When the US catches on to FTA

[mzopinionated]

I used to have fta with the big dish. Then it got harder to buy programing and I was going to have to spend about $700.00 for a 4dtv receiver. Since going to Dish was only going to cost me about another $12.00 a mo. I went for it because it would have been years for me to realize the savings and then what was the next expensive piece of equipment I was going to have to buy with the next new technology.

 

[jacknjill]

does this FTA work?

True...good thoughts there.

Hey, I cancelled cable a few months back cause they jacked the line-up around and moved some channels so we cancelled. I was more than happy to go with OTA. It's free, and costs nothing. Same with FTA. Just gotta buy the receiving equipment. After that...no subs. Just Quizno subs and that's it. :

any info would be very helpful, before spending up to $500.00. on the fta equiment.
I live 40 miles north of Orlando, Fla, and presently have dishnetwork., but I want to go bill less , thanks frank

 

[PSB]

any info would be very helpful, before spending up to $500.00. on the fta equiment.
I live 40 miles north of Orlando, Fla, and presently have dishnetwork., but I want to go bill less , thanks frank

WELCOME to the SatelliteGuys.US FTA forum!

Here is what you need for legal FTA channels!

http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=13276

 

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

any info would be very helpful, before spending up to $500.00. on the fta equiment.
I live 40 miles north of Orlando, Fla, and presently have dishnetwork., but I want to go bill less , thanks frank

I strongly recommend a motorized 30-40 inch dish for KU and a 6 footer for C Band. All of the networks can be seen on a 6 footer on G16. There is also plenty of syndicated programming there. One can be had for a little over $200. The ultimate is a motorized C band dish-you won't run out of things to watch and its all FREE.

 

[Stefan]

any info would be very helpful, before spending up to $500.00. on the fta equiment.
I live 40 miles north of Orlando, Fla, and presently have dishnetwork., but I want to go bill less , thanks frank

You should be warned that FTA is mostly a hobby and most of the signals up there are NOT intended for us but are backhauls or feeds for secondary providers. Thus they are subject to encrypt or switch to a format that's not receiveable by most FTA enthuisiast at any given moment. In fact with the careless and reckless nature that some post feed information on the internet, including screen shots from some DVB software applications displaying this information, I'd be surprised if we didn't see alot of signals encrypting in the future. Also there's the threat of these signals switching to formats we cannot receive, like 8psk of DVB IP or using encoding methods that we can't decode without extremely expensive broadcast equipment (for example Dolby E audio). So, if your palnning on replacing your regular TV with FTA and doing so to save money then I fear you have the wrong Ideas about FTA. I can see how you got these ideas as threads like this tend to mislead those who aren't familar with the true nature of FTA. I'm not saying anyone should not get into this hobby, but if they do so they need to know the facts and have realistic expectations. Your not going to recieve premium channels FTA or at least not on a regular basis and the signals you might receive are subject to change at any time. The only thing you can kinda count on being able to receive FTA are a few religous and a few shopping channels and even those arent guaranteed to remain FTA. Bottom line is this is just a hobby and is likely going to remain that way. The people who talk about "FTA catching on in the US" just don't get it and don't fully understand the nature of the business and the huge difference between the markets here and those in other parts of the world.

 

[PSB]

I agree, but any screen shots on this forum with info NOT on Lyngsat are SWIFTLY removed!

I think I understand the FTA business, and I understand that a business model that works in the UK (FreeView) will work here in the coming years. After all DirecTV OWN BSKYB in the UK!

I also agree you take what you get with FTA and the least said about it the BETTER!

FTA is NOT a service.................... YET.

 

[DiscoLoveGrapes]

I don't think FTA will ever be a big as it is in Europe or Asia, simply because the US really doesn't have a state-run media organization that is aimed at the US or local allied/friendly countries. We've got VOA and Radio/TV Marti, which are both FTA for what it's worth -- but VOA is mainly a radio channel and Marti is propaganda aimed at the Cubans. As I look at European FTA, a fair amount of it is state media (even Ia5 is mostly state/public TV) and special interest (religious, porn, political).

Of course, that's no excuse for those Canadians who horde CBC all to themselves.

 

[mrweather]

Of course, that's no excuse for those Canadians who horde CBC all to themselves.

Don't get me started. It's a travesty that our national broadcaster doesn't have an unencrypted presence on satellite. Guess they figure their terrestrial network is good enough.

To PSB: Rupert Murdoch is looking to unload his share of DirecTV. I wonder what that means?

 

[PSB]

To PSB: Rupert Murdoch is looking to unload his share of DirecTV. I wonder what that means?

It means a GREAT future for the FreeView service in the UK I would not hold your breath on this one

When the paying satellite customers level out, and they will just as they did in the UK around 5 years ago you can expect the same kind of FreeView here in the US!

What happens in Europe usually happens here 5-10 years later!

Like credit cards I could NOT believe that folks still use checks in this country until I got here.......

What a hassle

 

[Sadie]

Of course, that's no excuse for those Canadians who horde CBC all to themselves.

You raise a sore point with us Canadians here we would love to share the CBC with you, of course we would like to see it FTA so us rural Canadians could see it clearly as well.
What really gets my blood pressure up is the fact that we pay for it with our taxes and have to put up with the usual number of ads on the more popular programs and then to add insult to injury they scrambled the CBC feeds on C Band, this channel should be in the clear we have paid for it enough allready, but us rural Canadians are expected to pay again.
The same could be said for some other provincially surported channels such as BC knowledge Network and Alberta Access, at least in the USA you have PBS, NASA and a few others I belief.
I will have to get of my butt and write a few letters soon, might help the blood pressure.

 

[dashaund]

PSB-

Don't get me started on personal checks! I used to be a bookkeeper at Ingles, a local grocery store. You just don't know what kind of hassle it really is! We still have a number of folks come in EVERY DAY waning to get their payroll checks cashed...they don't want to put their money in a bank, or just too lazy to. There's nothing specifically wrong with that, but it looks to me like it would be more of a hassle.

Why would DirecTV want to encourage FTA when that would typically pull business AWAY from them? Heck, they use the funkiest satellite signal and encryption model in the world...why would they want to associate with free TV? Doesn't seem like too good of a business model to me. If it does happen, I'm glad in the know ahead of time.

 

[intuitionsys]

You raise a sore point with us Canadians here we would love to share the CBC with you, of course we would like to see it FTA so us rural Canadians could see it clearly as well.
What really gets my blood pressure up is the fact that we pay for it with our taxes and have to put up with the usual number of ads on the more popular programs and then to add insult to injury they scrambled the CBC feeds on C Band, this channel should be in the clear we have paid for it enough allready, but us rural Canadians are expected to pay again.
The same could be said for some other provincially surported channels such as BC knowledge Network and Alberta Access, at least in the USA you have PBS, NASA and a few others I belief.
I will have to get of my butt and write a few letters soon, might help the blood pressure.

Word

To be honest I'm WAY more interested in the US networks than CBC anyway. They do have good hockey coverage but I'm not a big sports guy anyway. CTV and Global I'm okay with. They actually carry stuff I watch that my taxes don't pay for without my choice or input.

Write those letters dude...