Dish's satellites present and future

[chicagofilms]

Is there a list of what all the Dish satellites do or what their planned new satellites may be?

I'm basically wondering what their capacity is and if they currently could compete if DirecTV launched their announced 100 national HD channels tomorrow.

Would Dish be screwed? Are they planing on launching something this year to increase capacity?

It seems they continue to launch satellites but never gain any national capacity.

 

[MyDogHasFleas]

Is there a list of what all the Dish satellites do or what their planned new satellites may be?

I'm basically wondering what their capacity is and if they currently could compete if DirecTV launched their announced 100 national HD channels tomorrow.

Would Dish be screwed? Are they planing on launching something this year to increase capacity?

It seems they continue to launch satellites but never gain any national capacity.

http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/aboutus/satellites/index.shtml

Also E* XI is supposed to be launched in 2007. Google it to read stories about it.

 

[Poke]

Most of th channels Direct is claiming that they will offer have not even launched yet. So 1st must wait and see if those networks even get their HD Channels up 1st before anyone can get them. Which mean Dish can get them just as Direct can or anyone else. Right now Dish is the HD Leader and they offer more HD than anyone with Direct it's a wait and see. Overall Dish will probably add more HD Channels just like everyone else. I think Dish had put up several Satellites over the last 2-3 years and they have a new going up sometime this year. Direct I think is just play catch up is all so they half to put up more. But again we all will half to wait and see what networks launch their HD Channels this year. My guess is most of the 100 channels will be "Locals" not "National Channels" due to there are many national channels that have not gotten a HD Channel up yet com paired to local markets. Really most if not all National Network Channels just about any TV Service provider can offer those when the network gets their HD version of their channel up. But again the network must have the channel available 1st so we will see.

 

[lakebum431]

No, D* is claiming 100 National HD channels. This is separate from their local claim of 1500 locals.

 

[BobaBird]

See http://ekb.dbstalk.com/satellites.htm

 

[DishSubLA]

Is there a list of what all the Dish satellites do or what their planned new satellites may be?

I'm basically wondering what their capacity is and if they currently could compete if DirecTV launched their announced 100 national HD channels tomorrow.

Would Dish be screwed? Are they planing on launching something this year to increase capacity?

It seems they continue to launch satellites but never gain any national capacity.

In addition to everything that all have said, I personally believe that Dish has contingency plans, should they ever feel somewhat desperate, to initiate either an 8PSK or MPEG4 swap-out for standard definition. That won't happen for a while because the longer that is put off, the better the MPEG4 encoders will be and the less it will cost Dish to provide 8PSK as subs continue to swap-out a lot of standard def boxes. I should add that all Dish Pro Plus boxes (except the ancient 721) have 8PSK demodulation capability built-in.

 

[BobaBird]

The 301 and 501/8/10 also do not do 8PSK.

 

[cebbigh]

If Directv is marketing 100 HD channels in 2007 they should provide more details. If Dish made a similar claim it would be met with a healthy dose of scepticism.

Is there a list somewhere that shows all the current National HD channels offered (anywhere by any provider) plus a schedule of upcoming HD? Does the total come up anywhere near 100 if locals and RSN are omitted?

 

[RVD420]

I find 100 national HD channels unlikely in 2007.

There are not even 100 national HD channels available for ANY provider to uplink.

 

[monetnj]

If Directv is marketing 100 HD channels in 2007 they should provide more details. If Dish made a similar claim it would be met with a healthy dose of scepticism.

Is there a list somewhere that shows all the current National HD channels offered (anywhere by any provider) plus a schedule of upcoming HD? Does the total come up anywhere near 100 if locals and RSN are omitted?

In their CES press conference D* said they had contracts with 70 national networks to launch HD versions and in fact did list some of them. It looks like D* was constrained from naming all of them since most of these channels have not announced their HD plans. In fact, of the ones that were announced (Sci Fi, CNN, FX, TBS etc.) many were caught by surprise since they had not officially announced they were going HD this year. However, there has been confirmation after the fact from some of them like CNN HD.

D* 10 and 11 are launching this year, and those, combined with Spaceway 1&2 launched in '06, will give D* the capacity for 150 National and 1500 local HD channels. I myself asked a similar question as the OP earlier and never really got a satisfactory answer. In previous interviews D* has stated that they have aggresively pursued networks and told them that they will be at a competitive disadvantage (Nick vs Disney, CNN vs FOX, Lifetime vs Oxygen etc) if they do not launch HD versions in '07. There have been some postings over on D* boards intimating that D* has used strong arm tactics like threatening to drop channels if they do not go HD this year.

Clearly D* feels they will have a capacity advantage in mid and late '07 and want to make other multi-channel carriers HD offerings look meager in comparison going forward into Christmas '07. How fast competitors will respond remains to be seen.

 

[mdonnelly]

In their CES press conference D* said they had contracts with 70 national networks to launch HD versions and in fact did list some of them. It looks like D* was constrained from naming all of them since most of these channels have not announced their HD plans. In fact, of the ones that were announced (Sci Fi, CNN, FX, TBS etc.) many were caught by surprise since they had not officially announced they were going HD this year. However, there has been confirmation after the fact from some of them like CNN HD. ...

I believe that the term used was "agreement in principle". To me, that means "if" there is an HD network at some future time, Directv will carry it.

Doesn't mean that there'll be an HD network this year, next year, or ever. The only definite committment was CNN-HD, for August of this year.

 

[ArtWIS]

Most of th channels Direct is claiming that they will offer have not even launched yet. So 1st must wait and see if those networks even get their HD Channels up 1st before anyone can get them. Which mean Dish can get them just as Direct can or anyone else. Right now Dish is the HD Leader and they offer more HD than anyone with Direct it's a wait and see. Overall Dish will probably add more HD Channels just like everyone else. I think Dish had put up several Satellites over the last 2-3 years and they have a new going up sometime this year. Direct I think is just play catch up is all so they half to put up more. But again we all will half to wait and see what networks launch their HD Channels this year. My guess is most of the 100 channels will be "Locals" not "National Channels" due to there are many national channels that have not gotten a HD Channel up yet com paired to local markets. Really most if not all National Network Channels just about any TV Service provider can offer those when the network gets their HD version of their channel up. But again the network must have the channel available 1st so we will see.

Your right that most of the new HD channels D* has anonounced for later this year are not even on the air yet. But if you do some research you will find that D* already has agreements with most of these channels and is in negotiations with the others. It has been posted on other sites that the new HD channels have been waiting to fire up in conjunction with D* having their 2 new sats up and running so they can premier on D*. It remains to be seen if E* has any new sats going up in the next couple of years but if they do they have kept it a secret from us and even the FCC! (LOL). Besides the 2 sats D* scheduled to go up this summer they even have a third spare sat sitting on the side that will be available whenever there's a need for it. I sure would not make a 18 month commitment to E* right now!

 

[Voyager6]

Your right that most of the new HD channels D* has anonounced for later this year are not even on the air yet. But if you do some research you will find that D* already has agreements with most of these channels and is in negotiations with the others. It has been posted on other sites that the new HD channels have been waiting to fire up in conjunction with D* having their 2 new sats up and running so they can premier on D*. It remains to be seen if E* has any new sats going up in the next couple of years but if they do they have kept it a secret from us and even the FCC! (LOL). Besides the 2 sats D* scheduled to go up this summer they even have a third spare sat sitting on the side that will be available whenever there's a need for it. I sure would not make a 18 month commitment to E* right now!

Uh, E* launched Echostar X in Feb. 2006 and has Echostar XI set for launch this year. http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2006/q2/060508c_nr.html

 

[mdonnelly]

Uh, E* launched Echostar X in Feb. 2006 and has Echostar XI set for launch this year. http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2006/q2/060508c_nr.html

And Ceil-2 early next year. And several KU transponders on AMC-16, launched two years ago and just activated recently.

 

[monetnj]

I believe that the term used was "agreement in principle". To me, that means "if" there is an HD network at some future time, Directv will carry it.

Doesn't mean that there'll be an HD network this year, next year, or ever. The only definite committment was CNN-HD, for August of this year.

Sure, but my point was that D* has been leaning on these networks hard to launch this year and has agreements in place to carry them once/if they do. They can't actually say, these 50 networks are launching by September. However, capacity for 150 national HD channels would not give D* much of an edge if only 2 or 3 channels launched this year. I believe FX and TBS also confirmed launch of their HD networks this year and Universal would only commit to saying that some unknown number of their networks (USA, Sci-fi etc.) would as well. Time will tell, of course.

 

[Airblair]

And Ceil-2 early next year. And several KU transponders on AMC-16, launched two years ago and just activated recently.

Hmm. That isn't too reassuring--it seems like D* is winning the capacity race. E11 is designed to be an in-orbit spare.

Looking at the link provided by BobaBird, it seems as though Dish is counting not on new satellites, but rather on gaining FCC permission to broadcast from some new satellite slots--specifically the 77-, 85-, 86.5-, 97-, 109-, 113-, and 125-degree slots.

(I don't know how much available capacity there is on the current slots, nor do I begin to understand the whole "circular/linear polarization" stuff or what the odd/even transponder thing is about. )

In other words, to me it doesn't look like E* will be able to greatly increase their capacity any time soon, the way D* is claiming they will. (But I could very well be wrong.)

 

[cebbigh]

Right after Malone took over at DTV he was talking about D and E sharing Sat capacity and Charlie responded back positively. Is that all a dead horse now?

This link shows D and E Sat locations. Don't know if it is current:

http://www.dbsinstall.com/GeneralInfo/DBS_Satellites.asp

 

[rocatman]

I guess I don't have the inside scoop on the E-11 satellite like perhaps the Pub Members here do but I find it hard to believe that E-11 will be used initially for an in-orbit spare. I could see it being used to augment/replace the E-7 satellite spotbeams at 119 W which could provide many HD locals. It could also free up space at 61.5/129 W for more national HD programming. To do that though, the E-3 satellite needs some help at 61.5 W. I believe there are 3 TPs at 61.5 W that Dish is not using because of problems with the E-3 satellite. The E-6 satellite is being used as an in-orbit spare at 110 W so that satellite would be available. In terms of FCC applications, Dish waited until about 2 months prior to the E-10 launch to request FCC permission. According to Lyngsat, the E-11 satellite will be the second launch for Sea Launch in 2007. The first is scheduled for this Friday 1/26 and it usually takes Sea Launch about 2 months between launches so if this launch goes off successfully, I would expect an FCC application for E-11 shortly.

In regards to those new slots mentioned, new satellites would be needed because of the different DBS Expansion Band frequencies used but they include 110 and 119 W. In addition, the AMC-14 DBS satellite is scheduled to be launched in September of 2007 and Dish has a lease for all the capacity on it. SES Americom, the owner of AMC-14 has tried to get FCC permission to launch it to the 105.5 W tweener slot but it was also reported that the satellite was being modified to include steerable antennas so it could be used at the 77 W DBS Mexican slot.

 

[mike123abc]

Making a few assumptions:

1. Sea Launch launches E11 sometime in April/May
2. In orbit testing etc makes it June/July available
3. They replace the spot capacity of E7 at 119 with E11
4. The satellite is as least as advanced as E10 (supposed to be more advanced)

Dish could move the HD LiL off of 61.5/129 and put on 119 on spots. They could also add a bunch more HD LiL to 119 spots.

This would give them about 5 TPs free on 61.5 (more on 129 but have to have mirrored under current set up). With 5 TPs they could do 15 channels of good quality HD or 20 Channels of HD lite. Without having to really change a thing elsewhere.

Now if they wanted to go all out HD lite they could add more HD to existing TPs that only have 3 channels on them. And they could force the MPEG-2 HD to MPEG-4, making the 6000/821/921/942 obsolete for HD.

Making all the above happen would probably allow Dish to squeeze on 40 more national HD channels. They would probably be able to carry the top 75 markets in HD on spots (a lot less than DIRECTV but covers most the population).

Question really is how long until they need 40 channels of HD?

Dish really needs Ciel-2 to get up to add a ton more spot capability to 129 (not to mention fix the reception problems people have with 129). With Ciel-2 I would speculate Dish will be able to provide LiL HD to the top 150 markets.

Hopefully Dish will file their E11 application to the FCC next month so we can finally see how much spot power E11 will have. If it is as good as E10 was with TP reuse and sticks to the 5 TPs that E7 is using it could get 50-60 spots, that could mean 40 new HD LiL markets.

 

[navychop]

Thank you for the info/discussion.