New FTA service with 20 english channels

Status
Please reply by conversation.
If I remember correctly didn't he have a bunch of hacked Videocypher units seized at one time that he was planning on selling?

I think if we look closely at ourselves we will find out that most of us were pirates of some sort at one time or another. We have all tried to beat the system of one thing or another at at least one time in our lives and I am not just talking about satellite television eaither.

Yes its been pointed out to me that a some of these people involved with this project have had a sorted past, I have talked with a number of people about this including sponsors.

And in talking I think we all agreed that we should continue to support the project since it is working to further the cost of true free to air satellite.

If making true FTA better for everyone and it helps to bring more to true FTA then thats a great thing. Lets work on this project with those goals in mind and lets leave the past in the past, after all, l ike I said before we were all pirates at one time or another.

Long live true FTA.

Yes! he was into the videocipher stuff.... he he he he...
This is just to say, I wish I could of explained myself like you just did. ;) I should of just waited a few more minutes....:eek: Have a great day! :)
 
I am simply staying on the same standard as what I stated above. Dish don't have any links to Direct either on their site. The hair was already split and not by me. I simply pointed that out. Just because I am new here, don't mean crap. I have been in this hobby for close to 15 years now. I also know that feed info is public knowlege for those of us in the know. All I was saying about that was if it is totally legal and not a "grey" area, Why hide info that is all over the net? Again I am not after anyone here, I just do not understand the "keep it mum," and the "How we find feeds is not relevant" point of view. Sounds like legalities being concealed as the feed info is already out there in several sites. Even "legal" sites. I cite Ricks forum as an example. Like i said above I apoligise if I misstook anything. But I still don't see the relevance to the past as far as Freedbs is concerned. I went to those sites and looked myself. They all have true FTA forums. I belong to a few. I do not however take part in any of the Pirate stuff. I do like to read the "guess who got popped this week" threads. Those can be quite entertaining at times. Anyways, no hard feelings I hope as I am not looking for a fight. I agree with you that there is a message that could be taken from an association with a "pirate" site. But I am also fully aware that the number of "non pitare" fta sites could be counted on about one hand. Right now they need to get info out there. They can always adjust the links to in doubt sites at a later time. Who knows, they could very well convert some of those forums to become true FTA only. As for right now however, there is many former "pirates" that will not go the so called "weather forcaster" route. Advertising the way that Freedbs is at this time at those "pirate" sites, could very well bring on a ton of viewers. Have a great day my friends! :)

Well I do agree with a lot of what you are saying. They could still advertise on pirate sites if they choose but I think it is in poor taste and might turn some potential users off if there are links to pirate sites in their help section. I agree that pirate sites could bring a ton of viewers, many of which will abandon ship as soon as someone has the next big fix for stealing a signal.

I am certainly not trying to start a fight either, just trying to add a view point to what I consider a "spirited" discussion. :)

Oh, and I definitely support what is being done, I genuinely hope it all gets off the ground and prospers!
 
I just sent this email to FreeDBS

[FONT=&quot]Leon and Mark,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I have been following the progress of your FreeDBS site and really like what you are doing.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Since ION dropped the Worship channel on 1 Feb 2010 would not the Worship channel be a great addition.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I have no idea if this fits into your model but I know many folks who are missing the Worship channel and it might be a good fit for what you are trying to do.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Thanks for listening![/FONT]
________________________

Not sure if they will be able to do this but since ION dropped the Worship channel I think this would be a logical pickup for FreeDBS.

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
 
I've been pondering FreeDBS's chances of converting ex-pirates to legal FTA. According to the Television Bureau of Advertising, Network Television accounts for the vast majority of TV viewers.

Week 19 of the 2009-10 season saw Broadcast television delivering 82 of the Top 100 programs, based on Live + Same Day Household delivery.
The addition of the 4 major Networks plus ION and PBS will be a huge plus in drawing ex pirate viewers. I know that some of these TV pirates will want all that TV has to offer without paying, but many are just average TV viewers that want a good variety of programming without paying high cable or satellite bills.

In my opinion (and I stress opinion), I believe they can make a go of it. Combining networks with quality alternative programming will hopefully draw many viewers. Maybe after it takes off they can add the CW, This, and My networks to complete the broadcast networks.
 
I Maybe after it takes off they can add the CW, This, and My networks to complete the broadcast networks.

Some stations do "tape delay" CW or My network programming. There are a couple stations that are both (CW from 7-9 and My from 9-11 as example). Could be an option
 
University Channel

FreeDBS: There are probably a number of universities and colleges that broadcast over the airways but have no satellite presence. Maybe about 7+ of them would like to band together and share in the costs of a joint channel w/ FreeDBS coordination. Or perhaps even 2 University channels: one for general audiences (art, literature, theater, sporting events); the second for distance learning classes.
 
I just realized, FreeDBS needs a cool logo; one that can be painted on FTA dishes.

How about something like this?
 

Attachments

  • FreeDBSlogo.JPG
    FreeDBSlogo.JPG
    8.7 KB · Views: 228
There are estimated over 20 million free to air satellite receivers located in homes throughout the U.S. and Canada. Our intention is to take advantage of this massive viewer network lying dormant waiting for the product we are about to make available to them.
I'd have to guess that 90% or more of those 20 Million receivers were bought for illegitimate use!

If these receivers were not bought for illegitimate use, then there would be little to no market for FreeDBS.

The whole service is based on converting pirates! If it does successfully launch, then FreeDBS would owe the pirate community for its new market.
 
I agree. I think one of the main attractions is to provide this to the previous pirates using those same receivers.
 
IMHO

Been a long time since I posted on SG's been sick a lot and just haven't made it up here. Got to feeling better been reading on this thread a couple of days. Kind got me to thinking and at the same time brought back a lot of fun memories. So here goes, hope you can all read my chicken scratches. Just pay my mistakes no mind because I am old, can't see and can't use but one hand and I get wordy.

IMHO and it doesn't matter really what I think because I am an old man who just reads alot.

I see it like this, sticking and add up on pirate sites offering FTA TV legally and without risk is in very good taste. My reasoning is this. If people out there see these adds and have a chance to see good programming for free why bother doing anything illegal? They already have the equipment right? From what I've read here a large amount of equipment that could be used for legal purposes. Again looks to me as if this would actually Help Dish and Direct or other pay services because fewer and fewer people would be interested in stealing tv. Why bother if you can get it for free? Going to these sites that are questionable is the very best thing they could do in their own interests because if shows they are Trying to Help stop Piracy in a very good way. They are promoting a free service that really could not possibley compete with The pay services but at least will give ALL viewers a Means to Watch TV free in the clear without worry of breaking someones laws. Basically we should all encourage them and be positive and HOPE and Pray they can actually get this thing up and going. The past is the past and things should be left in the past. As long as this is legal and on the up and up, going to the Troubled Teens and trying to say Hey you don't have to steal and break laws to watch tv is a good thing.

People I can remember when TV was free everywhere. I can remember when the first buds came out and you could watch anything Free In the clear and that went along for years. Till someone decided to change the laws that favored not John Q Public but the interests of corporations. The old bud guys paid out a large sum of money back in the day for that top of the line equipement to watch free legal tv and then someone comes along and says nope no way Got to pay. I can really understand why some of these guys broke the law after being used to watching Free TV for oh say 50 odd years or more. You can go back and place blame and say they broke the law but you know what good does that do now? Had Dishnet or Direct or some of the Old Bud Sub companies offered those Refered to as Pirates and criminals a buy out of there equipment or offered them 100 hundred channels FTA. I bet today would have been a totally different story here in the US. Sad fact is FTA does very well in Europe and they have a lot of channels free to them even in these hard times. Something wrong with that, when those same compaines that offer sub services here build FTA equipment for there.

I ramble a lot and I hope I don't make nobody mad or cause any hard feelings. I just really feel going out and reaching hands out across all tables for a Real Effort to have FTA TV here in the United States is in good taste and will benefit everyone from Dishnet to Direct to Us to those old patch eye'd guys. It just makes good sense to go out in the world with a hand shake and say Lets Try to make something work that benefits everyone. Really good FTA would benefit everyone. You don't have to prove anything to anyone on this site because we already understand FTA. The people you need to teach are those who break the laws and how better to do that than to reach out and say here we are come on Watch our Free TV we can save you a lot of money and keep you out of troubles.

Ok guys Old Ironsides is Going QRT and heading to the QTH 7 3. Bless you all.
 
It is as simple as this for most people. If they can get it for free and if they like it good enough, they will take it, regardless of where it is advertised or what anybody's history is, as long as they see that their investment will pay off, as in, will stick around for a while.
 
There is a update......
_______________________________________________________


News Release: 3/10/2010


We are currently working on the DVPs and the video database that will deliver the content to the multiplex (MUX) system. We have plenty of commercial time but few commercials to place in the system. Before our official broadcast date we will have free space available. If you would like to take advantage of free advertising time available or plan to purchase advertising time in the future please send in your commercial videos to Advertising at Freedbs.org

The commercials must be fifteen, thirty, forty five or sixty seconds long. We can except almost any video format but prefer (DIVX) due to the faster transition within the system. Please provide a resolution of 640x480 NTSC or higher. If you have satellite equipment sales, or are a distributer or installer, it would be in our best interest to grant free advertising to help you reach our potential viewers, your customers. Advertising space will be made available on a first come first serve bases.
 
There's plenty of public domain commercials they could use....

I mean when Equity was around how many commercials did we see that were the same? Those nationwide commercials?
 
Public domain commercials? Do you mean vintage commercials? Those are fun to see sometimes.

If they just need time fillers until they sell the ad space, how about public domain cartoons? WhiteSprings used to do these in between movies. It would be nifty to stick them in instead of commercials. You could even split them up throughout the show. Half hour=20 minutes show, 5 minutes commercials, a 5 minute long cartoon. Show a few minutes of the show, show a commercial or two, show a minute of the cartoon, ...repeat.

What about instructional videos instead? Firearm safety. How to clean different kinds of guns. Satellite installation/tweaking tips. Dish hunting tips and stories. Simple recipes. How to recrown the tip of your pool cue. How to do trick shots.

Like the cartoon, these could be short in overall length then split up into minute or less steps sprinkled throughout the commercial slots in a show.

Could you setup an area on youtube where people can submit this type of video which are then aired both on youtube and freedbs? This could provide additional advertising via youtube searches for freedbs.
 
Last edited:
I think the idea is that if advertisers can get space for free, and then see a value, they might turn into paying customers. Also, cartoons will surely just help other potential advertisers not take it seriously as a viable advertising space. If we want it to be free, someone has to pay for it, so it's nice to see them starting out with some common sense in that they're giving away advertising time while they ramp up their ad sales.
 
Public domain commercials? Do you mean vintage commercials? Those are fun to see sometimes.

no I mean those "as seen on tv" type commercials. If you watch RTV they have some. The nationwide commercials that if you watch syndicated shows they are on there all the time. Another one is the old "Hi I'm Ronnie Deutsch. Help me help you with the IRS" commercials.
 
no I mean those "as seen on tv" type commercials. If you watch RTV they have some. The nationwide commercials that if you watch syndicated shows they are on there all the time. Another one is the old "Hi I'm Ronnie Deutsch. Help me help you with the IRS" commercials.

When I produced a show I just used PSAs for fillers. It also helped reach our public service quotas that the FCC required. (I'm not sure if those quotas are still required)
 
I hope for the best for the outfit, but it looks sketchy.

If I were in the position to do a startup on a service like this, I would first of all take note of the for pay providers who would want to kill it dead, dead, dead.

Based on that I would proceed as quietly as possible. I wouldn't advertise about what I was doing. I would give three different names, five different companies, and would be giving out false information to get the providers wasting effort.

Then I'd try to get everything signed and in place in two days at most and then announce that it is up.

Telling Dish and Direc where you are and what happens next just lets them aim carefully at the target
 
If you have satellite equipment sales, or are a distributer or installer, it would be in our best interest to grant free advertising to help you reach our potential viewers, your customers.

Hey Sadoun! Your phone is ringing...... Doing that in the beginning would really get the word out in my opinion. Smart move. I think that once things get going, advertisers will pick up. Today people will not pay for advertising time until they see actual broadcasts. As long as Freedbs is not on the air, I can imagine it will be very hard to get people to hand them money for advertising. Once they start broadcasting, that will change I'm sure. Have a great day! :)
 
Status
Please reply by conversation.

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 0, Members: 0, Guests: 0)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 2)