For those of you who got CBS-HD...

[GaryPen]

I now have CBD-HD after two phone calls

I am impressed with Dish on this service. They were fast and very courteous!

--shich

Well...I'm not so impressed.

I called Dish CS twice. The first one hung up, apparently out of stupidity. The second one insisted I neeeded a waiver, also out of stupidity. (I don't. I live in a CBS O&O market with no competing CBS stations.)

I eventually called Tech Support, based on advice from another Forum member. The TS rep was bright, articulate, and familiar with the simple rules for CBS-HD. They need to use the same training methods for their "regular" CSR's as they do for the Techs.

 

[Shichonni]

That'a the down-side. Previously, I tried to get CBS-HD and talked to CRS who said I was not eligiblie, plain and simple, so I took their word. After further investigation and help from this forumn (THANKS SATELLITE GUYS) I now have CBS-HD. So, you must be educated going into the realm of customer service... they aren't the all-knowing sometimes, which is sad since people relay on their expertise.

But in this instance I had a good experience...not to say the next one will be so pleasant. Chances are it won't.

--Shich

 

[SignGuyDino]

Thanks for all your input guys, unfortuantely, my waiver didn't come in the mail yet. Stay tuned. Enjoy the NCAA's in HD while I suffer...

 

[Smoky]

Thanks for all your input guys, unfortuantely, my waiver didn't come in the mail yet. Stay tuned. Enjoy the NCAA's in HD while I suffer...

SignGuyDino,
The only station to turn me down was WYFF. I now have 5 CBS stations,WSPA,WNEG,KCNC,KCBS and WCBS(HD). Ask Dish to request waviers from WLOS(ABC),WHNS(FOX) and WYFF(NBC), it never hurts to ask. I'm 60 miles west of Asheville by the way,so i was wondering if WYFF turns down all waviers? I'm ready for some football with 3 Fox stations and 5 CBS stations. Get the Techs to ask for the waviers BTW,not the CSR people.

 

[SignGuyDino]

Thanks, but I thought only CBS has an HD station. That's the only one mentioned on DN's webpage. Do you get the Fox and ABC stations in HD and if so which ones?

You would think there would be a package where you can get all the network's HD channels. I know..I know... :/

 

[Smoky]

CBS is the only HD now,but having waviers for distant networks never hurts. Just in case maybe someday......... ...........Dish is able to offer other network HD channels.

 

[jac44]

Getting CBS HD

I have given up trying to get CBS HD. I live in Novato, California, 25 miles north of San Francisco. SF has an O&O CBS station. I started out having an antenna expert see if I could get the SF stations off air. No luck due to many hills around my home, especially between my house and SF.

I then tried to at least get CBS HD off the 148 satellite. I found out from Dish, to my surprise, that a Sacramento CBS affiliate (KOVR) claims to be able to broadcast to my zip code if people in my zip code have rooftop antennas. Based on what my antenna guy told me I thought, OK, I'll get a waiver from the affiliate in Sacramento.

I contacted the CBS affiliate and the station engineer tested ability to broadcast to my home using the Longley-Rice Model computer program on his computer and he told me while on the phone with me that he couldn't send any signal to my street address and would fax me a waiver letter. I thought OK I'm all set. I got the waiver letter and faxed it to Dish.

Nothing happened. I called Dish several times. Dish finally told me the waiver letter was no good becuse it didn't specifically say it was a waiver for "HD." I contacted the CBS affiliate again and the engineer told me he only has authority from management to use the one form letter he had used. He also told me his letter means his station can't send any signal to me.

I tried to convince dish of that, but no luck. I had many conversations with Dish. I tried an email to the ceo@echostar and got no response. I spoke to one guy in the corporate office and he promised to look into it, but he failed to ever respond (I had his fax #, at least, so I sent several faxes to him asking him to call me).

The CSRs through all this were all uninformed about the procedure I needed to follow. I asked a few if they had HD at home. None did.

I've given up in frustration.

 

[GaryPen]

Yours is just another example of moronic, uninformed Dish CSR's. A waiver is a waiver. If the Sac CBS affiliate says it's OK to receive distant CBS, then it's OK to receive distant CBS. Period.

Try doing what I did when I was stonewalled by these idiots. Choose the Tech Support option when calling the 800 number. The Tech CSR was bright, articulate, and informed. She had me hooked up with CBS-HD right away.

 

[jac44]

Getting CBS HD

Thanks GaryPen. I did speak to some tech people. You're right they usually are more informed than the others. However, they got me no further than getting the answer from their waiver people (who won't talk to customers) as to why Dish wouldn't give me CBS HD with the waiver letter I had gotten (i.e., because my letter from the CBS affiliate didn't specify it was a waiver for "HD"). They claim there is an FCC regulation that specifically states the waiver letter must specify "HD." I could not find any specific wording to that effect in the FCC regs I looked at.

Has anyone here run into my problem where Dish says your waiver letter is no good because the affiliate didn't use the words "High Definition" in the waiver letter?

 

[GaryPen]

If at first you don't succeed, try try again. Keep calling the Tech CSR's. Keep instisting the local staion only issues ONE waiver. Tell them their own rules say you can get CBS-HD if you get a CBS distant network channel.

Hey, why not order the distand CBS SD first? Then, once you have it, go back and ask for the HD version, which you are entitled to by their own rules.

 

[jac44]

OK, I'll give it a try (the CBS SD from LA). Thanks.

 

[sdc]

Ok i need help.

I have tried to get waivers from my local stations, but they have denied me. My local stations don't come in very well with an antenna. I realy want the LA locals and CBS-HD. I called and said i needed the locals for my RV, but then they wanted a copy of registrtation(which i don't have). So that failed. Is there anyway i can get distants without a waiver. This is the dumbest rule ever.

 

[Shichonni]

Here is number you can call at echostar, she is in the waiver dept. Here name is Susie, it is (303) 723-3664. I hope I am not breaking any laws by posting this business phone #. But that is all she does is waivers for HD. Good Luck!

--shich

 

[sdc]

They just said i need to get a waiver from my local company. Unfortunatly they wont do it. Is there anything else i can do, or am i out of luck?

 

[SignGuyDino]

I got my waiver (The waiver did say "HD" thank God) today and faxed it over...BTW the fax number is 303 723 3964, then I called DN and talked to a tech rep.

They put me on hold and contacted somebody and then came back and told me it could take 2-3 weeks while they process this.

Grrrrr....

 

[SignGuyDino]

IT'S ON! I called Susie and she turned it on. Actually, she's been trying to call me, but I'm either on the net all the time or I don't pick up calls that say "unavailable" on the caller id.

Anyway, she asked where I got her phone number....


She did suspect this forum...hee hee


Thanks for all your help guys...I never thought I'd see Bob Barker in HDTV.













Just kidding TPIR is not in HD.

 

[Mr Tony]

Congrats on getting your CBS-HD!!

 

[SignGuyDino]

What sucks is that I volunteered to work Saturday night so I'll miss the NCAAs. Oh well, at least there's the Masters.

 

[chewy]

I just sent in my waiver to get distant local, dish told me I need to get another waiver from my local affiliate for HD. She said it has to say "HD Specific" on this waiver to get CBS HD.
Hope this helps

 

[TBarclay]

Sign Guy:
How do you see Bob Barker in HD? "Price is Right" is not in HD.