Replacing Aging Birds?

[DishSubLA]

EchoStar 23 is owned by EchoStar not sister company Dish. Apparently it's intended to relocate to 72.6 at some point.

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Isn't the bird at 72.6 aging, as well? So, such a move makes sense.

 

[pattykay]

However, where does Dish put all those international currently at 118.8 using Ku FSS? There seems to be absolutely NO ROOM for all those channels on the current fleet, or not without at least losing some channels because they can only squeeze a limited number at 110 and 119 and 129 (129 is a leased SLOT with Dish/Echostar owned sat that is also aging), the only satellites that most--can't say all--international subscribers are also looking at with their systems, and can receive if AnikF3 goes down.

In recent moves, Dish is now mirroring at least some of the CONUS local markets from 77 in CONUS at the 72 satellite. Other than those local markets, the rest of Dish's channels at 77 are standard-def duplicates of (some of) the channels that are already carried in HD on the other Eastern Arc satellites. So, worst-case scenario, I could see Dish clearing off the channels that are currently taking up space at 77, and moving the international channels there instead. Yes, this would require an equipment migration. However, Dish is already in the middle of an equipment migration, to finally force all of the customers still using SD-only receivers to upgrade to HD-capable receivers. (I would imagine that those international channel subscribers make up the bulk of those subscribers still using SD-only receivers, since most international channels are only carried in standard-def.) So, Dish might as well rip off the band-aid, and do the entire equipment migration all at once. The 77 LNB is another LNB, like the 118.7 LNB, that is not installed unless it is actually needed for the programming being received on that account. So, other than migrating the existing subscribers to the new satellite, nothing would change in that regard.