I assume the problems with receiving 119 in the NE were a big part of the reason Dish made the very expensive decision to go with a second arc for the eastern half of the US.
If Line of site was an issue, then why even bother with 129. It’s worse then 119 in most areas.
As far as Eastern arc, it really serves 2 purposes...
#1 Since dish networks satellites are self insured, it kind of provides a backup if anything where to happen to 119/110.
Keep in mind Dish has absolutely no insurance on any of their satellites. If the satellite fails, it gets hit by space junk or an alien space craft takes it, Dish is SCREWED!
After Charlie tried to file a fraudulent insurance claim for Echostar 4, no insurance carrier will insure dish satellites. The best they can get is launch insurance if the satellite blows up while being launched.
#2 it provides additional bandwidth for more locals
Dual line of site is nice, considering markets such as Detroit where locals are on both arcs. However Detroit is not by design, it’s a result of them screwing us over and trying crap such as putting our locals on 118.7