lost my local channels..Directv cant tell me anything.

[peterson44]

hey guys.. this is my first post. was hoping you guys could give me some ideas of whats going on.
I live in South Dakota. Ive been getting my local channels out of Sioux Falls, SD for 3 years. Last month i recieved a letter stating that I could no longer get my local channels, or any local channels for that matter. Ive spent about 5 hrs on the phone with Directv, and they cant tell me why I lost them. They just tell me that with my zip code i cant get them. I have a neighbor 2 miles away in a different zip code who was able to keep his locals. I live in a very rural community(pop. 200) there are only about 4 people in this zip code that this affects.
When I signed up for Directv, my installer told me I could get my locals out of Sioux Falls SD or Bismarck ND because I live on the state line, now i cant get either. I dont know what i can do about this problem, is there anything I can do?
They now have given me the network channels out of New York, which is like 2000 miles away. At least i have my network channels now, but New York news and weather really does me no good in South Dakota.
Anyway, now I'm just rambling, if you guys could give me any info on why I lost my channels, and what if any loopholes i can use to get them back, I'd appriciate it alot

thanks
peterson44 oh, my zip code is 57648 if that helps at all

 

[charper1]

The zip code DB shows 57632, just 16m away in Herreid, IS in the Sioux City DMA, but not you. Maybe there is a DMA fight going on?

 

[Mr Tony]

this doesnt make sense..both cities are in the same county (Campbell County) which is in the Sioux Falls DMA

Now Sioux Falls locals use to be on 72.5W but have since been moved to 103W so you need MPEG4 equipment (all HD recievers).,...what equipment do you have?

 

[charper1]

ahhh good point.

 

[dishrich]

I'm wondering if this could be the OP's problem - maybe he's in the portion of one of several DMA's that DirecTV was REQUIRED to realign back last November, & maybe they just now caught up on his account:

*BLAST FACTS* Local Market Ch | Field Announcements (INSTALLER | DIRECTV Technical Help Forums

HD Local Launch – New Local Market Launch for Sherman – Ada and Minot – Bismarck. Customers in these markets require a KaKu ODU and MPEG 4 receivers to receive their local channels.

 

[peterson44]

hey guys thanks for replying..... i have two recievers, both are HD.. I just had my second one installed in my bedroom a couple of months ago, so it would be new i would think.

 

[charper1]

What dish / dishes to you have?

 

[Mr Tony]

I'm wondering if this could be the OP's problem - maybe he's in the portion of one of several DMA's that DirecTV was REQUIRED to realign back last November, & maybe they just now caught up on his account:

*BLAST FACTS* Local Market Ch | Field Announcements (INSTALLER | DIRECTV Technical Help Forums

He is in the Sioux Falls market which is in the same boat (72.5 and on KA now)....as noted in post 3 after the picture

 

[peterson44]

hey guys... i dont know the exact model of the dishes i have, dont know how to tell.. one is larger and says "slimline" on it, the other one is a smaller dish. they told me i needed the smaller dish to get my local channels when i first signed up because soiux falls locals werent in HD, last year, i started getting soiux falls locals in HD, it was working great, i had locals in hd for well over a year, and then i just lost them, so i was getting them in HD.

 

[peterson44]

oh.. the 6th person i talked to on directv customer service told me that i was unable to get the channels no matter what. i offered to pay for the channels, offered to pay for all equipment upgrades so i could get them, offered to pay the lady on the phone to sneak them in there for me. she just said there was nothing i could do. couldnt tell me why i lost them, or when i might get them back, just that i lost them. ive never talked to so many confused customer service people, they didnt understand what was going on. they just kept transferring me to supervisors and different departments.

 

[Mr Tony]

The 2nd dish is for Sioux Falls when they were in SD...since they were moved you should get them

I would PM stonecold
He's a supervisor for D* and has been able to help folks here before with the issue. The only other option is to "move" but that really shouldnt have to be done as you are already in the market

 

[texasbrit]

OK, according to the DirecTV web site your zip code does not get local channels. I suspect that this is a spotbeam issue - when your locals were on the 72.5 satellite the beam covered the whole country so you could get locals. When they moved them to the satellite at 103 they went onto a spotbeam, and your location is right on the edge of the DMA - I suspect the spotbeam is not wide enough to guarantee good reception of the locals in your zipcode, so DirecTV removed them for your zip - the way this works is that if everyone in a zip/county can't get reliable reception of locals, no-one gets locals. There are a few other areas of the country where this has happened.
Even "moving" to an adjacent zipcode (which is of course against DirecTV's terms of service) might not help you, because if there is poor signal strength, you are going to have reception issues.

 

[dishrich]

OK guys, but I still believe his county got realigned from the Sioux Falls, SD DMA, TO the Minot/Bismarck, ND DMA.
When I did an address check on his zip on DISH's site (which seems to be a town called Pollock, SD) DISH claims he is in the Minot/Bismarkc, ND DMA. (I used a gas station address that is in Pollock, as you have to have a full address on DISH's site)

peterson44 - before you lost your locals, I assume you WERE able to properly receive the Sioux Falls HD locals, correct? (no signal loss, picture breakups, etc.) If so, then what I would simply do, is just "move" your physical address to an address in that adjacent zip code - maybe a friend or neighbor that does NOT already have D*. BUT BEFORE you do that, make SURE that you run a zip check on D*'s website, to make SURE it actually qualifies for the SF's locals. While tex IS correct about the Ka spots NOT reaching an entire DMA, obviously if you WERE getting the HD locals before, there is no reason you STILL wouldn't be able to (physically) get them.

Yea, it's against the TOS of D*, but it'll get you your locals back & you'll be in good company with many of us here that do the same thing.

If you are not sure about "moving", do a search on it on this board. All you need to do is pick a physical address that is a legit PO street address & use it. Make sure you tell D* to keep the billing address your actual address you are at now. Just tell them you moved to your other house & that there is already a dish there & it's all hooked up & you just need the locals turned on.

 

[texasbrit]

dishrich - you may be completely correct on this. I haven't found any up-to-date DMA listings although I know some of them have changed. Yes, if the locals were coming in OK without the 72.5 dish then it's not a spot beam issue. And unfortunately, DirecTV does not have any choice - if the DMA changes, the FCC requires DirecTV to follow the rules for the new DMA.

 

[charper1]

I agree with all except one thing; how come DirecTV can't just tell the OP "your local market has changed and by law we had to remove you" or "we had to change your DMA" or "but we can now offer you DNS services"?

 

[Mr Tony]

OK guys, but I still believe his county got realigned from the Sioux Falls, SD DMA, TO the Minot/Bismarck, ND DMA.
When I did an address check on his zip on DISH's site (which seems to be a town called Pollock, SD) DISH claims he is in the Minot/Bismarkc, ND DMA. (I used a gas station address that is in Pollock, as you have to have a full address on DISH's site)

Minot is available on D* too so dont know why they wouldnt just change him
KBME 3 21 D11 @99W
KFYR 5 21 D11 @99W
KXMB 12 21 D11 @99W
KBMY 17 21 D11 @99W
*KNDX 26 21 D11 @99W

99W spotbeam TP21

 

[texasbrit]

Minot is available on D* too so dont know why they wouldnt just change him
KBME 3 21 D11 @99W
KFYR 5 21 D11 @99W
KXMB 12 21 D11 @99W
KBMY 17 21 D11 @99W
*KNDX 26 21 D11 @99W

99W spotbeam TP21

As you say, his new DMA has locals. I tried a zip in Emmons County which is the adjacent county and DirecTV web site said it had locals. So it's either:
1. DirecTV has screwed up and not put in the correct data when he moved DMAs, or
2. It's a spotbeam coverage issue

 

[texasbrit]

OK, so it's apparently both of these things. His location has moved into a different DMA so DirecTV can't give him the previous locals (FCC rules). And he is out of spotbeam coverage for the new DMA (because of course the spotbeam was not designed to cover the additional counties). So no locals.
He can however get the DNS networks free of charge.

 

[Mr Tony]

if the OP can check the signal strength on 99W TP21 spotbeams and let us know that would help

 

[peterson44]

hey guys... i really appriciate all the replys. i guess maybe i should look into this "moving" thing.
i just talked to somone that lives out north of town today, and they are losing their channels too. funny thing is that they live in emmons county, north dakota, but have a pollock, south dakota address because its thier closest post office. They told me that they were getting locals out of bismarck and will now loose them because of the pollock zip code. so i would say that its all about the zip code. those 5 numbers are telling direct that i cant have my local channels, even though i COULD actually get them. i think thats kind of BS!(sorry about the naughty language there).