IF all hd is to go MPEG 4 by years end , which Scott said he thought would happen, which means all receivers will be upgraded to mpeg 4 ones, and the new sats for mpeg 4 are launched and up and running by next spring at the latest, then why would they need to keep hd running at both the 110/119/61.5/129 sd mpeg 2 slots and the newer mpeg 4 sat slots 86.5 and 97? IF they do as I suggested and keep the 110/119 slots for all SD customers with mpeg 2 receivers and run the newer mpeg4 service for all HD customers with mpeg 4 receivers then there is NO need to force any one with older sd receivers to upgrade till DISH wants them to. THat is the beauty of the whole thing.
They could have the newer customers automatically upgraded to mpeg 4 since they are not going to make any more mpeg 2 receivers available to newer subs. They could aim all their sat dishes at the newer mpeg 4 sats since ALL programming will be duplicated there in mpeg 4 anyway.
Then it is only a matter of DISH deciding when they will offer upgrades to their new mpeg 4 sat and service for all sd subs. I think this makes sense as much as anything . What else are they going to do with the 110/119 sat slots once they get everyone upgraded to mpeg 4 anyway. It might be years before they upgrade all those millions of subs to the newer mpeg 4 receivers and sat slots. This way Dish gets to have their hd cake and eat it too -with regards to keeping the mpeg 2 SD service up and running anway.
They could have the newer customers automatically upgraded to mpeg 4 since they are not going to make any more mpeg 2 receivers available to newer subs. They could aim all their sat dishes at the newer mpeg 4 sats since ALL programming will be duplicated there in mpeg 4 anyway.
Then it is only a matter of DISH deciding when they will offer upgrades to their new mpeg 4 sat and service for all sd subs. I think this makes sense as much as anything . What else are they going to do with the 110/119 sat slots once they get everyone upgraded to mpeg 4 anyway. It might be years before they upgrade all those millions of subs to the newer mpeg 4 receivers and sat slots. This way Dish gets to have their hd cake and eat it too -with regards to keeping the mpeg 2 SD service up and running anway.