equity broadcasting stations

[truckracer]

I hope I don't sound too dumb, or this question has been asked a 1000 times, but out of curiosity why does companies like equity broadcasting and others bother to uplink stations to a satellite since they are over the air broadcasts with a tower in their respective areas.

Is it so cable headends can offer it digitally? I know they are free to air DVB and i very much enjoy those and hope they never go away from free to air. Just curious because I know renting bandwidth on a satellite gets expensive.
Thanks - Trucker

 

[Sneaky Snooper]

Actually, Equity does this for several reasons.

One of which is in Wyoming, for example, KKTU and KTWO have horrible signals and can't easily be all over Wyoming, so cable operators pick up the signal of either station via satellite.

Here in Missouri, Equity has a bigger problem. KWBM is in Harrison, AR and doesn't get its signal very well up to its main target, Springfield, MO. So, Equity again uses the satellite to deliver the signal to Mediacom.

Now, there's also the fact that they run master control for EVERYTHING from Little Rock and Branson. Centralized Automated Satellite Hub (or C.A.S.H. as its called) is the method they use to get signals out to cable ops and the tower in question. Most Equity stations use this and its generally pretty efficient, especially for the low power UPN and WB signals they run.

 

[Mr Tony]

main reason is 75% of the Equity stations are classified as low powered so to get to the cable stations they couldnt do it OTA

WMQF in Marquette, MI is only 500k watts (full powered is 5000k) and has to cover a fair amount of the UP.

Also, for their centralized unit setup

 

[pman72]

Sure wish WMQF would crank up its power. I got into FTA stuff just for that station, but glad i have FTA now. Lots of other good stuff on there. I only live about 55 miles fron their tower but cant get it at all. Damn hills!! Other stations i get from over 100 miles no problem.

 

[Mr Tony]

They dont even hold a Construction Permit nor applied for a power increase. I think 500KW is the best they will get

 

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

I am glad you brought that up, it's something I have wondered about too. Another thing-it seems like they are trying to keep the fact that the stations can be received via FTA secret. What I mean is, if you go to the websites of many of the stations there is nothing about being able to recieve by FTA. I understand that a station in Wyoming doesn't care if I (living in NY) can get the station that way, but you would think they would nake it known to people served by the station. Perhaps someone knows the answer to this.

BTW, thanks for this great forum. I don't have FTA (yet) but may take the plunge eventually. I have Dish Network now and have to keep it for my wife but would like to play with FTA.

I hope I don't sound too dumb, or this question has been asked a 1000 times, but out of curiosity why does companies like equity broadcasting and others bother to uplink stations to a satellite since they are over the air broadcasts with a tower in their respective areas.

Is it so cable headends can offer it digitally? I know they are free to air DVB and i very much enjoy those and hope they never go away from free to air. Just curious because I know renting bandwidth on a satellite gets expensive.
Thanks - Trucker

 

[Mr Tony]

I am glad you brought that up, it's something I have wondered about too. Another thing-it seems like they are trying to keep the fact that the stations can be received via FTA secret. What I mean is, if you go to the websites of many of the stations there is nothing about being able to recieve by FTA. I understand that a station in Wyoming doesn't care if I (living in NY) can get the station that way, but you would think they would nake it known to people served by the station. Perhaps someone knows the answer to this.

BTW, thanks for this great forum. I don't have FTA (yet) but may take the plunge eventually. I have Dish Network now and have to keep it for my wife but would like to play with FTA.

Welcome!

The main reason they don't advertise that they are FTA (ESPECIALLY Networks) is the NAB (National Assoc of Broadcasters). They get their undies in a bunch right now about people who can get NY & LA stations. What would they do when see that I can get stations from Montana, Arkansas, Florida, even Puerto Rico!

Also, since stuff comes and goes all the time, they can't guarantee it will be there today or next week

 

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

Thanks Iceberg-much appreciated!

Welcome!

The main reason they don't advertise that they are FTA (ESPECIALLY Networks) is the NAB (National Assoc of Broadcasters). They get their undies in a bunch right now about people who can get NY & LA stations. What would they do when see that I can get stations from Montana, Arkansas, Florida, even Puerto Rico!

Also, since stuff comes and goes all the time, they can't guarantee it will be there today or next week

 

[truckracer]

thanks for the info and great site

I want to thank all of you for a great intellectual (hope i spelled that right) LOL, website. You guys did a great job of answering my questions very thoroughly.

Do any of you have a c-band fta setup, I was wondering if there are many good free to air channels on c-band. Lyngsat lists a few that would be good, but I know that their site is not always up to date. Just like right now they are showing 3 local channels from arkansas on echo 8 I think that are now scrambled. The site still shows them being in the clear. Of course I know that it would be hard to keep up with all those satellites.

Is great american country still in the clear? (on c-band) I think its on galaxy 1 or one of those c-band only sats on the far west horizon?

 

[Mr Tony]

There are a few people out there that have a C-Band setup. (not me...yet)

Yes, the 3 on Echo 8 are scrambled...been like that for a while now

 

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

I want to thank all of you for a great intellectual (hope i spelled that right) LOL, website. You guys did a great job of answering my questions very thoroughly.

Do any of you have a c-band fta setup, I was wondering if there are many good free to air channels on c-band. Lyngsat lists a few that would be good, but I know that their site is not always up to date. Just like right now they are showing 3 local channels from arkansas on echo 8 I think that are now scrambled. The site still shows them being in the clear. Of course I know that it would be hard to keep up with all those satellites.

Is great american country still in the clear? (on c-band) I think its on galaxy 1 or one of those c-band only sats on the far west horizon?

I think I heard GAC is scrambled now. I had visions of getting that FTA myself since that is about all that is stopping me from downgrading Dish Top 180. My wife and I enjoy the Opry even though its only 26 live shows a year now.

 

[drhydro]

I have a DVB / analog (no 4dtv YET) C band setup and have found several good DVB FTA stations including: Outdoor channel(s) on g10, Fox movie channel and occasional Fox Sports on g11, WorldNews and ASN on Anik f1, Fox, UPN, Univision, The Tube and VOA on g3, NBC feeds on amc4, Pentagon channel on IA5, Nasa on both AMC 6 and AMC 7, Pax feeds on AMC1, MTVjams on G1. This is just a partial listing of what i have been able to tune in so far. Currently i have about 40 c band DVB channels scanned in, and I still have more to try to find.

C-Band FTA Analog channels include CSPAN, ABC, PBS X, World Harvest TV (which is an OK channel, lots of old B&W stuff like Lassie shown), Classic arts showcase, several "home shopping" channels, about a dozen religous channels and a lot of "wild feeds", esp on IA6 and G3 during the daytime.

I have also found a few analog VCII channels that i can view without a subscription, i wont say what those are in an open forum

 

[carload]

Do any of you have a c-band fta setup, I was wondering if there are many good free to air channels on c-band.

From http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=34538

I have a C-Band dish (6-10 foot). What can I get on there?
These are the FTA channels that you can get with a C-band dish and a digital receiver.
http://www.global-cm.net/MPEGlistCBandUS.html

About the Equity channels, my suspicion is that they're happy to overlook FTA viewers considering that might double the audience of some of their low-power stations. But I doubt they'd ever admit it.