no more 3ABN on Sky Angel?

[MikeCTM2]

Sky Angel needs to change advertising

Listen to Sky Angel's advertising. The statments loosely fit the programming offered. Rather deceptive. How about: "Most programs are family friendly, but some programming and commercials may need to be blocked from children's viewing. As we evolve in programming choices for Sky Angel, this is becoming more common. Our Christian viewers are requesting more CNN news and commercials -- so we added this and others 24/7 for your Christian viewing enjoyment."

Maybe that would be clearer to define the "Advisory Boards" goals for Christians and to give potential subscribers a "heads up" on the goals of the new, improved Sky Angel.

 

[JeffH]

Sounds like you're on the payroll of Sky Angel. An "Advisory Board" for a satellite system with a goal of being "Christian" would not turn down Christian stations in favor of CNN and secular advertisement unless the "Advistory Board" has ringers on it in favor of management's new goals -- less Christian and more secular. Secular advertisements and CNN's messages are not fit for children's ears -- one of the selling points of Sky Angel's advertisement (safe for children to view). I smell a stinky fish.

I guess I'm on the payroll as well as I voted for FNC and Hallmark (where did CNN come from?). Every Sky Angel subscriber has an equal opportunity to become a member of the Viewer Advisory board and if history repeats itself there will be another survey on programming sometime around October or November. You will also have the opportunity to indicate which channels you watch and how often. In my case I indicated that I never watch GEB or 3ABN and occasionally watch Spirit. I just don't understand the anger and seeming hatred toward Sky Angel. Why not pray for Sky Angel instead of bad mouthing them.

Jeff

 

[MikeCTM2]

Prayer and Action

Faith without works is dead. Prayer and action.

Woops, I meant Fox News is on Sky Angel, not CNN -- the secular news programs alll fade together in my brain. Sorry.

SKy Angel has not been forthright in telling subscribers about the problems or their decision to continue secular programs while ending Christian programming. A "news" banner across the bottom of the screen on the affected "blacked-out" channels would have been considerate to subscribers. And, disavowing the responsibility while pointing to Echo Star (on the Sky Angel's answer machine recording) -- was this appropriate? There is a breach of contract here on Sky Angel's part without notice or information. Why do we owe the total monthly subscription fee?

Ask most teachers about administrator "advisory committees" and you will hear a goan. Decisions are mainly made by "higher up" priority rather than by suggestions from those of us in the trenches. I have been a Sky Angel subscriber for years (and may be not much longer) and never received a "survey."

 

[MikeCTM2]

Today, I ordered the satellite dish from Hope Network (Seventh-day Adventist) for their Christian programming (3 channels going to 4 soon) which has no monthly fee (free, free, free indeed). It cost $399 and includes a digital receiver that records about 70 hours of programs. I want to watch the doctors on the health programs and the cooking classes (vegan vegartarian, as in live longer and healthier).

 

[jegrant]

Since Sky Angel doesn't want to "spam" anyone, you must sign up for the Viewer Advisory Board if you want to receive a survey.

I personally didn't vote for FNC (as IMO it is more of a "talk radio" station done on TV, rather than just news) but I did vote for both Hallmark channels. Since subscribers (including myself) were interested in more general family entertainment, I thought it best to go with the most family-friendly brand available.

Plus, as TNGTony indicated, Hallmark used to be the Faith & Values channel, and still has representatives from many faiths involved, as there are regular productions of faith-based films and miniseries. Faith & Values was spun off as an independent Judeo-Christian interfaith program producer - see http://www.faithandvalues.tv/ for more information.

FWIW, some of the Christian stations that SA* has removed were primarily duplicating other Christian stations anyway. Does it matter if we can only see popular ministries, say, three times a day, rather than the five or six times a day that the old SA* lineup was showing them? There are only a limited number of teaching and preaching programs out there. Other channels asked to be removed (Air1/K-Love, INSP) because they wanted to go in different directions and found SA* was not a good match for their goals.

As far as C-Span / NASA - While both are non-commercial, when a service only has 20 video channels, I think it's a very difficult proposition to use one for C-SPAN. And while NASA certainly offers programming that I think is interesting and worthwhile, it is not necessarily "general interest" and I could see that certain very conservative viewers would object to it because it teaches secular, evolutionary science at times.

For those who want Public Interest channels, Echostar is now offering a package of them which could be added to Sky Angel (with a Dish 500 required to receive the majority of public interest channels).

 

[TNGTony]

Mike/Jody,

You do realize that all the channels on Sky Angel except for the 4 secular channels are available with MPEG FTA recievers for free. And as mentioned in the previous post, there are quite a few other FTA religious channels available. Sky Angel provides a great service for those who do not want to "mess with all that..." but for those truely devoted to getting the most of nothing but religious channels should consider FTA systems.
Notable channels on FTA are Daystar, FamilyNet, CTN on a 24/7 basis, EWTN, TBN, JCTV, INSP.

See ya
Tony

 

[MikeCTM2]

Does FTA include Spirit and 3ABN? How much does a FTA system cost?

 

[Mr Tony]

Spirit is on C-band so you need a 6 foot dish or larger but 3ABN is on KU band, so all you need is a 30" dish and a different receiver

There are lots of religious channels on 2 satellites about 4 degrees apart from each other. Once you buy the equipment there are NO FEES!!

Religious Programming on AMC4
3ABN (English, Latino, Radio)
Esparanza TV (Spanish)
Hope Channel
LLBN

Religious on IA5
Daystar
The Old Path TV
Word Network
Miracle Network (Canada station)
TBN
Church Channel
God's Learning
TBN Enlace
Smile of a Child
JCTV

Basic system runs a couple hundred bucks. There is a lot more that you can pick up, but I'll stick with the area. We also have one of the largest FTA (Free to Air) area here at Satelliteguys

Best part.....ITS FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[MikeCTM2]

Six foot dish for $200

If I need a 6 foot dish, do I go out and rotate it "a couple of degrees" to get the stations? Does the $200 include an automatic rotater? I would prefer an automatic rotater. I will have to see if my yard will accomodate the $200 6-foot dish. I have ordered the Hope Channel (3 Christian stations, with almost 4) receiver for $399 which digitally records about 70 hours of programming. Does the $200 cost include a digital receiver that records programming from the 6 foot dish? How many hours? Around 25 or 30 would meet my needs. I am tired of Sky Angel games over Easter weekend.

Sky Angel advertises one thing (Christian programming safe for children) and delivers something else (secular stations and Fox News which need to be blocked from child viewing) combo with Christian programming -- and eliminates Christian stations without the courtesy of information to subscribers (perhaps a "update" banner as Fox news does on the blacked out Christian stations). Not truthful advertising (listen to Sky Angel's advertising on their phone "wait" line), and not good customer policy/service, in my opinion.

 

[Mr Tony]

If I need a 6 foot dish, do I go out and rotate it "a couple of degrees" to get the stations?

Well there is 2 ways to do it
-get a dish you can rotate
-use 2 separate dishes (one for C-Band one for KU band) All the stuff I posted above is on KU band and can be picked up with a 30" Dish. TVU & Spirit are on C-Band

Does the $200 include an automatic rotater? I would prefer an automatic rotater.

nope. Motor would be about 100 bucks more., Check ouot www.sadoun.com for the packages they have

I will have to see if my yard will accomodate the $200 6-foot dish.

where are you getting $200 for the 6 foot dish? I never said that. a basic system (200 bucks or so) is the reciever, a 30" dish and the LNB.

I have ordered the Hope Channel (3 Christian stations, with almost 4) receiver for $399 which digitally records about 70 hours of programming.

with a FTA system, as long as you are aimed at the satellite, you can pick up whatever is free. There is no specific channel you have to stay on

Does the $200 cost include a digital receiver that records programming from the 6 foot dish? How many hours? Around 25 or 30 would meet my needs. I am tired of Sky Angel games over Easter weekend.

no. The DVR ones are going to run at least 350 bucks for the receiver alone. I was quoting a basic system with no bells & whistles

What I quoted above would get you the stuff on AMC4, which is at 101 (same spot as DirecTV) and IA5, which is at 97 degrees west. All you need is a reciever, KU band dish and a LNB. It would be totally different setup than what you currently have. I will tell you right now, it is NOT "plug and play". If you are looking to hook up the dish, aim in the general direction and you have programming, well then FTA is not for you.

Once the dish is aimed, then you have to program in the info. Don't get me wrong, it isnt hard and most receivers have "blind scan": which picks up all the channels on that satellite. But we can help you program it to pick up the religious channels on these 2 satellites.

Here is some info on how it works and such
http://www.glorystar.tv/

 

[dstrouth]

I found this at www.skyangel.com/outage

We here at Sky Angel do our best to provide you, our valued subscribers, the quality service you deserve, and we want to thank you for your continued patience during this difficult time.

We continue to work with EchoStar to restore the channels that are still experiencing technical difficulties. Though we believe it may be technically feasible to restore these channels, there remain other issues that must be worked out with EchoStar before restoration is possible. We are working as quickly as possible to resolve these issues. Regrettably there is no assurance at this time that we will be able to do so.

Please understand our call center representatives have no further information to give you at this time. Sky Angel asks our subscribers, and programmers for their prayers and support as we try to deal with this unfortunate situation.

We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your understanding.

It is interesting though that the above comment says it may never be able to be fixed, but spirit says they've been assured it will be fixed. Read the following:

Bulletin: No, the problem is not with your TV. SPIRIT Television is alive and well.
Echostar has reported that a problem with a transponder aboard one of their satellites (beyond our control) is preventing you from being able to watch SPIRIT at this time.
We've been assured that this problem will be resolved by Echostar shortly. Thank you for your continued patience.

The channels being back in the EPG gives me hope though that they will be restored. Spirit is the ONLY channel I ever use on skyangel.

 

[Kountzer]

Hopefully 3ABN will be back on sky angel. If not, It's been a nice ride. I got sky angel in '99. Before that, I didn't know sat. tv from ufos. I plan to eventually get the amc sat tv set up mentioned on hopetv. gotta save up my pennies for that.

Kountzer

 

[MellowYBird]

jegrant,
Good point. I never thought about NASA teaching "secular, evolutionary science at times".
Could you or someone tell me more about what public interest channels are or how to get them?

 

[MikeCTM2]

Message on the 3ABN website states that the satellite technical difficulty has been resolved but Sky Angel has decided not to carry 3ABN anymore. It looks like the 10 commandments day coming this May 7 is too hot to handle for Sky Angel and freedom of thought and speech is censored by Sky Angel staff. Churches participating on the Sky Angel satellite system must think/act as Sky Angel has determined/mandated? The 3ABN thread has been closed on this forum. Are we censored in this forum also if the threads are not to the liking of Sky Angel monitors? Will my post be censored?

 

[Mr Tony]

no we are not censoring the forum. We have no reason not to censor posts other than posts that ask how to steal services and one with language in them. But we already have 2 active threads going on with the channels in question so to keep it a littl eeasier to follow along, I closed a couple threads

 

[Mr Tony]

I renamed the thread since TP32 is back up but we are still missing a couple channels

 

[Mr Tony]

Will my post be censored

common ways posts get removed

-swearing (usually we will edit out the language)
-asking how to steal service
-spam

If you have a comment, whether good or bad, it stays

 

[Wescopc]

Stuck with a lifetime subscription

I wish I could discontinue my Sky Angel subscription, I bought a lifetime subscription, but I guess I didn't think about whether it was the lifetime of the programming or mine:shocked

 

[mattb]

Im a lifetimer as well, bought it back in 2001 for TVU,

Well if they drop 3ABN , GEB and Spirit Music Television, I will pack up my dish and put it in the closet.

I love TVU and support it but out of spite for Skyangel not broadcasting TVU's sister, I would not use the service anymore.

I will also make it clear to Kathy and the rest of the skyangel crew why exactly I will NOT use their service anymore.

Them being hush hush on any real reason to what's going on is really making me think there is more to this whole deal than just "techincal issues"

I am wondering if the PIDS and the blank screens being put back where just put back to try and shut up people from "calling" their contracted call center and wondering why the channels where not in the guide anymore.

If its a true techincal problem and their able to uplink blank screens to the receiver, they could clearly have E* put a SLATE up saying what is up and whats wrong, as we know Slates do not take much bandwidth at all and they could easly fit that onto the transponder 32 or even temporarly map the slate to a slot on 25. When they pulled that one other channel awhile back, they had no problem putting up a slate directing people to a website for more info, why are they being so hush now?

Sending up 3 "blank" channels seems fishy way of handling this.

Ofcourse right now I guess all any of us can do is sit and wait and hope the channels we enjoy come back soon!

 

[JeffH]

Fruit of the Spirit; "spite"

Im a lifetimer as well, bought it back in 2001 for TVU,

Well if they drop 3ABN , GEB and Spirit Music Television, I will pack up my dish and put it in the closet.

I love TVU and support it but out of spite for Skyangel not broadcasting TVU's sister, I would not use the service anymore.

QUOTE]


"out of spite" is that a fruit of the Spirit? Maybe we shouldn't watch or support TVU or Spirit anyway if that's what they teach.

Jeff

Good person test: http://www.wayofthemaster.com/goodperson.shtml