Finding channels for a given nationality

[ZandarKoad]

I'll take another stab at this. Maybe someone who's done this before can help. I've tried really hard about 5 times in the last year to come up with a solution and I've failed every time.

If a guy comes to me wanting African channels (specifically Senegal), how would I know where to point a FTA dish? I know all the mechanics of installing it. I've done Dish and Direct for about 8 years, and I've done 30+ Glorystar systems. I just have no clue where to point the darn thing. I've searched on LyngSat, and I can click on Africa, then on Senegal, but (based on what I know) only ONE channel from there (RTS-1) is accessible from North America (on 97.0 W). I can select all United States channels on Lyngsat as well, but there is no way to tell from that list which channels pertain to a given nationality unless I click through on each and every channel and read through it's website.

So that's my question: Given a nationality, how do I determine which orbital location(s) contain what they are looking for??? (If it's even possible. )

 

[migold]

I think you have found the method on Lyngsat. I clicked on 'Asia', then South Korea. The list comes up and if you look at the 'EIRP' values, it gives numbers greater than zero for channels that can POSSIBLY be viewed from my state, which is Virginia, USA. The longitude is given for the satellite also. So, there are several possibles for S. Korea. Looks like your guy can only get one possible channel from Senegal...

 

[ZandarKoad]

OK, thanks. I guess I'm so used to 10+ channel options with the international packages from Dish and Direct, I kinda expected to see more than that. But it does make sense that you'd get 1 or none for some smaller countries...

Also, I clicked on every single orbital Ku slot on 'THE LIST' here at satguys, and it appears that 97 has approximately TWENTY TIMES the number of un-encrypted channels than ANY OTHER orbital slot. I expected all FTA orbital slots to be more or less equivalent in the number of channels they provide... Guess I was wrong there.

 

[toucan-man]

Last I looked Dish only had 2 Japanese channels, and the price was a bit much, and no mention of HD. Not sure why only 2.

 

[Wescopc]

You can look at ftalist.com and sort by language. The site is not kept up todate very well - but I use it often.
Bob

 

[sergei]

Another site that you might look at as he listing for both the C band and Ku band.

U.S. BASED FOREIGN LANGUAGE & CHANNELS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES:

MPEG

 

[cyberham]

...Given a nationality, how do I determine which orbital location(s) contain what they are looking for???...

I would give the creator of these pages an "A" for effort. Whether the links are up to date, I'm not sure: FTA Services @ Kusat.com and Free-to-Air Channels @ Kusat.com .

 

[cyberham]

Last I looked Dish only had 2 Japanese channels, and the price was a bit much, and no mention of HD. Not sure why only 2.

In the case of Japan, this is probably a licensing issue with Japanese companies. NHK TV (equivalent in Japan of the BBC in the UK) has their own distribution methods. I've been trying for 20 years to get a Canadian satellite pay TV provider to carry Japanese channels. None are available to date in this country outside of a couple of large cities where you can get TV Japan via cable. The best thing is to use the free high quality offering available on the NHK website. But it is not "real" Japanese TV; it is created for foreigners, but at least, therefore, it's in English for that reason.

 

[xtgold]

lyngsat, click on the logo for that particular tp that takes you to a page of logos, above the logo is a link to the provider and hopefully you can track down their website with the details on programming.

 

[skysurfer]

So that's my question: Given a nationality, how do I determine which orbital location(s) contain what they are looking for??? (If it's even possible. )

Since I"m familiar with channel names, I'd just ask them to name some of the channels from their country (or find a list of channels by country) and I can recognize if I've seen them in the North American arc and where (usually on G19 Ku, SES-1 Ku, G3C Ku, or Satmex 6 Ku for full-time internationals).

 

[Tron]

Also, I clicked on every single orbital Ku slot on 'THE LIST' here at satguys, and it appears that 97 has approximately TWENTY TIMES the number of un-encrypted channels than ANY OTHER orbital slot. I expected all FTA orbital slots to be more or less equivalent in the number of channels they provide... Guess I was wrong there.

The reason there are so many FTA channels on 97W is that there is a DTH (Direct To Home) service there called Globecast. They specialize in ethnic programming, and a large number of their channels are unencrypted. There are some that are encrypted, and require a subscription and Globecast's own crappy receiver to view.

Globecast is a rare example of an uplinker who is providing FTA channels for home use. Most channels that we receive FTA aren't intended for DTH, but rather are up there for other broadcasters and cable companies to receive.