, Telemundo, and WGN EPG.

 

[zippyfrog]

I did my data check for changes at the end of January. The only changes were the dropping of China Global Television Network (both English and Spanish versions on 1/31/2024), and I also removed Pursuit, as we know that will be removed from satellite next week. For the channels I can check, I did not come across any channels that switched transponders or satellites.

In all, there is one less SD channel on 110, TP 03 (279 - English version of China Global Television Network); 110, TP 05 (884 - Spanish version of China Global Television Network), and 110, TP 10 (393 - Pursuit).

 

[zippyfrog]

Just did my data check for the end of February. The posts on the front end of this thread have been updated. Only a couple of changes during the month:

Channel	Type	Network	Now	Was
253	SD	Cozi	110, TP 24	110, TP 03
950	Music	CD1	119, TP 16	119, TP 19
956	Music	CD7	119, TP 16	119, TP 19
958	Music	CD9	119, TP 16	119, TP 19
966	Music	CD17	119, TP 16	119, TP 19
974	Music	CD25	119, TP 16	119, TP 19

We know next week BBC World News (281) will be moved to streaming, and 110 TP 21 will free up one SD spot.

 

[zippyfrog]

Sorry for the delay in checking this - I try to do it close to the 1st weekend of each month, but this month I am a little behind. Nothing new in terms of changes outside of Merit Street Media being added to 119, TP 20, which now maxes that transponder out at 16 HD channels; and BBC World News was removed and made streaming only.

 

[zippyfrog]

This past week Dish removed channels 144 and 145 - they were the ESPN alternate channels. I don't recall the last time they were used. In the past they were used for the reverse mirrors of games on ABC/ESPN2 as well as the women's NCAA basketball tournament. But the past couple of years those games have all been on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, and ABC.

 

[zippyfrog]

I did the monthly channel scan, and everything is status quo in terms of what channels are on what transponders. But the removal of the ESPN alternates last week got me thinking... 144, 145, 146, 147, and 148 are all free (although I do know 148 is sometimes used for a mirror of TrvTV during the mens basketball tournament)

We know that PAC12 Network is done with live sporting events, and is shutting down on June 30, so 409 (both SD and HD versions) are going to be removed as well as the alternates of 592, 593, 594, 595. (Channel 406 for non VIP receivers). Longhorn Network is also done with live events, although no firm date has been release, is rumored to be shutting down on July 1 when Texas moves to the SEC and the Longhorn Network content gets added to SEC Network. That means 407 is going to be free.

Part of me wonders if Dish is going to move ACC Network and SEC Network from the 402/404 area down to 144/145 so all the ESPN channels are right next to each other, and then move Big 10 Network to 148 next to FS1 and FS2. There is so much cross promotion between ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU/ACCN/SEC channels during college football season as well as FOX/FS1/FS2/Big10, it wouldn't surprise me if they are moved to a similar area by the time college football rolls around. Back when Big10 Network was first put up in the 400's, it was treated as an RSN with all the other RSN's, and only available in the areas with a Big10 school. But now that it is a national channel, along with ACC Network and SEC Network, it would make sense for them to be with the other sports channels.

 

[zippyfrog]

Either yesterday or today, Dish launched TBN in HD. Channel 260. The SD version is gone. The HD channel is on 110, TP 21, which is an interesting transponder choice because there are no other HD channels on the transponder.

 

[zippyfrog]

And I think it was today - when I go to Dish's channel listing for it, it still shows it is only available in SD. Usually 24 hours after a channel changes to HD, the individual webpages for each channel automatically update, whereas the PDF channel listings take a month. MyDISH

 

[zippyfrog]

This morning I did my monthly check and updated the 3 posts at the beginning of the thread to be accurate as of 6/1/2024. Incredible how stable the channel locations have been since the 129 satellite went out of commission.

 

[davidk271]

Over the past year I have been tracking the changes on Western Arc. The past 3 months have had a lot of changes that I posted in the other MPEG2 Western Arc shutdown thread. Now that 129 is (basically) out of commission, here is where Western Arc stands. This is just a national channel list, (no local channels) based off what I can see and what others have contributed. Thanks to everyone who has helped me come up with the locations of some of the channels – I would try and list all of you out, but I know I would forget someone! As has been suggested in other parts of the forum, it would be great to collect the spotbeam data for those who could contribute!

A couple of pieces of info:

• Out of the 64 transponders between 110/119, there are currently 50 transponders that Dish is licensed to use. 22 are Spotbeams, 28 are ConUS transponders (14 transponders are licensed to DirecTV and Dish doesn’t have access to them)
• Those 28 ConUS transponders are divided as follows:
  • 10 are dedicated to National HD channels (ESPN, CNN, Disney Channel, etc). Dish is maxing out at 16 HD channels per transponder (note – in an earlier post I said there was one transponder with 17 HD channels, that was an error on my part. When I double checked my listings, one channel changed transponders). Before the transition, there was a maximum of 14 HD channels per transponder.
  • 1 transponder is dedicated to adult content
  • 2 are a mixture HD PPV Movies/4k channels
  • 3 are set aside for HD Sports channels that are only on for live games (NBA League Pass, the PAC 12 alternate channels, some PPV events, etc); 3 SD PPV Sports Channels are there as well.
  • 7 are for SD and/or music channels. Dish is maxing out at 26 SD channels per transponder thus far on the SD transponders.
  • 5 transponders on 110 I have no channels listed but Dish operates. (they are labeled as ConUS on my chart below) There are other things that could be on those transponders, like RV Distant Networks, internal testing channels, etc, that I can’t see. They might be able to be used for additional content, but I am not sure exactly what is on those transponders.

There are two transponders that have lower than normal SD channels – 110, TP 21 and 119, TP 19. Previously those transponders contained the programming guides that get downloaded from the satellite when the receivers download EPG. I assume that is where the programming guides are still downloaded from, thus less channels there.

When I talk about number of channels on a transponder, all my numbers are unique channels – for example, channel 101 and 199 are the same channel mapped to two different numbers, but in terms of space, only takes up 1 channel worth of bandwidth on the transponder.

Finally, I have to give Dish a ton of credit. When it was 110/119/129, Dish had 82 transponders they were using – it took a lot to get it down to 50 transponders and figure out where all the pieces were going to go. What are the things they did to get there? Here are the things I saw:

• During this migration from 129, Dish converted 7 ConUS transponders on 119 into Spotbeams – that is how they ended up fitting on all the HD locals that used to be on 129. (for those interested, TP 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13 are the ones that used to be ConUS on 119 that are now Spotbeam)
• Removed almost all SD duplicate channels that are offered in HD
• Converted remaining SD channels from MPEG2 to MPEG4
• There are also 2 subtle things that changed from the HD channel perspective
  • At the beginning of the transition, Dish decreased the number of PPV Movie channels – prior to this transition the PPV channels HD PPV movies were 502-522; now they are 502-517.
  • At the beginning of April when MLB, NBA, and NHL regular seasons were all going on at the same time and this transition began, there were a ton of games “joined in progress” for the HD feeds. That wasn’t common since the days before the full time HD RSN’s. The reason for that was prior to the transition, Dish had 4 transponders set aside for HD Sports – 2 transponders was the bandwidth set aside from the HD RSN’s before Dish dropped the RSN’s, then 2 transponders were for alternate channels. Now we are down to 3 transponders for HD sports.

Dish needs to get rid of all the nonsense channels that nobody wants or watches to free up transponder space. I use parental controls to customize my on screen guide. I have over 95 blocked channels! All are QVC / shopping type channels that bloat the OSG. No one is paying to watch this junk! Poor use of bandwidth imo. I subscribe to Dish 200 package.

I was recently informed that Dish will permanently move some local HD markets from 61.5 to 119, such as Grand Rapids, Mi. So Dish is going to have spend thousands of $ to move everyone in the West Michigan market over to the WA to continue with HD locals. They say 61.5 doesn't have enough bandwidth to support all markets. They'll lose many subscribers because of this transition. I have to be on EA, no line of sight for WA.

 

[zippyfrog]

Dish needs to get rid of all the nonsense channels that nobody wants or watches to free up transponder space. I use parental controls to customize my on screen guide. I have over 95 blocked channels! All are QVC / shopping type channels that bloat the OSG. No one is paying to watch this junk! Poor use of bandwidth imo. I subscribe to Dish 200 package.

I was recently informed that Dish will permanently move some local HD markets from 61.5 to 119, such as Grand Rapids, Mi. So Dish is going to have spend thousands of $ to move everyone in the West Michigan market over to the WA to continue with HD locals. They say 61.5 doesn't have enough bandwidth to support all markets. They'll lose many subscribers because of this transition. I have to be on EA, no line of sight for WA.

Some of those channels pay Dish each month to be on their service, so I can see why Dish wants them. However, I was documenting all the moves last year, and at one point, I thought Dish was going to be moving all the shopping channels/channels that pay to be on Dish to a single transponder. They ended up spreading them all around once they had their final configuration.

We now know that Dish is removing 3 channels next week as they will be shutting down - the SD version of Longhorn network, the SD version of PAC12 Network, and the HD version of PAC12 Network. (I am not including the HD version of Longhorn network as that was only turned on for live games)

That last part you mention I didn't realize was still happening - local markets being moved from EA to WA. I thought that Dish concluded that last summer.