Oh Darn........

[Inno]

Has it really been 2 years since all that started? How long have I been gone for?
I think it was probably just a person or group of people with the right idea without the knowledge/finances to pull it off. In North America with the mainstream media being so prevalent and things like pizza dish with hundreds of channels at your fingertips with little to no work and streaming video on the internet, netflix etc. etc. etc. it would be a VERY difficult thing not only to get off the ground but to keep going if you were to get it off the ground.

 

[Tron]

Oh and it looks like the freedbs.org website is back online as a WordPress blog and it has a message "We are not going away!"

Oh, no. NO! Not this again...

These guys are worse than Freddy Krueger!

 

[Stargazer]

This entire thread is about that "other service" (Freedbs) who just had their website expire, and you ask that question? Did you read any of the posts? How about reading the second sentence in Ice's very first #1 post here? Then read the entire rest of his post.

They never were viable, and never did a single thing beyond having that website.

I remember another service that was announced after freedbs and I think I remember Scott saying it looked legit unlike the freedbs but it would take around 18 months before it would launch. I may have gotten the 20 channels thing confused with the freedbs thing. I have not heard any other mention about it since.

 

[primestar31]

Perhaps you are remembering the Canadian free HD service that talked about going on line via satellite? That's not yet viable either, and I don't remember the last time something certain was posted about it.

 

[freezy]

if TheCoolTV could rent a channel on 97W, there is no reason why somebody couldn't try this. How much does a channel cost? You don't need an entire TP.

I just sent a note to Intelsat. I actually am thinking of developing a German language channel. I know of 3 big sponsors right now that would be interested. In the process I will let you guys know just how full of BS FreeDBS was.

 

[SatelliteAV]

G19 KU is the most expensive bandwidth in North America. Typically, 2 - 2.5 Mb TV channel with multi-year contract will be 12-15k per month for turning your content (you playout and deliver to the uplinker) add 3-4k if the uplinker is also providing playout services of your files.

There are much less expensive satellites with great footprints if G19 KU viewership is not critical to the distribution of your content. You will typically get a better link budget with a third party uplinker instead of the satellite owner.

 

[danristheman]

This post about free dbs is like a bad rash or VD you can't get rid of it very easily. Making a bad joke here.

Dan Rose