New FTA service with 20 english channels

[stone1150]

I hope for the best for the outfit, but it looks sketchy.

If I were in the position to do a startup on a service like this, I would first of all take note of the for pay providers who would want to kill it dead, dead, dead.

Based on that I would proceed as quietly as possible. I wouldn't advertise about what I was doing. I would give three different names, five different companies, and would be giving out false information to get the providers wasting effort.

Then I'd try to get everything signed and in place in two days at most and then announce that it is up.

Telling Dish and Direc where you are and what happens next just lets them aim carefully at the target

They can aim all they want. Some people don't have a price. They simply can't be bought. I bought my house that way. The guy was bankrupt. The realestate agents were offering two and a half times what I paid. The owner sold to me because I was going to make it a home as opposed to "making money off my missfortune" (his words). Even today there are people with principals. Nothing would tickle me more than to see this come about and force the big boys to lower their prices to a more reasonable level. Besides, they could already be aware of this. This could be another reason for the "commitment" one must make to the big providers. Makes cancelling them that much more difficult. I will never "commit". That to me is just another form of extortion. If I am unhappy, I certianly will not pay to stop service. That is what the mob does.... Have a great day!

 

[NotMe546]

Did I miss it or do they not have a start date?

 

[RedSavina]

I hope for the best for the outfit, but it looks sketchy.

If I were in the position to do a startup on a service like this, I would first of all take note of the for pay providers who would want to kill it dead, dead, dead.

Based on that I would proceed as quietly as possible. I wouldn't advertise about what I was doing. I would give three different names, five different companies, and would be giving out false information to get the providers wasting effort.

Then I'd try to get everything signed and in place in two days at most and then announce that it is up.

Telling Dish and Direc where you are and what happens next just lets them aim carefully at the target

I think of it more like this:
Coca-Cola, Pepsi Co, and other beverage companies are probably not too worried about the neighborhood lemonade stand. If that lemonade stand does something unique or begins to draw customers away, then they make take notice and/or action.

We also have to consider that the problems with the alternatives (cable, mini-dish satellite) are not just about the service providers; it is also about the content providers. Many of the woes with bundled channels and pricing has to do with the content providers.

Personally, I would love to see something like the 4DTV packages available to Ku. We're a very long ways from that, but with Free DBS and others entertaining the possibility of using CAS on Ku receivers, maybe we'll see some "baby steps" in that direction.

Cheers!

 

[Ironsides]

Really

I really hope this takes off and does well here in the states. It would be great to have Decent FTA here like they do in Europe. I keep checking to see if any new updates are on that site. It would be nice to see this thread moved to sticky so we can keep it up top. I know that be asking a lot but this news is great. I just dusted off my C-band Stuff and did some cleaning. Looks like I need to do some work on my dish as well. I also got out my FTA box so I can be ready if and when this takes off. I would love to see it hit the airways this before this spring so it will be cool to work on the dish.

Good Luck freedbs..I hope you guys can pull this off!

 

[Stargazer]

Dish / Direct may do nothing until they see it threaten their business then you KNOW they will do something about it. GUARANTEED!!! You can take that to the bank!

 

[Ironsides]

I don't know

I don't know anything much about this but imho, as long as Freedbs isn't doing anything illegal Dish or Direct really can't do anything to them. Freedbs really can't compete with them on start up and it would be a very long time before they could actually be a threat to them. I just don't see that happening anyway. Actually they are doing both those providers a huge service by offering FTA to people who own FTA Equipment that the large majority according to the information I've read here and else where used to pirate tv. If Freedbs offers decent programming it would maybe stop some of if not all of the signal theft. I doubt it stops it all but I can't see people taking risks when they can get the programming their equipment was intended for in the first place legally. Smart business would say Dish and Direct leave them alone if they can actually curb theft because that certainly benefits them. Also they have a chance to support Freedbs by means of PPV which would certainly make them smile.

Sure the whole thing is about Greed and Profit but in this old mans way of thinking stopping some or knock a major dent in signal theft would make them more money. The chance to support Freedbs PPV is another means to make them money. It's a win win for both providers to let these guys make a go of things. I would say if they last 5 years and gain a market share you might see Dish or Direct step up and try to purchase them or something else. But maybe by then laws can be placed to make sure Free To Air has a place in our country both over the air and by satellite. If laws are not currently in place they dang well should be put in place.

I was just talking to my Friend in England and he shared with me FTA does well in Europe and they have several Pay Providers and everyone seems to get along well. Hopefully that can happen here.

In this worlds economy More companies might have to turn to options such as these in order to even have viewers. Where I live one of the 1st things to go is Cable or Satellite by those suffering job loss. Folks having to go back to antenna tv because they can't afford cable and satellite. Seems like this is happening more and more. Cell phones you name it people are having to do without. That has to cut into profits for these providers and also people getting turned off by these contract ideas and want sign up. Anyone using their brains wouldn't sign a damn 2 year contract that says if you stop your sub you have to pay said dollar amount to get out of the contract. That is just not good business for John Q Public. The entire notion of contracts to me should be illegal because it's almost loan sharking or mob style tactics. A person should have a right to end services if they aren't happy with said service or something happens they can no longer afford the service.

FTA is a means to make money and surely Dish and Direct have people smart enough to realize that? Some money is better than no money...

 

[Stargazer]

FreeDBS will not make little if any impact on satellite piracy as far as prevent hackers from wanting to break into the system. The content on Dish / Direct is too appealing to them along with the "game" they like to play.

 

[pedrogarcia]

I was just talking to my Friend in England and he shared with me FTA does well in Europe and they have several Pay Providers and everyone seems to get along well. Hopefully that can happen here...

There is one slight difference in England and Europe - the pay to view providers do not own and are not affiliated to the satellite companies like the US. In fact that is how FTA began major broadcasters BBC and ITV were being fleeced by Sky and saved millions by going direct to the satellite company
:up
Sky realised they were on a loser and their greed took them to set up broadcasting around the world

 

[McGuyver]

FreeDBS will not make little if any impact on satellite piracy as far as prevent hackers from wanting to break into the system. The content on Dish / Direct is too appealing to them along with the "game" they like to play.

you got a point there, the pirates want their porn channels that freedbs won't offer, lol

'Notme546' asked a question in post #542, what's their proposed startup date? I'd like to know as well... if it's in this thread I didn't read all 540 some posts, don't have that much time or patience anymore in my old age, lol

 

[stone1150]

you got a point there, the pirates want their porn channels that freedbs won't offer, lol

'Notme546' asked a question in post #542, what's their proposed startup date? I'd like to know as well... if it's in this thread I didn't read all 540 some posts, don't have that much time or patience anymore in my old age, lol

Start up dates are set but kept under wraps until transponder contracts are set. They will not post a date until everything is negotiated as far as the bird and transponders are concerned. The most anyone could get out of them is definetly this year. Have a great day!

 

[NotMe546]

Start up dates are set but kept under wraps until transponder contracts are set. They will not post a date until everything is negotiated as far as the bird and transponders are concerned. The most anyone could get out of them is definetly this year. Have a great day!

Thanks

 

[Ironsides]

Got to disagree

I have to disagree a little bit. I think FreeDBS will make a difference in piracy. It may not be a huge impact. If it doesn't then people are just stupid, more so than I thought. I'm not calling anyone stupid, but it would take someone stupid to do that when they can get something for free. As for Europe I don't know all the details but one of the major factors playing against us and FTA is just sure greed as was there I guess. You have to consider the economy here and the stuggles of people. FreeDBS clearly sees a market for FTA in North America and a means to make some money in a bad economy. Actually they're just taking an old idea and throwing it back into the stream of things. Greed is a major cause of our economy problems, I just hope as a nation we realize that and start to act on it. Pass some laws that protect John Q Public again and put some regulations in place that protect everyone again. FTA, Free to Air Antenna and Radio should be protected because if Not it will be gone in a few more years. It will be gone because of greed and nothing else...

 

[RedSavina]

In fact that is how FTA began major broadcasters BBC and ITV were being fleeced by Sky and saved millions by going direct to the satellite company

Then there is still a glimmer of hope in the US?

 

[avg1joe]

From what I know from lurking on some eye patch forums I doubt anyone who is actively pirating is going to stop when this comes along depending on how effective pirating is working at the time. There are alot of boxes out there rendered incapable of pirating with the intro of Nagra 3. People who never upgraded to the gear needed for that will likely check freedbs with their old boxes, (if they hear about it). If current pirating stops working on a regular basis then some may watch it while dish is "down". Some people may get sick of the up and down and decide to just stick with dbs and go straight.

I believe the whole business model is based on the fact that there are a bunch of non Nagra 3 capable, former hack boxes sitting around. The question is, will this be broadcast circular or linear?

 

[RedSavina]

The question is, will this be broadcast circular or linear?

Good question. If the target audience includes viewers who are renouncing the eye patch, then one might think it would be circular. Even though they list the total numbers of Ku boxes as potential viewers, I doubt service will be circular.

The main reason is that while a lot of FTA can be seen with a ~20" dish, the signal is just not reliable enough to hold the interest of the casual viewer (not to mention their patience). To have reliable Ku service requires a 30" dish or larger, which suggests linear LNBs. The availability and cost of standard Ku dishes and linear LNBs beats out the specialty "over-sized" dishes designed for circular LNBs. (Yes, I know there are other configurations, but these are the two most probable.)

 

[Vorg]

Any dish on linear can add circular with an lnb swap. The combo doesn't cover the full linear range, but it gets most for the US. Adding linear to a circular setup would be more complicated because of the likely need for a bigger dish as well.

 

[guapoharry]

There is one slight difference in England and Europe - the pay to view providers do not own and are not affiliated to the satellite companies like the US. In fact that is how FTA began major broadcasters BBC and ITV were being fleeced by Sky and saved millions by going direct to the satellite company
:up
Sky realised they were on a loser and their greed took them to set up broadcasting around the world

the pay to view providers do not own and are not affiliated to the satellite companies like the US

There might be a good arguement to say US PPV providers who are owned or affiliated with satellite companies are non-competitive and monopolistic......

:

 

[Santa Clause]

If FreeDBS has programming simular to RFD TV my mom and dad will get rid of their little dish service. If they can't get The Big Joe Polka Show it's a no go. I know RFD TV is available on C-band but they don't want a big dish. For me I will watch whatever they supply for TV, within reason of coarse.

 

[Corrado]

I hope it's close enough in orbital position to 83°W that it will be possible to get it without motorizing or adding a second dish at my Dad's home. A simple 2nd LNBF would be easy enough as long as it's somewhere nearby. He's already looking forward to it to supplement his RTV channels.

 

[mikelib]

If FreeDBS has programming simular to RFD TV my mom and dad will get rid of their little dish service. If they can't get The Big Joe Polka Show it's a no go. I know RFD TV is available on C-band but they don't want a big dish. For me I will watch whatever they supply for TV, within reason of coarse.

I just googled "Big Joe's Polka Show" and it took me to Youtube, seen some great Polka clips from the show. Do you know what state and city the show originates from?????

Mike Lib