Distant Network Information

[skyviews]

December 12, 2006

Now that the 109th Congress has finally come to conclusion, we wanted to make you aware of the results on the court-ordered EchoStar/DISH Network cut-off that occurred on December 1, 2006. While there were several 11th hour attempts to change the law – most broadcaster-friendly – ultimately nothing was passed in either the U.S. House or Senate. Thus, the permanent nationwide injunction for distant network TV signals imposed on EchoStar and its DISH Network remains in effect.


The NAB government relations and legal teams have worked in tandem with the affiliate organizations and counsels towards a successful conclusion this year. At the core of this effort was a great legal team representing the network affiliates led by Wade Hargrove, David Kushner, Gerry Waldron, Neil Roman, Tom Olson, Katherine Oyama, Steve Hut, and Rob Andalman – and we owe them a debt of gratitude.


In the New Year, NAB will continue to work closely with policymakers on Capitol Hill representing broadcast interests if this issue surfaces. As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at 202-429-5312.



Regards,


Douglas S. Wiley
Executive Vice President, Government Relations
National Association of Broadcasters

 

[janetdee]

Maybe it's a mistake that your tenant has more than allowed since people and/or systems do make mistakes. But if you feel the morale thing to do is call and report your tenant and have his/her services cut, go ahead.

The FCC recommends a la carte, but that's not for retransmission of local broadcasts.

Guess you must have a service address somewhere in the upper 50. To get enough elevation from Cancun, you will probably have to go up a couple of thousand miles, and possibly over some, to try and get in the line of transmission from the satellite to the point it is transmitting to for most of the locals.

For more info, scroll down the below link until you get to "Larger and more detailed maps of E*10 spot beams". The first one will give you the various foot prints of the spotbeams on the 110 satellite. Then they have additional links for transponders.
http://www.dbstalk.com/ekb/satmaps.htm

Some of the people here are real jokers and are great at ignoring the real issue and giving a mature, helpful answer. FYI my tenant hates the new distants also and is more than willing to move to Directv. I just didn't want to have to do this at this time of year when things are hectic for some of us. Has nothing to do with morals, well yes it does, but not mine. It has to do with customer service at the lowest level on up to the ceo of a company not treating the customer as they should. Not doing all or anything they can to fix an obvious flaw. Treating the customers like an annoyance. Like they don't matter. They have had 12 days to fix this mistake. I have spoken to , emailed, phoned about 20 different people and they can't figure this out? I'm finding out these "satellite" boards are giving me information that is false as gospel and too much sarcasm. Have your fun. I guess I have to do this on my own. J

 

[Tampa8]

Some of the people here are real jokers and are great at ignoring the real issue and giving a mature, helpful answer. FYI my tenant hates the new distants also and is more than willing to move to Directv. I just didn't want to have to do this at this time of year when things are hectic for some of us. Has nothing to do with morals, well yes it does, but not mine. It has to do with customer service at the lowest level on up to the ceo of a company not treating the customer as they should. Not doing all or anything they can to fix an obvious flaw. Treating the customers like an annoyance. Like they don't matter. They have had 12 days to fix this mistake. I have spoken to , emailed, phoned about 20 different people and they can't figure this out? I'm finding out these "satellite" boards are giving me information that is false as gospel and too much sarcasm. Have your fun. I guess I have to do this on my own. J

Happy Holidays!

 

[fz5j2r]

If one had HD (CBS-W) out of LA, no CBS high def from local affiliate, they are totally screwed now. This new bill won't get them that access back if they have a foot-dragging local affiliate that doesn't offer high def.

You are absolutely correct!

I wrote to my United States Senator, Carl Levin from Michigan, and requested he vote no on Senate Bill S.4067 until the language is changed to include reference to high definition/digital.

I included a copy to Senator Patrick Leahy who was one of the originators of the bill.

Everyone who has an interest in receiving high defintion/digital transmissions should write their US Senator and copy Senator Leahy;

senator_leahy@leahy.senate.gov

 

[fz5j2r]

December 12, 2006

Now that the 109th Congress has finally come to conclusion, we wanted to make you aware of the results on the court-ordered EchoStar/DISH Network cut-off that occurred on December 1, 2006. While there were several 11th hour attempts to change the law – most broadcaster-friendly – ultimately nothing was passed in either the U.S. House or Senate. Thus, the permanent nationwide injunction for distant network TV signals imposed on EchoStar and its DISH Network remains in effect.


The NAB government relations and legal teams have worked in tandem with the affiliate organizations and counsels towards a successful conclusion this year. At the core of this effort was a great legal team representing the network affiliates led by Wade Hargrove, David Kushner, Gerry Waldron, Neil Roman, Tom Olson, Katherine Oyama, Steve Hut, and Rob Andalman – and we owe them a debt of gratitude.


In the New Year, NAB will continue to work closely with policymakers on Capitol Hill representing broadcast interests if this issue surfaces. As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at 202-429-5312.



Regards,


Douglas S. Wiley
Executive Vice President, Government Relations
National Association of Broadcasters

Mr Wiley,

I is obvious that you represent an organization that cares nothing about the consumer.

I legally obtained a waiver to receive CBSHD from Dish Network because the chief engineer for our local affilliate stated their digital signal was not strong enough for us to receive.

My wife and I have invested in excess of $6,000 for two high defintion televisions and satellite equipment to receive high defintion/digital programming that the United States government has mandated.

We live 15 miles from the local CBS affillites' tower!

We also have no problem with receiving NBC, ABC, and FOX from the same antenna farm 15 miles away. Each of these stations transmit a signal that reads in the "90's" on our television.

The local CBS affiliate's signal reads "0".

Now that your staff of lawyers have their victory, why not have them use their free time to contact our local affiliate, WWMT in Kalamazoo, Michigan and encourage them to increase their digital transmit power so I can receive their transmission? I have had no luck in convincing them to do so.

http://www.fccinfo.com/CMDProEngine.php?sCurrentService=TV&tabSearchType=Appl&sAppIDNumber=604965

 

[SmityWhity]

Some of the people here are real jokers and are great at ignoring the real issue and giving a mature, helpful answer. FYI my tenant hates the new distants also and is more than willing to move to Directv. I just didn't want to have to do this at this time of year when things are hectic for some of us. Has nothing to do with morals, well yes it does, but not mine. It has to do with customer service at the lowest level on up to the ceo of a company not treating the customer as they should. Not doing all or anything they can to fix an obvious flaw. Treating the customers like an annoyance. Like they don't matter. They have had 12 days to fix this mistake. I have spoken to , emailed, phoned about 20 different people and they can't figure this out? I'm finding out these "satellite" boards are giving me information that is false as gospel and too much sarcasm. Have your fun. I guess I have to do this on my own. J

I thought that maybe I missed a post of yours, so I went back to check your posts, I see for some reason you deleted your original post.

I may be mistaken, but after a quick run down of various posts, it appears you are not eligible. If that is correct, I would say that your tenant would also not be eligible; but was either getting them as a paid customer by mistake, or maybe getting them without paying for it do to some glitch in the system, such as, moved from one location to another, but the actual service was not stopped in the computer even though the physical address was updated.

However, if you are eligible, I really hope you can get what you want, and hopefully without too much hassle.

I'm getting older every hour, but from memory, I believe several persons, including myself, have previously provided possible reasons for the difference in service - as each had independently interpreted your comments.

It is possible I read your comment differently than the way you were thinking. You said "No one is addressing your REAL PROBLEM which is your tenant is getting the channel, and you are not. It shouldn't be your problem if someone else gets it or doesn't, and if someone else does get it, that should not be the basis for you to get it.

Going back a post, I see that you must be referring to NPS as not being helpful to you, and you are very agitated about their customer support. This is a new level of service for them, and it is possible they are being swamped with calls from maybe a million possible customers. However, if it was Dish, we just learned to live with the answers and call back later for a different answer.

Again, I hope you are eligible by your service address, and that sooner than later, the company (not the forum members) gets your issue resolved.

Otherwise, regardless of your religious or non-religious beliefs, may you enjoy the rest of the year and the holiday seasons.

SW

 

[SmityWhity]

Some one just emailed me asking for a utility bill with my address and my tenants info.

Hopefully that is from NPS to try and work out your issue.

I don't understand why they want a utility bill, maybe the physical address they have on you does not exist for one or more reasons. Such as:
12066 The Other Street
Has OH's instead of ZERO's, or has ZERO's instead of OH's, since computers are not that smart to use reasoning, unless the program was written to search both ways.

Instead its --- 12o66 The 0ther Street

Just a thought.

 

[carl033]

I live in Cancun Mexico and have enjoyed the distant channels since we moved here. Today of course they quit and I can't get my local channels because the satellite guy says we (everybody that lives in Cancun and has Dish) cannot reach the Western SAT # 110.
Is this true?
Can't I just get some more elevation or something else?
Thanx,
JG

The Atlanta and SF distant nets are on the 119 satellite, Transponder 15, according to Lyngsat and Dish Channel Chart. Can you see that bird from your location? Ask your satellite guy.

 

[Tower Guy]

Mr Wiley,

I is obvious that you represent an organization that cares nothing about the consumer.

I legally obtained a waiver to receive CBSHD from Dish Network because the chief engineer for our local affilliate stated their digital signal was not strong enough for us to receive.

My wife and I have invested in excess of $6,000 for two high defintion televisions and satellite equipment to receive high defintion/digital programming that the United States government has mandated.

We live 15 miles from the local CBS affillites' tower!

We also have no problem with receiving NBC, ABC, and FOX from the same antenna farm 15 miles away. Each of these stations transmit a signal that reads in the "90's" on our television.

The local CBS affiliate's signal reads "0".

Now that your staff of lawyers have their victory, why not have them use their free time to contact our local affiliate, WWMT in Kalamazoo, Michigan and encourage them to increase their digital transmit power so I can receive their transmission? I have had no luck in convincing them to do so.

http://www.fccinfo.com/CMDProEngine.php?sCurrentService=TV&tabSearchType=Appl&sAppIDNumber=604965

The power of WWMT was set by the FCC. The management of WWMT had no opportunity to increase their power beyond that allowed by the FCC.

Many mistake the lower power of VHF stations than UHF as a flaw, it's not. VHF often works better than UHF. If you were to erect a proper antenna I'm sure that you would get reception of WWMT-DT at 15 miles.

 

[copmannd]

When did you fax in the request?

Mitch

Mitch,

I signed up on line on 1 Dec. I put "full time RV" for my address and got a "qualified" answer. I faxed the RV waiver on 11 Dec.

Dave

 

[odbrv]

I spoke with NPS person about waivers, here is advice.

1. Apply for waivers here > waiverrequest@mydistantnetworks.com

2. Call local channels you can not receive preferbly outside 100 mile, or B grade, see if they will issue a waiver, addressed to Satellite Provider.

3. Once you receive the waiver. fax it with your phone number to.

Fax :317-558-3838
Attn: Delanie Smily
phone number

Hope this helps , good luck
oops also NPS for those like me that are new to all this is National Programming Service, http://www.callnps.com/default.htm
They have a link on site with all info also bottom left of page.

I did this on 12/11 and still nothing. After I applied on 12/1 and received the $0.00 charge and I received an e-mail request for receiver #,s on 12/2 and returned that day. Nothing from that either. I sent a couple of other e-mails requesting status and nothing from them either. I guess it is time to call again. What is the best tel # to use?

 

[Brussam]

I did this on 12/11 and still nothing. After I applied on 12/1 and received the $0.00 charge and I received an e-mail request for receiver #,s on 12/2 and returned that day. Nothing from that either. I sent a couple of other e-mails requesting status and nothing from them either. I guess it is time to call again. What is the best tel # to use?

I believe NPS is processing last-in/first-out. I too applied on 12/1/2006. On 12/3/2006 I faxed in an RV Waiver. On 12/12/2006 I received an e-mail saying I should be connected by 12/26/2006.

Many people applied after I did and have already had their DNS turned on.

 

[jmnelms]

FYI for those who may not have heard....we have switched to the local cable company in order to get the local (for us, but considered DNS) DFW stations. My husband called Dish to cancel our service with them and they are offering what they term "Dish Pause". Basically, they will put your account in suspension for $10 a month for up to 6 months. You get no signal, but this gives you the option of maintaining your account and gives them (they hope) the chance of keeping you as a customer if they get the DNS issue resolved in their favor (let's hope it is in the consumers' favor). Amazing that this is just the lenght of time that the cable company is requiring for length of contract with them. Hhmm!! Dish is also running a full page ad in the local paper offering quite a few "deals" to keep and/or attract new customers in the Sherman area. Frankly, the ad is not quite, shall we say, based on factual terminology, but if you were not an informed consumer, you would fall right in. Methinks this has caused quite a dent in their customer base, at least in my area.

 

[mdonnelly]

FYI for those who may not have heard....we have switched to the local cable company in order to get the local (for us, but considered DNS) DFW stations. ....

As of yesterday, KTVT (CBS - Dallas) is apparantly available as SV in some markets. I was wondering if Ada/Sherman was one of those.

 

[jmnelms]

As of yesterday, KTVT (CBS - Dallas) is apparantly available as SV in some markets. I was wondering if Ada/Sherman was one of those.

As far as we have been told, no Dallas/Fort Worth stations will be available to the Sherman/Ada market area through satellite, especially not the CBS and NBC stations as Sherman has those local affliates. I have heard no one address the issue of SV stations in this whole DNS mess. According to the FCC, all the DFW stations are SV for the Sherman area, but we still get left out in the cold with Dish. DirecTv wasn't able to offer them when we tried 2 weeks ago, they couldn't even provide the Sherman locals. Hence the reason we went with the only other game in town, the cable company. It may also be interesting to note the the DIsh rep my husband spoke to when trying to disconnect our service was most surprised that we were able to get the Dallas stations from the cable company. He said NO ONE can give them to us, not just Dish. Misinformed CSR.

 

[jackreed]

I just tried to subscribe via the website, but it said I was only eligible for Fox, and there was nothing to indicate how to deal with waivers for CBS, ABC & NBC. So how do I submit such waivers?

Thanks...
Jack

 

[minnow]

... My husband called Dish to cancel our service with them and they are offering what they term "Dish Pause". Basically, they will put your account in suspension for $10 a month for up to 6 months. You get no signal, but this gives you the option of maintaining your account and gives them (they hope) the chance of keeping you as a customer if they get the DNS issue resolved in their favor...

Well isn't that so very generous of E*. Allow you to pay $60.00 over six months for nothing. You need to be aware that if you just out right cancel E* and come back later, the charge is only $25.00 to reactivate your account. Why would anyone pay a monthly fee for the privilege to not have service ???

 

[Tampa8]

Well isn't that so very generous of E*. Allow you to pay $60.00 over six months for nothing. You need to be aware that if you just out right cancel E* and come back later, the charge is only $25.00 to reactivate your account. Why would anyone pay a monthly fee for the privilege to not have service ???

In addition, my inlaws pay $5 a month for each of the three months they leave for vaction each Summer.

 

[fz5j2r]

The power of WWMT was set by the FCC. The management of WWMT had no opportunity to increase their power beyond that allowed by the FCC.

Many mistake the lower power of VHF stations than UHF as a flaw, it's not. VHF often works better than UHF. If you were to erect a proper antenna I'm sure that you would get reception of WWMT-DT at 15 miles.

Tower Guy,


Thanks for your reply.

I have contacted the FCC directly in Washington D.C. by phone (imagine that) and they have confirmed that the power mandated by the FCC cannot exceed 6.9kw.

You were correct!

My major beef is that other local high definition stations are very easy to receive and register a signal strength of over 90 on both my Sony televisions. I get a "0" from WWMT-DT.

Two stations broadcast on channels 19 & 20 and are UHF. The other station is broadcast on VHF channel 7.

WWMT broadcasts on VHF channel 2.

The local installers want $600.00 to install a "proper antenna". I am not prepared to spend this kind of money to receive one HD station.

The United States government mandated the switch to digital television. The FCC needs to find a remedy so consumers within 25 miles or so can receive digital transmissions without expensive OTA antennas.

I have filed a formal complaint with the FCC to investigate increasing the transmit power for WWMT or switching to another channel and allowing a reasonable transmit power specification to receive their CBSHD programming.

We are currently 14.2 miles from the WWMT-DT tower. The antenna is 1001 feet above ground level.

We had no problem with CBSHD until the Florida judge pulled the distant network plug.

We were legally receiving CBSHD New York, based on a waiver granted by the Chief Engineer for WWMT. They have also complained that the power allowed by the FCC is not adequet to provide a signal of any distance from their tower.

So my only other option is to wait for local HD channels to become available from Dish for the Grand Rapids DMA. I would imagine that will be 1-2 years or longer at the current rate of implementation.

 

[fz5j2r]

"dish Pause" - Use Caution!!!!!!

FYI for those who may not have heard....we have switched to the local cable company in order to get the local (for us, but considered DNS) DFW stations. My husband called Dish to cancel our service with them and they are offering what they term "Dish Pause". Basically, they will put your account in suspension for $10 a month for up to 6 months. You get no signal, but this gives you the option of maintaining your account and gives them (they hope) the chance of keeping you as a customer if they get the DNS issue resolved in their favor (let's hope it is in the consumers' favor). Amazing that this is just the lenght of time that the cable company is requiring for length of contract with them. Hhmm!! Dish is also running a full page ad in the local paper offering quite a few "deals" to keep and/or attract new customers in the Sherman area. Frankly, the ad is not quite, shall we say, based on factual terminology, but if you were not an informed consumer, you would fall right in. Methinks this has caused quite a dent in their customer base, at least in my area.

I put my account on temporary suspension about three years ago because were were in an RV and could not see the satellites because of trees. Moving was not an option. At that time the fee was $5.00.

Well, three weeks later we had a charge on our American Express card for $600.00. It seems that we were a little shy of fullfilling our service committment. We were never advised that we were susceptible to these charges.

It took us 7 months and 100 phone calls to finally get our money returned. What a nightmare!

Make sure you have fullfilled your service committment which currently ranges from 12 to 18 months before you elect this option.