OTA channel guide problem

Jeffrey A

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Original poster
Mar 29, 2022
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I have Dish Hopper 3. I have a OTA adapter feeding the Hopper from my antenna. The Hopper is supposed to display these OTA channels in the program guide and it did as expected. But for the last couple months OTA channel 009-1 CBS displays the wrong information. It displays NBC. I contacted Dish support with no answers. Is there a fix for this?
 
FWIW, in the Albuquerque area, I reported something similar to Dish support a few years ago about missing program guide info when using the OTA adapter for a station known as KRQE2, which is received as 13.2 OTA, but is mapped as 02-00 when subscribing to Dish local channels. This channel has not been "channel 2" since 2017, but the lack of guide info persists. When using the OTA adapter, it shows up as 13-02 but just saying "FoxNM" for every time slot. When subscribing to Dish locals, it shows up as KRQE2 on 02-00 with program information. I reported this but to no effect. I now subscribe to Dish locals for that reason plus a few reception issues here and there.

Here's a little wiki info:
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KRQE-DT2, branded on-air as Fox New Mexico, is the Fox-affiliated second digital subchannel of KRQE, broadcasting in 720p high definition on virtual and VHF channel 13.2.
On January 18, 2017, KRQE-DT2 took over the Fox network affiliation for the Albuquerque market.[18] The subchannel's programming was transferred from Santa Fe-licensed KASA-TV (channel 2), which had been the market's Fox affiliate from 1993 until 2017; KASA, in turn, inherited the Fox affiliation from KGSW-TV (channel 14, now occupied by KTFQ-DT) after that station's owner, the Providence Journal Company), bought the channel 2 license in 1993 (KGSW had been affiliated with Fox since the network's launch in 1986). KASA was sold to Ramar Communications, which changed the station into a Telemundo affiliate.
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So if you extrapolate this all around the country, there's probably numerous similar situations. You've got to have confidence that "Engineering is working on it" along with the supplier of guide data to ensure a seamless experience for you, just as it has been for me. I think that Dish has no particular incentive to fix any of these issues if they can benefit by getting people to subscribe to Dish-provided locals at $12/month. One would hope that customer satisfaction would be part of it, but I don't know. Good luck.
 
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Here in Columbus, Ohio Fox channel 28-01 switched to 06-03 when the ATSC 3.0 broadcasts started. Channel 28-01 is now TBD. The Dish Guide has been wrong since the change. Dish has been notified numerous times but it does not appear to be a priority.
 
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Here in Columbus, Ohio Fox channel 28-01 switched to 06-03 when the ATSC 3.0 broadcasts started. Channel 28-01 is now TBD. The Dish Guide has been wrong since the change. Dish has been notified numerous times but it does not appear to be a priority.
I admit I'm a little confused on what you mean, but I looked around and didn't see any recent changes made by the broadcaster. Also when I tune to channel 9 I am receiving channel 9. It's just that the guide is showing programming for another channel.
 
We have had the wrong information on our FOX station since they moved it from 4.1 to 6.3. Same thing in neighbor state dma in Louisiana. Fox on 29.1 shows nothing and the guide information is on 29.3 which is Circle. DISH isn't interested in maintaining the ota portion it seems. Subscribing to satellite version is the only way I know to get around it and stay with DISH, but it will cost you $12.00 more a month of course. If you move to Air tv ota device with Sling tv you can have guide information that is correct on locals and sub channels , as long as you have internet of course.
 
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One of the things I want to do while out at Team Summit is find out what is the best way for us to report these issues.
I, for one, appreciate that.

What would also be good is to find out from the Team why the OTA guide problems that ARE reported seem to go into a black hole never to emerge. I called back a couple of times and tried to inquire about how things were going with Engineering on the issue, with no response or followup from anyone, so I gave up. I'm sure many others have as well.

But thanks for your commitment to getting my one particular complaint resolved...'preciate it! :biggrin
 
One of the things I want to do while out at Team Summit is find out what is the best way for us to report these issues.

Here in Connecticut most of the OTA channels have no guide data, yet on Sling TV they do have the guide data. Same company right?
I also reported via chat an OTA guide info problem where for an NBC station where the Dish Guide info is for a CBS station, this was during the Tegna dispute where I had lost the NBC station I get in my locals subscription with Dish (different NBC station) so I had no NBC guide info. The response I got from chat was Dish has no control over the OTA guide info. That was the extent of the chat.

I don't believe Dish has no control over something provided through their system and found this answer very frustrating. The missing or incorrect OTA guide info from Dish is near the top of my frustrations with Dish, especially when I'm trying to work around one of Dish's programming disputes.
 
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I also reported via chat an OTA guide info problem where for an NBC station where the Dish Guide info is for a CBS station, this was during the Tegna dispute where I had lost the NBC station I get in my locals subscription with Dish (different NBC station) so I had no NBC guide info. The response I got from chat was Dish has no control over the OTA guide info. That was the extent of the chat.

I don't believe Dish has no control over something provided through their system and found this answer very frustrating. The missing or incorrect OTA guide info from Dish is near the top of my frustrations with Dish, especially when I'm trying to work around one of Dish's programming disputes.
Yes, that's the same reply I've gotten. And even beyond that I called about the guide on regular Dish channels being wrong. If I recorded an event it would stop too early and I'd miss the end of the show. Their response then was that the guide is controlled by a third party and nothing could be done.
 
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One of the things I want to do while out at Team Summit is find out what is the best way for us to report these issues.

Here in Connecticut most of the OTA channels have no guide data, yet on Sling TV they do have the guide data. Same company right?
It would be nice if they just picked it up off the OTA signal. Even if that meant that OTA channels only had the info for the current show, it’s better than nothing , and you could set a DVR timer to pick that show up in the future.
 
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The other thing is: it's one thing to have a bunch of relatively obscure subchannels that are available OTA that show up in the guide without any data, and it's another to have one or more of the 5 major networks in a DMA have channels mapped to numbers that were last correct 5 years ago, with missing or incorrect program data.

For example, my OTA adapter scans around 72 channels. My Dish-provided locals total 17 channels. Two out of the five major networks (PBS and Fox) have absolutely zero guide data for the primary channel as half-heartedly provided by the OTA guide listings. I'm not asking for every little CoziTV, QVC, Buzzr, Bounce, StarTV, Grit, Laff, Ion, Rewind, ShopTV, AceTV, etc., subchannel. It's not unreasonable to expect proper listings and channel mappings for CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, PBS, and I guess The CW to be in place for each DMA.

If you're in the TV business, as Dish is, and have enabled and sold OTA adapters to allow users to use antennas with their Hoppers, and integrate these channels into the Dish guide, then you should step up, own, and fix the many guide problems. It would also be reasonable to expect that the Dish team that apparently sporadically monitors this forum to step forward and help own the issues as well.
 
The other thing is: it's one thing to have a bunch of relatively obscure subchannels that are available OTA that show up in the guide without any data, and it's another to have one or more of the 5 major networks in a DMA have channels mapped to numbers that were last correct 5 years ago, with missing or incorrect program data.

For example, my OTA adapter scans around 72 channels. My Dish-provided locals total 17 channels. Two out of the five major networks (PBS and Fox) have absolutely zero guide data for the primary channel as half-heartedly provided by the OTA guide listings. I'm not asking for every little CoziTV, QVC, Buzzr, Bounce, StarTV, Grit, Laff, Ion, Rewind, ShopTV, AceTV, etc., subchannel. It's not unreasonable to expect proper listings and channel mappings for CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, PBS, and I guess The CW to be in place for each DMA.

If you're in the TV business, as Dish is, and have enabled and sold OTA adapters to allow users to use antennas with their Hoppers, and integrate these channels into the Dish guide, then you should step up, own, and fix the many guide problems. It would also be reasonable to expect that the Dish team that apparently sporadically monitors this forum to step forward and help own the issues as well.
Exactly. The other part I would add with the subchannels - the fact that the subchannel data is there, but it is on the wrong subchannel. Agree 100% that I wouldn't expect all the minor ones to be there, or even the ones that have recently been added. But if the data is already there but on the wrong subchannel, you would think there would be a way to point it to the correct subchannel.
 
Some quick googlage tells me that there are 210 DMAs in the U.S. Just think...if there were at least one SatelliteGuys Dish forum follower in each of the 210 DMAs who could help out by:
1. Enabling Dish-provided locals on their programming, at least temporarily
2. Getting an OTA adapter installed on their Hopper with a decent antenna and scanning for channels
3. Made a list of the issues that exist between how Dish-provided locals show up in the guide vs. how OTA channels show up in the guide
4. Submitted the list to a Dish focal point who could demonstrate some level of concern for fixing the issues
5. Having the focal point coordinate the fixing of the problems and communicating the status back to those concerned

I would volunteer to be the guy for my DMA to do this. 209 others and some commitment from Dish, and we'd have a real start on this thing.
 
Fox channel 28-01 switched to watchdog channel 6-03 in February 2021 when Columbus Ohio launched ATSC 3.0 broadcasts for ABC, Fox, and CW. It has been over a year and the Dish Guide for 6-03 just says FOX28. Channel 28-01 has the Fox Guide but the channel is actually TBD.
Many of the OTA subchannels such as ION, Laff, GRIT, MYTV, Comet, and Bounce have no OTA Guide info but Dish has the correct Guide info for these same Satellite channels.
So Dish has the Guide information but they don’t map the Guide info into the OTA channels.
In the past there was a Dish representative on the Satellite Guys site who was taking our info concerning the OTA guide problems and sharing it with the Dish engineers. But nothing has happened.
If Dish would fix their OTA guide they would have a lot of satisfied customers.
 
Exactly. The other part I would add with the subchannels - the fact that the subchannel data is there, but it is on the wrong subchannel. Agree 100% that I wouldn't expect all the minor ones to be there, or even the ones that have recently been added. But if the data is already there but on the wrong subchannel, you would think there would be a way to point it to the correct subchannel.
I just had this problem happen within the last 10 days on a pair of my subchannels. The question is why would guide data for subchannels that has been correct for many years suddenly flip flop to the wrong channel, no changes that I'm aware of by the broadcaster.
 
One of the things I want to do while out at Team Summit is find out what is the best way for us to report these issues.

Here in Connecticut most of the OTA channels have no guide data, yet on Sling TV they do have the guide data. Same company right?
Exactly. I don't know why they can't use the same tech for DISH. How about Air Tv tuners, both 2 tuner and or 4 tuners that can be hooked into the sat receivers by USB. Then the internet would provide you with all the guide data. Air tv could be universal for both companies. Then the problem would be solved.
 
Exactly. I don't know why they can't use the same tech for DISH. How about Air Tv tuners, both 2 tuner and or 4 tuners that can be hooked into the sat receivers by USB. Then the internet would provide you with all the guide data. Air tv could be universal for both companies. Then the problem would be solved.
I have had the same issue here on the Northern Oregon Coast. It is hard to get any accurate guide, on Dish or otherwise. Even the Fire TV recast has one channel with 5 subs not accurate. I gave up on it, as I just the generic timer to record the channel & time period I want. The only 100% guide I can find is online, Titan. If the outfits would use the guides going out 2 weeks directly from the TV stations, there would be no issues, but most of the 3rd party guide suppliers are terrible.
 
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I admit I'm a little confused on what you mean, but I looked around and didn't see any recent changes made by the broadcaster. Also when I tune to channel 9 I am receiving channel 9. It's just that the guide is showing programming for another channel.
Stations do not necessarily broadcast from the channel number displayed. Your channel 9 may be broadcasting on some other channel like 31 or 14. Not only that but a single frequency may be used by multiple channels so your channel 9 may be broadcasting on the same channel as your channel 4. When that type of sharing goes on DISH unfortunately shows the information for the "host" channel on both. That stinks.
 
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Some quick googlage tells me that there are 210 DMAs in the U.S. Just think...if there were at least one SatelliteGuys Dish forum follower in each of the 210 DMAs who could help out by:
1. Enabling Dish-provided locals on their programming, at least temporarily
2. Getting an OTA adapter installed on their Hopper with a decent antenna and scanning for channels
3. Made a list of the issues that exist between how Dish-provided locals show up in the guide vs. how OTA channels show up in the guide
4. Submitted the list to a Dish focal point who could demonstrate some level of concern for fixing the issues
5. Having the focal point coordinate the fixing of the problems and communicating the status back to those concerned

I would volunteer to be the guy for my DMA to do this. 209 others and some commitment from Dish, and we'd have a real start on this thing.
I havea contact at DISH. That contact has listened to gripes and suggestions and given me accurate information. I have raised this issue to that contact. All i got was a sigh and a question as to whether this is really a serious problem. In other words I see nothing to indicate that DISH sees this as a problem.
 
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