Please, give me some hope!

[Stacy A]

Scott,

It appears that Dish has fallen into one of those lulls where you really begin to regret having signed on with Dish. (Sort of like it was when DirecTV got ESPNHD and Dish didn't have for so long) Everything I read here doesn't really give me much to look forward to in terms of new HD being added at Dish any time soon. It seems that we can expect DirecTV to add some new HD programming very soon, and Dish likely will not. Therefore, there will be a lot of gritching and griping, me chiefly among them. Just give me some hope. Please....

 

[GaryPen]

You want false hope? Just watch the next Charlie Chat. I'm sure they'll be touting some new receiver, or new features on the current receivers, or they're "in negotiations" with some new channel or another.

Then again, they might harsh your mellow with that oldie but goodie "No compelling HD content", or "Available to new subscribers only", or "That channel doesn't provide enough value for the majority of our subscribers, and would raise everybody's rates".

The eternal optimist that I am, I think perhaps there'll be good news after all! I'll bet there'll be exciting news about a third horseracing channel, or a new foreign-langauge channel in that African language where they only click their tongues, or great sports PPV like Bolivian Water Polo or The World Bocci Championship.

 

[Bobby]

The eternal optimist that I am, I think perhaps there'll be good news after all! I'll bet there'll be exciting news about a third horseracing channel, or a new foreign-langauge channel in that African language where they only click their tongues.

Ah, Gary, you must be speaking of Khoisan, that widely spoken click language.

http://www.bartleby.com/65/af/Africanlng.html

 

[NightRyder]

Here is D* rumored HD lineup. If you exclude NFL-ST the only notable additions are NBC-HD and FOX-HD East and West. Depending on legislation these will probably only be available in o&o and white areas. Dish should have little trouble adding these at 61.5 and 148 and I expect them to do so.

1. 119 Hdnet
2. 119 HBO
3. 110 Showtime
4. 110 DiscoveryHD
5. 110 ESPN
6. 110 HDNET Movies
7. 101 CBS-NY
8. 101 CBS-LA
9. 101 NBC-NY
10 101 NBC-LA
11 119 HD PPV/Spice
12 110 HD Bravo
13 101 NFL HD-1 (CBS-1)
14 101 NFL HD-2 (CBS-2)
15 110 HD NFL-3 (CBS-3)
16 110 HD NFL-4 (Fox-1)
17 119 HD NFL-5 (Fox-2)
18 119 HD NFL-6 (Fox-3)
19 119 HD NFL-7 (Fox-4)
20 119 NFL HD-8 (Fox-5)
21 119 HD NFL-9 (Fox-6)
22 101 FOX-NY
23 101 FOX-LA
24 Future HD

NightRyder

 

[Cyclone]

(Sort of like it was when DirecTV got ESPNHD and Dish didn't have for so long)

Hehhe, DirectTV started ESPN-HD on July 1st, Dish added it the following Sept 15th. Thats only 2.5 months. Hardly a long time.

We've had TNT-HD for over 3 months while DirecTV hasn't. TNT-HD has shown more "True HD" during those 3 months, than ESPN-HD did during its 2.5 months of DirectTV's advantage.

I wouldn't worry, Dish won't ever be the cutting edge, gotta have it on launch provider. That would be Voom. Dish is however the one that will fight to get the best price, so we do require some patience.

 

[bcshields]

And it's not like Dish has the room up there to fit pudgy HD channels.

Dish has satellites going up soon. There's the hope. Once they free up their bandwidth with one or two sats, Programming will be more open, more HD, more fer-in channels, more locals, better PQ.

Until then expect only contractually forced channels.

 

[GaryPen]

Ah, Gary, you must be speaking of Khoisan, that widely spoken click language.

http://www.bartleby.com/65/af/Africanlng.html

Yes. I'm surprised Dish doesn't already have a 6 channel Khoisan Super Pack.

 

[NightRyder]

And it's not like Dish has the room up there to fit pudgy HD channels..

Actually they do. Just not on conus . 148 has room for at least 2 HD channels in place of the HBO and Showtime HD channels they are still mirroring there. I expect we'll see NBC and FOX West HD channels on this sat. before the end of the year.


NightRyder

 

[TuxCoder]

Yes. I'm surprised Dish doesn't already have a 6 channel Khoisan Super Pack.

With the new 522 software version 2.0x, many of my programs seem to be partially dubbed in Khoisan. Instead of English, I just hear clicks and pops at random times. This usually accompanies brief silence which tells me that it must be an efficient language. Click-click-garble-pop must really say a lot.

 

[Stacy A]

Hehhe, DirectTV started ESPN-HD on July 1st, Dish added it the following Sept 15th. Thats only 2.5 months. Hardly a long time.

We've had TNT-HD for over 3 months while DirecTV hasn't. TNT-HD has shown more "True HD" during those 3 months, than ESPN-HD did during its 2.5 months of DirectTV's advantage.

I wouldn't worry, Dish won't ever be the cutting edge, gotta have it on launch provider. That would be Voom. Dish is however the one that will fight to get the best price, so we do require some patience.

Cyclone,

That's exactly the voice of reason I needed to hear: some solid facts to remind me of exactly why I stayed with Dish when I went HD two years ago.

Thanks,

 

[Cyclone]

Glad to contribute.

BTW: I don't mess with Texas.

 

[Stargazer]

You dont know what you got until its gone.

 

[BobMurdoch]

Hey, that D* press release about 500 HD channels got ME itchy to jump so you know E* is in trouble. Between that announcement and the NFL channels (NFL Channel and Sunday Ticket), my faith is starting to waver a bit, although the Sirius channels, HBO Comedy, and Showtime Beyond are holding me for now........

C'Mon E* ya gotta counter this threat SOON or the churn numbers (of the early adopter types at least) is gonna go through the roof........

 

[Stargazer]

I am going to wait to see what Dish does to counteract. Directv does not have the channels up yet and Dish still has time to fight back. They could have advantages of their own. Just remember, just because there may be 500 channels that they could add dont mean that there are 500 channels available and it also does not mean that all of them would have compelling content. Dish Network's plan to have two-way broadband internet by satellite with free hardware for under $40 a month seems pretty compelling for those out in the country.

 

[BFG]

Yeah, I don't see what the big deal with the D* announcement. Dish said they were going to do the same thing at 105 a while back...

and if D* does launch that many, they will have to compress it so much, their HD channels will start to look like uncompressed SD channels, heck they've began to cram 3 channels / transponder on their sats and they don't even have 8PSK. one of those crammed channels is HDNet Movies, so they can expect the wrath of Mark Cuban on their doorstep

 

[Stargazer]

Just as some said in the past, its the quality not the quantity. Perhaps Dish will choose to have the compelling content and not compress it. I wonder if the channel count in the press release from DirecTv was if they had the channels compressed.