What does DTV consider HD locals?

[Rattler94]

I'm a new sub. DTV always say they have locals in HD. In Dallas, I noticed that through my antenna I would get ION in HD in the Dallas market. DTV has the channel in SD, but not in HD.

Why?

Does DTV consider this channel not to be a local?

 

[raoul5788]

They don't necessarily have all of your locals in hd, or even most. There are many areas that don't have all of their locals in hd. Here in CT they don't have the CW or one of the Spanish stations.

 

[jcrandall]

Simple answer is bandwith. It doesn't carry much value to Directv for Ion in HD. Many markets still don't have CW, PBS, etc in HD.

Generally if they have the big 4 in HD (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC) they consider it a complete HD local market. Everything else, even PBS, is an add-on.

That said, DirecTV has been better in the past year or two about adding some HD locals to existing markets, many had PBS added and in some areas the big spanish locals.

To date there has been very little additions of things like Ion or any subchannels.

 

[Mr Tony]

If your Ion station is owned by them (I think pretty much all are) both Direct and Dish take the national feed and "remap" it in your locals under whatever station it is for your market.
We have the same thing in Minneapolis. It maps to 41

Honestly the only difference between what is on D* and what is on OTA (besides HD) is the "Your Ion station for Minneapolis. KPXM 41 St Cloud" on the screen at the top of each hour

 

[Rattler94]

I always thought that DTV charged more because they give you everything.

Come on DTV, was thinking that they would have everything HD channel that DISH carried. But DTV more concerned with profits more than customers.

I feel like DTV is giving me the nickle and dime service. If I'm paying top dollar why am I not getting top service.

I always thought that DTV would be the first to broadcast 1080p, guess that's an equipment investment that DTV won't make.

 

[Mr Tony]

for your area these stations are in HD (by channel #)
4, 5, 8, 11, 13, 21, 23, 27, 33

stations in SD (bolded are in English...the rest Spanish)
29, 39, 47, 49, 52, 55, 68

 

[Mr Tony]

I always thought that DTV charged more because they give you everything.

Ion signed a deal with Dish and Direct to carry one feed and remap it to. This is long before they went 720p and got different programming

Come on DTV, was thinking that they would have everything HD channel that DISH carried. But DTV more concerned with profits more than customers.

yep and Dish doesn't

I feel like DTV is giving me the nickle and dime service. If I'm paying top dollar why am I not getting top service.

what did you expect? I take it you didnt do any homework before subscribing? What do you consider nickel and diming?

 

[Mr Tony]

oh with Directv you get 3 more locals in HD than with Dish too

me here in Minnesota I get 1 extra channel with Directv than I do with Dish in SD and as for HD channels
7 in HD on Directv out of 12 total channels (3 stations are only in SD OTA so 7 out of 9 in HD.....Ion and an Independent are the only 2 not)
5 in HD on Dish out of 11 channels total

 

[Rattler94]

I know that DISH, DTV, FIOS, Uverse...etc...do the carry some channels that others don't. I've done to much research.

Truth be told. You guess it, I didn't subscribe, my wife did. I was happy with my OTA antenna with my ION in my area that's channel 68-1,68-2,68-3. I thought it was interesting getting the addition channels because no one what wanted to use all the bandwidth for 1080p.

Nickle and Dime charges...the receiver, the channel tier, the movie channels charge, the dvr charge, the whole home dvr charge, etc. I go over this bill online with a microscope.

I'm riding DTV hard because I thought that they charge more than anyone else because they were on the bleeding edge with channels and latest technology.

 

[Mr Tony]

Nickle and Dime charges...the receiver, the channel tier, the movie channels charge, the dvr charge, the whole home dvr charge, etc. I go over this bill online with a microscope.

1st receiver is free...additional ones are $6 a month. Cheaper than Dish where it varies from 7-17 a month depending on unit
channel tier...depends on what package you got
movie channels...I dont know. I dont sub to those
DVR is a monthly fee regardless if you have 1 DVR or 100..its $7 a month. Just so you know Dish double dips. They charge $6 a month for DVR service then if you have additional DVR's they charge an extra $3 for the DVR
Whole home...optional feature. I dont have it

I go through my bill too. And everything I saw when I ordered a year ago is what shows on the bill. My bill is just what I expected

 

[Rattler94]

Thanks for the info about double dips with dvr.

The bill isn't anything that she expected that's why I go through it dang near daily. Trying to explain why the bill jumped up and looking for deals such as 3 months free offers and making sure that I turn it off before the bill date.