Local on Dish vs Local on Comcast... ?

[jeffmwknight]

I know you guys have all the answers.... So I was curious when doing a recent comparison of locals on Dish and locals on Comcast in the SFBayArea and it looks like a lot of the local digital subchannels are listed on Comcast's lineup. One of the local channels has switch their primary channel 38.1, that Dish carries, to RetroTV and delegated SinoTV to their other channel 38.2, which Dish doesn't carry, but I see that Comcast has both, plus 38.3. They are mapped down differently but I know these channel are there just by the station call letters and description.

My newbie question is....How is it possible for Comcast to have bandwidth to add these channels and Dish has not done so...and is Dish going to?

 

[garys]

Cable is transmitted by cable and not via satellite. It also has to do with contracts to retransmit the channel. If there is a call for a specific specialty channel, Dish would prefer to deal with a National feed when available. Cable has to go with local stations mostly due to advertising

 

[jeffmwknight]

Thanks garys. Yeah, I know Cable is transmitted by cable and not satellite but i thought that Dish has a separate satellite for locals and foreign language programming for both the eastern and western arc? I'm assuming this since when my dish 500 was installed they had to install a separate antenna for local and foreign language programming.

 

[jeffmwknight]

Oh... and yes, I agree that Comcast is bound by local contract agreements, since the local usage of land, which probably stipulates that they are obligated to add all digital local subchannels.

As you can imagine, wifey not to happy about loosing her channel.

Damn.... just wish there was a way to tap into the existing local satellite antenna and get these channels without having to go out and get a separate outdoor OTA antenna.

 

[Mr Tony]

Dish can only add ____ amount of channels per transponder. On MPEG2 (which most SD locals are on western arc) its 12. Also subchannels usually are not added unless they are affiliated with a big network (like CW or My or even Fox in some areas). Legally the subchannels do not qualify for must carry

Cable on the other hand has the bandwidth because its only for a specific area

 

[Steve Mehs]

Oh... and yes, I agree that Comcast is bound by local contract agreements, since the local usage of land, which probably stipulates that they are obligated to add all digital local subchannels.

I doubt it. It's all contracts. Here Time Warner added Cool TV and The Country Network following the resigning of their contract with Sinclair, the company that owns the local FOX and MyNet TV affiliates, who also broadcast those two subchannels here. TW does not carry Universal Sports or RTV both which are subchannels of our NBC affiliate as that contract hasn’t come up for renewal lately.

 

[jimdandyvi]

Cable systems have the bandwidth advantage. Most modern cable systems are built out to 900 Mhz. It takes 6 Mhz for a standard analog channel and 12 Mhz for a HD channel. With compression you can get twenty SD digital channels into 6 Mhz. With new technology maybe even more.

Allowing bandwidth for HSD , Telephony and other overhead a cable company has room for at least 500 HD video channels or 1000 SD video channels. This and they don't have to carry many duplicate sets of network affiliates as each cable system is a separate market or at worst case several sets in a large system plus some other channels that can claim must carry status if they meet certain signal profiles and even then the channels can be restricted to just certain areas/headends.

Jim

 

[jeffmwknight]

Thanks all for the explanations.
By the way... has anyone used one of these?

 

[MikeD-C05]

Thanks all for the explanations.
By the way... has anyone used one of these?

Yes, I have used a terk 44 for years ,going back to 2003 when I first got an hd tv . It is easy to install yourself and you have to adjust the clip on antenna to get a sweet spot for all your channels , but it works. IT works best if you are within 25 miles from your broadcast towers. Also no metal buildings should be around it or you will suffer multi-path rejection. My first terk was on a pole near my metal portable building ,right in front of it. I always had problems with one ota channel. After Hurricane Rita destroyed my dish and antenna and even portable building, I installed a new pole away in the open back yard open to the sky with no trees. My new dish and antenna suffer from no multi-path rejection now. I also moved my new building down from the house.

There is a lot of prejudice against Terk on this and other web boards, but if you don't want to put up a 1950's aeiral antenna 100 ft tower in the sky, it works well. One coax already run into your house, split into tv antenna /satellite using diplexors inside the house. Works on upto 4 tvs in your house , but most DISH installs only work with 3 runs to the house. Also you can get one at Radio Shack or Target even for 59.99 to 69.99 . My dad has the same setup I do , I installed it for him. WE both get all the locals ota channels and sub channels in our area.

 

[AntiMoz]

It didnt work well for me in a rural area outside the 25mi. the poster above mentioned.

 

[jeffmwknight]

Hmmmm.... then this might not work since SF Sutro Tower is about 60 mi from where I am.

 

[andy_horton]

Hmmmm.... then this might not work since SF Sutro Tower is about 60 mi from where I am.

You can try it if you are out in the open.....but you may need to find another alternative. If you can get to a Best Buy store, they have a really neat antenna (on a seperate pole) that works well for around 60-75 dollars. It looks a stereo speaker. A box with a circle in front of mesh. But really nice design and looks really nice. You know, "fits in" with other things like sat dishes. It is black and grey. Hope this helps.