Next Satellite Launch?

[varaonaid]

Hello,

I've been trying to update myself on the current situations of both D* and E*. I know that E* is putting up another satellite this week but I've seen varying opinions on whether or not D* has capacity to add more HD. I find this strange because at the end of the summer, the consensus seemed to be that D* had gobs more capacity for national HD.

All this leads me to my question, what is D* planning in terms of future satellite launches? Are there any on the horizon and are there already known plans as to what they will be used for (ie national HD, HD locals, replacement of old equipment, etc.).

This is in no way meant to be inflammatory or a diss/praise of either sat company. I'm just curious about what the future plans are for adding capacity.

Thanks so much in advance!
Rae

 

[charper1]

DirecTV's capacity is fine and they should also be ramping up for the launch of DirecTV-12 in mid 2009. Not sure which DISH bird your are talking about specifically as I see EchoStar's next scheduled launch is around the same time frame as DirecTV's next and the most recent one(s) suffered failures. Can you please elaborate?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dish_Network_Corporation#Satellite_fleet

http://www.lyngsat.com/launches/2009.html

 

[Smith P.]

http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-network-forum/154671-ciel-2-ils-site-active.html

 

[charper1]

Is Ciel-2 a leased bird / transponder space?

http://news.soft32.com/ciel-2-satellite-will-be-manufactured-by-alcatel-alenia-space_1003.html

 

[charper1]

Nevermind I founds this too.

http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-network-technical-discussions/60725-ciel-2-launch-2008-129-a.html

 

[charper1]

I was not counting leased space as actual DISH launches.

 

[Smith P.]

NM excuse - all Ciel-2 tpns will carry Dish muxes.

 

[HDRoberts]

I was not counting leased space as actual DISH launches.

Be careful, you're sounding like a DirecTV lemming. Dish should have 100% (or at least 96.875%) of Ciel-2 for 100% of its life. It definitely counts.

 

[mdonnelly]

I was not counting leased space as actual DISH launches.

You should. Probably half of Dish's programming is carried on leased transponders.

 

[Rey]

DIRECTV has space for more HD but no one know what's going on at all. as far as when D12 will launch i couldn't find any info on that here : launch schedule - the most comprehensive list of future launches on the web

 

[Rey]

this is the only info there is at the moment and it's not much : Sixto Report-D12 Status: Pre-Launch - DBSTalk.Com

 

[varaonaid]

DirecTV's capacity is fine and they should also be ramping up for the launch of DirecTV-12 in mid 2009. Not sure which DISH bird your are talking about specifically as I see EchoStar's next scheduled launch is around the same time frame as DirecTV's next and the most recent one(s) suffered failures. Can you please elaborate?

Dish Network Corporation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Satellite Launches - 2009 - LyngSat

OK, so it looks like (according to that lyngsat link) that both D* and E* have launches planned for the second half of 2009. Since D* is starting to hit high saturation for HD locals now, will most of that D12 space be dedicated to HD nationals?

 

[digiblur]

this is the only info there is at the moment and it's not much : Sixto Report-D12 Status: Pre-Launch - DBSTalk.Com

I'm still curious on where D12 is going to go. I'm guessing 101? Looks like LNB swapping time eh?

 

[Smith P.]

That will be huge burden for DTV and if you'll count time before D12 launch, I wouldn't say the LNBF swap undergoing. Not likely.

 

[HDRoberts]

I'm still curious on where D12 is going to go. I'm guessing 101? Looks like LNB swapping time eh?

I tried to argue that point with them. They all insist that somehow with D12 at 99 or 103 they can magically reshuffle more locals to Ka-high to free up Ka-low space. I really don't think they can free up 10 Ka TPs that way. If they could have done that, sholdn't they have done a better job desiging D10 and D11 with the Spaceways to make sure they could efficenty use all bandwidth there?

 

[toto]

When is D planning on full conversion to MPEG4?

 

[charper1]

Be careful, you're sounding like a DirecTV lemming. Dish should have 100% (or at least 96.875%) of Ciel-2 for 100% of its life. It definitely counts.

I was simply keying off the phase "Dish (and/or) DirecTV launch" and only talking about LAUNCHES. Not trying to say I was not counting their total space. Geez, "simma-down-na".