DIRECTV Transponder Map ~ Data 11/13/2024

[Tom Speer]

I re-created all the beam footprints from original FCC data about 4 years ago, making the colors distinct and consistent. The D11 derived footprints were not included in that process. I should probably clean those up when I get a chance, but that probably won't be for several months. I have an automated process that goes through the GXT files in the FCC filings and produces these beam footprints, but since the D11 footprints were created with another process, they were not included.
Fun fact: kmz files are zipped kml files. if you change the extension of a .kmz file to .zip you can unpack the original .kml file and read it in a text editor. Google earth accepts and writes out both kmz and kml files.

 

[lordodogg]

if you change the extension of a .kmz file to .zip you can unpack the original .kml file and read it in a text editor. Google earth accepts and writes out both kmz and kml files

Did that, and I noticed someone I’ve never heard of before in the credits:

<!-- Contributors to the D11 Beam Footprint Files:
dbstalk member "Spear61" created all the Directv beam footprint files from FCC data
Gary Toma created the Beam Footprint Library to aggregate the footprint files
Doug Brott provided the server and storage capacity for the Footprint Library
James Jones, MD developed the concept and validation of shifting D12 footprints for D11
Tom Speer calculated the amount of shift for each D11 antenna group from its D12 counterpart
Gary Toma shifted the beam pattern data and created new D11 files based upon the D12 files
Tom Speer created the revised KML file structure and combined footprints -->

 

[Tom Speer]

That was long ago and far away. I'm glad I recorded those credits to remind us of how we got here. "Spear61" chose to get out of the beam footprint business. Storage was later provided by Stuart Sweet, now by Scott Greczkowski. At the time the D11 derived beam footprints were recorded, we were just editing the kml files.

 

[Tom Speer]

P.S. I had to develop a program to do what "Spear61" had done, when DirecTV launched some new satellites.

 

[Tom Speer]

I just noticed that your response had Doctor J's name highlighted.

 

[lordodogg]

Oh THAT’s who “James Jones,
MD” is? Did not know that, so sorry!

 

[PioneerDJ]

looks like 696 HD and SD is finally getting new updated logo_id, it has no logo_id at the moment

 

[KyL416]

It's still going to be logo_id 361, they just temporarily removed the logo_id mapping until after the next logo assets update gets pushed so the old CSN Bay Area logo won't be visible anymore:

...
several new logos were added/updated on DirecTV's server yesterday:
361 NBC Sports Bay Area (vertically stacked)
713 NBC Sports Bay Area+ (now horizontal style)
718 NBC Sports California+ (now horizontal style)
721 NBC Sports Chicago+ (now horizontal style)
725 NBC Sports Washington+ (now horizontal style)
...

 

[lordodogg]

713 NBC Sports Bay Area+ (now horizontal style)
718 NBC Sports California+ (now horizontal style)
721 NBC Sports Chicago+ (now horizontal style)
725 NBC Sports Washington+ (now horizontal style)

If I recall correctly:
713 used to be for BAND News in BrazilianDirect
718 used to be for TVB8 in I think MandarinDirect
721 used to be for Animal Planet HD until they changed their logo in 2008 so it now uses 807 for SD and 808 for HD
725 used to be for Cinemax East HD. I’m guessing when Cinemax changed their logo in 2011 it began to use 59 for a short time and then in 2013 it began to use 391 for SD and 392 for HD.

 

[KyL416]

2086 LifeS will be going live on Monday 5/15

 

[lordodogg]

Too bad I don't have Korean Direct

 

[Gary Toma]

That was long ago and far away. I'm glad I recorded those credits to remind us of how we got here. "Spear61" chose to get out of the beam footprint business. .......

The original Beam Footprint Library was first posted on 8/23/2009. The footprints at that time were all static .jpg files, not the interactive GoogleEarth variety we have today.

 

[lordodogg]

What's funny is that if you change the planet in Google Earth to Mars or the Moon the beam footprints still show there! It's like DirecTV can beam to those as well. But we all know they can't do that.

 

[Gary Toma]

We do not post the DIRECTV Beam Footprints for Mars and the Moon because those are very poor revenue areas with low Nielsen ratings.

 

[KyL416]

In addition to LifeS going live on Monday, changes for this week include:
475 EWTN Espanol is now in test mode as a MPEG4/SD channel
New targetted test channel 9940 in Ku Offline mode

WAOE's callsign finally updated to WTVK
WCIV's Notes0 description corrected
Subchannel relabels hit Sioux City and Sioux Falls (Although they screwed up the labels for KPTH as 44.2 is MNT and 44.3 is CBS)
NSB+ is now pointing to logo_id 100 instead of 99

 

[doctor J]

DirecTV Satellite Transponder Updates for May 17 2023

Comparison of Transponder Data for May 17 2023 vs May 10 2023:


No changes in system tables for any transponder tuning parameters.

Stream (PID) counts:

LIVE Streams​	National​		Spot Beams​
	Count​	Change​	Count​	Change​
4K​	4​	​	​	​
HD​	279​	2​	1445​	​
SD mpeg4​	138​	1​	198​	​
SD mpeg2​	402​	​	440​	​
RB​	​	​	​	​
Audio​	89​	​	​	​
Push​	31​	​	​	​
Slate​	20​	​	1​	​
​

TEST Streams​	National​		Spot Beams​
	Count​	Change​	Count​	Change​
4K​	​	​	​	​
HD​	​	​	​	​
SD mpeg4​	2​	​	​	​
SD mpeg2​	​	​	​	​
RB​	​	​	​	​
Engr Work​	49​	-2​	​	​
​

The PID count Excel workbook provides much more count detail.

Newly updated tables of Streams on each transponder are available in the DataDigesters TPN Grids

More details of changes in individual channels will follow in the Weekly Analysis
and Gary Toma's Domestic TPN Map Excel files
Weekly Analysis soon
Not much change
Enjoy
Stay Safe
Product of your DataDigesters

 

[doctor J]

Weekly Analysis for 5/17/2023 :

 

[lordodogg]

WAOE's callsign finally updated to WTVK

And that's another time a station has used those calls. They used to be on a station in Knoxville, TN channel 26 which is now WVLT channel 8. Also they were used in Fort Myers, FL for their then WB affiliate which is now WXCW a CW affiliate channel 46 (Which hasn't been carried on the Fort Myers LILs since early 2019 because of some dispute between its owner which also owns the local Univision affiliate that weirdly is still carried on the LILs as an MPEG-4/SD channel).

 

[KyL416]

Stations don't actually own their callsigns, so once they give up a callsign, anyone can pay the filing fee and request it, which is why in radio, where it's common to use your callsign as your on air brand, many station owners end up squatting heritage callsigns after a format flip. (i.e. when 102.7 WNEW NYC became Fresh WWFS in 2007, the then-CBS Radio spent the next decade moving the WNEW callsign between various stations in Florida and Maryland until they eventually returned to 102.7 NYC in 2016)

The Fort Myers situation is kind of complicated. Basically, AT&T had a policy of refusing to pay for CW, MyNet and Independent stations who opt for retransmission consent, unless they also have a sister Big 4 affiliate as part of the retrans deal. Even though their CBS affiliate WINK-TV runs WXCW, the retrans negotiations are handled seperately by the actual holder of the license Sun Broadcasting, so once their pre-AT&T retrans deal expired in 2019, and they didn't accept AT&T's offer of $0, they were dropped.

Their LPTV Univision sister station is carried because Univision has a deal where they negotiate cable and sat carriage on behalf of their 3rd party affiliates, although Sun Broadcasting didn't acquire it until 2019.


On a side note, a new logo asset update went out earlier this week, it included the revised NBC Sports Plus logos and the Bally Great Lakes Extra logo, but it looks like the NBC Sports Bay Area logo 361 missed the cut as it was the last one to be uploaded during last week's Directv.com updates.

 

[lordodogg]

it included the revised NBC Sports Plus logos

Do you know if they changed logo_id 725 to the NBCS Washington Plus logo? It's their logo_id yet when I tuned in before the logo reads "MAX East" since it was the old Cinemax East HD logo_id