HLN (ch. 202), part of the Welcome Pack now?

Tecmo SB Guy

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Aug 23, 2007
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Is HLN, channel 202 part of the Welcome Pack now?

I noticed it turned blue in my TV Guide the other day. But just the SD version, not the HD version which makes me think it's not a free preview.
 
It is included in the Smart Pack but not the Welcome Pack. I do not see that it is on a free preview either. I can look into this further for you.
 
I remember back in the 2013, When i has the VIP 211, The HUB channel is not available, other customer with the VIP 211 has the same problem, After I upgrade the equipment, All channel are available. May be the combination of the particular package plus the equipment have a effect in the channel line up.?
 
I remember back in the 2013, When i has the VIP 211, The HUB channel is not available, other customer with the VIP 211 has the same problem, After I upgrade the equipment, All channel are available. May be the combination of the particular package plus the equipment have a effect in the channel line up.?
I was about to start a thread about this very issue, before I stumbled across this one. I have an even weirder issue, though.

I have two Dish accounts, and my sister also has Dish. All three accounts have Welcome Pack with no additional add-ons except the DVR fee and the OH State Surcharge and Ohio sales tax for the accounts in Ohio. One of my accounts is in California. That account does not have a DVR fee, but it does have HD Free For Life, which doesn't really add anything to Welcome Pack. My account in Ohio is receiving HLN on channel 202 (SD feed only), but neither of the other accounts receive this channel. However, my account in California receives TNT on channel 138 (SD feed only), which is not on either of the other accounts.

The receiver that is getting HLN is a leased ViP722k hooked up to Eastern Arc (61.5/72.7/77) plus a second dish aimed at 129 for Columbus, Ohio locals. The receiver that is getting TNT is a purchased ViP211k hooked up to Western Arc (110/119/129) with Los Angeles locals. My sister is not receiving either channel, and she has a purchased 512 hooked up to Western Arc (110/119/129) with Cleveland, Ohio locals. Both of my accounts have Auto Pay and Paperless Billing, but my sister does not, if that makes a difference.

One other difference is that during the Turner dispute back in October, I complained to Dish about losing Boomerang, and I got credits on both of my accounts. My sister did not complain, and she did not get any credits. Could this be a determining factor in deciding which subscribers get which channels? Does Dish ever "test market" channels to individual subscribers or entire markets before rolling them out to every subscriber with that package?

I know that Dish sometimes adds national channels to local packages as "replacement" channels during a dispute. However, I am not aware of any dispute affecting either of my markets (Los Angeles and Columbus, Ohio). Also, the channel usually used as a substitute is WGN America, which I am not receiving.

During the Turner dispute, I noticed that we were receiving the "replacement" channels for CNN and TCM, even though those channels were not previously included in Welcome Pack (and they still aren't included). Of course, those channels were in free preview for everyone, and we already had MSNBC in Welcome Pack. However, we did temporarily get the HD feed of MSNBC on both channels 209 and 200, along with the "Turner removed this channel" message in the guide, which made it look like we had lost CNN.

On the account that is now getting HLN, I had temporarily upgraded to Smart Pack, and I complained about losing Fox News during that dispute to get even more credits. When I downgraded back to Welcome Pack, I lost HLN along with the other Smart Pack channels. It did not show up again until a few weeks after that. Like the Thread Starter, I had also assumed that HLN had been added to Welcome Pack until I asked my sister and found out that she is not getting HLN. This was back in the middle of February. I assume that I started receiving TNT at the same time, but I was not in the Los Angeles area at the time, so I did not find out about that until this month.

I do not mind getting additional channels, but it would have been nice if Dish had asked which channels I wanted instead of adding them at random. As a side note, I am not aware of any other package on Dish (or any other provider) that includes TBS without also including TNT, so I feel that TNT would be a good addition to Welcome Pack. I just wonder when the rest of the Welcome Pack subscribers will start receiving TNT and HLN.

I guess my main questions are as follows:

Are other Welcome Pack subscribers (especially those who complained during the Turner dispute) now receiving TNT and/or HLN (or any other additional channels owned by Turner that were not previously included in Welcome Pack)?

Is this some kind of glitch that only affects certain receiver models connected to certain satellites?

I would like to nail down which channels are supposed to be included in Welcome Pack so I can tell if my sister is being ripped off by not receiving HLN or TNT, or if she needs an equipment upgrade in order to start receiving those channels. I know somebody will probably post a link to a page on the Dish website that tells what channels are included in Welcome Pack, but what is listed on the website and what you actually get can be two very different things. So, I would like to hear from other Welcome Pack subscribers regarding which channels you are actually receiving, and what equipment you are using, in order to try to determine a pattern as to which subscribers receive which channels.

Thank you in advance for any assistance you may be able to provide.
 
I'm not sure which channels are in which pckages anymore, but every so often, you'll get things where a free preview is aired, and it sometimes accidentally does not get coded for removal. AMC is a good example. They accidentally left AMC on for WP subscribers for a year, even though it was never included in their programming pckage. Sounds like you just got lucky, and are getting additional unpaid for channels, until Dish catches it and deactivates it.
 
I'm not sure which channels are in which pckages anymore, but every so often, you'll get things where a free preview is aired, and it sometimes accidentally does not get coded for removal. AMC is a good example. They accidentally left AMC on for WP subscribers for a year, even though it was never included in their programming pckage. Sounds like you just got lucky, and are getting additional unpaid for channels, until Dish catches it and deactivates it.
Yes, I am familiar with the AMC situation, although that channel actually was included in Welcome Pack prior to the big dispute. I complained and got credits when we lost AMC after the so-called "free preview" which lasted seven months after AMC returned. AMC disappeared from all three accounts at the same time. However, there was no recent free preview of HLN or TNT (nor was there a preview of those channels at any other time that I can remember), and the channels seem to be showing up at random on different accounts. At least one other person is getting HLN, since he is the one who started this thread. I am just trying to find out if other Welcome Pack subscribers are seeing these channels (whether we are "supposed" to be receiving them or not).
 
The receiver that is getting HLN is a leased ViP722k hooked up to Eastern Arc (61.5/72.7/77) plus a second dish aimed at 129 for Columbus, Ohio locals. The receiver that is getting TNT is a purchased ViP211k hooked up to Western Arc (110/119/129) with Los Angeles locals. My sister is not receiving either channel, and she has a purchased 512 hooked up to Western Arc (110/119/129) with Cleveland, Ohio locals. Both of my accounts have Auto Pay and Paperless Billing, but my sister does not, if that makes a difference.

Hmmm, interesting. Leased 722K here hooked to the Western Arc (110/119/129). I am on Autopay and Paperless billing as well.

I am not getting TNT though.
 
I made a channel list a while back but had to edit the locals and BB@Home channels out, but this would be the more "popular" channels in the Welcome Pack:
107 Comedy Central
110 Food Network
112 HGTV
117 POP
120 History
127 oxygen
128 We TV
139 TBS
161 MTV 2
166 CMT
175 Boomerang
179 Discovery Family
183 TLC
185 Hallmark
203 Bloomberg
209 msnbc
214 Weather Channel
233 NewsMax
259 insp
260 TBN
261 EWTN
264 KTV
9403 BYU TV
9642 FeTV

I think the Dish site is actually accurate but has "filler" or "slate" channels included: http://www.mydish.com/upgrades/english-packages/welcome-pack

However, if you receiving a channel that is not in the list, I certainly would not complain about it because you will likely see it disappear. Then, I would complain if it disappeared. Not trying to be rude...just saying...I am not getting HLN or/and TNT but would not mind...
 
I'm not sure which channels are in which pckages anymore, but every so often, you'll get things where a free preview is aired, and it sometimes accidentally does not get coded for removal. AMC is a good example. They accidentally left AMC on for WP subscribers for a year, even though it was never included in their programming pckage. Sounds like you just got lucky, and are getting additional unpaid for channels, until Dish catches it and deactivates it.

AMC was included at one time in the Welcome Pack. However, when it was time for contract renewal, new terms moved AMC from AT200 and Welcome Pack to AT120 and out of Welcome Pack. I believe AMC is part of the Dish Latino packs (I believe Plus and above).
 
How weird! During my last few months on the Welcome Pack I ALWAYS had Headline News. I remember so vividly due to all those Forensic Files reruns. I was (and still am) armed with a 722K.

Edit: Nice to see Blockbuster can again be added to Welcome Pack.
 
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From past experience, it is possible when a freeview is over for a receiver to continue to get a channel. It is happening right now for a channel on 118 on my receivers. I have had two receivers, on the same arc have different times for channels, (off by an hour) though it has been a long time since that happened. I have had wrong info on one and correct on the other for a given channel, resetting having no effect. Mostly on Storage Wars, Pawn Stars, and Cops. Sometimes on Alaska State Troopers, where one receiver has N/A for a repeat episode and one has the correct date and episode.
 
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Thanks for the list, Mojo. Some small corrections, though: NewsMax is on channel 223. Channel 233 is KTLA which I get on the receiver with Los Angeles locals. Like I said earlier, I am not complaining about getting additional unexpected channels. I am just wondering why some subscribers are seeing them, while others are not.

Since Chad brought up AMC, it occurred to me that Welcome Pack never did get a suitable replacement for that channel. AXS (channel 167, which is not on your list) was the so-called "replacement" channel, but it actually seems to be in "perpetual free preview mode," since we also get the HD feed, which is unusual for Welcome Pack channels. Personally, I think that TCM would be a better replacement for AMC, so I was excited when we got the "replacement" channels for TCM (first FXM briefly, then MGM) during the Turner dispute. I was hoping that we would get TCM when the Turner channels returned, but that did not happen. Also, I would have preferred to get CNN instead of HLN, but any additional channel is better than none.

Since the additional channels that are showing up are all owned by Turner, is this a sign that Dish now has a long-term deal with Turner, or are the Turner channels about to get pulled again?
 
Mojo, I checked the link you provided, and it lists NBA League Pass and NHL Center Ice as being included in Welcome Pack. So, I would question the website's accuracy. I am just saying...
 
Update: I temporarily added a purchased 512 to the account with the ViP211k, then I deactivated the 512. While it was activated, the 512 also got TNT. So, this is not just a glitch with a specific receiver, or even a specific model of receiver, since my sister has a 512, yet she does not get TNT. Therefore, there must just be something weird about my account. Either that, or TNT is actually included in Welcome Pack in the Los Angeles market, for some reason. Like I said earlier, I do not remember getting TNT when I first moved this account to California, so TNT must be a fairly recent addition. I previously asked if the Welcome Pack lineup (national channels) varies by local market, since my other account with a ViP722k is getting HLN, but my sister is not getting either HLN or TNT. The other posters in this thread who confirmed that they are (or were) getting HLN also have a ViP722k, so perhaps that is a factor?
 
None of the DISH core packages have channel availability dependant on market in the CONUS**, obviously other than RSN's and locals. When they had superstations that was also somewhat dependent on market, ditto the National PBS channel. To be more complete, some actual sports programming is dependant on market like on MLBN, and some XXX channels are not available in some markets. Getting TNT or HLN is most definitely not dependant on market.

Any of these discrepancies is directly related to the provisioning from DISH. As I said, I am right now receiving a channel on the 118 satellite that is no longer in freeview, and have been for quite sometime. Likely if I received a hit to refresh my account it would go away. If TNT is not part of the package, it's possible your account is marked to get TNT incorrectly, it's also possible TNT was in freeview and your account never had it deleted.

** At one time the national WGN may not have been available where the local WGN was.
 
Tampa, which channel are you receiving from the 118 satellite? I get some channels from that satellite on my deactivated receivers that are connected to a Dish 1000+ (118/119/110/129) and still get the free preview channels. I am wondering if you are referring to a channel that I am currently getting. Also, TNT was not in freeview any time recently (or ever) as far as I know. If it was a freeview, wouldn't the HD feed have been included? I am only getting the SD feed of TNT.
 
My brother has Esquire and his RSN with his Welcome Package. He had been AT200 with Multi-Sport before dropping. He assumed it was because his receiver was unplugged the day he downgraded as neither are supposed to be in the Welcome Pack.
 
There were welcome pack customers who got AMC for over a year due to a glitch in Dish's system. That was a bad day when they caught it, and customers thought it was in their package.
 
Tampa, which channel are you receiving from the 118 satellite? I get some channels from that satellite on my deactivated receivers that are connected to a Dish 1000+ (118/119/110/129) and still get the free preview channels. I am wondering if you are referring to a channel that I am currently getting. Also, TNT was not in freeview any time recently (or ever) as far as I know. If it was a freeview, wouldn't the HD feed have been included? I am only getting the SD feed of TNT.

It definitely isn't a free channel but was in freeview or may have at one time been included in a package I had at one time quite a long time ago. "Times now"
 

NESN on AT120

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