Here is someof news I just got from one of my contacts at Dish.
We are launching programming at the 118.7° location on July 6, 2006! To support these installations, effective June 30, 2006, the DISH 500+ and DISH 1000+ antennas will be available in limited quantities through your authorized hardware provider. What’s more, we plan to launch HD local network programming in Detroit and St. Louis on July 6, 2006. This programming will be available from the 118.7° orbital location effective July 6, 2006. This means that instead of requiring the installation of a SuperDISH antenna, these HD Locals as well as certain International programming language groups will require the installation of a DISH 500+ or DISH 1000+ antenna.
· HD Pak is Back for AK, HI, P.R. and U.S. VI – DISH Network’s HD Pak entertainment package is being re-launched in Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The programming in this re-launched HD Pak will be viewed from the 110° orbital location – not from the 129° or 61.5° orbital locations (i.e., the location from which our DishHD entertainment packages may be viewed).
o For customers in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands only, we are reintroducing the HD Pak for $9.99/mo., effective July 1, 2006.
o Eligible customers who wish to subscribe to the HD Pak must also subscribe to qualifying programming. Qualifying programming is AT60, AT120, AT180 and AEP. Customers without an active subscription to qualifying programming are not eligible to purchase the HD Pak.
o Please note that an MPEG-4/HD receiver is required to view the HD Pak.
o The HD Pak includes these channels:
- ESPN HD
- Discovery HD Theater
- HDNet
- HDNet Movies
- TNT HD