Distant Locals HD

tomdkat

SatelliteGuys Family
Original poster
Mar 3, 2005
92
0
I just got my 622 activated. I called back because I only have LA locals ( I am in that market) available in HD. I have waivers for NY FOX ABC and CBS. I already get the CBS HD east feed of 61.5. 2 CSR's informed me that since I live in the L.A. market that is all the local HD I can get. ( NO NY) anyone else experiance this?
 
I'm in the sacramento area and now it says I'm elegible for up to 2 DN package including all 4 networks. Up to last week NBC was not part of it. I guess they finally decided to give me a waiver. Too bad this does no apply for HD though! :mad:
 
You know what pisses me off??? I am in a location where I cant get ANY HD locals OTA and my local affiliates will NOT give waivers and this guy is complaining about not being able to get NY locals. Be thankfull for what you have bro; many of us are suffering much more than you are....
 
Tom, I had a similar problem. I was told when I placed my order for the 622 that I could get HD locals out of NY. They even sent off waivers. The waivers came back approved but then was told it would only be for the SD channels. I got a call from the executive office at E* and was told they can not send any HD Locals. It’s not a FCC issue. It is an E* issue. They just have not spent the time to get that set up. I was told by the same person they hoped to be able to offer me NY locals by year end, but could not guarantee that. That why I canceled my 622 order and switched to D* I get to watch the 4 major networks in HD right now. I can't get OTA and got tired of waiting for E* to do something. I think it all about what part of the country you live in, but for me D* was the better choice for now.
 
On the Tech Chat they said to call to see if you are eligible for distant HD, has anyone tired to since the chat aired. I was also wondering if anyone has an RV exemption and is getting the HD distants that way.

Thanks
 
I don't have a local NBC so I wish I could get it HD DNS. Also, I get my local FOX digital but no HD. It is O&O so if E* does start HD DNS I should be able to get FOX HD also, right?
 
tomdkat said:
I just got my 622 activated. I called back because I only have LA locals ( I am in that market) available in HD. I have waivers for NY FOX ABC and CBS. I already get the CBS HD east feed of 61.5. 2 CSR's informed me that since I live in the L.A. market that is all the local HD I can get. ( NO NY) anyone else experiance this?

It's not legal for them to deliver programming from a time zone earlier than yours.
 
Tower Guy said:
It's not legal for them to deliver programming from a time zone earlier than yours.
Bingo!

The NAB bought the FCC to stop HD (not SD) from coming from an earlier time zone - except for Alaska/Hawaii. :(
 
SimpleSimon said:
AFAIK, they don't. If you know otherwise, please provide a reference.

I agree and don't believe they do.

This is one case where Dish is following the law but they've certainly added to the confusion about HD DNS & HD LiLs by also blaming the law for not providing them where they ARE allowed to. They may be changing that though because in emu1's post above, he reported Dish admitted it's a Dish issue and not the law.

It is a Dish issue because Dish doesn't sh*t unless they can make a dollar doing it. In the case of HD DNS, Dish could legally provide them to anyone currently qualified for analog DNS but why should they? They're already getting the price of the distants (analog) from the customer, so adding the HD equivilent wouldn't bring them any additional revenue. Plus once they have HD locals available in that customer's dma, they'd have to disconnect the HD DNS anyway.

Now if they provide HD locals in a particular DMA and they also have analog LiLs available there, the customer MUST sub to both - and there's where Dish can make some money. At least for a while. I expect at some point Dish would shut off the analog locals and just downconvert HD LiLs to non HD subs.
 
Maybe I'm stupid, but this gets really confusing. I live in a small town between Oklahoma City and Wichita, KS in northern Oklahoma. I have okc locals. Called last year to ask about getting the cbs-hd feed and the lady said "yeah you're eligible", pushed the button and I had another hd channel. The newly added networks is what I care about most.

So here's my deal.

Am I really eligible for distant network feeds? Just for fun, I applied for waivers from the networks in case that becomes the issue when I decide to go through the frustration of upgrading. 3 are pending and cbs denied me. Yet, I still have cbs-hd at the house. What in the hell is the rule about this.

Moral: Am I eligible for the major networks without waivers or is it just another frustration I have to deal with?
 
The Newly Launched HD Locals in Los Angeles and New York are not available to distant subscribers. They are not coded that way and I don't see them getting in a hurry to do that. When they first turned them on they were available to subscribers which had SD distants of the particular network. That was a mistake and they quickly rectified that within 24 hours. They are apparently appproaching the completion of adding distant WB SD to markets which have no WB. With the EchoStar 10 being launched and readied for service, do not expect much to happen in the area of HD Distant Networks. The rules for CBS HD East and West apparently have not changed. That is O&O markets and waivers for all the others. There are NFL Blackouts which are not consistent with SHVERA applied to the CBS HD since it is provided by a private aggreement. They probably need to hash out these things before launching the HD Distants allowed by SHVERA.
 
So let's see then. I can get those distant networks I believe through D*. My mother in OKC has Cox and gets those networks on hd and e* doesn't. I know that hd lils is a big push this year but OKC is down on list quite a way and let's be honest, nothing happens fast in this industry. So I may get them some time next year.

Why should I stay with Dish then right now? The Voom channels are really good for conversation and bragging rights- "I have this many HD channels, what do you have?" But not very often do they really get watched at my house. Hell most of those channels are just watching HD grass grow or bicycles jumping over high definition dirt piles.

Just venting a little because I did not realize that I would not be able to get the major networks when I upgrade. That is a major factor on if I want to upgrade right now. Spending the extra 500-600 bucks on 2 hd receivers just so I can get the 2 or 3 new channels plus the voom- hd video game tournaments, holy s***; it doesn't make much since.
 
And my spelling is absolutely ridiculous. I have 10 years of education after high school and you wouldn't know it by that post.
 
What I find very confusing and irritating is that Dish has two sets of rules for the HD distants. They will provide you CBS-HD but will not provide ABC, NBC or FOX.
They have stated this so it is obviously a Dish rule and has nothing to do with the FCC. I have waivers for both NBC and FOX but Dish will not give me the HD distants.
 
***

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 1, Members: 0, Guests: 1)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 1)