H3 OTA Antenna and Local Channels Question

sabre170

Well-Known SatelliteGuys Member
Original poster
Oct 24, 2013
25
6
Dallas, TX
Ok,

So as I am assuming is the case for everyone, Dish has started charging me $10/month for local channels. I live in Dallas, TX so all of those local channels that I am paying for I can undoubtedly get using an OTA Antenna (I don't one one, but I live in the city and would be shocked if I can't get them all).

Having said that, I'd love to stop paying that $10/mo, but have a few concerns/questions I'm hoping someone can help me out with.

1) When unsubscribed from Local channels and use an OTA Antenna for those same channels, how do they show up on the Guide? Do shows still show up the same????

2) How does my DVR recording capability work with the OTA Antenna local channels? Specifically timers.......will I have to recreate all my timers for the new OTA Antenna? Will timers still work and record in the same manner?

3) Prime Time Any Time.....does this still work with the OTA Antenna? I'm guessing no.

4) Are there any disadvantages that I'm not thinking about with this change? I watch a LOT of shows on the prime time channels that have the DVR Record via timers and then I watch days later. It is very important that I'm still able to do this.....just want to make sure I'm not making a mistake.

Thoughts from the group here???
 
All valid questions about using OTA, though you should be aware that, unless something has changed very recently, Dish won't allow you to drop the locals unless you have the Flex Package. They only broke out the package to show how much of the programming package you were paying for locals, not to make them a separate package that could be added or removed.

To your questions:

1. While some with the Flex Pack have reported keeping guide data for the OTA locals, most seem to have reported losing their guide data for those channels. As long as you are subscribed to locals, you have both channels shown in the guide (for duplicated satellite-provided locals), plus you may even get guide for some of the OTA subchannels that Dish does not carry (MeTV, AntennaTV, etc.). Its very hit or miss as to which subchannels in each marked get guide data.

2. You'll have to make new timers for the OTA local channels. Otherwise, the new timers for the OTA channels work in the same manner as timers for the Sat channels.

3. Nope, no PTAT. You only get one channel at a time due to only being a single OTA Tuner. Dual OTA tuner functionality of the newer OTA Adapter is coming "soon".

4. If you record a LOT of stuff on locals, sounds like you may not be able to survive with only one (or even two) OTA tuners. There are still advantages to adding OTA if you are in an area where you can get reception easily. Picture Quality is often better via OTA compared to the sat-provided locals, plus the OTA subchannels Dish doesn't carry, if you enjoy the programming they offer.
 
Thanks! Great info. I'm not using Flex as there are sports channels that I watch that would be lost as not available via flex.

Guess I had made a false assumption on the option to ditch the local channel option.

More so, option 4 above is a very good point. There are a lot of prime time shows that air at the same time that both get recorded....that would be lost. No bueno.

Looks like I'm stuck where I am at now. c'est la vie

As always this forum has proven to be a valuable asset! Thanks!!!!
 
Check out the Tablo unit for OTA viewing and recording with an antenna. There are 2 and 4 tuner versions. I use the 2 tuner and it works great. Also has a program guide.
 
Ok,

So as I am assuming is the case for everyone, Dish has started charging me $10/month for local channels.

You are not paying more now than before for Locals with anything but the Flex pack. DISH simply put a separate line item now that shows what we are paying for locals. They dropped the price of the packages by $10 when they made that line item change. (Some do have confusion because the net difference was $5 more - that's because the annual price increase happened also) Bottom line you are not paying for more for locals now than before. You can prove it by looking at a bill just before the line item was made for locals and after. You will see the bottom line is you starting paying $5 more because of the annual increase.

Example;
Before $79.99
After $74.99 and line item showing $10 locals. Had there been no annual increase at the same time it would have shown $69.00 and $10 Locals.
 
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I'd like to get some input from other members with flex pack regarding the OTA channels. When you cancelled your locals did you loose the local guide programming?
 
I'd like to get some input from other members with flex pack regarding the OTA channels. When you cancelled your locals did you loose the local guide programming?
I don't have Flex but the posts about it were they did not lose the info. Would be good to find someone who recently dropped locals with Flex and confirm....
 
I have the Flex package and started with locals, then later dropped them. I kept guide data. The key appears to be having locals first. This was quite a while ago so I don't qualify for the "recently" part.

Regarding question #4, I had to add the locals package back because things weren't getting recorded due to only having a single tuner.

Sent from my HTC6535LVW using Tapatalk
 
Ok,

So as I am assuming is the case for everyone, Dish has started charging me $10/month for local channels. I live in Dallas, TX so all of those local channels that I am paying for I can undoubtedly get using an OTA Antenna (I don't one one, but I live in the city and would be shocked if I can't get them all).

Having said that, I'd love to stop paying that $10/mo, but have a few concerns/questions I'm hoping someone can help me out with.

1) When unsubscribed from Local channels and use an OTA Antenna for those same channels, how do they show up on the Guide? Do shows still show up the same????

2) How does my DVR recording capability work with the OTA Antenna local channels? Specifically timers.......will I have to recreate all my timers for the new OTA Antenna? Will timers still work and record in the same manner?

3) Prime Time Any Time.....does this still work with the OTA Antenna? I'm guessing no.

4) Are there any disadvantages that I'm not thinking about with this change? I watch a LOT of shows on the prime time channels that have the DVR Record via timers and then I watch days later. It is very important that I'm still able to do this.....just want to make sure I'm not making a mistake.

Thoughts from the group here???
check www.tvfool.com for your ability to receive OTA, being close to Cedar Hill broadcast towers doesn't eliminate interference.
 
You are not paying more now than before for Locals with anything but the Flex pack. DISH simply put a separate line item now that shows what we are paying for locals. They dropped the price of the packages by $10 when they made that line item change. (Some do have confusion because the net difference was $5 more - that's because the annual price increase happened also) Bottom line you are not paying for more for locals now than before. You can prove it by looking at a bill just before the line item was made for locals and after. You will see the bottom line is you starting paying $5 more because of the annual increase.

Example;
Before $79.99
After $74.99 and line item showing $10 locals. Had there been no annual increase at the same time it would have shown $69.00 and $10 Locals.
I don't know how many times I have to correct this. Dish never dropped the price of the package by $10. The decrease was only $5. Many people on this site (including you if I recall correctly) praised Dish for doing these changes at the same time, so subscribers would put the blame for the resulting increase squarely on the local broadcasters. If that is the case, then you shouldn't turn around and say that there is no additional cost for the locals now. Which is it? You can't have it both ways.

In your example, if the increase had happened first, and the price went up to $84.99 for at least one billing cycle before being broken down into $74.99 + $10 locals, then I would say your interpretation would be correct about there being no additional cost for the locals. (Dish never lowered the price of that package to $69.99 before increasing it to $74.99)
 
I just got burned on this - I was pretty sure you can drop locals as part of any package.

I just bought a dish ota adapter for like $60 on ebay the dual tuner one.

now im out $60 for no reason -- argh!!!!
 
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I just got burned on this - I was pretty sure you can drop locals as part of any package.

I just bought a dish ota adapter for like $60 on ebay the dual tuner one.

now im out $60 for no reason -- argh!!!!

If you aren't able to return it, there are at least some advantages to having the OTA capabilities, like I mentioned back in post 3.
 
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I just got burned on this - I was pretty sure you can drop locals as part of any package.

I just bought a dish ota adapter for like $60 on ebay the dual tuner one.

now im out $60 for no reason -- argh!!!!

Would you take $30 for it? You know, cut your losses and all? Shipped, of course.
 
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If I don't pay for locals with Flex , I won't be able to get the local listings using the OTA dongle? What if I add locals for a couple a days and then drop locals, would I get the local listings for OTA then?
 
I have Flex and when I added an OTA adapter, after the scan the guide populated for the channels it detected (ones with reliable signal). My issue is: I bought a "dual" tuner and the Hop3 only uses one. Is this a bug?
 
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