Local on Conus beam - Erie AMC 3

[5string]

Quick question on AMC 3 Satellite... my old home town Erie Pa is listed as
follows on the Lyngsat locals page:

4160 H
tp 23 WSEE-TV (CBS - Erie) NTSC
VC2 E Conus Dishnut

I live in Connecticut... Not sure if I could subscribe to D* or E* and view this
station as it is on Conus beam.

If it is possible, who should I sign with and what equipment would you recommend...

Erie is a hot spot, lots of activity this time of year, would be nice to pick up the old home station ... without the long drive....

Thanks for the help....

 

[dishrich]

You would need a BUD, as in one of the BIG C-band dishes, plus you would need to subscribe to this particular channel, as it is scrambled. (that's the VC2 part) The other problem is, even if you DO get the equipment, you would need to be in a white area for CBS before they would even turn the service on for you. (but you could always "move" to a white area to do this...)

Unfortunately, neither D* or E* offer Erie, PA locals yet.

 

[5string]

Yikes ... don't want to go with the C band equipment .... I missed that in reviewing the lyngsat listings... so regardless I couldn't receive any conus beam signal outside the locals restricted to my connecticut area..

Thanks for the info.

 

[dishrich]

... so regardless I couldn't receive any conus beam signal outside the locals restricted to my connecticut area..

NOT necessarily - if either E* or D* DO launch the Erie DMA & if it goes onto one of their CONUS beams, you could actually get them, no matter where you are located.

For example, if E* puts Erie locals on either the 105 or 121 birds, you could get those with no problem, since ALL the beams on those birds are CONUS anyway. (obviously, you would need a Superdish still) You would also, of course, need to "move" the physical address within the Erie DMA.

But again, since they don't have them up yet, no point point of discussing it now, but you might want to keep this in the back of your mind for when they DO launch Erie.

 

[5string]

Thanks again for the advice appreciate your inputs and suggestions.

 

[5string]

One last question on CONUS

So if I subscribe to E* I will be able to receive locals that are on CONUS beam or only locals in my market area... How does this work ... for example...

Why couldn't I pick up an PA based local or any local that is broadcast via conus beam if I subscribe to E*.

Please explain if possible.

Thanks again and sorry to be a bit dense on this ... appreciate the help.

 

[carload]

Why couldn't I pick up an PA based local or any local that is broadcast via conus beam if I subscribe to E*.

The simplest explanation is that they won't let you. And by "they" I mean the National Association of Broadcasters, acting through their friends in Washington.

Each station in a local market has a monopoly on a particular network's programming. As with all monopolies, this helps the business (the station) by preventing competition (other affiliates of the same network). So the rule is, with a few exceptions, that if you want to watch a TV network with a local affiliate, you have to watch the local affiliate.

One method, legally suspect at best, around this restriction is to simply claim that you live somewhere else. You can have your bills sent anywhere; what you can watch depends on where you really are. So if you lie about where you are, you can change the set of channels you are eligible to receive.

One more thing, the channels you can receive are also limited to the satellite footprint of each channel. For example, you can't watch Kansas City stations from Florida, even if you tell E* that you're in KC, because the KC locals are on a spot beam that only covers a small region around the KC market. That's why having a channel on Conus, available to the whole US, is significant.

Hope this quick and dirty explanation helps a bit.

 

[5string]

Thanks, have reviewed the threads on moving... don't want to move .. have to stay in CT ... I also understand that you are restricted to the locals where you reside ... so by the nature of your zip code, given to e*, you are restricted to locals in your area and... you will not be able to access conus beam cbs broadcasts from another area. e* restricts access by nature of the zip code ... blocking or screening access to out of area conus beams ???

Can anyone offer a brief explanation ???



Thanks again!