Local station availability (Connecticut)

[NutmegCT]

Good morning all.

My Dish subscription provides lots of stations (altho' seems half of them are shopping networks ...), including local Connecticut stations (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS, etc.)

But when local stations switched from analog to digital, many split up into "sub-stations", not all of which are carried by Dish.

Connecticut Public Television (CPTV) had been on station 24. Now there are 3 CPTV sub-stations, on 24.1, 24.2, 24.3. Only 24.1 is carried on Dish.

I called Dish Customer Support and was told "24.1 is the only one available to Dish".

I called CPTV and was told "you can get all three of our stations on satellite or cable". I asked them which satellite and cable carriers had all three, and was told "You have to ask them".

Seems there's a little game being played.

So, how can I get the *other* local stations on my Dish connection? Dish says it's up to the local station; local station says they're already available to Dish. In a rural area, direct to air broadcasts are impossible to receive.

Thanks.
Tom in Connecticut
PS - I'd like to see BBC World News Station 24/7 too. Not BBC World, but BBC news. That's another topic here.

 

[Tampa8]

Dish does not carry most of the sub channels for any market. To get those you need an antenna. If you have any of the newer Receivers, you can integrate any channels you get from an antenna into the receiver and it will show in the guide. However the guide in most cases will not show what program is on for the sub channels. But you can record them and watch them just like the satellite channels. If you can not get them with an antenna at this time there is no way unless those channels are online. I don't expect dish to get any of the sub channels anytime soon. They already are moving things around to provide other programming because of little space left on the satellites.

As for BBC, see my posts here; http://www.satelliteguys.us/242036-bbc-world-news-tv-channel-8.html

 

[Peter Parker]

Neither DISH nor DirecTV show the subchannels. there are a few exceptions for various reasons but darned few. If the subchannels are important to you and you cannot receive them OTA cable is your best bet.

 

[NutmegCT]

Thanks Tampa. I've tried the antenna route, and found there are *no* digital channels available to me here in eastern Connecticut (zip 06242). Unless I lived at the top of a hill anyway.

Keep up the good work on BBC news channel. I swear I sometimes wished I lived in the UK; their programming so often seems much better than ours. I can live without the usual prime-time explosions, skin, gore, and shopping shows we get.

Thanks.
Tom

 

[tkwasny]

Thanks Tampa. I've tried the antenna route, and found there are *no* digital channels available to me here in eastern Connecticut (zip 06242). Unless I lived at the top of a hill anyway.

Keep up the good work on BBC news channel. I swear I sometimes wished I lived in the UK; their programming so often seems much better than ours. I can live without the usual prime-time explosions, skin, gore, and shopping shows we get.

Thanks.
Tom

I get 3, 20, 24, 30 and 61 excellant in Moosup. 3, 20 are sig strength 70's. 24, 30 and 61 are high 90's to 100. Extreme deep fringe UHF antenna, ultra low noise UHF (only) preamp, rotor all on my garage roof about 25-30 feet off the ground. All UHF only. RG6 only since everything is UHF.

 

[TonyT@DISH Network]

I called Dish Customer Support and was told "24.1 is the only one available to Dish".

I called CPTV and was told "you can get all three of our stations on satellite or cable". I asked them which satellite and cable carriers had all three, and was told "You have to ask them".

Seems there's a little game being played.

There are always a couple of issues with regard to local channels, including sub-channels, that are considered when "carrying" them: the size of the market, the cost to the Pay TV providers for rebroadcasting rights, and the ability for the station itself to supply a solid signal to the Pay TV providers. I have been researching many local channel issues and that is the information I have found. To expand on that, the FCC does not require a station that has poor signal to be carried, as it can raise "questions" as to the quality of service the Pay TV provider is capable of.

All that being said, I am also working on OTA issues at the moment and hope to be able to get clear information to you guys soon.

 

[dwarren2]

Thanks Tampa. I've tried the antenna route, and found there are *no* digital channels available to me here in eastern Connecticut (zip 06242). Unless I lived at the top of a hill anyway.
Thanks.
Tom

There is another alternative and it's called cable. It's a little known fact that all cable companies are required to carry a super basic tier that costs around $10/mo. It consists of mainly your locals and subcarriers and a few other channels. In my case I can receive 2 sets of locals with my ots and with the super basic a third on QAM.

 

[Tampa8]

NutmegCT, Yes, with the hills here, it can be very challenging to get over the air channels if you are not on top of one. You might actually have more luck getting stations from either Providence or Springfield, and then getting some of the same secondary channels as the CT ones.