Local Channel Question

[Moondoggy51]

CBS and NBC are blacked out right now in our area. Some told me that AT&T was providing customers with a free over the air antena and someone else said the antenna connects to your receiver and will allow you to view local channels on all of your TV sets in your home. Can anyone explain how this works? Do the OTA channels appear on the guide? If they do show on the guide do they replace the local channels that you normally receive via satellite or does the guide show two entries for the same channel? Do the other OTA channels like MeTV, Comet, etc show on the guide? AT&T is shipping me what I need and I'm just concerned whether I should connect to the receiver or just connect the antenna to the Antenna port on the TV and switch input ports on my TV when I want watch the locals while the blackout goes on. Normally I used to just wait until the contract dispute ended but these channels have been blocked for a long time and the fall season will start soon so my antenna is on it's way. Any help and advice will be appreciated

 

[ejb1980]

CBS and NBC are blacked out right now in our area. Some told me that AT&T was providing customers with a free over the air antena and someone else said the antenna connects to your receiver and will allow you to view local channels on all of your TV sets in your home. Can anyone explain how this works? Do the OTA channels appear on the guide? If they do show on the guide do they replace the local channels that you normally receive via satellite or does the guide show two entries for the same channel? Do the other OTA channels like MeTV, Comet, etc show on the guide? AT&T is shipping me what I need and I'm just concerned whether I should connect to the receiver or just connect the antenna to the Antenna port on the TV and switch input ports on my TV when I want watch the locals while the blackout goes on. Normally I used to just wait until the contract dispute ended but these channels have been blocked for a long time and the fall season will start soon so my antenna is on it's way. Any help and advice will be appreciated

Are they providing you an antenna or a LCC? Usually, they are sending people the LCC, in which case:
-yes the OTA channels appear in the guide and you can record from them.
-they do not replace the satellite feed, there are two entries 3, 3-1 for example.
-the subchannel networks like MeTV will show in the guide if they are subchannels of a channel that is full power. If they are part of a low power channel, they probably will not show or just show "Regular schedule" on your guide.
-if they are just sending you an antenna, you can just hook it to your TV's antenna input, but you won't be able to record.

 

[Athlon646464]

If it's from DirecTV, it will be an LCC. Follow the instructions that come with it and you'll be good to go if you are able to pick up your locals by antenna at your location.

Also - during the setup you can use two different zip codes to help DirecTV identify the channels you are able to receive. You will likely want to use your zip code (some exceptions to that, but rare) as well as a second zip code for another market close to you. Use the second zip code if your antenna can receive even more stations from a secondary market where you live. In any case, the setup walks you through that.

One last thing - you don't have to use the supplied free antenna - you can hook a larger (better) antenna to your new LCC if you want to.

 

[Moondoggy51]

Yes, I called AT&T yesterday and they said they would ship what I need. Not up on what an LCC is. Can you explain? I was just only going to connect an antenna to my TV but this person I spoke with said what AT&T was sending out was better because it works with your receiver somehow.

 

[Athlon646464]

Yes, I called AT&T yesterday and they said they would ship what I need. Not up on what an LCC is. Can you explain? I was just only going to connect an antenna to my TV but this person I spoke with said what AT&T was sending out was better because it works with your receiver somehow.

https://www.att.com/ecms/dam/att/co.../UVEP-100083172-DTV-Local-Connector-Guide.pdf

When set up properly, the LCC will integrate the channels you are able to receive with your antenna into your existing guide. Those OTA channels will have different numbers in your guide (you'll know them when you see them).

You'll then be able to use those OTA channels (record, etc.) just as you do with your current channels.

 

[ejb1980]

Yes, I called AT&T yesterday and they said they would ship what I need. Not up on what an LCC is. Can you explain? I was just only going to connect an antenna to my TV but this person I spoke with said what AT&T was sending out was better because it works with your receiver somehow.

They are sending you a thingy and an antenna. It sounds like you have your own antenna. Use your existing antenna and the thingy they send and follow the prompts and it will work. It connects to your receiver and puts your OTA channels onto your Directv system. I will post a pic in the next post. You will see the satellite feed of 3 WCAX (Vermont CBS), the OTA feed of WCAX and their Movies, ion and Start TV subchannels.

The guide data for the OTA channels comes from a database, not the OTA channels themselves. The database only has full power channels in it, and low power channels that are affiliated with major networks. If a channel is not the database, the channel will just show regular schedule. In the photo, you will see that WCAX CBS, Movies, and ion all have guide data. Directv hasn't updated it since WCAX added Start TV, so you just see "Regular schedule". Of course, you can edit out the doubles in a favorites list. In mine, I don't have the OTA -1s because they are not needed unless I don't have the satellite version of the channel. If I need to tune to them, you can manually.

 

[ejb1980]

Here is the pic

Sent from my SM-G920V using the SatelliteGuys app!

 

[Moondoggy51]

Thanks for the information. I think I'll be good to go once the package from AT&T arrives. I rigged up an antenna made out of an old piece of TV cable that I had plugged in the TV but this sounds better. The antenna worked great but I had to us the TV remote control to switch the input back and forth between the antenna and satellite.

 

[ejb1980]

Thanks for the information. I think I'll be good to go once the package from AT&T arrives. I rigged up an antenna made out of an old piece of TV cable that I had plugged in the TV but this sounds better. The antenna worked great but I had to us the TV remote control to switch the input back and forth between the antenna and satellite.

You can use the antenna you have or the one that comes with the LCC, whichever performs better at your location. You have channels from Mobile that the LCC antenna might not be good at receiving.

 

[Don in CT]

Can you pick up the thingy at the ATT store?

 

[raoul5788]

Can you pick up the thingy at the ATT store?

No, not yet anyways. I haven't heard of any plans to make them available locally.

 

[Jimbo]

Can you pick up the thingy at the ATT store?

Doubtful.