Bad economy = Good for FTA?

[TRG]

It saddens me to see a lot of the smaller Mom and Pop shops going out of business during this economic downturn. Even some of the larger businesses are going belly up these days. But despite all the bad news there may be some good opportunities for dish hunters. There are several businesses in my area that have “Going out of business” sales. Some of these businesses have perfectly good Ku or C Band dishes on the roof. I have my eye on a couple right now. The economy will recover eventually. I for one will take this opportunity and attempt to salvage a few freebies or low cost dishes.

 

[jayelem]

... and I thought you were gonna mention people ditching Direct TV and Dish Network and going back to OTA or True FTA .

Good luck getting dishes from failed businesses , I've seen a few abandoned Prodelin's but have never called the realtor's or property managers.

 

[Cadsulfide]

You would think that people would flock to FTA, but sadly we are no longer a nation that prides itself on self-sufficiency. Those of us that are into FTA are "do it yourselfers". We often take it for granted that we can turn wrenches and solve problems with physical things. A lot of people have no mechanical skills, or the desire to spend the time and skinned knuckles to aquire them. The majority would rather write a check and sit on the sofa.

Could be an opportunity for a budding business selling & installing FTA.

 

[stogie5150]

You would think that people would flock to FTA, but sadly we are no longer a nation that prides itself on self-sufficiency. Those of us that are into FTA are "do it yourselfers". We often take it for granted that we can turn wrenches and solve problems with physical things. A lot of people have no mechanical skills, or the desire to spend the time and skinned knuckles to aquire them. The majority would rather write a check and sit on the sofa.

Could be an opportunity for a budding business selling & installing FTA.

I bolded the part I think is the most at fault. I was in that number, blowing and going, my wife and I were DINKS (dual income no kids) so we were living very well. Then in 2002 one of us (me) couldn't keep his mouth shut and lost his job. Luckily she knows better. LOL

We started to question everything we spent money on, and for a long time D* got a pass. We stopped doing a whole bunch of things to keep our Sub. The one day in 2007, we looked at each other and said that this was crazy. The rates kept going up and up and up, equipment and service started to no longer meet our expectations as the days went by, so we cut the cord, so to speak. I had been looking at FTA for awhile, had come to satelliteguys for awhile before I signed up...and decided this could replace D* for what we liked to watch, and that I had the time, and I thought I could learn the ins and outs. So we did it.

Only thing I miss is Center Ice. But not enough to buy a package JUST to be able to get it. If I could JUST get CI, I would have it.

And my wife, she is as cheap as they come, bless her heart ( and I am not talking out of turn here, she'll tell you the same thing, she's not shy about it...LOL), LOVES not getting that extra bill every month.

I don't know if more dishes might be available or not, just going to have to keep our eyes peeled. :up

 

[Cadsulfide]

Stogie;

Sorry about the job thing, may have been a blessing in disguise. We all need a kick in our complacency from time to time.

The difference between you and most folks is YOU did something when you got a setback! My hat is off to ya!

I left the city 6 years ago, only make 1/3 of what I used to, and would not go back for 10 times the $$$.

Something to be said for a slow paced lifestyle.

 

[stogie5150]

Stogie;

Sorry

No problem Brother. Its no big thing. Only reason I don't work now is because I really don't HAVE to...taking care of my elderly Mom who still lives alone, so that takes up time, once she goes home to be with my Dad I'll be bored out of my gourd so I'll have to find SOMETHING....even if its Wal-Mart greeter...LOL

Hey! Traveling FTA installer doesn't sound bad...LOL

 

[Anole]

... and I thought you were gonna mention people ditching Direct TV and Dish Network and going back to OTA or True FTA .

Yea, that was my first thought , too!

But Stogie has a point, there.
Now's a good time to advertise to all the Dish Network and DirecTV folks (you can tell 'em by the dish on their roof!), and offer to cut their monthly costs.
. . . Somebody in Florida had a thread about that, just recently.
I believe Linuxman's been considering it in St. Louis.
Maybe Stogie can get a franchise from him. -

 

[toucan-man]

... and I thought you were gonna mention people ditching Direct TV and Dish Network and going back to OTA or True FTA .

There was a story on Public Radio tonight about how some prisons will be in a bind after February 17th. The reporter said that television is viewed as crucial to inmates, as it is their connection to the outside world, which facilitates adjusting back into society when the prisoner is released. Many prisons can't afford cable or satellite, some even can't afford the converter boxes for digital OTA. And the converter box discount coupons can't be used by prisons. There was no mention of the FTA satellite option.

Seems to me that there exists an opportunity for FTA satellite at prisons, a cobbled together low-buck system, pass the hat around to pay for it, whatever. At any rate, many people in the press don't seem to know about FTA satellite.

I tried today in vain to get a decent OTA signal; all I get here is ghosts. The ghosts of television past, come February 17th.

 

[rv1pop]

TBN already is supplying these to prisons in cooperation with Glorystar / SatelliteAV one of our GOLD sponsors.

http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/159081-fortec-rumor-2.html#post1639393

 

[skysurfer]

Now's a good time to advertise to all the Dish Network and DirecTV folks (you can tell 'em by the dish on their roof!), and offer to cut their monthly costs.

won't work. FTA is not a substitute for cable (you are never going to reliably find CNN or ESPN or History Channel or Weather Channel or MTV on FTA).

It would only work if people want more stuff to watch than just what is on OTA. If people want their particular cable channels, they'll have to stick with DIRECTV or DISH and can downgrade to a lower level package if most or all of their favorite channels still exist in those lower tiers.

 

[TRG]

won't work. FTA is not a substitute for cable (you are never going to reliably find CNN or ESPN or History Channel or Weather Channel or MTV on FTA).

It would only work if people want more stuff to watch than just what is on OTA. If people want their particular cable channels, they'll have to stick with DIRECTV or DISH and can downgrade to a lower level package if most or all of their favorite channels still exist in those lower tiers.

As a former DirectTV subscriber I can honestly say that the only channel I really miss is ESPN. And that's only because Monday Night Football is on ESPN now. The Discovery Channel was good and my wife likes Hallmark and Nick @ Night. Now that Dish offers a 100 percent HD package (TurboHD) I might sign up for that. I'd really like to have ESPN for football season next year.

 

[skewed]

I agree with everyone. I am having a ~~~BLAST~~~ with the FTA. I Scan sats that suppose to be c band only just to see if something is there. Tonight I will be on the hunt for the LSU game and then the motorcycle jump. I can find enough things on wild feeds to occupy myself all night especially since it takes 20-30 mins to scan each sat. But boy when you see it go through all of the Horizontal with nothing and get through most of the Vertical and still see nothing and then like magic bam, something pops up, thats the icing on the cake. On saundays we have retro night and you guessed it its 123 all night long. I could completely ditch my sub if I can find 5 channels that I usually watch and it kills me to spend 80 bux a month on 5 channels and they dont even offer the stuff that we started to watch on a regular basis with FTA. Some tiomes I think if I ever found a cartoon channel it is bye bye sub. I feel sorry for both dish and direct with there profits falling and everything but I have plenty of frriend who have had to make a choice between the tv bill or the car note. To me both companies should use the al-lacart method that way they would have orck solid customer base with little to no turn over rate. But instead they choose to continually raise there prices on channels that one person may or may not watch. Hell I even carry basic cable to get NBC, wb and cw which is not offered in my area by the sat people.

As far as dish collecting goes I just scored a 6ft fiberglass from a closed down windixe and I have premision to take a 10ft mesh from a closed down ramada inn. Dishes are outthere. I just wish I would have known about FTA 2 years ago when the off track betting shut down because then they closed the demoilished 5 BUDS



.

 

[Cadsulfide]

Skewed

The networks are on 99w c band, kiss the cable sub goodbye with your new finds.

Hurray!

 

[Blindowl1234]

Love My FTA toooooo!

I agree with what everyone else is saying as well. I ditched the D...Tv about four years ago. We live close to two major markets Cincinnati/Dayton so there's plenty of OTA stuff....30 plus channels. I stumbled across FTA in early November and have just got a third dish tonight So now it's ready for Galaxy 25 tomorrow I hope. Too cold to put the motor on one dish now....that's the spring project. I used to help a cousin put in the B.u.d. 20 plus years ago and thought with the advent of the mini dish everything free was gone. My wife doesn't care for RTN...old shows not her thing. She does appreciate the Bio and History we have, as long as that lasts. I think a lot of people wouldn't do FTA because they can't see the premium channels and finding someone to install FTA and service them would be a problem. Thats my two cents, Blind

 

[skewed]

All I ever watch with my sub is the discoverys and the historys and with the excption of a couple more. My wife loves lifetime and oxygen, but I try to hog the remote. Thats it, I watch the news also but I get that via OTA in HD on my locals. My cable sub is required for me to have internet. If FTA ever had discovery and cartoons I would ditch the sub.

I hate to hijack the thread but since this is dealing with the economy, if a channel has advertisers and they "pay" for air time why do we have to pay again to wach it? Let them put there channels up there with the advertisers paying for it like it was 30 years ago. I really hope that FTA explodes here in the US like it has in other countries. I just want to pay for what I watch, I would never go to the grocery store and pay for food that I was not going to eat!!!!

 

[Tron]

I hate to hijack the thread but since this is dealing with the economy, if a channel has advertisers and they "pay" for air time why do we have to pay again to wach it?

Good point. Infomercials are becoming more dominant on channels we are supposed to be paying for (I, too, have to maintain a cable sub for my cable internet connection). If I want to see infomercials, I can see them for free on FTA!

 

[DK_Sat]

The price on HD receivers is still over price, I like to get one but they all have some bug

 

[jayelem]

I would never go to the grocery store and pay for food that I was not going to eat!!!!

You should see my Freezer , I just sigh and wonder what were they thinking.... Yes that slurpee has been there for 4 months .... Well do you really plan on eating it ?, then I get " Don't worry about it" meanwhile 4 bags of the same product are open. :