DirecTV locals on 72.5 sat

[matthpd195]

How in the world is a two dish system going to work??



EL SEGUNDO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 22, 2004

DIRECTV to offer Local Channels in Charleston, S.C., Greenville-New Bern, N.C., Toledo and Youngstown, Ohio

DIRECTV, Inc., the nation's leading digital multichannel television service provider, announced today that it will begin offering local channels to its customers in the Charleston, S.C., Greenville-New Bern, N.C., and Toledo and Youngstown, Ohio, designated market areas (DMA) later this year.

DIRECTV will provide its customers with access to a full lineup of local stations in each of these markets beginning at $39.99 per month for its TOTAL CHOICE(R) with Local Channels package, which includes more than 130 channels.

"Delivering local channels in these new markets enhances the value and choice for existing DIRECTV customers, and offers consumers, who are unhappy with their local cable provider, a superior alternative," said Stephanie Campbell, executive vice president, Programming, DIRECTV, Inc. "Given that consumers want an all-digital experience when they watch their local news, weather, sports or favorite primetime broadcast network programming, we expect to see more consumers in each of these markets choose DIRECTV as their pay TV provider."

Charleston, S.C., Greenville-New Bern, N.C., and Toledo and Youngstown, Ohio, will be among the 24 new markets that will receive local channels from DIRECTV following the relocation -- pending FCC approval -- of the DIRECTV 5 satellite to the Telesat-controlled orbital slot at 72.5 degrees West longitude (WL). Customers in those markets will require a second 18-inch dish to receive their local channels. The dish and installation will be provided at no charge.

The following markets will receive local channels from the 72.5 WL degree orbital slot:

Boise, Idaho
Burlington, Vt. - Plattsburgh, N.Y.
Cedar Rapids-Waterloo, Iowa
Champaign-Springfield-Decatur, Ill.
Chattanooga, Tenn.
Charleston, S.C.
Columbia-Jefferson City, Mo.
Davenport, Iowa
Evansville, Ind.
Fort Smith, Ark.
Fort Wayne, Ind.
Greenville-New Bern, N.C.
Johnson City, Tenn.-Bristol, Va. /Tenn.- Kingsport, Tenn.
Johnstown-Altoona, Pa.
Lincoln-Hastings, Neb.
Peoria, Ill.
Sioux Falls, S.D.
Springfield, Mo.
Syracuse, N.Y.
Toledo, Ohio
Traverse City, Mich.
Waco-Temple-Bryan, Texas
Wausau, Wis.
Youngstown, Ohio

This month DIRECTV will complete the launch of 42 previously announced local-into-local markets, followed by the rollout of the 24 markets at the Telesat-controlled orbital slot later this year. By year-end DIRECTV will deliver local channels in a minimum of 130 markets, representing 92 percent of U.S. television households.

Taken from businesswire.com

 

[paulr]

Any word on when the locals will actually be available? The D* website still says that locals aren't available in Toledo, and the CSR I'm speaking to at the moment doesn't seem to have a really solid idea either.

 

[Greg Bimson]

A press release from DirecTV stated that all 24 markets from 72.5 will be in service by early October; some will be started in late September.

 

[agregjones]

Any new info on this? I have tried to call and ask about this but only get a busy signal when transferred to the CSR group.

I'm in the Greenville, NC market, which was rumored to be on the schedule for 9/28.

 

[charper1]

How in the world is a two dish system going to work??

You have dish1 & dish2 aimed at their respective sat locations. The RG6 runs from each into the apprpriate switch/combiner arrangement for your system and when your IRD tunes to the channels from the "new dish2" location, the signals will be routed accordingly.

This is a super simplistic answer, but is this what you were asking? "How will it work?"

 

[VOOMER]

edit

 

[bsilvertab]

I am wondering how this is going to work. How big is this new dish going to be? If a customer has 1 dish with 1 lnb right now, are they going to put in a new oval dish plus this second dish? On top of that... are they going to replace old receivers that arn't multi-dish capable with new ones? If I recall, there was some sort of ruling against E* that said that all of the locals plus the regular programing on a one dish solution. Why would this not apply to D*?

 

[bsilvertab]

Bump

 

[Spin]

Ok here we go, you will need a 2nd 18in dish. You will not need the oval unless you are wanting HD. D* will replace up to 4 receivers that are not compatible, one directivo. About the 1 dish E*. It has nothing to do with regular programming. You have to have all your locals available on one dish. Right now in NYC you receive some channels on the 119 sat and some on the 61.5 wing. The ruling says that all locals must be on one dish. So all on 119 or 61.5 Regular programming can be on another dish.

 

[charper1]

I think this press release came out just before the ruling and we will all have to wait and see, but there is the thought that D* will be coming out with a new multi LNB dish. I have heard it might be able to hit 5 birds at once; I do not know. There are already companies that make LEGAL toroidial dishes for this purpose and they cost around $199 (Please do not lecture me about this being a HACKER only dish). So I see no reason why D* nor E* couldn't incorporate something of that nature. As for the costs for upgrading current customers, who knows. They will start high, free for new subscribers that need it, and then it will get cheaper based on how long you have been a customer. I would really hate to think that one of the reasons that D* is starting to take over the marketing & distribution of the receivers (marketing them as D* branded units - no more Sony, LG, Samsung) was that they are already aware that a great portion of their users will need new multi LNB dishes and certainly will need newer receivers; thus them having the market cornered on a TON of new equipment purchases.