How does Dish uplink locals?

[ClarkGable]

Sorry if this has been asked, but I couldn't find the answer.

How does Dish get locals from the TV station to their uplink center? I never really thought about it before, but since getting HD I noticed that our CBS affiliate drops out occasionally. We've had a hiccup or two when recording the CBS HD local on our 722k. We didn't have problems with the same station on a 625 in standard def. We also had the yellow screen on our CBS HD local on one occasion when weather should not have been a factor. Granted, the HD locals are on 129 and the SD are on 110, but signals are good for both satellites.

So how does Dish get their locals?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Some channels are received off air and then transmitted back to DISH via fiber, while other channels are sent directly from the station via fiber to DISH.

 

[jerryez]

From how many places are the locals uplinked for the 210 markets.

 

[cditty]

In my market, Dish leased a space downtown on a tower. They put multiple facing directional antenna's on it and receive them off the air, then fiber back to uplink.

Direct is launching here in August. They paid to co-locate at the CBS/ABC affiliate. They will get those two feeds directly (no pun intended) and receive the others via an antenna on the CBC/ABC tower, then fiber back to the uplink.

 

[harshness]

There are at least six that I can recall:

• Cheyenne, WY
• Gilbert, AZ
• Monee, IL
• Mt. Jackson, VA
• New Braunfels, TX
• Spokane, WA

 

[mike123abc]

The best links are of course deals where they get a fiber feed directly from the station. The OTA ones have weather problems just like it was on your roof. The OTA method of course would be a lot less expensive than running fiber out to the station offices.

 

[jerryez]

So, are my Mobile/Pensacola locals sent by fiber to Texas or are they uplinked from the Mobile/Pensacola area.