Review Of Sky Angel Iptv

[mattb]

I've brought this up before but years ago TBN's President used to say he wanted to be on the bird next to the Playboy channel so that perhaps by "chance" some might turn in to the Gospel on occasion.

Good O' Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) was at one point on Galaxy 5 next to Playboy's channel... TBN's President used to talk about it often during their spring and fall shareathons "you know tonight someone watching playboy on their big dish may come upon the gospel..."

 

[jegrant]

Perhaps a good premium option, that would remain family friendly, would be to have the Hallmark Channel set up a VOD package of movies and specials from Hallmark and Hallmark Movies. Perhaps a limited selection would be available "free" with any package including Hallmark, but the free VOD would include ads. Then, make a larger selection (ad free) available for an additional $4.99 - $9.99 a month.

Also, I think qubo would be a great addition to the faith package, or actually both packages.

 

[airwolf]

I understand that there is a group that is upset with Sky Angel for their lifetime subscribers, I too was very upset when I found out that my parent who just paid for their lifetime subscription less than 2 years ago got the notice from Sky Angel. And where they are located in the rural area there is no broadband internet, so they are losing Sky Angel completely.

I was very upset with Sky Angel until I did some research and found that that Dish Network and Echostar are the ones that the anger and hostility should be directed towards. It would appear that Dish Network did not want to renew their agreement with Sky Angel because Dish Network wants those transponders for more HD channels for their regular customers.

Sky Angel does not have the financial backing required to launch their own satellite, so IPTV was another alternative for them to try. I consider them to be pioneers in the IPTV industry and hope it works out. I'm ordering mine subscription this week and can't wait to get my box!

Airwolf

 

[catkoko]

Part of the lifetime agreement was to launch its own satellite in 2002. 6 years later they sky angel did not do so. As far as the lease goes, again sky angel should not have promised something it could not deliver. Only sky angel KNEW how long a lease they signed.

The blame does not fall on dish so don't let discontent with sky angel keep you from signing up with dish.

If IPTV was an alternative they should have offered to switch the lifetimers to IPTV

 

[Mr Tony]

I was very upset with Sky Angel until I did some research and found that that Dish Network and Echostar are the ones that the anger and hostility should be directed towards. It would appear that Dish Network did not want to renew their agreement with Sky Angel because Dish Network wants those transponders for more HD channels for their regular customers.

better get your facts straight next time....

The agreement between Dish & SA was such
-Dominion would let Dish use 6 of the 8 transponders that Dominion (SA) owned
-Dish would do all the uplinking and technical side for Sky Angel including integrating the channels into the receiver. Dish handles all the setup etc.

This was good until 2010 OR the life of E3 whichever was first

Dominion decided to SELL their 8 transponders to Dish and get out of the DBS game.

 

[TheKrell]

This was good until 2010 OR the life of E3 whichever was first

And I hasten to add Echo3 is still kickin'.

Edit: Just realized the SA DBS abandonment allows Dish to move Echo3 to some other location. Hmmm. I'm not normally into conspiracy theories, but this is beginning to make sense. Dish is hurting for HD and wants to build out an Eastern Arc of satellites to provide an all-mpeg-4 service from a single dish. AMC-14 is scheduled to launch in 10 days, and it's going to 61.5 to augment Rainbow 1 and Echo3.

I hereby predict Echo3 is going to be moved to another orbital location. This could not happen until 2010 were SA to continue DBS service. They probably offered SA a very attractive price for those 8 transponders this early. And SA took the money and ran.

 

[rjc3895]

better get your facts straight next time....

.

Ice,
I'll take some of the blame for that. I remember when some of the Sky Angel channels went blank due to a transponder issue. I assumed that the Satellite was starting to fail - thus bring about the " end of the life of Echostar 3.

My apologies. You've been around here for a long time, and I trust your word on this matter. Thanks.

 

[Mr Tony]

I hereby predict Echo3 is going to be moved to another orbital location.

Echo3 is dying. It doesn't have enough power to support all 32 transponders so it might move to another slot and just be "there" in case something blows up

This could not happen until 2010 were SA to continue DBS service. They probably offered SA a very attractive price for those 8 transponders this early. And SA took the money and ran.

Or SA went to Dish and offered it. Remember that SA had given on loan to Dish the 6 transponders in exchange for Dish to do the uplinking/setup for SA. All Dish gains is 2 transponders in the bunch technically

 

[bangostrobe]

Happy with the IPTV?

I was one of the early lifers to get a very good deal from Skyangel. I cannot complain about the lifetime package that I had. I was very pleased with their programming choices- channels that you cannot get anywhere else in one package. The other Christian Satellite systems carry too much of the charismatic chaos for me. I like the balance that Skyangel offers especially the radio programs.

The reason I am posting is I want to know how successful I will be with the transition and want to know what problems people are having before I order. Since, if it does not work, it is all on me. The $30 dollar activation fee and the $15 dollar send back fee, which may not seem like a lot but I want to be a good steward. I have Comcast Internet and I am told that if you use to much bandwidth they cut your speed. I have my wireless is an “N’ by Belkin.

I would like to say that the equipment they are sending out is non-HDTV capable and with almost everything including the new TVs going that way is a disappointment and seems short sided for the demographic group they will reach. Charging you $200 for the equipment if you stop the service that they sell for $149 seems a little non-Christian. But like I said they are the only game in town for the programming.

What does make me sad is, that unlike the broadcast TV, cable or satellite the Gospel seem to becoming regulated to the people who can afford High speed Internet connections and are technosavey. How can we claim that we are spreading the Gospel with these medias in which only Christians will order or purchase?

Look forward to hearing the good and the bad

 

[tsrk30]

I was one of the early lifers to get a very good deal from Skyangel. I cannot complain about the lifetime package that I had. I was very pleased with their programming choices- channels that you cannot get anywhere else in one package. The other Christian Satellite systems carry too much of the charismatic chaos for me. I like the balance that Skyangel offers especially the radio programs.

The reason I am posting is I want to know how successful I will be with the transition and want to know what problems people are having before I order. Since, if it does not work, it is all on me. The $30 dollar activation fee and the $15 dollar send back fee, which may not seem like a lot but I want to be a good steward. I have Comcast Internet and I am told that if you use to much bandwidth they cut your speed. I have my wireless is an “N’ by Belkin.

I would like to say that the equipment they are sending out is non-HDTV capable and with almost everything including the new TVs going that way is a disappointment and seems short sided for the demographic group they will reach. Charging you $200 for the equipment if you stop the service that they sell for $149 seems a little non-Christian. But like I said they are the only game in town for the programming.

What does make me sad is, that unlike the broadcast TV, cable or satellite the Gospel seem to becoming regulated to the people who can afford High speed Internet connections and are technosavey. How can we claim that we are spreading the Gospel with these medias in which only Christians will order or purchase?

Look forward to hearing the good and the bad

I would challenge you to call your internet provider and ask them about the cutting back of your internet speed. As long as you have at least 1.5 you should be ok. If possible go with a higher speed.

The IPTV is not HD.

The 48 hour feature is awsome and a great way to not miss any of your favorite programs.

I think Sky Angel needs to add the NRB network in order to be more balanced and offer programs that are not a part of the charismatic chaos.

A great way to hear some wonderful teaching is SermonAudio.com - faith cometh by hearing


If you have any specific questions ask away and I will do my best to answer them.

 

[jholland]

Thanks for the link.

 

[bangostrobe]

Thanks for the Reply

Thanks for the information. I would be interested in them adding NRB and I am glad they added Family Net. I also would like to see them add the American Family Radio back. I see that Answers in Genesis has programming on NRB, which is not on Liberty Channel. They are going to stream NRB online soon.

Two other good streaming sites are http://worldviewweekend.com/ and http://www.wayofthemasterradio.com/

My connection is 6mbs but that is supporting a wireless laptop, 2 PCs and digital telephone. Comcast speeds do vary allot. I have cable for my local channels because reception from analog is poor due to power lines about 500 feet from my house. Of course, when everything goes digital next year, allot of people will have problems getting signals since digital broadcasting has a shorter and narrower range that analog. Which will forces most people to Cable, Satellite or IPTV. This will limit the Religious programming choices for the most part to the providers. Internet streaming does work well for radio but is limited for video thru a PC. So I do think Skyangel will have good opportunity to be successful. If their equipment was HDTV capable they would have a better chance of success since their satellite and cable competition will be moving towards HDTV. I think HDTV will shortly be the standard. Just like black and white TV went away through colorization I think reformatting will take place at least to get the picture ratios standardized. I think the consumer after spending the money for the HDTV capability in their new TVs will not like the format switching back and forth. When launching a new service they should consider the needs of their customers of three years from now. This will result in high conversion cost which could have been avoided by starting out with the best technology now. But they are the only game in town on this now.

How would you compare the picture to Satellite? Do you ever get pixeling? How well does the sound line up with the picture?

Which package did you get? If they added the National Geographic channel I would be more interested in the Family package. I really whish they would offer alacarte channels.
How satisfied are you with the service?

 

[tsrk30]

bangostrobe wrote:

How would you compare the picture to Satellite? Do you ever get pixeling? How well does the sound line up with the picture?

Which package did you get? If they added the National Geographic channel I would be more interested in the Family package. I really whish they would offer alacarte channels.
How satisfied are you with the service?

Here is my reply:

The picture quality is good. I have mine hooked up using the s-video cord. I have Dish network as well and it is also hooked up to my TV using an s-video cord. Dish has a better picture but the IPTV picture is not bad. I think most people would be happy the quality. I do not see any of the pixalation that I used to see with Sky Angel via satellite.

The picture and the sound are usually in sync a few times they have been off but it usually corrects it self quickly.

I only subscribed to the faith pack since I get the channels in the family pack on Dish.


I am very pleased with the service. It is really amazing that you can get this quality of TV over the internet. My only complaint would be with the radio channels. The 48 hour feature does not work, this is a big minus especially for the teaching and talk shows. The sound quality for the talk and teaching programing is fine but for the music channels like RadioU the sound quality is not sufficient. I have my IPTV hooked up through my Yamaha stereo receiver. It sounds great on TV channels like TVU but needs to be improved for the radio channels.

Overall I am pleased and think that the faith package and the video on demand library gives me some great faith based programs to choose from. You don't have to have an extra dish installed and if you just get the faith package and obtain the other channels through Dish or cable it is an inexpensive way to add this kind of programing.

 

[JeffH]

Thanks for the information. I would be interested in them adding NRB and I am glad they added Family Net. I also would like to see them add the American Family Radio back. I see that Answers in Genesis has programming on NRB, which is not on Liberty Channel. They are going to stream NRB online soon.

Two other good streaming sites are http://worldviewweekend.com/ and http://www.wayofthemasterradio.com/

]

I contacted Allen Beckner who is the Director of Programming Operations at the NRB network. In regard to Sky Angel "I'm sorry to tell you that we do not plan on joining the Sky Angel IPTV line up" I don't care about the entire network, just programs such as Grace to You Television with John MacArthur, Back to the Bible, AIG and the like. I'm not interested in the Charismatic Chaos either. Wouldn't it be great to have the Shepherd's Conference Shepherds' Fellowship and Ligonier Ministries Conference Ligonier Ministries | Conferences on Sky Angel VOD? Do you think this could ever happen on Sky Angel IPTV? I would love to have access to such fine teachers as these even if it was pay VOD!:up

Jeff

 

[bangostrobe]

It looks like we are in one mind here. It is amazing that today Thomas Nelson publishing also sent the link you gave me to the Shepard fellowship conference.

What brought me to this site was looking for alternates to Skyangel –possibly free to air or other systems. The channels I watched were primarily: Liberty Channel, Cornerstone, Trinity, Worship, TLN, Faith, Fox news and Hallmark. And on those channels it was conservative Christian content, Health, Creation Science, News and Christian movies. I have Trinity, Fox News and Hallmark on my Cable. The only other Christian channel my local cable has is Inspirational and I never watch it. The problem I see with the offerings with Glorystar and Spirit is I do not agree with their teachings.

Charles Stanley’s In Touch Ministries bought Familynet and moved the offices to Atlanta from Texas. So it looks like the SBC is getting out of the broadcast business. If they weren’t it would be great if they offered IPTV or Satellite service. It would be nice if there were a Conservative Christian system. That had both NRB, Familynet and the Channels I listed above.

I agree with you on National Geographic channel addition. But it is offered in HD on cable and Satellite. I have an old 1991 projection but the new DVD recorder has digital and HDTV capabilities and the picture is incredible even on my 72o lines of resolution. This TVs life is coming to an end and will be replacing it with a HDTV unit so that format on a system is important to me. For people with Plasma it is essential.

I thank both of you for your input. I have to decide if it is worth the expense for basically the seven channels I would watch. I might just decide to watch less TV and study and read more.

I think that it is really sad that the non-weird brand of Christianity is not able to use FTA or other methods to reach the lost. It also seems like the Channels that I listed above that I watched never find it to Comcast, Dish or Direct. If they did I would sign up for whoever offered them.

I found that I can stream all the radio content from the net that I listened to with fairly good quality.

I find it hard to witness to non-Christians who watch the Charismatic channels as comedy relief. They find them easy to make fun of. They do not take seriously the Holiness of God after watching them. So I do not see much fruit from the charismatic channels. From the sour attitudes some of other Lifetime subscribers it seems that they have a lack of grace and fruit—not to be judgmental! I have a hard time on some of the Music channels decided who is being glorified! It would be of interest to me which group the unthankful would fall (Charismatic or Evangelical) and which programs they watched for their spiritual growth.

May the Peace of Christ be with you!!!!

 

[catkoko]

Judgemental comments?

"I think that it is really sad that the non-weird brand of Christianity is not able to use FTA or other methods to reach the lost." and "From the sour attitudes some of other Lifetime subscribers it seems that they have a lack of grace and fruit—not to be judgmental!"

Your comments above are coming off as just that , judgemental. If I misunderstand, then please clarify.

I will come right out and ask you just who the "weird" and "non weird" Christians are.

 

[JeffH]

Interesting press release:

sliceoflaodicea.com » NRB “Night of Comedy” Decried by VCY America Founder

I also recommend the book "Who Are You to Judge?" by Erwin Lutzer. Also view the Word Pictures program based on this book when it airs again.

This relates to ALL Christian broadcasting.

Jeff

 

[mrskippy]

As long as they don't offer Showtime and Cinamax packages and remain true to being a faith and values service, I'm all for it.

HBO and Starz I know offer family channels, which might be a nice addition to the service. I think Showtime might have one too. I think the key on the Family side some key additions would be: Disney, PBS, ABC Family, ESPN, and a few others.

If they can get the NRB channel, it would be great too.

Another cool thing would be to hook up with a service like OnePlace and offer On Demand video and audio from the ministries.

IPTV is where it is at. In fact, Comcast, Verizon, AT&T and others are using IPTV to deliver programming. It IS the future. Simple as that. VOD is how we will watch most of our shows someday.

 

[bangostrobe]

One in Spirit

Jeff,

We are definitely of the same spirit and could hang! The link you left was one that I had read this morning. I am teaching Revelation and I was getting some example of today’s Laodicean Church. That was an awesome article. This is two days in a row that you posted links I was looking at and the one you just left was one that I was considering posting here myself. Here is a good blog: http://lightingtheway.blogspot.com/ for you.

For the person who asked here is a couple of links of what I would consider weird Christianity http://thegreycoats.wordpress.com/2008/02/29/videos-of-the-week-feb-29/

http://thegreycoats.wordpress.com/2008/02/23/feb-23rd-video-of-the-week/

I might add all Christians are to be Judgmental. We are to Judge All things according to Paul, Judge fruit and be discerning. How can you be discerning without judging?

Shalom

 

[mrskippy]

I contacted Allen Beckner who is the Director of Programming Operations at the NRB network. In regard to Sky Angel "I'm sorry to tell you that we do not plan on joining the Sky Angel IPTV line up" I don't care about the entire network, just programs such as Grace to You Television with John MacArthur, Back to the Bible, AIG and the like. I'm not interested in the Charismatic Chaos either. Wouldn't it be great to have the Shepherd's Conference Shepherds' Fellowship and Ligonier Ministries Conference Ligonier Ministries | Conferences on Sky Angel VOD? Do you think this could ever happen on Sky Angel IPTV? I would love to have access to such fine teachers as these even if it was pay VOD!:up

Jeff

I so want to watch Grace To You TV. Perhaps MacArthur can work with another national distribution outlet. Liberty would be a sensical choice, as would FamilyNet. He also could work out a deal directly to go on SkyAngel One or SkyAngel Two. Having the Shepherd's Conference or the Truth & Life Conference would be great.

Honestly, I think what MacArthur should do is start up his out broadcast outlet (like Falwell did with Liberty University) at The Master's College. I know they have an upstart broadcast communication program (which really started just as I was graduating). Perhaps partnering up with Salem Communications (which owns OnePlace) and than filling it with programs such as Grace To You, Billy Graham, Alistair Begg, John Piper, David Jeremiah, and a handful of others that fit that evangelical mold. Answers in Genesis fits well too, as do a countless number of other programs. Mix that with some quality Christian films and some college-produced programming (TMC chapel perhaps) ... that would be a great channel. Setup an exclusive with SkyAngel -- good stuff!!!