CBS HD to 129???

[rdinkel]

Anyone know if CBS HD (East or West) will be mirrored on sat 129 anytime soon? I am in the process of upgrading to Dish1000 and would like to continue to receive CBS HD without adding a fourth satellite that requires me to use the expensive DPP44 switch.

 

[Grandpa J]

I believe this question has been asked and replied to many times before. Try doing a search using the search buttom.

 

[rdinkel]

Appreciate Grandpa J's suggestion. However, does anyone have newer info? Must make equipment purchase decision this week. After Tech Chat on Monday, it sure sounds like E* big push will be D1000 without need for additional dishes. But I don't want to give up the CBS HD.

 

[Mr Tony]

right now CBSHD is still on 148. Will they move it to 129 or duplicate it?

Only dish knows

There is no definite answer

 

[M Sparks]

BUT, if I was a betting man...I'd bet big on it. Especially after today's uplink activity. It's clear they intend 129 and 61.5 to be the "HD slots".

 

[rdinkel]

I live in the mountains of Colorado and am authorized to get both East and West Coast networks now. (Presently receiving all in SD, plus East Coast CBS HD.) So maybe I will go ahead and point a dish at 61.5 as well as installing Dish1000. If the Dish gods make the right decisions, I may end up with HD from both coasts!!!

 

[SimpleSimon]

You can add a fourth bird via DP34 plus DP21 (one for a 811, two for a 921 or 942).

With a D1000, this means swapping the supplied DPP-Twin for a standard one.

 

[rdinkel]

Simon, Thanks. But as we discussed on the phone the other day: Your approach would require additional (more than present 3) cables coming into the house. My receiver mix will be 6000u, 625, and 508. Without DPP44 I cannot separate one RG6 into both 625 tuners. And I will be in a good position for future receiver upgrades without additional wiring.

 

[mikew]

I live in the mountains of Colorado and am authorized to get both East and West Coast networks now. (Presently receiving all in SD, plus East Coast CBS HD.) So maybe I will go ahead and point a dish at 61.5 as well as installing Dish1000. If the Dish gods make the right decisions, I may end up with HD from both coasts!!!

You're only permitted to have one. I had a CSR add it both to my account and they stayed there for a year. Called on a problem with my 721 and the advance tech saw and removed my east coast feed.

 

[rdinkel]

I am "grandfathered" in from old C-band days. The basic rules seem to be if you are paying to get it in SD, then you can watch it in HD when it is available.

 

[rdinkel]

Just read the summary of the law from the FCC site. In addition to being "grandfathered" our location is also designated as "unserved." As such, we are eligable to receive two distant same network stations per day in addition to locals in local area. According to the FCC, that also applies to HD. Hope this helps to clear things up. I am glad to have taken the trouble years ago to do all the paperwork to have our mountain location documented as "unserved."

 

[waltinvt]

Just read the summary of the law from the FCC site. In addition to being "grandfathered" our location is also designated as "unserved." As such, we are eligable to receive two distant same network stations per day in addition to locals in local area. According to the FCC, that also applies to HD. Hope this helps to clear things up. I am glad to have taken the trouble years ago to do all the paperwork to have our mountain location documented as "unserved."

That's the crux of the issue - "unserved". Until the FCC clarifyes or redefines the "digital white area", anyone (excluding grandfathered) is considered to be "digitally" served if their sat company offers analog LiLs in their dma.

It stinks; it was all done behind closed doors to get the '04 SHVERA into law and give all the little affiliates more time to get into the game. It was also delibertly ambigious.

What I don't know is, now that the year has almost passed, is the FCC now on the verge of issuing some "white" area rules or does "E" figure because the FCC has not done what they were supposed to do, they ("E") can be a little more "loose" in their interpertation without fearing FCC repercussions.

As we know, it all boils down to copywrite law in the end and that can only be circumvented 2 ways: FCC exemption from them (retransmission rights) or negoiations with the copywrite owners.

In my opinion, recent activity concerning VOD by the major networks is a sign that they may be willing to circumvent their affiliate contracts in favor of a more direct approach to getting, at least their prime time HD programming, to viewers.

 

[rdinkel]

Quoting from the FCC site:

Distant Digital Signals

In general, if a satellite carrier offers local-into-local digital signals in your area, it is not allowed to offer you distant digital signals, unless you were receiving distant digital signals as of December 8, 2004. At this time, no satellite carriers are offering local-into-local digital signals.

Subscribers who are “unserved” with respect to analog service are eligible for distant digital signals. Satellite carriers are not required to offer distant digital signals.

END QUOTE (Note: Above bolding mine)

 

[waltinvt]

Quoting from the FCC site:

Distant Digital Signals

In general, if a satellite carrier offers local-into-local digital signals in your area, it is not allowed to offer you distant digital signals, unless you were receiving distant digital signals as of December 8, 2004. At this time, no satellite carriers are offering local-into-local digital signals.

Subscribers who are “unserved” with respect to analog service are eligible for distant digital signals. Satellite carriers are not required to offer distant digital signals.

END QUOTE (Note: Above bolding mine)

I'm on your side here but there is (at least for me) a lot of ambiguty about what the '04 SHVERA reads and what the FCC has said in fact sheets (which I assume your quote was from) and query responses.

Below is a partial cut & paste from the FCCs April '05 "Information Sheet" which does seem (to me) to contridict a previous understanding that one was not considered "unserved" for digital dns if your satellite company offered analog LiLs. At least that's how DirectTV was interperting it and would thus only provide their HD DNS to O & O at first and then later if you had a waiver.
" 7. How can I receive digital signals including high definition signals?

<snip....>
Alternatively, you may be eligible for distant digital signals if you are “unserved” by over-the-air analog signals. “Unserved” means your household cannot receive, with a stationary outdoor rooftop antenna, an over-the-air signal of Grade B intensity, as defined by the FCC. If your household is predicted to be “unserved” by the analog signals of a network station, you qualify for the distant digital signal of that network, if it is offered by your satellite carrier. If your satellite carrier offers local-into-local analog service, you must subscribe to it in order to qualify for distant digital signals.
In general, if a satellite carrier offers local-into-local digital signals in your market, it is not allowed to offer you distant digital signals, unless you were receiving distant digital signals as of December 8, 2004.


Below is a paste from an FCC response letter that was posted on the AVS forum last Summer:

Thanks for contacting the FCC Consumer Center in Gettysburg PA.
We presume this issue is related to the Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act (SHVERA) of 2004, passed by the Congress and signed into law December 8, 2004, by the President, as an attachment to the omnibus appropriations bill for FY2005.
The FCC has not yet acted on those few, limited provisions of SHVERA on which the agency is required to act; no FCC rules implementing SHVERA have been written. SHVERA relates primarily to copyright, and while the FCC does not regulate copyright law, SHVERA includes a "significantly viewed" provision; the FCC will publish a list of significantly viewed stations and initiate a rulemaking to implement the significantly viewed provisions. The significantly viewed retransmission authorization allows satellite carriers to offer local TV signals from an adjacent market rather than the signals only from a viewer's home market.
Any consumer with concerns about satellite TV programming, and consumers formerly denied a waiver request may consider contacting the satellite company again, with a new waiver request; waiver requests must be submitted through the satellite company to the local network TV station; please see:
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/shva/shviafac.html
Analog and Digital TV waivers:
ANALOG TV: The current waiver procedures for distant analog (the familiar, conventional TV standard) network stations remain intact; that is, SHVERA provides a five-year extension of copyright authorizations for some forms of programming that were scheduled to expire at the end of 2004.
DIGITAL TV (DTV): For DTV (the umbrella term for various standards of enhanced- and high-definition TV) signals, Congress's decision is that the only satellite subscribers who can get distant DTV are those who have a waiver from the local station for distant signals or those who are predicted to be "unserved." Subscribers who are "unserved" for purposes of a distant analog signal are currently eligible for a distant DTV signal, except in a few markets in which the satellite carrier has a special arrangement with network "owned and operated" stations to permit the carrier to offer distant DTV of that network to subscribers in that market; therefore some consumers who want distant DTV signals may have their waiver requests denied, and there is nothing the FCC can do about it. Discussing waivers, a Library of Congress section-by-section analysis of SHVERA notes: "THE COMMITTEE DOES NOT INTEND THE FCC TO GRANT THESE WAIVERS OR PRESIDE OVER THE WAIVER PROCESS. WHETHER TO GRANT A WAIVER IS A DECISION TO BE MADE SOLELY BASED ON THE BROADCASTER'S OWN BUSINESS JUDGMENT . . ." [Upper-case emphasis added original poster.] Bold emphasis added me.



Now I believe "E"s provision of CBS-HD is governed more by a contract between CBS and "E" and therefore bypasses some of the SHVIA - SHVERA crap.

I can't find my copy of the actual '04 SHVERA bill as it passed but have a 29MB pdf file of the final draft markup which I don't look forward to wadeing through. Maybe someone else has a copy of what the actual defination of "unserved" & "served" was but I really think it said if you received analog LiLs from satellite, you could not be considered "unserved" for digital dns.

 

[jmcgee_jr]

Yeah and with that E* still hoses me cause they wont let WCAX give them a timeframe waiver E* wants one that is with no expiration so due to that I cant get CBS in HD. And well walt you know about our OTA situation. I cant get anything here at all. I did only get a 60mile UHF antenna with no amp but I didnt pick up squat. I dont want a BUA on my house and a rotor and a 100$ amp to get 2 more channels of OTA HD maybe. PBS and nbc if i could get lucky and get that from hartford.

 

[rdinkel]

Waltinvt,
In my unique situation, the FCC words in your recent post are consistent with my continued receipt of distant stations. I went through the waiver process years ago. Received them. Also got acknowledgement that my area is unserved due to a mountain range blocking reception from DMA transmitters. And I was receiving distant stations on Dec 8, 2004. And have subscribed to all local stations via satellite.

One interesting aside: About a year ago when we were planning on being in Europe for almost a month, I called E* CSR and asked about suspending service while on vacation. They said sure; however, I would have to re-qualify for my distant network feeds if I ever dropped them--even while only on vacation. So, I continued to pay during the trip to Europe. Bottom line: don't mess with a good thing!