ESPN2 HD and other channels

[LonghornXP]

This would be in D*'s best interests... Make all new national programming MPG4 and phase out MPG2 gradually. That makes much more sense than waiting till LIL rolls across the country. Subs will more quickly adapt to the new hardware changes (while 'enlisting' for another 2 years) and D* can swtich people over at an exponential rate. All new subs will be MPG4 anyway, so the faster they get existing subs to convert, the better. You have to think of what a drag it would be for them to support MPG2 boxes 3 and 4 years from now because some folks just won't get off the dime and upgrade. Now it's all starting to make sense to me....DUH!

I wouldn't rule out the possibility for D* to require all HD customers to just replace their boxes (for free or very low cost) within a 60 day window if they want to get both current and new national HD offerings. By doing this via mail like a replacement or via B&M stores they can get this done the quickest while weeding out the pain in the arse customers.

Doing this won't require a new dish or installation visits and would nearly double D*s bandwidth while putting current HD channels back at full quality. Right now they could get all the network feeds at full quality in half the bandwidth. If you count all national based HD channels you would get the following below.

HD PPV
HD Special Events
5 NFL Sunday Ticket
8 HD Network Feeds
5 HD Pak channels
2 HD Movie channels
----------------------------
22 total national HD channels.

By moving all of this to MPEG4 and making everything full bandwidth they would increase their bandwidth on current satellites to between 35 and 40 national HD offerings. If D* will need to replace current HD boxes either way why not do this today to lock current HD customers with them before they have a chance to leave. They won't have much problem locking people with them if they promise to increase everything to full bandwidht while announcing what new HD channels will be offered. The great thing about this is that if they know they can get supply and be able to offer the new HD channels they can announce something like this without getting burned. The problem with waiting for new satellites is if things don't pan out as quick as they would like.

 

[LonghornXP]

The SpaceWay satellites won't work with current HDTV receivers.

~Alan

Alan is corrent in that just putting MPEG2 on the spaceway sats won't work because current dishes can't see the new orbital slot nor can it see the KA signal.

 

[sltmag]

Alan, I did not mean for the current HDTV receivers to work with the Spaceway sats. I meant that current HDTV channels should also be carried on Spaceway and new channels should only be put on Spaceway. That way current and new customers are motivated to sign up for the new channels and upgrade equipment. Meanwhile, those that are waiting for the upgrade will still be able to watch what they already have. If you add new channels to MPEG2, a lot of people may be content just to stay where they are with current PQ, and price tier.

 

[LonghornXP]

Alan, I did not mean for the current HDTV receivers to work with the Spaceway sats. I meant that current HDTV channels should also be carried on Spaceway and new channels should only be put on Spaceway. That way current and new customers are motivated to sign up for the new channels and upgrade equipment. Meanwhile, those that are waiting for the upgrade will still be able to watch what they already have. If you add new channels to MPEG2, a lot of people may be content just to stay where they are with current PQ, and price tier.

I think D* has several motives to make current HD customers upgrade. From what I'm hearing is that D* is banking that current HD Tivo owners commit to a two year agreement "if" they get a free HD DVR replacement with many new national HD channels with both current and new HD offerings back at full bandwidth. Right now customers will have to decide what is more important to them.

Keeping their HD Tivo boxes because they want more than a free replacement while waiting at least until next year for many new national HD offerings without HD quality being increased.

Or those customers can accept a free or low cost HD DVR replacement with a two year committment but get many new national HD channels much sooner with full bandwidth on everything. Going the first way would require all HD customers to wait until everyone got new dishes "and" new boxes.

They as in D* knows they will have to replace all HD customers HD boxes no matter what to offer any new national HD channels so all that is left to decide is what the best and easiest way to get this done. The best way in my mind is just replacing the boxes, put current HD channels at full bandwidth in MPEG4 which would allow them to add pretty much every current available national HD channel without having to even touch bandwidth on the spaceway satellites. Right now they are losing HD customers who are switching to both cable and dish network so they have to act ASAP.

They didn't forsee this much of an uproar occuring this quickly so they have had to sidestep their original rollout plans.

 

[beast37799]

spaceway sats are ment for spotbeam transmission of local hd channels as far as i know but i think that directv8 has not only a ku package for that sat that its replacing but also a ka package so if any national hd is added it would be on that sat and also be in mpeg-4 .just for reference the current can see the orbital slot just not the ka signal

 

[LonghornXP]

spaceway sats are ment for spotbeam transmission of local hd channels as far as i know but i think that directv8 has not only a ku package for that sat that its replacing but also a ka package so if any national hd is added it would be on that sat and also be in mpeg-4 .just for reference the current can see the orbital slot just not the ka signal

Just so you know the spaceway sats can indeed broadcast national HD offerings but at a big price. For every national HD channel on Spaceway they could put between 5 and 10 HD local channels via spot beams. That means if each spaceway satellite can broadcast 500 HD local channels that means that if all bandwidth is used for national HD offerings they could only add at best 200 national HD channels and at worst only 50 national HD channels. Now you are right for the most part in that these satellites would get much better bang for their buck by having 500 HD LIL channels compared to the very bad 50-200 national HD channels it could offer.

Now I'm hearing that each spaceway satellite could store 150 national HD channels if that satellite didn't carry anything on spot beams. I'm also hearing that each spaceway satellite if used for HD LIL only could broadcast 500 HD LIL channels. Going by those numbers it would match their press release and TV ads.

Spaceway 1 = 500 HD locals
Spaceway 2 = 500 HD locals
DirecTV 10 = 500 HD locals
DirecTV 11 = 150 national HD channels.
---------------------------------------------
1500 HD local channels and 150 national HD channels does seem to ring a bell doesn't it.

 

[sltmag]

Longhorn,

The question I have is this. How many HD local channels will be up before Directv 10 and 11 are ready? This way, D* could temporarily spot current HD channels on both sats while gradually increasing HD locals. When 10 and 11 are ready, move the nationals off the spots and fill them with locals. All conjecture. I don't work for D*.

 

[LonghornXP]

Longhorn,

The question I have is this. How many HD local channels will be up before Directv 10 and 11 are ready? This way, D* could temporarily spot current HD channels on both sats while gradually increasing HD locals. When 10 and 11 are ready, move the nationals off the spots and fill them with locals. All conjecture. I don't work for D*.

From my information is that the top 25 HD LIL markets would cover more than 50% of their total HD customer base. Because those customers will need both a new HD box and dish they are better off doing what I said. Again remember that if they offer new national HD channels a customer can't be denied access to them because D* doesn't offer LIL HD in their market yet. Now with that said they can't get every HD customer a new dish that quick. So customers in those top 25 markets will soon start getting both a new box and dish by an installer. So customers outside of those 25 markets will just get a new box until HD LIL rolls out in their area.

Now they want to get customers to upgrade themselves and by telling them to get any new national HD channels they must get their box upgraded most of them will do just that. For the few that don't they will have 60 days to get the upgrade or not get any current or new HD channels.

Again new HD channels can only be offered by giving the customer a new box. Again if they have to do this no matter what they choose they might as well give customers an incentive todo it quicker.

Again if they offering national HD offers on the spaceway sats but don't install the dishes for customers outside of those 25 markets those customers will file and win a class action suit if those channels are part of the HD Package or a movie package that they pay for. Again they have to make it available in the same timely manner as customers in the top 25 markets.

I'm just trying to point out that much more is involved in this than most think.

Say a customer in one of the top 25 markets can get upgraded in 2 weeks and that customer would get Starz HD because he pays for the Starz SuperPak.

Now say a customer outside of the top 25 markets wants to get Starz HD because he buys the Starz SuperPak but D* tells him he can't get that upgrade until at least 6 weeks from now. This becomes very tricky because both are paying for that channels but one customer is able to receive it while the other customer isn't give access to the hardware to receive it. That can become a very big problem.

That doesn't occur with HD LIL rollouts because a customer in say Florida can't sue on the grounds that he/she can't get her Chicago locals in HDTV. As long as every customer within the HD LIL market can get access to those HD LIL channels that is all that D* has to worry about. Again the key here is getting access to something that everyone pays for no matter where you live.

 

[Barney]

D* & ESPN2-HD

Well, I just watched Texas beat Baylor in the College World Series tonight on ESPN2------------not in HD....D* doesn't offer it....maybe a decade from now.

What a game........I pledged around $40 on the ST Tax thread.....Aug 16 I pledge to drop D* total.
I'm tired of all the BS...........

D* better get it going real fast my friends...........if not.........its OTA HD for me & wait till fiber-optics are here......when I say bye........its bye bye....as I did with Time Warner...........

Less than two months..........thats my pledge............

Barney

 

[Gen Custer]

Longhorn

What are you hearing regarding the HMC. If we take the free HD DVR with the two year commitment will we be able to get the HMC free of charge when it becomes available or will this only be a rental unit. Will any of these offers require us to trade in our current HD TIVO boxes.

thanks

 

[bonscott87]

Spaceway and MPEG4 my friend. Then you'll have it. Perhpas 6 months or less. Prey that Spaceway 2 gets up in the air sooner then later.

 

[LonghornXP]

Spaceway and MPEG4 my friend. Then you'll have it. Perhpas 6 months or less. Prey that Spaceway 2 gets up in the air sooner then later.

My thinking is that those channels will come regardless of Spaceway 2 and much quicker than we all would think.

Now we don't need another thread on ESPN2 HD and D* so I'm going to merge the two threads.

I just edited to say I merged them not locked them. Sorry about that. Any talk that has todo with new national HD channels on D* should in put in this thread not in a new thread. Its getting very hard to follow all the different threads lately. Also when new channels come or are coming I'm sure we will have enough advanced notice of it that it would be on the front page not in a thread.

Besides that I do agree that even with what little ESPN2 does in HDTV I still want it badly.

 

[Chado]

I guess Baylor and Tulane wasn't good enough for you last night.....

I think everyone needs to get some patience.... What BS?? You mean being on this message board and getting advance information that is making everyone pull their hair out?

Do what you want, it doesn't matter to me, but chances are you will be happy you waited and will wonder why you actually stressed out about this in the first place...

 

[LonghornXP]

Longhorn

What are you hearing regarding the HMC. If we take the free HD DVR with the two year commitment will we be able to get the HMC free of charge when it becomes available or will this only be a rental unit. Will any of these offers require us to trade in our current HD TIVO boxes.

thanks

They have just changed their plans and as such I have no idea what they will do regarding the HMC.

 

[FlyingJ]

Not to get off subject...those 25 or so markets your talking about, is there an actual list. I think I have seen the 1st twelve but I was wondering what the next dozen or so are? On a selfish note, where does Columbus, Ohio rank??

 

[gopokes]

I am begining to wonder if anyone has a real cluse what D is going to do. It was fun to go back and read post from a year ago about D adding TNTHD, etc...With all the rumors and reports going around you would think Directv would put an end to the crap and shed some light. I am not going anywhere, but it's getting old.

 

[BlackHitachi]

Not to get off subject...those 25 or so markets your talking about, is there an actual list. I think I have seen the 1st twelve but I was wondering what the next dozen or so are? On a selfish note, where does Columbus, Ohio rank??

Columbus , Ohio looks like 34.

http://tv.backchannelmedia.com/dma_directory

 

[charper1]

Not to get off subject...those 25 or so markets your talking about, is there an actual list. I think I have seen the 1st twelve but I was wondering what the next dozen or so are? On a selfish note, where does Columbus, Ohio rank??

Designated Market Area (DMA) List

NSI® and DMA® are registered trademarks of Nielsen Media Research, Inc.
Nielsen Media Research is a trademark of Nielsen Media Research, Inc.

 

[charper1]

LOL BH you quick clicker you!

 

[LonghornXP]

I am begining to wonder if anyone has a real cluse what D is going to do. It was fun to go back and read post from a year ago about D adding TNTHD, etc...With all the rumors and reports going around you would think Directv would put an end to the crap and shed some light. I am not going anywhere, but it's getting old.

I think I remembered saying that both TNTHD and ESPN2HD had a good chance of not making it on D* even when D* had a deal in place for ESPN2HD. From my viewpoint when ESPN2 HD is added in a few months that would have been towards the end of the year as I had got ripped at over.