148W Update

[nelson61]

Dish has been dancing around trying to not lose the 148W license following the Echostar 5 debacle several years ago.

Their latest response to the FCC hints at their plans but shows them holding their cards close to the chest.

Dish FCC 148W Update

Echostar 16 launch date is planned for August 2012

 

[CK SatGuy]

Forgive me if this is a dumb question to ask, but does 148 (or has 148) been used to cover the whole country or has it only been used for some local channels? 148 is pretty far from the U.S (especially the east coast) I'm also a little surprised they never mentioned Echo 7 in their FCC response. It's in a lot better shape than Echo 8 and it's just sitting there at 119. Probably the best satellite they could use right now since it's already the closest to 148 so it won't use a lot of its resources to move to another orbit.

 

[nelson61]

They would want to keep E7 where it is since it backs up spot beam capacity

148w can reach about mid continent but could do great things in hawaii, pacific alaska and west coast, maybe parts of mexico also. Could also back up some spots for 129w similar to what they do with 77w.

 

[Mr Tony]

back in the day 148 had the PI channels and some local markets on SD (this is when HD locals were in infancy). This is when there was 61.5, 110 119, 129 and 148. (105 & 121 had been shut off for locals)

Thats also where they tested stuff. FTA'ers got to see exactly how MPEG4 SD worked before EA was conceived. At the time it wasnt pretty....

 

[GaryPen]

148 used to have International channels, almost a mirror of 61.5

 

[DishSubLA]

I think they will want to use 148 as primarily for Alaska and Hawaii. Could this free up bandwidth for 24/7 RSN's for the WA? I believe the current Alaska/Hawaii offerings are on spot beams, but could not the current config be reconfigured (fewer spots and more ConUS to accommodate 24/7 RSN's? That seems the only real plan to "crystallize" where Dish currently has a clear disadvantage that they would seem to want to fix.

 

[Mr Tony]

148 used to have International channels, almost a mirror of 61.5

correct. It was a mirror of 61.5 for those channels

 

[rocatman]

It will be interesting if the FCC deals with the 148 W slot like they did with the 86.5 W slot i.e., requiring a new satellite there. If that is the case then of the current on-orbit options, E-15 might be the only one acceptable to the FCC. I believe Dish will still need more spotbeam capabilities even after E-16 is deployed so a new spotbeam satellite at 148 W that provides service to Alaska and Hawaii would be ideal.

 

[nelson61]

Whatever it would be used for would not "fit" their single dish standard for the existing Dish network.

 

[rocatman]

Whatever it would be used for would not "fit" their single dish standard for the existing Dish network.

Actually Dish could set up an new "arc" that would utilize just 129 W and 148 W. That's only a 19 degree separation, no different from receiving 110 W and 129 W on a single dish. If Dish were to build a new satellite with about 10 TPs dedicated to spotbeams and the other 22 for CONUS, that would provide enough space (38 TPs) for national programming on 129 W and 148 W if MPEG-4 is exclusively used.

 

[nelson61]

Actually Dish could set up an new "arc" that would utilize just 129 W and 148 W. That's only a 19 degree separation, no different from receiving 110 W and 129 W on a single dish. If Dish were to build a new satellite with about 10 TPs dedicated to spotbeams and the other 22 for CONUS, that would provide enough space (38 TPs) for national programming on 129 W and 148 W if MPEG-4 is exclusively used.

Perhaps they could use an existing Conus satellite and have 10 "conus spots" and the 22 Conus. Move the Hawaii and Alaska spots to it and have some west coast left over with Alaska maybe having near total coverage with a small antenna. Probably could help with the time zone shift also.

 

[navychop]

A Pacific Arc makes a lot of sense.

 

[DishSubLA]

It will be interesting if the FCC deals with the 148 W slot like they did with the 86.5 W slot i.e., requiring a new satellite there. If that is the case then of the current on-orbit options, E-15 might be the only one acceptable to the FCC. I believe Dish will still need more spotbeam capabilities even after E-16 is deployed so a new spotbeam satellite at 148 W that provides service to Alaska and Hawaii would be ideal.

The FCC may be fine with an in-orbit sat at 148 as Dish has a legacy at 148 and didn't at 86.5.

 

[rocatman]

Perhaps they could use an existing Conus satellite and have 10 "conus spots" and the 22 Conus. Move the Hawaii and Alaska spots to it and have some west coast left over with Alaska maybe having near total coverage with a small antenna. Probably could help with the time zone shift also.

I would be surprised if any of Dish's existing CONUS satellites could be useful in both Alaska and Hawaii from 148 W. Besides Dish only gains a little more available power on their satellites by shutting down the current Alaska and Hawaii spotbeams on those satellites. I had mentioned about dish building a new satellite for 148 W but I really doubt it with all the talk about Dish building a wireless network. It would be more likely that Dish would use CONUS TPs for locals from 148 W.

 

[MikeD-C05]

DISH doesn't need 148 slot any longer ,but they don't want anyone else to get it either. At one time 148 was in use for west coast folks ,but they haven't needed it for anything in years since they went with 129 sat.

 

[whatchel1]

148 would really be a good Alk, Ha one sat solution.

 

[DishSubLA]

DISH doesn't need 148 slot any longer ,but they don't want anyone else to get it either. At one time 148 was in use for west coast folks ,but they haven't needed it for anything in years since they went with 129 sat.

I doubt they are even attempting "warehousing" as it is ILLEGAL and you DO NOT tell the FCC that you have very serious plans that after the sat for 61.5 goes up will "crystallize" long held plans that include DEFINITELY using 148, and then NOT implement them as you told the FCC you would. This could cause the FCC to DENY any future requests such as one similar for 148. Dish pretty much told the FCC that the only reason they are not using 148 today is because of satellite failures, one of them before the expected end of life. By that position, they are also saying (and clearly stated so) that when they do have enough sats in orbit--with the next launch and the Quetz sat capacity--they will absolutely use 148 as permanent use of 148 has been part of their plans all along and have pretty much promised that is the case when Quetz and 61.5 are settled. The FCC takes into account your actions on previous matters in consideration of your requests. Yes, as you said, Dish would not want anyone else to use it, but it is NOT a ConUS slot and right now NOBODY I can think of really wants that slot and Spectrum 3 (was that the name?) is pretty much dead, is it not? Wing sat slots just aren't very desirable nor economical for any startups. I think Dish really has plans for this, but they may be modest, just enough to not run afoul of the FCC or they really could have GRAND plans. Either way, they are going to use 148, unless the next sat launch fails.

 

[AKGolf]

I have a small dish on my house that used to point to 148, I now use it for 110. I think there used to be HBO HD and perhaps some LA HD networks.

I was surprised they stopped using it because it's a great spot for us.

 

[CK SatGuy]

Dish loses 148 license

This is from an 8-K filing with the SEC:

On May 31, 2012, the International Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission (the "FCC") announced the termination of our license for use of the 148 degree orbital location. We are currently evaluating whether to challenge this termination. As previously disclosed under the caption "FCC Authorizations" in our public filings, including within Note 7 to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011 and Item 1 of Part I of our subsequent quarterly report on Form 10-Q, we did not have a satellite positioned at the 148 degree orbital location after the retirement of EchoStar V in August 2009. As also previously disclosed in our public filings, our license for use of the 148 degree orbital location has a $68 million carrying value, which we will be required to write off in the second quarter 2012 due to the termination of this license by the FCC.

http://dish.client.shareholder.com/secfiling.cfm?filingID=1001082-12-12

 

[r10fret]

Justice served, dish had enough time and resources in almost 3 years to get another one of their old clunker specials to the slot (sanford and sons shuffle) instead dish did nothing, so I hope they throw away even more money challenging this just decision. Directv manages to keeps one active at 110 for their license for 3 tps, just another 68 million dollar mistake by dish, just like the blockbuster purchase, the constant legal challenges, etc, etc, etc. The biggest increase in operating costs comes from all the mistakes, subs will pay the $5 each.