Free Previews Discussion Thread - June 2022

[pattykay]

Okay, let's try this one more time. Here is the new thread for listing all of the current month's Free Previews. I will not be pretentious enough to try to enforce any No Discussion rule. Please try to keep any discussion on-topic, as people read these threads for updated information about any new Free Previews. If anyone spots a new Free Preview before I do, you are encouraged to post the name of the channel, the channel number(s) and dates (if any are announced) in this thread. Thank you for your interest, and have a wonderful day!

With the preamble out of the way, I will be dividing the list of free channels into several categories, to try to make the list as comprehensive as possible.


Free Previews officially announced on Dish's website:

Free Channel Previews | MyDISH​

​

Existing preview from May:​

135 BBC America 5/21 - 6/18​

Kids' Binge-A-Palooza:​

​

169 Nick Jr. 6/1 - 6/30​

170 Nickelodeon 6/1 - 6/30​

179 Discovery Family 6/1 - 6/30​

181 TeenNick 6/1 - 6/30​

168 Disney Jr. 6/1 - 6/30​

174 Disney XD 6/1 - 6/30​

178 Nicktoons 6/1 - 6/30 (Note: Nicktoons preview has not actually started yet as of the time of this posting.)​

On Demand subscription channels​

(require internet-connected Hopper/Joey/Wally receiver)​

296-43 Hopster 6/1 - 6/30​

296-52 Kartoon Channel 6/1 - 6/30​

Additional free previews for June:​

124 BET 6/1 - 6/30​

187 Hallmark Movies & Mysteries 6/1 - 6/30​

Channels that are always free on deactivated receivers:

(verified using a deactivated 512 receiver)​

To get these channels on a deactivated receiver, it may require that it still have the older-model purple G3 Smart Card. This also may only work on certain models of receiver.​

Otherwise, these channels are available on every activated receiver, regardless of programming package.​

International channels:​

• These channels require a dish aimed at the 118 satellite.
• Channel numbers listed are for ViP and legacy SD receivers. On receivers with the Hopper interface, use the channel number in (parentheses) instead.

9893 TVPI (611-11)​

General Entertainment:​

82 FETV​

259 INSP​

Religious:​

​

257 SBN​

​

Shopping:​

71 QVC​

72 VALU​

73 QVC3​

74 HSN​

81 ICTV​

83 JTV​

85 EPIC​

86 MALL​

87 SMART​

94 RENEW​

95 DEAL​

104 VALU​

123 MALL​

134 SHPHQ​

137 QVC​

220 MALL​

221 EXTRA​

224 EPIC​

225 SALE​

226 HSN2​

227 JTV​

228 YOUTV​

229 GEMS​

230 ICTV​

255 QVC2​

275 YOUTV​

276 SMART​

278 DEAL​

282 VALU​

287 HSN​

883 VALU​

​

Dish Info Channels:​

​

101 DISH 101​

102 DISH Studio​

103 PREVW​

349 DISH Studio​

500 ONPPV​

That is all! Congratulations, you have made it all the way to the end of the current list of free channels on Dish! I will do my best to keep this list as up-to-date as possible, and to post a new updated thread each month. Thanks for reading!

 

[pattykay]

The listing on channel 103 SD has two important differences from the above list. (Dates in the above list are from the free previews page on the mydish website.)

135 BBC America preview is listed as 5/21 - 6/16, which would end it two days early.
285 Dog TV 6/4 - 6/11

As of 7:45 AM Eastern, the Nicktoons preview (listed in both places) has still not started yet.

 

[pattykay]

178 Nicktoons 6/1 - 6/30 (Note: Nicktoons preview has not actually started yet as of the time of this posting.)

As of 7:45 AM Eastern, the Nicktoons preview (listed in both places) has still not started yet.

As of 8:10 AM Eastern, Nicktoons preview is now on. Enjoy!

 

[pattykay]

As the final piece of the Kids' Binge-A-Palooza puzzle, the new Kids' Binge-A-Palooza app is now available on channels 148, 306, and 822.

 

[pattykay]

Channels that are always free on deactivated receivers:
...
Shopping:
...134 SHPHQ

Update: no more ShopHQ. Now there is an Info channel about the dispute on channel 134. This Info channel is red in the guide. So, ShopHQ may no longer be free, even if the channel does eventually return.

 

[pattykay]

Free Previews officially announced on Dish's website:

Free Channel Previews | MyDISH
...
135 BBC America 5/21 - 6/18

The listing on channel 103 SD has two important differences from the above list. (Dates in the above list are from the free previews page on the mydish website.)

135 BBC America preview is listed as 5/21 - 6/16, which would end it two days early.

Apparently the 6/16 listing on channel 103 SD was the correct one, since the BBC America preview ended today. The Free Previews page on the website still says 6/18, which it had said ever since this preview was originally announced in May.

 

[N6BY]

Showtime is doing a free preview now on Dish. I think it will last until Monday.

I don't know why Dish didn't announce it in their monthly email newsletter? I happened to be paging through my program guide and saw it.

 

[jerryez]

I just checked and I am getting Showtime also, but I went to the Dish site and the preview is not listed anywhere that I could find. I hope it stays on for the weekend.

 

[N6BY]

I just checked and I am getting Showtime also, but I went to the Dish site and the preview is not listed anywhere that I could find. I hope it stays on for the weekend.

According to this page: Free Previews it's from June 24-27. So we should be good until Monday night.

 

[WinterWinds]

Pattykay,

Thank you so much for posting these. You're awesome!

Is there a way to see the next month's free previews early?
Or do you have to wait for it to be posted by Dish Network on July 1st?

Thanks again!

 

[pattykay]

Pattykay,

Thank you so much for posting these. You're awesome!

Is there a way to see the next month's free previews early?
Or do you have to wait for it to be posted by Dish Network on July 1st?

Thanks again!

There used to be a way to see the free previews as soon as they start (the HD feeds anyway) in James Long's uplink reports:

Uplink Activity Updates

I would look for any posts involving "Package Flag Changes" (this does not always indicate a free preview, but usually does though) and then go through the guide to verify that I am actually receiving those channels. SD-only channels do not show up in the uplink reports when previews start (unless they are usually "Hidden" and need to be un-hidden for the preview) so I would also look for any additional free previews at that time, not just the listed channels. At least the uplink reports let me know when to look. Now, unfortunately, there are no more uplink reports to give this kind of early heads-up.

However, Dish is now nice enough to make most of their regularly-scheduled previews correspond to an entire calendar month. This was not always the case, and there used to be some overlap of the old previews into the next month before the new previews would start. Back then, the bulk of the previews would usually start and end on Wednesdays, but not always. Dish would also usually announce the previews and dates in advance. That is no longer the case.

Now, since the previews tend to start the day before the date that is actually listed for them, it is relatively easy to simply go through the guide on the last day of each month, and look for any changes. Since Dish does not list these previews until the first day of each month (after the previews have already started) I list them in these threads, to give everyone a one-day heads-up before Dish officially acknowledges the new previews. Be sure to look for my post in a couple of days to list the new previews in this thread, and then look for my new thread in July after Dish updates their website listing.

And of course, if James Long ever brings back the uplink reports, you can monitor those to look for the most up-to-date changes also.

 

[WinterWinds]

There used to be a way to see the free previews as soon as they start (the HD feeds anyway) in James Long's uplink reports:

Uplink Activity Updates

I would look for any posts involving "Package Flag Changes" (this does not always indicate a free preview, but usually does though) and then go through the guide to verify that I am actually receiving those channels. SD-only channels do not show up in the uplink reports when previews start (unless they are usually "Hidden" and need to be un-hidden for the preview) so I would also look for any additional free previews at that time, not just the listed channels. At least the uplink reports let me know when to look. Now, unfortunately, there are no more uplink reports to give this kind of early heads-up.

However, Dish is now nice enough to make most of their regularly-scheduled previews correspond to an entire calendar month. This was not always the case, and there used to be some overlap of the old previews into the next month before the new previews would start. Back then, the bulk of the previews would usually start and end on Wednesdays, but not always. Dish would also usually announce the previews and dates in advance. That is no longer the case.

Now, since the previews tend to start the day before the date that is actually listed for them, it is relatively easy to simply go through the guide on the last day of each month, and look for any changes. Since Dish does not list these previews until the first day of each month (after the previews have already started) I list them in these threads, to give everyone a one-day heads-up before Dish officially acknowledges the new previews. Be sure to look for my post in a couple of days to list the new previews in this thread, and then look for my new thread in July after Dish updates their website listing.

And of course, if James Long ever brings back the uplink reports, you can monitor those to look for the most up-to-date changes also.

Awesome response. Thank you immensely.

 

[pattykay]

Be sure to look for my post in a couple of days to list the new previews in this thread...

New free previews started today:

109 LMN
119 FYI
194 Destination America

Regarding the discussion about how to tell when the new free previews have started, I happened to be watching this channel...

International channels:
...
9893 TVPI (611-11)

...before 8:00 AM Eastern, and it was only showing a technical difficulties slate. I went through the guide, and the new free previews had not started yet. I left it on that channel, waiting to see when the technical difficulties would be resolved. (I like the background music they play on the slate channels.) Shortly after 8:00 AM, normal programming returned. Figuring that Dish might have changed something in the uplink, I went through the guide again, and saw that the above-listed free previews had started.

So, by sheer coincidence and lucky guesswork, I was able to watch one of the existing free channels to get a heads-up about exactly when the new previews started. As noted in post number 3, the Nicktoons preview at the beginning of this month also started shortly after 8:00 AM Eastern. So, I think I have narrowed down the exact timing for when to look for these changes, even without the benefit of an uplink report.

 

[Tampa8]

To go along with the post by WinterWinds
Free previews at one time started just after midnight Eastern time. Also at one time they changed with the weekly uplink changes that month so not always on the 1st. I have not kept track of it but sometimes channels would last well past the time of free preview.
I think DISH, rather than list the actual end time for each channel lumped them together but some were meant to go longer. I realized that when I saw National Geographic advertised for free on Direct TV for 6 weeks - a channel that lasted on DISH well past the others in preview.

And thanks for all the info.

 

[pattykay]

Free previews at one time started just after midnight Eastern time.

The one thing that is consistent these days is that the previews almost always end at midnight Pacific time (3:00 AM Eastern time) on the day after the listed date. The only exceptions are when channels have a show that starts before 3:00 AM, and lasts until after that time. Dish will not end the preview in the middle of a show. For example, both Nicktoons and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries were still in preview while I was typing the new thread this morning. Nicktoons had a show that started at 2:55 AM, so that preview ended at the end of that episode. Hallmark Movies & Mysteries ended at 4:00 AM, at the end of the movie on that channel.

I have not kept track of it but sometimes channels would last well past the time of free preview.

And of course, some previews either start late or end early. (Or perhaps Dish made a mistake when the dates were originally announced.) That happened last month with the BBC America preview ending two days early, although there actually was a more up-to-date listing with the correct date. However, the original incorrect date also remained listed on the website. That is the purpose of these threads: to point out any inconsistencies in Dish's free preview listings, and to list any previews that they don't announce.

 

[WinterWinds]

I heard that some of the music channels were inadvertently provided as "free channels" for a while before Dish fixed it. I wish I had a few free music channels with my Flex Pack.

We have a home SiriusXM unit that we pay $5.99 per month for (promotional price) and I would switch it to the Dish SXM Pack, but Dish's pack doesn't include the talk/news channels.

 

[TheKrell]

I heard that some of the music channels were inadvertently provided as "free channels" for a while before Dish fixed it.

All of the Dish Music channels, as opposed to the SiriusXM channels, used to be FTA! I bought a Twinhan satellite tuner for my PC, got the most excellent freeware DVB Dream software going, and prepared to record hours and hours of it. Some genius even came out with some software that could scan the titles for changes, and split up the gigantic mp2 that resulted. Unfortunately, I got about two songs recorded before Dish went dark on those channels as well.

 

[pattykay]

I heard that some of the music channels were inadvertently provided as "free channels" for a while before Dish fixed it.

You are correct. Here is the list of free music channels that we were getting at this time last year:

Audio music channels:

892 Viva Mariachi
927 City Lights
939 Classic Soul
941 Viva Mariachi
951 Country Gold
967 Jazz Traditions
972 Intermezzo
974 Swing Kings
6014* SiriusXM Coffee House
6049* SiriusXM Soul Town
6058* SiriusXM Prime Country
6063* SiriusXM The Message
6076* SiriusXM Symphony Hall

*channel numbers for ViP or legacy SD receivers. Hopper-interface receivers: replace the 60 with 099- to get the SiriusXM channel on collapsible channel 99.

However, I wouldn't say for sure that this was inadvertent. We never got an official statement from Dish either way. This preview (which included most of the channels that had free holiday music in 2019) lasted all the way from then until late October 2021.

It is quite telling that Dish did not add any additional holiday music free preview channels for the 2020 holiday season. That is also the year that Dish started the collapsible mapdown channel 98 for the holiday music channels, which was also not turned on as a free preview. So, it seems to me that if Dish had not been aware that these channels were still being provided for free, they would have turned on the preview for the part-time channels that are only carried during the holiday season. Dish's inaction at this time implies to me that they were aware that we were already getting free holiday music from these additional channels, so there was no need to start a new free preview.

However, the timing for the removal of this free preview in 2021 tells quite the opposite story. It seems that the preview ending was timed specifically to avoid providing holiday music for free, as some of these channels switch format in early November of each year. I thought it was funny that Dish was finally ending the extended preview at that time, since we were (presumably) about to get those same channels back in free preview again for the holiday season. That preview never came.

My guess would be that something changed contractually between Dish and the music channels. Perhaps Dish was no longer allowed to provide these channels as a preview part-time. It was a choice between either providing the channels full-time as part of the regular package, or not providing them at all if the subscriber does not have a package that includes them. Dish's extended preview seems to me to have been a workaround, so that Dish could claim that these particular channels were included in every package full-time, to ensure that we could still get the free holiday music the following year (2020). Then, either the music licensing rights got so expensive that Dish did not want to continue paying for them, or Dish hit the maximum amount of time that these channels were allowed to be provided for free under the contract. So, no free holiday music for 2021, and probably no free music this year either, unless something changes in the meantime.