New HD channels

[harshness]

E11 has been on for weeks, and no new HD.

Imagine how the DIRECTV people feel. Their latest satellite launched five months ago (March 17th) and they've been rewarded with two channels (ABC Family and Planet Green) DISH HD subscribers already had. Are 24 HD PPV channels supposed to keep the natives quiet?

I think both providers are likely putting all the coal in their respective HD LIL engines at this point in time. You can trot out national channels during the summer, but you won't survive without the locals come the Fall season.

 

[Laddyboy]

Neither provider has made much of a push for the fall TV season as it has already begun on Fox and the CW, with ABC, CBS, and NBC launching next week. D* has quite a bit more HD LiL already launched than E* iirc. The problem for E* will be that by the time the new 129 is launched and in place, D* will likely have 150 HD LiLs DMAs already beaming. Whoever has been doing the E* long range planning hasn't done a very good job in my opinion especially given the lead time from ordering to design to launch to positioning.

 

[kstuart]

Sunny isn't filmed in HD so it doesn't really matter. The problem is if we want to switch to a Turbo package, it won't have FX. That causes issues for me.

Existing subscribers cannot switch to a Turbo package until February.

 

[HDRoberts]

Whoever has been doing the E* long range planning hasn't done a very good job in my opinion especially given the lead time from ordering to design to launch to positioning.

Had the Proton rocket not had issues, ILS would have stayed on schedule and Ciel-2 would be in orbit or at least next up by now (not to mention AMC-14 being on station with E3 supporting the Eastern Arc elsewhere). Given the huge lead times, it would be tough to plan around launch issues.

 

[Fitzie]

Had the Proton rocket not had issues, ILS would have stayed on schedule and Ciel-2 would be in orbit or at least next up by now (not to mention AMC-14 being on station with E3 supporting the Eastern Arc elsewhere). Given the huge lead times, it would be tough to plan around launch issues.

Well said. Losing AMC 14 and delaying Ciel-2 has put Dish 6 to 9 months behind their original schedule, if not more. It was good that Dish had the insurance (or someone did) on AMC-14, but by the time a replacement for that is launched the cost will probably be up to $750 million.

fitzie