I'm moving and currently have cable, but I will want to be able to see all my local sports teams from my new location. What's the best way to accomplish this? I have no current preference for Dish or Directv having used neither. I do have an HDTV, so I was also wondering if you can get FSN in HD if it's not your local? Also, are the sat internet deals decent or should I just look for a cable option there? So many questions, sorry if I posted in the wrong area! It seems likes there's HOURS of info out there and I really can't see myself lucking into the true info! Thanks!
Complete satellite noobs Q's
- Thread starter DocSamson
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If you can get cable, or DSL do that.
Are you in your local Sports area, or out of market.
Direct has NFL Sunday Ticket. Both Dish, and direct have all the rest.
As far as picture quality Dish probably has the upper hand on that right now.
Are you in your local Sports area, or out of market.
Direct has NFL Sunday Ticket. Both Dish, and direct have all the rest.
As far as picture quality Dish probably has the upper hand on that right now.
you're going to be sick to your stomach next...if you move outside your current designated sports market, which apparently you will, then you will be able to receive essentially none of that market's 'big league' sporting events as carried on regional sports networks or local broadcasts...as you have already gleaned, subscribing to an 'out-of-market' satellite sports package gets you over a couple dozen different rsn's from around the country, with most non-game content viewable, but the actual games blacked out...
sounds counterintuitive, right? what's satellite supposed to be for if not to get all kinds of everything from all kinds of away....? well, satellite once did that, back before the clamps were put on by the cable industry with the encryption of signals...see, cable was essentially 'there first', and set an initial model of regional-only distribution...all of their agreements with programmers called for distribution only within limited market demarcations...a cable company has limited channel space, and certainly couldn't devote any to other-market programming which would have very limited 'hometown' interest...also, cable operators simply don't try to be competing with one another....
thus with the advent of satellite and the threat to their world order, they (the co-owned cable ops and programmers) simply imposed the same territorial divisions upon it....
the sports leagues don't mind so much, either, because this has afforded them an opportunity to market specialized, pricey events packages to blacked-out sports fans, such as nfl sunday ticket, mlb extra innings, nba league pass, and nhl center ice...open wallet wide, please....
one resistance tactic is to sign up for satellite at a location within your desired sports territory, such as at your current home, and then take your dish with you to your new home outside the territory without informing the satellite provider of your move...unlike with cable, satellite providers cannot verify receiving locations...
the overriding technical issue with 'moving' is that some programming, particularly satellite local channels, may be delivered via 'spot beams' which are only receivable over a given region....if not moving too far, maybe only a state away, the signal may still be receivable, but otherwise, no satellite locals if they were on a spot beam...but the regional sports networks are nationally receivable, so you should be able to keep getting your home teams anywhere in the country...
or else set up a system with an area buddy and use a slingbox
sounds counterintuitive, right? what's satellite supposed to be for if not to get all kinds of everything from all kinds of away....? well, satellite once did that, back before the clamps were put on by the cable industry with the encryption of signals...see, cable was essentially 'there first', and set an initial model of regional-only distribution...all of their agreements with programmers called for distribution only within limited market demarcations...a cable company has limited channel space, and certainly couldn't devote any to other-market programming which would have very limited 'hometown' interest...also, cable operators simply don't try to be competing with one another....
thus with the advent of satellite and the threat to their world order, they (the co-owned cable ops and programmers) simply imposed the same territorial divisions upon it....
the sports leagues don't mind so much, either, because this has afforded them an opportunity to market specialized, pricey events packages to blacked-out sports fans, such as nfl sunday ticket, mlb extra innings, nba league pass, and nhl center ice...open wallet wide, please....
one resistance tactic is to sign up for satellite at a location within your desired sports territory, such as at your current home, and then take your dish with you to your new home outside the territory without informing the satellite provider of your move...unlike with cable, satellite providers cannot verify receiving locations...
the overriding technical issue with 'moving' is that some programming, particularly satellite local channels, may be delivered via 'spot beams' which are only receivable over a given region....if not moving too far, maybe only a state away, the signal may still be receivable, but otherwise, no satellite locals if they were on a spot beam...but the regional sports networks are nationally receivable, so you should be able to keep getting your home teams anywhere in the country...
or else set up a system with an area buddy and use a slingbox
That's what I was afraid of. So now what? I watch the Tigers and Pistons (and Michigan basketball and football) religiously. What can I sign up for that will get me all of that? I've also heard that the pro sports packages black out games too, is that true? Are the NBA and MLB packages available on both Dish and Directv or just one? Thanks....I guess 
You can keep your address the same as it ever was. You will be able to keep any standard definition channel that you had before except for the local channels, unless you are close enough to the Detroit market.
Assuming you are too far away for local channels you can still get FSN Detroit if that's what you got at your previous address.
If you require local channels and you are too far from your old ones then you will have to use your new address and take whatever they give you and if it's not what teams you want you will have to buy the appropriate package to get your teams. You cannot buy a single team or RSN either. So if you want the Lions, Red Wings, Pistons, or Tigers it will become quite expensive for you as you will need NFL Sunday Ticket for the Lions, Center Ice for the Red Wings, the NBA package for your Pistons, and Extra Innings for the Tigers.
The information given here is based on having DirecTV. Dish Network may be different since they can't offer you NFL Sunday Ticket. I don't think they have Extra Innings either, but I could be wrong. I know the NBA and NHL are available on both carriers.
Assuming you are too far away for local channels you can still get FSN Detroit if that's what you got at your previous address.
If you require local channels and you are too far from your old ones then you will have to use your new address and take whatever they give you and if it's not what teams you want you will have to buy the appropriate package to get your teams. You cannot buy a single team or RSN either. So if you want the Lions, Red Wings, Pistons, or Tigers it will become quite expensive for you as you will need NFL Sunday Ticket for the Lions, Center Ice for the Red Wings, the NBA package for your Pistons, and Extra Innings for the Tigers.
The information given here is based on having DirecTV. Dish Network may be different since they can't offer you NFL Sunday Ticket. I don't think they have Extra Innings either, but I could be wrong. I know the NBA and NHL are available on both carriers.
I guess I don't understand what you're saying about keeping my address? Anyway, why would I want to watch the Lions?! Seriously though, what about a Slingbox, would that really work? Say I hook it up to my brothers TV, he can watch whatever he wants as I'm watching something else?
Seriously though, what about a Slingbox, would that really work? Say I hook it up to my brothers TV, he can watch whatever he wants as I'm watching something else?a slingbox is essentially an internet remote control...it can command a cable or satellite box over the web, and the a/v output is streamed back to you over web...you would need to place an additional box on service at your brother's in order to watch something different at the same time...you interface the slingbox to this extra service box....brother will need to have a broadband internet service...at your new distant address, you can watch on pc, or on tv with adapter, and remotely change the channel...you decision at that point would be about whether to also subscribe to on-site service, which you would probably want to do if you have other family members wanting tv, or you want to do dvr, 'correct' locals, etc...
what is meant by 'keeping your address' means like what i said, you move but don't tell the dish company about it...you thus 'keep' your previous address as the address of record on your dish account, and keep the same regional sports assignment, and also the same local channels unless they are on spot beam and you move too far...you can assign your new address with the dish co. as a separate billing-only address, or simply go no-bill and do auto or online pay....of course, you don't have to get dish service before you move; you can do it after and still use your old address, but you're going to have to find a dish dealer willing to work (the system) with you....if you already have dish, you just need to find your own help to put it up at your new place (rather than calling the dish co. and tipping them off that you moved).....
as to the major league season packages, in addition to being expensive, they do have some blackouts...most notably, you will see blackouts of games carried in your own home market, because you can presumably already get those on local channels or espn, etc, and THEY have the peremptory rights to your eyeballs for those games...dish network has never carried sunday ticket, and has dropped extra innings this season due to being hit with a big price increase they didn't want to have to pass along to all their subs...they never did much e.i. business anyway...
what is meant by 'keeping your address' means like what i said, you move but don't tell the dish company about it...you thus 'keep' your previous address as the address of record on your dish account, and keep the same regional sports assignment, and also the same local channels unless they are on spot beam and you move too far...you can assign your new address with the dish co. as a separate billing-only address, or simply go no-bill and do auto or online pay....of course, you don't have to get dish service before you move; you can do it after and still use your old address, but you're going to have to find a dish dealer willing to work (the system) with you....if you already have dish, you just need to find your own help to put it up at your new place (rather than calling the dish co. and tipping them off that you moved).....
as to the major league season packages, in addition to being expensive, they do have some blackouts...most notably, you will see blackouts of games carried in your own home market, because you can presumably already get those on local channels or espn, etc, and THEY have the peremptory rights to your eyeballs for those games...dish network has never carried sunday ticket, and has dropped extra innings this season due to being hit with a big price increase they didn't want to have to pass along to all their subs...they never did much e.i. business anyway...
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My situation is incredibly similar to DocSamson's. I'm from MI and am a diehard fan of every pro team except the Lions, plus U of M. I recently moved to AZ. I've quickly grown sick of Cox (never thought anyone could be worse than Comcast) and started researching satellite. When I learned about the RSN blackouts from 2,000 miles away, I was floored. I was like, what the heck is the point of satellite for me? I'm still looking for a loop around.
I will probably pursue the 'moving back to Detroit' thing after checking my bases a few more times. As people mentioned, even if there's the spotbeam issue, FSN-Detroit is picked up nationwide, so I should still be able to get those games as long as I get a pkg that includes FSN-Detroit. For E* (the current leading candidate due to better HD availability), that means the multi-sports pack for an add'l $5.99/month.
Please correct me if this assumption is wrong.
Edit:
So I just thought of something else. Assuming I were affected by a spotbeam, the 'moving' would work for FSN-Detroit, but it would not work for the locals. So I'm thinking I wouldn't have access to the Detroit locals because of the spotbeam (I'd be 2,000 miles away), and I wouldn't have access to the Phoenix locals because I'm using a Detroit address! I would have to add an OTA atenna to pick back up the locals.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm sick.
I will probably pursue the 'moving back to Detroit' thing after checking my bases a few more times. As people mentioned, even if there's the spotbeam issue, FSN-Detroit is picked up nationwide, so I should still be able to get those games as long as I get a pkg that includes FSN-Detroit. For E* (the current leading candidate due to better HD availability), that means the multi-sports pack for an add'l $5.99/month.
Please correct me if this assumption is wrong.
Edit:
So I just thought of something else. Assuming I were affected by a spotbeam, the 'moving' would work for FSN-Detroit, but it would not work for the locals. So I'm thinking I wouldn't have access to the Detroit locals because of the spotbeam (I'd be 2,000 miles away), and I wouldn't have access to the Phoenix locals because I'm using a Detroit address! I would have to add an OTA atenna to pick back up the locals.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm sick.
