CBS Waiver?!?

[2extreme]

Hey all, I asked dish when I ordered my voom a while back about CBS in HD since they offer it when you have HD with them (via waiver if needed) and at no charge if you have locals.

Well they submitted a waiver at my request and I just checked my waiver online and noticed they approved me (would have been nice to be notified). So I thought cool another HD channel. Well I then checked my statement to find that they are charging me this:

CBS NETWORK-EASTERN FEED 1.5
CBS NETWORK-WESTERN FEED 1.5

and then I find them on my guide at channels 243 and 244 and have not noticed anything in HD.

First of all they are charging me $3.00 for these channels when they say that they are free when have locals and HD pak and secondly they are not in HD. What am I missing here? Why are they charging me?

Anyone have any input? Please help!

 

[BCSA5115]

The Answer You Need

Hey man, what you are talking about is distant local networks. The Customer service rep thought you were applying for EAST COAST CBS and WEST COAST CBS. These are for people who live in an area in which they cannot recieve a grade B signal of their local station with a regular antenna. The East and West coast CBS's that are on channels 243 and 244 have been there since forever way before HD even started. What you are really looking for is CBS HD out of NY or LA (only allowed to have one) its on channel 9483.

You have to live in an Owned and Operated CBS market. Example KYW3 PHILLY

If you live in range of a CBS Affiliate (not owned by cbs) example WBOC
you need to call the station and request that they send a waiver to dishnetwork allowing you to watch CBS HD.

To find out if you are living in a CBS O and O market, go to dishnetwork's HD page, and go to the Qualify for locals page also on Dishnetwork.com. Then find out your CBS station and go to the stations homepage. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page, it should say copyright 2005 Viacom Inc if its Owned and Operated. If it says anything else, it is not Owned and Operated

 

[2extreme]

Well I will check that. But when I asked for the CBS HD she said she couldn't add it w/o a waiver. That is when she said she would request a waiver for me to see if I could get it. As I said above it went through and was ok'd. But they must have added both of those distant channels instead of the HD. As far as I know I don't get it on 9483, but I'll have to check again. Guess I have to call them "again" to bitch, getting a little annoying. Thanx!

 

[SimpleSimon]

Yup - another game of CSR roulette in progress due to E*s absolutely worthless lack-of-training program.

 

[Derwin0]

since you now have an actual waiver on file, you can call back up and request them to turn CBS-HD on. That's what I had to do, waiver then HD turnon.

 

[JohnL]

Hey all, I asked dish when I ordered my voom a while back about CBS in HD since they offer it when you have HD with them (via waiver if needed) and at no charge if you have locals.

Well they submitted a waiver at my request and I just checked my waiver online and noticed they approved me (would have been nice to be notified). So I thought cool another HD channel. Well I then checked my statement to find that they are charging me this:

CBS NETWORK-EASTERN FEED 1.5
CBS NETWORK-WESTERN FEED 1.5

and then I find them on my guide at channels 243 and 244 and have not noticed anything in HD.

First of all they are charging me $3.00 for these channels when they say that they are free when have locals and HD pak and secondly they are not in HD. What am I missing here? Why are they charging me?

Anyone have any input? Please help!

Extreme,

Locals are NOT free but are now included with the pricing of the core packages. CBS from NY and LA are NOT local channels, they are distant network signals that require an additional fee ($1.50 each).

Since you NOW have a Waiver to get Distant CBS services you will need to call Dish and ask for CBS HD from NY OR CBS HD from LA. Dish is not likely to give you both (Dish's CSR software seems to only give options for ONE CBS HD feed).

With all of that said you will need a 61.5 Dish for CBS HD NY or a 148 Dish for CBS HD LA. If you don't have a secondary Dish you might be able to get a free Secondary Dish ONLY if some of your Local Channels are on either 61.5 or 148.

If you don't have a Secondary Dish or can't get a Free Secondary Dish you will have to pay for one and any needed additional Hardware.

John

 

[Rlanham]

Keep playing CSR, I already had the SD CBS-East coast feed that I qualified for & was paying $1.25/month for. When I added a 6.15 dish, I had to call 3 times to get CBS-HD. I did not have a waiver, and according to their website I should not have qualified for CBS-HD. When I finally got it I was told I was going to be charged $5.99/month for it. I am only being charged the $1.25/month for the SD CBS feed. The last CSR that turned it on for me I think was so frustrated at having to say sorry for the delay while she was working on it from India for 35 minutes, she just went ahead & turned it on.

 

[NightRyder]

If you are subscribed to locals or DNS you should not be paying extra for CBS-HD. Below is from E* web site.

http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/programming/locals/cbshd/index.shtml


HIGH DEFINITION UPDATE
DISH Network has expanded its line-up of High Definition programming to include CBS-HD programming from WCBS in New York, and from KCBS in Los Angeles.
NOTE: To take advantage of this High Definition signal, subscribers must have a second dish antenna pointed at the 61.5 or 148 satellite location and an HD receiver. A High Definition Television is also required.

As with any distant network signal, subscribers must qualify to receive these High Definition services. This qualification is mainly a function of federal laws relating to delivery of local channels. In general there are two ways you can qualify:

QUALIFICATION METHOD #1
You must live in one of the 17 market areas served by stations owned and operated by the CBS corporation. Owned and operated stations are commonly referred to as O&O stations. (O&O stations serve only 35% of the country. Hence, most areas in the country are served by stations which carry CBS programming, but are owned by independent companies. These are known as affiliates.)

The 17 markets served by CBS O&O stations are: Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Los Angeles, Marquette, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, and Green Bay.
AND
You must not be in range to receive the signals of a CBS affiliate from a nearby city. For instance many people in Baltimore (an O&O station market) are in range of the Washington DC CBS affiliate. These Baltimore residents cannot receive the HD feed without a waiver from the Washington DC CBS affiliate. The logic behind this is that the owners of the affiliate station do not wish to lose viewers to the New York or LA CBS station, generally a loss of viewers leads to a loss of ad revenue for the station.

Importantly, it is possible to get a waiver from the affiliate station allowing you receive a distant CBS feed. Unfortunately, we do not have the ability to compel affiliate stations to grant waivers. Waivers are granted at the affiliate station's discretion, which is beyond our control.
AND
If you subscribe to any one of our distant or local network packages, the CBS-HD feed will be added at no extra charge.

QUALIFICATION METHOD #2
You must live in an area that does not receive the broadcasts of local stations in any market area (a so called "White Area")

If you subscribe to any one of our distant or local network packages, the CBS-HD feed will be added at no extra charge. Otherwise, each CBS-HD feed will be available for $1.50.

Note: NFL games on your HD network feed are subject to blackouts according to league restrictions


NightRyder

 

[timbo_73]

I have gone through the CBS HD game for the last few months. What I found out is that the CBS affiliates have HD departments that are responsible for issuing waivers to those who call them and request them. Dish also has an HD department, but the Dish department is only accessable via a fax machine or mail. Dish CSR's will not transfer you to the HD department, they only give you the fax # or address which you are to either fax the waiver to them or send it.
So contact your nearest affiliate, ask for them to send you a waiver, they may give you an email address or they sometimes transfer you to the head of the waiver department. When you get it then fax or mail it to Dish. Then after a day or so if they do not connect the CBSHD channel, call Dish and ask for an "advanced CSR" tell them you sent the waiver and ask if there is a message in your file from the HD Dish department. Dish will not contact you if there is a problem with your waiver. I had sent them a waiver from the Boston affiliate, and waited 2 weeks utilizing CSR roulette, i finally got an "advanced CSR" and he told me I needed a waiver from Hartford not Boston. The day I faxed the Hartford waiver CBSHD was connected. They did not tell me it was it just showed up. Hope this helps anyone trying to get a waiver.
Even if you dont meet the qualification methods still try for a waiver from the affiliates.
I cant hurt to try.

 

[2extreme]

Well on phone with them now....said he will add CBS-HD feed and put me on hold. Also said will take off the distants since thats not what I wanted. Hopefully credits me for them too. Lets see what happens here!

I'll post back when find out!

 

[gutter]

My CBS affiliate doesn't even have a digital station let alone CBS HD. They told me that their corporate policy is NEVER to grant a waiver request. I am only 5 miles from the tower of their analog station so I am in their prime coverage area. Can I still get a waiver? I sent a request to DISH about a month ago but have not heard back.

 

[2extreme]

I dont know how these waivers actually work, but I guess I got fortunate and got one approved. Now I have CBS in HD. So sorry I cant help you gutter on your question. I'd call them and ask them to submit a waiver on your behalf that's what they did for me and now look!

 

[Sharper]

What you are really looking for is CBS HD out of NY or LA (only allowed to have one) its on channel 9483.

Actually you can have both CBS-HD East and West. They are on different channels. You do need to have dish's pointed at 61.5 (for East) and 148 (for West) at the same time to get them both. I picked up East just a few weeks ago when I added a third dish for 61.5 for Voom. (Yeah, I got the third dish+DP44 for $100 deal before they got wise.)

You may have to play CSR roulette or talk to advanced tech support to find someone to add the second CBS-HD to your account, though.

It is pretty nice to be able to record shows ahead of their normal broadcast time (east), or catch them after you would have otherwise missed them (west), like if you turn things on and see something half-way over that you want to watch.

 

[Barry Erick]

I work at a cbs affiliate and, I'll tell you.. the only way a waver is granted within the grade a or b area for anything is if you are blocked from getting locals on EITHER Dish OR Direct. In this market, Dish locals are at 61.5 and Direct's are at 119, so one usually works if the other does not.

As far as a HD Department at the affiliates goes... that's a new name.

 

[gutter]

I work at a cbs affiliate and, I'll tell you.. the only way a waver is granted within the grade a or b area for anything is if you are blocked from getting locals on EITHER Dish OR Direct. In this market, Dish locals are at 61.5 and Direct's are at 119, so one usually works if the other does not.

As far as a HD Department at the affiliates goes... that's a new name.

Barry, I receive my locals analog signal via DISH. The CBS affilate doesn't even have a digital let alone no HD. So I am not blocked if that is what you mean. Is there any other way to get CBS HD via dish? I am still waiting for my reply from DISH

 

[tjbeckett]

if they aren't available directly in your area via dish and the waiver is turned down, then unfortunetly there isn't any other way to get them via dish.