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Mike

Last reply Jan 20, 2014 · posted in DISH Network Support Forum

You need Top 200 just to get WGN America?

I'm a very new (less than 48 hours ago) DISH subscriber. I used to get Comcast Digital Starter for free, paid for by the old landlord. Then they sold my building and I guess the new landlord hates Comcast, or Comcast is incompetent, or the landlord owns stock in AT&T, or probably all of those. Everybody's cable modems were shut off, all converters and cable cards were bricked, as of December 17th 2103. As of today, over a month later though the coax is still connected and live. They (Comcast) just won't sell anyone service.

I noticed AT&T vans every day since then (there's 93 apartments in the building) and I decided why should I contribute to their COMPLETELY unearned windfall? Fortunately the new property manager has a liberal satellite dish policy, and I got some used equipment and self-installed (did not want a contract due to various reasons at this time).

Anyway, in Houston, you can get WGN (America) in the cheapest most basic package from Comcast (Limited Basic). In fact, it is still on clear QAM right now (no more analog on Comcast Houston). I can get WGN still, and my local channels on my flat screen. But you need Top 200 to get it on DISH?!?

I just thought that seemed kind of wacky. Surely WGN isn't charging all that much? Has it always been a mid tier channel? I used to have DISH, over 10 years ago at home when I was in high school, but we had the AEP. So I have no recollection , other than I remember the AEP only cost us something like $100 back then, WITH 3 receivers and now it's over $125 and that doesn't even include receivers

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Teehar

Jan 20, 2014

And yet...every time Dish has a prolonged locals dispute,they add WGN as a replacement.What does that tell you?It tells me it doesn't cost them much.

dare2be

Jan 20, 2014

Teehar said:
And yet...every time Dish has a prolonged locals dispute,they add WGN as a replacement.What does that tell you?It tells me it doesn't cost them much.

It doesn't tell me anything about their cost. Locals (pennies per channel) are almost always cheaper than most national cable networks, AND, the replacement is only for select channels on select DMAs. I would think even if WGN costs twice as much or more as the channel being replaced, it isn't really enough subs to really make a fiscal dent.

Teehar

Jan 20, 2014

dare2be said:
It doesn't tell me anything about their cost. Locals (pennies per channel) are almost always cheaper than most national cable networks, AND, the replacement is only for select channels on select DMAs. I would think even if WGN costs twice as much or more as the channel being replaced, it isn't really enough subs to really make a fiscal dent.

You honestly don't think that WGN is a cheap channel?In 2013 it was substituted at least 3 times for a local channel in different dmas.WGN is on the lowest tier of many cable providers,that would also lead me to believe that it doesn't cost much.If WGN is a high cost channel or for that matter much higher than a local tv channel,Dish wouldn't be substituting it so much.Never hear of them using TBS in one of these disputes.

dare2be

Jan 20, 2014

I think it's a cheap channel, but based on ratings, not on it being used as a substitute. Same for TBS not being cheap...based on ratings, not because it isn't being used as a substitute.

WGN was mostly being used because it was a good fill-in for the CW locals that were removed, based on programming content on its schedule.

Mike

Jan 20, 2014

Personally I would just like to catch some reruns of "Parks and Recreation". I'm not a sports guy. I didn't watch the show until I saw the reruns on cable, and my old Comcast Digital Starter (with actually free HD) had Esquire, FXX, and WGN - but my new DISH Top 120 has *none* of those. When FXX starts up with "Sunny" again, I suppose I will just have to obtain that particular programming not through my DISH subscription. Unfortunately, it's hard to justify any upgrade to my package, considering my old TV service cost $0. I only justified DISH at all because OTA reception made me want to run naked in the streets firing a gun into the air.

Teehar

Jan 20, 2014

dare2be said:
I think it's a cheap channel, but based on ratings, not on it being used as a substitute. Same for TBS not being cheap...based on ratings, not because it isn't being used as a substitute.

WGN was mostly being used because it was a good fill-in for the CW locals that were removed, based on programming content on its schedule.

Sure was a crappy substitute for WBTV local CBS in Charlotte,and WJHL CBS in the Tri Cities.Fill in for CW is fine,but for one of the big 4 no way.Anyway,my point is I agree with the op,that WGN should be in Dish's 120 package.

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dfergie

Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU!

Last reply 11 minutes ago · posted in The Chit Chat Club

Gas Price Info With National Gas Temperature Map

Stumbled across this ... http://www.gaspricewatch.com/USGas_ZipSearch.asp
I found no local prices, although it did show stations at my location...
Added these to this post...
USA National Gas Temperature Map
State By State Gasoline Taxes
Gas Buddy

Ethanol Free Stations

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harshness

Sunday at 11:30 AM

I wonder if California is getting into the Winter formula.

harshness

Yesterday at 5:32 PM

harshness said:
I wonder if California is getting into the Winter formula.

It turns out I was justified in my suspicion.

Gavin Newsom somehow authorized the temporary move of the distribution date of the Winter blend to September 28th.

Foxbat

Yesterday at 8:39 PM

harshness said:
It turns out I was justified in my suspicion.

Gavin Newsom somehow authorized the temporary move of the distribution date of the Winter blend to September 28th.

Does that raise, or lower, the overall price? Our State Government has been doing everything it can to minimize the impact of the current situation and put a freeze on the State Taxes on fuel sales at the pump. That's why we're still under $4.00/gal. while across the border in Michigan it's much higher.

Bobby

Yesterday at 9:05 PM

Foxbat said:
Does that raise, or lower, the overall price? Our State Government has been doing everything it can to minimize the impact of the current situation and put a freeze on the State Taxes on fuel sales at the pump. That's why we're still under $4.00/gal. while across the border in Michigan it's much higher.

Winter blend is cheaper than Summer blend.

Reactions: dishstaller and Foxbat

Bobby

16 minutes ago

Regular$5.839
Premium$6.299
Diesel$7.999
at Costco, Rohnert Park.

harshness

11 minutes ago

Foxbat said:
Does that raise, or lower, the overall price?

Winter blend is reportedly 10-30 cents cheaper, but I would point out that prices have dropped as much as 62 cents at RP.

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Scott Greczkowski

Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU! Cutting Edge

Last reply 17 minutes ago · posted in The Chit Chat Club

Song Name Game Part 3!

Sometimes a thread gets so many posts in it that is can cause issues for the server so that why today we introduce The Song Name Game Part 3!

So let the game continue!

The last song was added by Bobby who posted...

One Meat Ball - Andrews Sisters

CONTINUE ON AND HAVE FUN! WELCOME HOME TO SATELLITEGUYS.US!

Here are the original rules for the game as posted by WebbyDude back in 2006. http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/68645-Song-Name-Game

Just name a song title and the band who performed it. The next person does the same thing, but needs to list a song title or band name which includes a word from the previous entry. Pick songs from any genre.

Example:

Long Live Rock and Roll -- Rainbow

Rainbow in the Dark -- Dio

Another example:

Ride the Lightning -- Metallica

Lightning Strikes -- Ozzy Osbourne

Get it?

An additional note: we all know that song titles, sometimes, use profane words. Because this is a family friendly website it is advised that you clean up that title up a bit. This is accomplished by using something like sh!t instead of the real word. Thanks....

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Reactions: c-spand

dishstaller

Today at 8:23 AM

Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Queen

Reactions: FTA4PA and sdfntx

sdfntx

Today at 9:36 AM

Love Every Little Thing About You - Gallery

gms49ers

57 minutes ago

Where's My Thing? - Rush

harshness

29 minutes ago

I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing - Aerosmith

Bobby

17 minutes ago

Good Golly, Miss Molly - Little Richard

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reubenray

18 minutes ago · posted in DISH Network Support Forum

Dish vs Streaming Apps?

Every time my Dish contract comes up I weigh the options of keeping Dish or switch to streaming. Right now I can watch/record the OTA channels vis my HDHomerun. I also can stream CBS and NBC via the Paramount+ and Peacock apps. What I would need to find is how to watch the Food Network, HGTV, Syfy, USA, Hallmark channels, Great American Family, Lifetime channels plus a few more with an app or two. My current Dish bill is $118, so I should be able to get a few apps for a lot less.

Any suggestions? I would want the best picture quality and audio quality I could get.

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Former member 209992

Last reply 19 minutes ago · posted in SatelliteGuys Support Center

Site is slooooow

For some reason, the satelliteguys.us site is loading a lot slower than usual on both Chrome on my Asus laptop and Safari on my iPhone.
I'm also seeing longer appearances of the blue bar at the top and the "3 blue bars" loading symbol.
Is anyone else also having the same problem? Thanks in advance.

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Scott Greczkowski

Saturday at 3:21 PM

Ok checked it out and for some reason the web server (NGINX) tried starting before the DNS resolver fully loaded. This is why it worked when I rebooted the machine.

Thanks to ChatGPT it had me change the NGINX config to prevent this from happening again.

With that said I can't prevent the ISP from doing emergency upgrades which was the cause of all of this.

Reactions: long_time_Dish, Foxbat, FTA4PA and 1 other person

navychop

Saturday at 3:39 PM

Nature will develop better idiots.

Reactions: charlesrshell

TRG

Saturday at 4:19 PM

navychop said:
Nature will develop better idiots.

God help us.

Reactions: FTA4PA and charlesrshell

Scott Greczkowski

Monday at 11:15 AM

I guess this is what the downtime was about.

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Scott Greczkowski

19 minutes ago

Just a heads up... I just patched our PHP to close the major PHP exploit announced this morning.

Now on PHP 8.4.27 (cli) (built: Oct 20 2026 00:00:00)

Reactions: FTA4PA and charlesrshell

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dishstaller

Pub Member / Supporter Lifetime Supporter

Last reply 19 minutes ago · posted in The Chit Chat Club

You can't even trust the cost per ounce info in grocery stores anymore

I'm surprised Walmart hasn't banned this guy from all of their stores. He has been on their CASE the past few months.

View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/f3zr37ekgKM?feature=share

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Jimbo

Today at 9:23 AM

dishstaller said:
I'm surprised Walmart hasn't banned this guy from all of their stores. He has been on their CASE the past few months.

View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/f3zr37ekgKM?feature=share

Walmart isn't the only one ...

Juan

20 minutes ago

dishstaller said:
I'm surprised Walmart hasn't banned this guy from all of their stores. He has been on their CASE the past few months.

View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/f3zr37ekgKM?feature=share

When walmart set a price...they weigh the container and the product...the product label only shows the weight of the product...I am sure if you brought your own plastic baggies to bring the product home you could get the cheaper price

harshness

19 minutes ago

Jimbo said:
Walmart isn't the only one ...

I've been seeing this more and more on Amazon. Sometimes it seems there is no way they could have arrived at the number.

What rankles me even more is Costco changing units of measure between similar products, so you have to convert them to compare prices.

Booredatwork.com

45 minutes ago · posted in BooredAtWork.COM

iPhone Duo Folio Kickstand Case!

Time for another AWESOME video from BoredAtWork!

View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/RTpsyCQSAgA

Direct YouTube Link - iPhone Duo Folio Kickstand Case!
Booredatwork.com Website
Booredatwork on Facebook

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Gary Toma

Staff member Pub Member / Supporter Cutting Edge

Last reply 57 minutes ago · posted in DIRECTV Technical Resources Forum

DIRECTV Transponder Map ~ Data 10/14/2026

The TPN Map Excel Presents all DIRECTV Channels:

National (50-States or wide/NAT+PR beams)
Local (Local-Into-Local or narrow/Spot beams)

Additional tabs provide:

OTA the (Over-The-Air) Database
VOD (Video On_Demand) Records
Offline Records
Engr Records
Net Decoder a graphic presentation of all satellites and transponders

Domestic Satellites
@99W...... D11, D14
@101W.... D16
@103W.... D12, D15
@110W.... D5
@119W.... D8

Understanding the TPN Map

Making Sense of the TPN Map Display Conventions

DIRECTV_TPN_Map_261014.xlsx 1,874 KB

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KyL416

Yesterday at 2:37 PM

WCWW/25 CW South Bend and WBKP/5 CW Marquette are now testing on the stream server. These are both already available on satellite.

Now live in the satellite guide:
663-2 PISTONS (663-1 is likely being reserved for an overflow feed of Detroit Sportsnet, if there's a 2027 MLB season)
675 THUNDER
693 CLIPPERS

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doctor J

Today at 7:22 AM

DirecTV Satellite Transponder Updates for Oct 21 2026

Comparison of Transponder Data for Oct 21 2026 vs Oct 14 2026:

No changes in system tables for any transponder tuning parameters.

Changes to the use of defined transponders:

1 Transponder cleared of all Streams::
Net 10 TID 126 Beam NAT is a National Transponder on D11@99cb, TPN 3

1 Previously unused Transponder with current APG records::
Net 15 TID 15 Beam NAT is a National Transponder on D12@103ca, TPN 16

Stream (PID) counts:

LIVE Streams	National		Spot Beams
	Count	Change	Count	Change
4K	4
HD	264	2	1449
SD mpeg4	145		194
SD mpeg2	433
RB
Audio	89
Push	26
Slate	19		1

TEST Streams	National		Spot Beams
	Count	Change	Count	Change
4K
HD			1
SD mpeg4
SD mpeg2
RB
Engr Work	38	-2

The PID count Excel workbook provides much more count detail.

Newly updated tables of Streams on each transponder are available in the DataDigesters TPN Grids

More details of changes in individual channels will follow in the Weekly Analysis
and Gary Toma's Domestic TPN Map Excel files

NBA Updates
Weekly Analysis soon
Enjoy
DataDigesters

doctor J

Today at 7:23 AM

weekly Analysis for 10/21/2026:

Weekly_Analysis_261021.xlsx 16 KB

KyL416

Today at 7:25 AM

HAWKS, HORNETS, GRZZLIES, HEAT, MAGIC, CAVLIERS, TWOLVES, BUCKS, PACERS and SPURS channels have also been added, however they are pointing to a TV Promise slate, which says they are working with DAZN and others to strike a deal for those teams.

Some more TPN swaps

Mr Tony

57 minutes ago

KyL416 said:
HAWKS, HORNETS, GRZZLIES, HEAT, MAGIC, CAVLIERS, TWOLVES, BUCKS, PACERS and SPURS channels have also been added, however they are pointing to a TV Promise slate, which says they are working with DAZN and others to strike a deal for those teams.

Some more TPN swaps

Wait…..
So even though DAZN keeps touting 'only way to see games' if you are a subscriber to Choice (like my stepdad) if an agreement is reached he can see the Wolfies on 668?
I know the Wild are in dispute and a slate is on 668-1.

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Marques Brownlee

Today at 10:32 AM · posted in Marques Brownlee