Has anyone else received a letter like this from Direct?

[Esquared]

A little info; I receive the DNS signals from the east and west coast at present, both SD and HD. What I gather form the letter I just received, I'll have to make a choice between adding the LIL and keeping the east coast HD feed and losing the west coast HD feeds or losing all HD DNS feeds to keep the SD DNS feeds.
Am I reading this correctly? Any input would be welcomed.

 

[JeffreyDJ]

The way I read it, is this:

1. You have no choice on which feed you'll get. But it'll be one or the other very soon, depending on your time zone. if your EST/CST you'll get the NY feed. if you are PST/MST you'll get the LA feed.

2. To make sure you get the proper HD feed, you'll need to make sure you are subscribed to LOCAL channels (I guess you weren't before). This means you'll get your locals in SD and the national HD feed.

JJ

 

[Plywodstatebum]

Well that Sucks

 

[Esquared]

Thanks for the thoughts.
I should have said I am not presently getting the Locals. Your interpretation JJ is what I figured I was in for. Plywodstatebum, I couldn't have said it better!

 

[JeffreyDJ]

Yeah, it would suck. An extra $5 a moth for you!

 

[hiker]

I wonder who else is getting these letters? I didn't get the letter but will I lose my east DNS SD and HD channels? I have waviers I got in 2001, sub to locals package and live on west coast.

 

[dfergie]

Makes me afraid to check the mail... I would be stuck with the west feeds as I live in the Mt. zone... have enjoyed my eastern feeds for years in one form or another...Primetime24 with BUD then the distants with D*. I also do not sub to the so called "locals" that are 300 miles away...

 

[Scott Corbett]

I received the letter. I only have a waiver for CBS.

 

[fkostyn]

I recieved the letter today...... bah.... stupid nuts in congress.

 

[rkr0923]

Got the letter and now I'm PO'd
I have a "commitment" with them and their breaking that "commitment"............If I tried to downgrade my package they would try to charge me for breaking that commitment....right?
So what's the difference here?

 

[Ramy]

Got the letter and now I'm PO'd
I have a "commitment" with them and their breaking that "commitment"............If I tried to downgrade my package they would try to charge me for breaking that commitment....right?
So what's the difference here?

The commitment says they reserve the right to change anything they want and because it is the law they will have to do it anyway, even if it didn't say anything in the contract.

 

[Chuck W]

Based on the SHVERA, the only people who should be losing their distant nets(SD and HD) are people who's distant nets allow them to watch network programming BEFORE their locals actually show it. For example, people on the west coast, with east coast distant nets, can watch network programming before their local affiliates show it. This does not apply to Central with east coast distants because the shows are still shown at the same time. Other than that, SHVERA has nothing to do with why Directv is doing this.

Some have speculated that Directv is doing this to try to protect their Sunday Ticket Superfan package, so some people won't get so many games in HD for "free". Meanwhile, Directv is using SHVERA as a smokescreen, so it looks like they are not to blame. It wouldn't suprise me that Directv to stoop to this, as they seem to be looking for all ways to squeeze more $ out of their customers these days(reminds me of why I left cable).

 

[blackey bob]

Around the first of the year subscribed to the local channel package (Atlanta) and I also had Fox and CBS East and West. I subscribed to the East/West feed so that I could get those two nets in HD.

I receive a letter from "D" saying that I would have to surrender either the locals or the nationals. I chose the national feeds because of HD and also because "D" said if I surrendered the national feeds that I would most likely never get them back.

Now I get this latest letter from "D" and I will have to parse it for how I may be effected.

I suspended my sat service last month and added the HD package(with a HD DVR) to my cable until "D" emerges with whatever it is that we will get.

One might ask why I had cable...well I had to get basic cable in order to get their broadband internet service. DSL is not yet available.

I guess we will survive but I just turned 71 last Saturday and I am beginning to wonder if I will live long enough to enjoy what should be available now.

 

[dfergie]

Have not got mine yet...

 

[rkr0923]

Based on the SHVERA, the only people who should be losing their distant nets(SD and HD) are people who's distant nets allow them to watch network programming BEFORE their locals actually show it. For example, people on the west coast, with east coast distant nets, can watch network programming before their local affiliates show it. This does not apply to Central with east coast distants because the shows are still shown at the same time. Other than that, SHVERA has nothing to do with why Directv is doing this.

Some have speculated that Directv is doing this to try to protect their Sunday Ticket Superfan package, so some people won't get so many games in HD for "free". Meanwhile, Directv is using SHVERA as a smokescreen, so it looks like they are not to blame. It wouldn't suprise me that Directv to stoop to this, as they seem to be looking for all ways to squeeze more $ out of their customers these days(reminds me of why I left cable).

That's not the way D* reads it. I'm in Central Time and I got the letter. West coast feeds are 3 hours behind, lol, so i'm not seeing it from them first. I like it in case I miss something I can catch it later.
I do have to agree with the Football reason for this. I did enjoy alot of HD football last year and I will "Never" sign up for ST.........cutoff date Aug. 25, NFL around 2 weeks later..........HMMMMM

 

[shadyB]

Based on the SHVERA, the only people who should be losing their distant nets(SD and HD) are people who's distant nets allow them to watch network programming BEFORE their locals actually show it. For example, people on the west coast, with east coast distant nets, can watch network programming before their local affiliates show it. This does not apply to Central with east coast distants because the shows are still shown at the same time. Other than that, SHVERA has nothing to do with why Directv is doing this.

Some have speculated that Directv is doing this to try to protect their Sunday Ticket Superfan package, so some people won't get so many games in HD for "free". Meanwhile, Directv is using SHVERA as a smokescreen, so it looks like they are not to blame. It wouldn't suprise me that Directv to stoop to this, as they seem to be looking for all ways to squeeze more $ out of their customers these days(reminds me of why I left cable).

If they are misrepresenting the law to their customers, can we take this issue to the FCC? I would imagine that they would be very interested to know that D* is incorrectly telling their customers what their regualtions say. This is not the same as if a CSR quotes the law incorrectly, but this is a formal document that they are using to misquote the regulations. Couldn't they get into hot water over something like this?

 

[Chuck W]

That's not the way D* reads it. I'm in Central Time and I got the letter. West coast feeds are 3 hours behind, lol, so i'm not seeing it from them first. I like it in case I miss something I can catch it later.
I do have to agree with the Football reason for this. I did enjoy alot of HD football last year and I will "Never" sign up for ST.........cutoff date Aug. 25, NFL around 2 weeks later..........HMMMMM

Actually, yes, IMO that is the way Directv is reading it. However, they are using SHVERA as a cover/excuse to make their own changes, that really have nothing to do with SHVERA. This is what you fall into and IMO it has to do with the NFL and their Superfan package.

If they are misrepresenting the law to their customers, can we take this issue to the FCC?

It might be worth a try, but as someone else pointed out, the SHVERA give Directv the opportunity to offer these networks to subscriber, at their discression. It doesn't require/force them to do so. Thus if Directv wants to remove these networks from people, while it might not be popular, they can.

 

[shadyB]

It might be worth a try, but as someone else pointed out, the SHVERA give Directv the opportunity to offer these networks to subscriber, at their discression. It doesn't require/force them to do so. Thus if Directv wants to remove these networks from people, while it might not be popular, they can.

True, but in the letter they are not saying that it is their change in policy that is causing the loss of these stations, they are saying that the law is requiring them to drop them. In the letter they say "This law (SHVERA) has revised the rules to now say that we can only offer these feeds from your own time zone or the adjacent one", and "While this was not our decision, we feel it is our responsibility to keep customers informed."

I just got off the phone with DirecTV after receiving this letter yesterday. After getting the run around from the first CSR, I eventually got the supervisor. I pointed her to the FCC information sheet at fcc[dot]gov[slash]mb[slash]policy[slash]shvera[dot]doc (sorry the validator will not let me post links), and told her how it says I should be able to get DNS from both my time zone or a later one (question 7 paragraph 3).

After that she said well we can only get one DNS from now on, so they just choose to get us the closer one. I then pointed her to question 3 paragraph 2 that says "As an unserved household, you would be eligible to receive no more than two distant network affiliated signals per day for each TV network".

After that she put me on hold then came back and said that the information on the FCC's website was dated and that it had changed in the last month. She said I could call the FCC to get the latest information, and that would include only being able to get one DNS network. So I am going to give them a call and see what happens.

I also asked her about the SD feeds and she said they would eventually be going away as well (possibly at the same time). She also said that the price of the DNS feeds would be dropping to 1.50 per month per network, from the previous cost of 2.25.

I still have a feeling they are trying to cover this policy change by saying that the FCC made them do it. We will see.

 

[shadyB]

Well I got off the phone with the FCC, and they were not able to clear up the mess much either. The lady did explain to me that this is in regards to distant digital (ie. HD) signals only and not distant analog signals. She said the waivers that people had before the December 1, 2005 only cover distant analog and not distant digital stations. I know all stations on D* are digital, but she is referring to the SD distant channels when she means analog. In truth they are analog channels, they are just carried over a digital signal format.

Well anyway she said they are not required to give us more that one distant digital feed, so there may be nothing they can do. I sent her a copy of the letter and she said she would review it and let me know if there was anything further she could do. I will let everyone know if I get back any further info from the FCC, but it does not look good.

 

[colofan]

Fustration I have is that they (FCC) come out with this ruling that protects the stations that basically have not converted to providing a digital signal in their local DMA.

Example is the three major networks in Denver still do not have digital signal that can be received except in the metro area due to tower issues.

Yet the stations will not grant waivers to D* for HD only because I can still pickup the old SD signal. To me I should get the distant signal HD signal until they come on line. Oh well......