Schedule for local HD channels

[edbianc]

Hi. I am new to this forum and was wondering if DISH publishes a schedule for adding local channels in HD for areas of the country. I have been waiting for HD locals in Augusta, GA area for over a year. No one at DISH can explain when they will be added or what is required for this to happen.

Can anyone enlighten me?

 

[sam_gordon]

Here's what needs to happen:

1) Dish needs to secure retransmission agreements with the local broadcasters to show their signal in HD. There might be only one holdout station in a market preventing the "launch" of that marcket.
2) Dish then needs to modify their local reception/transmission in order to receive the HD signals and pass them along to Boulder(?).
3) Last but not least, Dish needs to free up space on the satellites to send the HD signals to their subscribers.

I highly doubt anyone you can talk to knows where the hangup is among those three steps and even what a target date is complete each step. You can check with local broadcasters, they may be able to tell you if step 1 is done.

 

[edbianc]

Thanks Sam for the quick response. Dish support is clueless on this. Your suggestion about talking to the local channels is a good one and I will follow up with them.

 

[Rangers484]

Thanks Sam for the quick response. Dish support is clueless on this. Your suggestion about talking to the local channels is a good one and I will follow up with them.

During Charlie Chats they will sometimes specifically name HD markets coming with dates. Other times they will only put up a map of the US with seemingly random dots all over it.

 

[CowboyDren]

Usually Dish doesn't announce new locals until less than 30 days from their launch. Even after the announcement is made, something can go wrong, causing further delays.

 

[stumperman1]

I've been waiting for Evansville, IN locals for over a year now, I was promised by a CSR they would be up and running in December and here it is in January and still no local HD for dish. So even if they say they know, they probably don't.

 

[edbianc]

I, too am disappointed in DISH's attention to this important feature. I don't recommend Dish to anyone I know due to the HD local problem. When my 2-yr term is up I will move off of Dish even though I think they have the best receivers and like their channel line up quality. If they would only be up front on when/if they will supply local HD channels , I could then make a decision on what to do in the interim. (eg. install a roof antenna). I would bet most customers spend 50% + of their viewing time on local channels and they (DISH) don't seem to understand why folks are mad about paying them for HD and then have to pick up local HD on the free OTA signals.

 

[Jim5506]

If the FCC enforces the carry one-carry-all reg we can expect both Dish and Direct to stop adding HD locals because, as the name says, if they carry one station in HD in a market, they will eventually have to carry all the HD signals.

By February 2010, they must carry all stations in 15% of the DMA's where they carry HD, 2011 it jumps to 30% and then up each year until they will eventually have to carry ALL HD stations in HD in a DMA if they carry one.

Logically, this means some DMA's may wait a L-o-n-g time for HD coverage.

Unintended consequences of more government meddling, if they were allowed to carry the big 4 (or 5) everywhere before they have to add all the minor nets and independents that just happen to broadcast maybe 3 hours of HD daily, we could at least let market forces act on this without the blunt kudgel of the government in the act.

And some want the government to "fix" our healthcare - HA-HA- HA -HA!!

 

[CowboyDren]

That doesn't sound right to me. When I was reading about it, Must Carry rules only apply to big-4, and didn't apply at all to HD. The only requirement was that all major channels be carried for a market, not the quality of said channels. I could be totally off my rocker.

DirecTV is taking a weird tack; despite adding orbital capacity, they're actually dropping entire DMAs (like Joplin, MO). Dish is doing exactly what I expect them to do; add capacity and content at the same time, at a seemingly breakneck pace. I live in one of the 50 largest cities in America, so all of my commercial channels (including CW, WB, ION and MyTV, excluding PBS) have been in HD for almost three years. My condolences to those of you outside the club.

 

[dodge]

Hi. I am new to this forum and was wondering if DISH publishes a schedule for adding local channels in HD for areas of the country. I have been waiting for HD locals in Augusta, GA area for over a year. No one at DISH can explain when they will be added or what is required for this to happen.

Can anyone enlighten me?

Have you tried getting them with an OTA antenna???

 

[dodge]

That doesn't sound right to me. When I was reading about it, Must Carry rules only apply to big-4, and didn't apply at all to HD. The only requirement was that all major channels be carried for a market, not the quality of said channels. I could be totally off my rocker.

DirecTV is taking a weird tack; despite adding orbital capacity, they're actually dropping entire DMAs (like Joplin, MO). Dish is doing exactly what I expect them to do; add capacity and content at the same time, at a seemingly breakneck pace. I live in one of the 50 largest cities in America, so all of my commercial channels (including CW, WB, ION and MyTV, excluding PBS) have been in HD for almost three years. My condolences to those of you outside the club.

Did Directv Drop the HD Locals or the Sd to Joplin mo???

 

[edbianc]

Sure, I use an OTA antenna to get locals in digital format but I am 25 miles from the stations and the signal is marginal - I have to constantly tweak my antenna to get all 4 major stations. It bugs me to have to pay $5.99/mo just to have the OTA content show up in the Dish guide.

 

[CowboyDren]

Did Directv Drop the HD Locals or the Sd to Joplin mo???

DirecTV no longer carries any Joplin/Pittsburg channels, SD or HD.

Sure, I use an OTA antenna to get locals in digital format but I am 25 miles from the stations and the signal is marginal - I have to constantly tweak my antenna to get all 4 major stations. It bugs me to have to pay $5.99/mo just to have the OTA content show up in the Dish guide.

At 25 miles, you should be using a $30 outdoor antenna. We can help with that in the HD-OTA forum, too. As for the price, it kind of sucks, but the functionality is worth it for those of us who take full advantage of our third (and fourth) tuner. The picture quality for Dish's HD locals is nothing to write home about, but the conservation of disk space (MPEG4 via Dish vs MPEG2 OTA) is nice.

 

[wmjack]

I'm also in the Augusta, GA DMA, and likewise have inquired many times at the Dishnetwork website and by phone. You're right --can't reach anyone who knows when, or if our DMA will be slotted for HD.

In my case, we are surrounded by tall pine trees and hills near the Savannah River....no rooftop antenna has ever worked, and no cable is available in our rural area.

I would like to stick with DISH, but.....getting ever more frustrated.

By the way, this is my 1st post to this interesting and informative forum.

 

[gopherscot]

We were announced for November ,,, but have seen nothing. Quad Cities, Paducah and Evansville were all announced ... then delayed. Before any other markets go up these should go up first!

 

[Laddyboy]

I'm also in the Augusta, GA DMA, and likewise have inquired many times at the Dishnetwork website and by phone. You're right --can't reach anyone who knows when, or if our DMA will be slotted for HD.

In my case, we are surrounded by tall pine trees and hills near the Savannah River....no rooftop antenna has ever worked, and no cable is available in our rural area.

I would like to stick with DISH, but.....getting ever more frustrated.

By the way, this is my 1st post to this interesting and informative forum.

Welcome, wmjack!

 

[mike123abc]

That doesn't sound right to me. When I was reading about it, Must Carry rules only apply to big-4, and didn't apply at all to HD. The only requirement was that all major channels be carried for a market, not the quality of said channels. I could be totally off my rocker.

Must carry applies to all full power stations in a market that want to be carried. DBS companies had a 4 year extension (3 years remaining) to get all the must carry for HD done. If they carry one station in HD they must carry all channels in the DMA that request carriage in HD. Right now they are doing the big 4 initially and adding secondary stations along the way.

Right now they are allowed to downres and convert to MPEG4. The must carry essentially works out to equal bit access for every station. If they give CBS access to 10mbits they have to give Local OTA shopping channel the same access. Dish essentially pools their bits, essentially one channel can use more bits than others if the others are not using all their bits.

Dish has a lot of markets that are 100% carried in HD. They are smaller markets without full power independents. For example my market only has the big 4, so all the stations are considered carried and it counts as a fully carried market. It will probably be towards the deadline that they finally get all the stations in the big markets carried, the smaller markets with only 1 or 2 "other" channels will probably be filled out first.

 

[whatchel1]

HD?

Must carry applies to all full power stations in a market that want to be carried. DBS companies had a 4 year extension (3 years remaining) to get all the must carry for HD done. If they carry one station in HD they must carry all channels in the DMA that request carriage in HD. Right now they are doing the big 4 initially and adding secondary stations along the way.

Are you sure that it is HD? Thought was just carry even if it is SD.

 

[mike123abc]

Are you sure that it is HD? Thought was just carry even if it is SD.

Yes. They have to maintain equal footing for all full power stations that request must carry. If they do HD for one they have to offer to all. They can do the whole market in SD and not carry any HD if they choose. The FCC does not care if it is ABC or a shopping channel, if it is full power it has to be carried if they request it. The DBS companies are free to work deals (like they did in SD) and put in a national feed mapped down (like they did with shopping channels).