Am I the only one who thinks E* will put all locals on 61.5 in some areas?

[miguelaqui]

From info from another thread, the one dish solutions simply says that all locals must be from one dish.
For example:
D* will not be breaking the rule with their 72.5 locals because all the locals are one one diish.

Am I the only one who thinks there is a strong possibility that all the locals might move to 61.5 in some areas?

A lot of people in the Roanoke area have 2 dishes. There seems to be more with the 61.5, than without. It seems like the cheapest solution is to move all locals to 61.5.

Then, the 61.5 could be like Superdish 105, upgrade with commitment.

This solution would be a lot cheaper than changing all those dishes for sat 129!!! If Rainbow 1 is capable of spotbeaming, that would be a wonderful solution to areas such as Roanoke, VA, where the locals are on a transponder, not spot beam, on 110 and the minor locals are on 61.5.

Am I just WRONG????

 

[FrankJo]

yes.

 

[Mr Tony]

Highly unlikely with 61.5, but it depends on the number of locals for a market on 61.5 vs. 110/119. I doubt they move any full locals market to 61.5

Dish is doing that right now with 148. They have about a dozen local markets on 148 only. They cover the one dish solution.

 

[rocatman]

Dish has until May of 2006 to meet the single dish for all locals in a market requirement. It is expected that the E-10 satellite that will be launched in early 2006 will solve this problem for most if not all of these split markets. It is believed that E-10 will have significantly greater spotbeam capability than Dish's other 2 spotbeam satellites E-7 and E-8. Now I could see Dish using the spotbeams on the R-1 satellite for both SD and HD locals from 61.5 W once the FCC approves the acquisition of R-1 but I would think only very small markets would have their SD locals on R-1 from 61.5. Recognize that most folks would rather have a slight larger dish than two small dishes. Now DirecTV's 24" x 36" single dish certainly can not considered "slightly larger" than a D500 or a D1000.

 

[HDTVFanAtic]

And E-10 is going where again? I can't keep up with all the bird movements.

 

[rocatman]

And E-10 is going where again? I can't keep up with all the bird movements.

110 W

 

[RBBrittain]

For everyone's sake, I hope rocatman is right and E*10 does solve the one-dish problem. Roanoke shares a full-CONUS TP (E*8, 110 TP 5) with my market, Little Rock, AR, and if there were a Little Rock-vs.-Roanoke showdown, Roanoke would more than likely lose:

• Moving Little Rock to the wings might make it impossible for E* to distribute AETN (Arkansas' statewide PBS network) to all of Arkansas thru the Little Rock feed, as it does now.
• When you compare the wing locals in Little Rock ("i"/PAX, Daystar, local religious on 148--only the last one was there 18 months ago) to Roanoke (UPN, WB on 61.5), it's likely Roanoke has a higher percentage of wing dishes.
• Roanoke includes Lynchburg (Jerry Falwell's hometown), so it likely has a high level of SkyAngel subscribers with 61.5 dishes.
• Near Little Rock is the Jonesboro DMA, where 2 of the 3 must-carrys are satellites of Little Rock (AETN/PBS and the local religious station on 148), the only true local is ABC, and Little Rock is a possible source (along with Memphis and Paducah) for the other networks. Moving Little Rock off 110 would complicate the launch of LIL in Jonesboro.
• Little Rock is far more important to Arkansas (largest city, state capitol, centrally located) than Roanoke is to Virginia.
• Though both DMAs have large rural populations, Arkansas is near the top in satellite penetration (read: too many wing-dish installs).
• The likeliest wing-dish satellite (R*1) is at the wing slot Roanoke uses (61.5).
• And, Little Rock is a larger DMA than Roanoke, both geographically and in viewership (57 vs. 67).

 

[rocatman]

There is also the possibility that Dish could move the Little Rock, AR locals all to 129 W although I doubt it. The elevation angle for a D1000 should be okay from Little Rock.

 

[miguelaqui]

I just noticed that Little Rock was on a transponder, not spot beam. I thought they would, eventually, move those locals to a spot beam. That might have been a bad example.

I should have asked if they would move locals to both wing sats, 61.5 as well as 148.

I had never noticed that some locals were on 148 only.

 

[RBBrittain]

There is also the possibility that Dish could move the Little Rock, AR locals all to 129 W although I doubt it. The elevation angle for a D1000 should be okay from Little Rock.

You'd still have most of the problems I noted at 129--especially the AETN problem.

E* at present takes the AETN feed from Little Rock and sends it via Little Rock's CONUS TP to all of Arkansas, as well as the two Oklahoma counties in the Fort Smith-Fayetteville DMA. AETN is only must-carry in Little Rock, Fort Smith-Fayetteville (where the direct Little Rock feed is substituted for the local satellite station), and Jonesboro (one of the two non-LIL markets in the state); but it's added at no charge to Arkansas customers' LIL packages in the other 4 LIL markets partly including Arkansas (Memphis, Shreveport, Monroe-El Dorado, and Springfield, MO), and is available a la carte to all E* subscribers in Arkansas, including the two non-LIL markets (Jonesboro and Greenwood-Greenville, MS) and those without LIL.

Of the 8 DMAs covering Arkansas, 2 need only a D500 to get all locals now (Shreveport on a spotbeam, Springfield on a full-CONUS TP); 2 are 105 SuperDish markets (Fort Smith-Fayetteville and Monroe-El Dorado). I don't expect them to add D1000's, nor to hire our Mad Scientists as installers to add 129 capability to 105 SuperDishes, just to keep the Little Rock AETN feed in other markets that already comply with the one-dish rule. Yet if AETN remains on 110 so the other 7 DMAs can still get it (especially Fort Smith-Fayetteville where it's must-carry), the rest of Little Rock has to be on 110/119 also; even a-la-carte feeds of AETN to D500's in the Little Rock DMA could violate the one-dish rule if the other Little Rock stations aren't there. (A-la-carte sales of the Little Rock AETN feed elsewhere are OK.)

In addition, the only way to avoid problems with future LIL in Jonesboro is to have Little Rock, Memphis, AND the Jonesboro ABC station ALL on the same dish. Removing Roanoke from 110 TP 5 frees up five channels--just enough for the three Little Rock wing-dish stations (one of which is also must-carry in Jonesboro), Memphis UPN (the only wing-dish station in that market), and Jonesboro ABC. (In theory, Jonesboro could end up as a 129 market, but if it can launch with just a D500, Charlie would much rather do that.)

The fact that Paducah's wing-dish religious station is testing on 129, while the wing-dish stations of Little Rock, Memphis and Roanoke aren't, suggests that Paducah will be a D1000 market; the only Paducah DMA stations anyone in the Jonesboro DMA watches are from Cape Girardeau, MO (CBS and Fox), while the wing-dish station is in Marion, IL. Though not conclusive, that appears to pave the way for eventually moving Roanoke in order to solve Memphis, Little Rock, and future Jonesboro LIL issues.