DirecTV has control of Spaceway 1 Back:

[LonghornXP]

The title says it all. DirecTV now has control of Spaceway 1 and will be doing whatever they need todo with it. I would assume that it will soon be moved back towards 101. I would expect Lyngsat to be updated sometime today. Right now they are dealing with system checks.

Lets just hope nothing else goes wrong now.

Edit...From what I gather they lost control of the satellite sometime between 9am and noon Eastern Time when they tried to put it into geostationary orbit. So with that said not much is known and I'm just glad they have control back. I was really looking forward to the services that will be offered on that sat. I've been so disappointed these last few hours with the prospect of having to stay with BHN longer than one year. I've got to get some sleep now.

 

[Smthkd]

THANK GOD! I hope everything else gets worked out and they can get it back to 101. My whole HDtv future was slowly drifting away!

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Thanks Longhorn,

We have been discussing this this afternoon in our Pub Members area (along with some jucy stuff from the Expo this weekend)

Glad they got control of it again, if they lost this bird it would have been a big blow to DirecTV.

 

[LonghornXP]

THANK GOD! I hope everything else gets worked out and they can get it back to 101. My whole HDtv future was slowly drifting away!

Oh I'm with you on that. I can barely stand BHN as it is I might have had to shoot myself if this bird didn't work as planned. I'm really hating BHN analog lineup. I swear I'm not thrilled with DirecTVs SD locals but at least they aren't snowy.

 

[LonghornXP]

Thanks Longhorn,

We have been discussing this this afternoon in our Pub Members area (along with some jucy stuff from the Expo this weekend)

Glad they got control of it again, if they lost this bird it would have been a big blow to DirecTV.

I'm still trying to figure out exactly what happened and why. Oh and yes it would have been a big blow. Just think about Charlie offering HD locals in the top 12 markets before DirecTV. Would Rupert be blowing a gasket or what.

 

[cr0mag]

I am soooo glad that they have the bird back in hand. Man, I was just crushed at the thought of having to wait for who knows how long to get things back to normal, and waiting and waiting and waiting for D*'s next big rollout.
Damn, we watch this stuff harder than most people watch sports! (Myself included!)

 

[LonghornXP]

Latest word is that Spaceway 2 "will" be delayed until they can isolate this problem. How much of a delay is unknown at this time.

 

[cr0mag]

sunuvabitch... I had a feeling that we would be waiting for S2 for a while, but I wasn't sure what the holdup would be... Now I guess we know.

 

[Neutron]

What will delaying Spaceway 2 do to the upcoming HD schedule?

 

[cr0mag]

I'm sure it won't be good.... Especially if you are beyond #12 on the DMA list.

 

[Neutron]

Thank goodness I'm in the #7 DMA. That was one of the perks of moving back to the Dallas area.

 

[charper1]

Excuse my french, but DAMNIT! #15 and holding. Now if I was the skipped #12 Seattle, I would REALLY be pissed.

 

[cr0mag]

Could be worse.. you could be even lower on the list... (like New Orleans) Oh well, glad I talked the wife into the OTA.

 

[Plywodstatebum]

I'll be dead before it gets here, so don't bitch....lol

 

[LonghornXP]

Oh and DirecTVs policy with press releases is that anything said can change at anytime without notice and even those of us in the top 12 DMAs will be waiting until at least after summer and that good old policy will be kicking in full force I'm afriad to say. From where I'm sitting is that they should upgrade every HD customers boxes to an MPEG4 box and add as many national HD channels as they can to hold us over and forget about adding HD LIL channels until those birds get up in the air. Also from what I hear if the bird doesn't go up quick enough we might hear about some changes for NFL Sunday Ticket SuperFan customers. They have much thinking and planning left to do with little time to do it all.

 

[charper1]

From where I'm sitting is that they should upgrade every HD customers boxes to an MPEG4 box and add as many national HD channels as they can to hold us over and forget about adding HD LIL channels until those birds get up in the air.

AMEN! After sticking it ONLY to the NFL HD crowd, this would be the prime opportunity to do exactly what you suggest and start off with NATIONAL HD offerings first, and NOT just the Voom stuff.

Tell 'em Longhorn, use your powers for good.

 

[LonghornXP]

AMEN! After sticking it ONLY to the NFL HD crowd, this would be the prime opportunity to do exactly what you suggest and start off with NATIONAL HD offerings first, and NOT just the Voom stuff.

Tell 'em Longhorn, use your powers for good.

Oh if they ever did what I say they should do we would have everything we want because its what I would want as well. I believe for the first time in maybe DirecTVs history they are at a mount now would the wrong choice could make or break them. I think now is the time that Rupert cannot afford to under estimate what his customers would do. Most HD customers have been pain stakenly patient with all the crap that they have been doing (NFL Sunday Ticket, HD Tivo issues, bad HD quality, no new national HD channels among other things) and Rupert just can't afford to take the chance that this new issue won't be the issue that causes people to snap. IMO they have been very lucky to get away with this as long as they have and they only got away with it because they have some of the most loyal customers of any company and I wouldn't want to try testing their loyalty at this point in time.

 

[Baldone]

Excuse my french, but DAMNIT! #15 and holding. Now if I was the skipped #12 Seattle, I would REALLY be pissed.

YESSSS. I have been since the announcement a few months ago. I haven't been able get a straight answer (no surprise) from them as to if we (Seattle) would even be in the second group!

 

[amateurjournalist]

D* is now different from the company Rupert bought. Did you that the EVP of marketing for D* left recently? That's very telling that a promotion was goofed up or some marketing plan went undone.

D* isn't winning me over as a new customer. When I did the SD-NFL package in 2001, I didn't have to pay as much There weren't ads. There also wasn't this whole HDTV issue. Nothing D* offers makes the picture any clearer for now (or indefinitely.)

I smelled some of this out in my previous posts, with the help of this great forum. I like the grandiose talk of a 20-million unit order to do some great swap-out, but that's just speculation. Is there really any possibility of NOT getting ripped off by buying a mpeg2 machine that needs a new dish and a $700 DVR that won't run on the new standard and needs hopefully-free swapping? D* (and E*) needs to bring HD on as mainstream, 20+ HD channels nationwide ASAP. Bring Voom and everybody to the party; (share sat's?) National networks should share revenue with locals for national HD channels. (Local advertizers should be able to work their way in as the localized HD channels emerge.) Key there is capacity.

I'm gonna wait til next year unless I know I can get new HD content capacity with new or nationalized channels coming regularly, in a next gen receiver, paying under $50/mo. for base package HD programming. E* delivers more HD, under $50, but a soon-to-be-obsolete receiver, (which i can rent at least and not have to worry about swapping as much.) Charging a monthly fee per receiver does complicate the cost structure when using dual tuner DVR's, which can run 2 tv's.

You people do whatever you want; I'm sure D* will do whatever it wants. Its just a question of how hard its competitors push in; unfort the NFL thing is monopoly...

 

[Stargazer]

Competition is good! Looks like the pressure continues for Charlie to bring about the HD channels as well.