They don't need to split it in thirds. The Texas HD locals were uplinked to 61.5 yesterday. So I'd guess that E* will split the US in halves -- Eastern and Western Arcs -- with Dish1000 like dishes targeting 2-3 sats. IIRC with MPEG4 they can get all the stuff on just two sats.well let's hypothesize...Directv has it's 5 sat dish which covers from 93W to 119 W...A spread of 26 degrees..61.5 and 77 are 15.5 degrees apart. Plus Dish has loaded in the software of some receivers and orbital slot at I think 82 degrees( please correct if I am wrong here)...So it is conceivable that Dish could use a single dish solution for 61.5, 77 and 82...My thinking is that Dish will cut the country into thirds. this is based upon what I have read where Dish is proposing a single dish solution for all subs.
So when the uplinked Austin HD locals are "available" sometime in April (he posts hopefully), I'm expecting to hear the clompity-clomping of a Dish tech on the roof installing a new LNB and re-pointing my Dish 1000 eastward for an all MEPG4 service
Talon Dancer