As an originating DiSH dealer, I of course recall the rollout of DiSH 500. I digress, but you may have noticed that I type DiSH with a small "i"- as DiSH originally did. It stands for Digital Sky Highway, a takeoff on the Internet having been referred to as the "information superhighway". Anyhow, "500" really didn't come along all that long after the 1996 service launch that used the same dishes (dimensionally and electronically) as DTV/USSB was employing (and would later be dubbed the "300" to distinguish from the new dual-slot 500). They likely had been planning on it from the start, to compensate for their not having as much bandwidth as the other guys in one place, as DTV did at 101. DiSH had a fairly good chunk of 119 (this was back when the gov't incredibly gave them the slotting/spectrum for free as long as they were using it) but also Sky Angel, a religious programmer, had applied for and been given a piece of 119. As SA had no means to manage DBS transmission, it struck a bargain with Charlie to share its bandwidth in exchange for carriage on DiSH.
But still this left DiSH short of enough bandwidth at this flagship location for the entirety of the rollout it was intending. It was fine for the launch and early days where they could get traction with a $20/mo. fairly complete basic lineup, but they had their sights set higher. When they unveiled the "500" I could only think, "What a bait & switch!" DBS had promised this tiny, unobtrusive dish, and now here it was growing on us. Just a little, at this first...But now they could add in their bandwidth they had at 110. I thought the doubled LNBFs looked ridiculous and that the plastic "Y" yoke would surely deteriorate in the sun. And now a switch component to put in the line, usually outside, to add potentially problematic coax connections. As subs didn't (as yet) need the 500 to get most programming, I just kept installing the original-type single-slot dishes.
As an epilogue, DiSH then "progressed" through saddling lots of its subs with a huge "Superdish" that took in not just 119 and 110 but also 105 Ku band, where they had placed a lot of locals after having been slapped around for activating distant nets where folks could receive offair. Then the triple DiSH 1000 after they lit up HDTV at 129, torturing us to pull it in from down on the horizon. Now with the shutdown of SD and the dropping of 129, it seems we've come a (nearly) full circle and the good ol' DiSH 500, in its multiply-upgraded form, now again covers most all of their mainstream programming as well as locals.
