Nesn HD and other RSN Info

[Mark_]

Well, just got off the phone with a rep at customer retention (apparently the smartest people at directv) and I asked him about the rumor speculating July 1st NESN HD and several others were to be added. He said "Wow" cant believe the word got out, and said that FOX Sports South and Turner South (My Local RSN's) would be available, as well as a lot of others on Saturday. He said that it seemed you could get NESN HD from anywhere with sports pack, only the game itself would be blacked out unless you were in that specific market. So im asking you guys do you think that if you acquired the extra innings package you could watch the HD games on NESN if the extra innings feed was from NESN?, and if its true with the sports pack, how awesome would that be.

Mark

 

[PaulieORF]

Well, just got off the phone with a rep at customer retention (apparently the smartest people at directv) and I asked him about the rumor speculating July 1st NESN HD and several others were to be added. He said "Wow" cant believe the word got out, and said that FOX Sports South and Turner South (My Local RSN's) would be available, as well as a lot of others on Saturday. He said that it seemed you could get NESN HD from anywhere with sports pack, only the game itself would be blacked out unless you were in that specific market. So im asking you guys do you think that if you acquired the extra innings package you could watch the HD games on NESN if the extra innings feed was from NESN?, and if its true with the sports pack, how awesome would that be.

Mark

It's hard to believe that DirecTV would put NESN HD up in MPEG 2 CONUS on any of it's three bandwidth-starved satellites (101, 110, 119). It's hard to say that someone who works at DirecTV who gave you this info would be wrong, however. My gut tells me that NESN HD will be an MPEG 4 channel added to the areas who are in the Northeast spotbeam only, thus not available on Extra Innings.

 

[charper1]

... It's hard to say that someone who works at DirecTV who gave you this info would be wrong, however....

Don't say that, many times they mis-quote or just don't have all the detailed tech facts; yet.

I also agree that they would be spot beamed and MPEG4.

 

[Mark_]

sorry yes they will be in MPEG 4, and available of course to those who only have the h20 and 5lnb dish. I agree with you on the spotbeat thing, I thought the same thing, but I just listened to what he had to say. but yes all the RSNs added on July 1st will be MPEG4, and by sports pack I meant the 9.99 thing not mlb extra innings, but I wonder if more games will be in HD on channels 95/96 with the launch of these new RSNs.

 

[PaulieORF]

sorry yes they will be in MPEG 4, and available of course to those who only have the h20 and 5lnb dish. I agree with you on the spotbeat thing, I thought the same thing, but I just listened to what he had to say. but yes all the RSNs added on July 1st will be MPEG4

Did he mention where in our guide we might look for NESN HD on Saturday?

 

[Mark_]

Paulie I asked him the same thing, and he said he was not sure at this time.

 

[boston area dtv]

Ok I did the goofy thing too. I called today pretending to be a new sub. Told the CSR that I was making up my mind between D* and E*.

I told her I heard that D* was going to have NESN HD July first.

She told me the memo they received this morning was that NESN HD would be added in July but could not give a specific date.

Then she added that all of the Fox Sports RSN's will be HD by August.

 

[bgilga]

I need NESN bad. The Sox and Bruins in HD? If they include it to EI and CI customers, I will be thrilled. I'll take 1 or 2 games a week. If that is the case, where can I get a new dish. I already have an H-20, but I live in Scranton, PA. My locals will be added late this year or early next year.

 

[Mark_]

call up directv, I heard when I called today its 100 bucks for an H20 and a dish install.

 

[raoul5788]

Did he mention where in our guide we might look for NESN HD on Saturday?

I don't know about NESN, but I think the other rsn's will still show on 95/96, since they won't be full time channels. If they are spotbeamed, D* can assign whatever channel they want to them, having more than one 95/96. At least it makes sense to me!

 

[lovswr]

I also think that there are rumours floating around about the AT-9 replacement. Late summer/early fall if my memory servess. Now if they get the MPEG-4 DVR, these regional channels (MPEG-4 only?), & the new dish, then maybe the current E* HD lead won't hurt (quite) so bad.

 

[raoul5788]

I also think that there are rumours floating around about the AT-9 replacement. Late summer/early fall if my memory servess. Now if they get the MPEG-4 DVR, these regional channels (MPEG-4 only?), & the new dish, then maybe the current E* HD lead won't hurt (quite) so bad.

I wanted to wait for the new Slimline dish myself, thinking the AT9 was too big and ugly, but it's not THAT much bigger than a P3 dish.

 

[sceavis]

if we do get nesn

what package would it fall under sports, locals or HD?

 

[PaulieORF]

what package would it fall under sports, locals or HD?

If you're asking which categories it would fall under in the H20 guide, I'd say sports and HD. As far as just programming packages go, I will also guess that it would come at no additional charge with your regular Total Choice package, but it certainly is possible that you will need the HD package to get it as well.

 

[dan8379]

I checked last night and there seem to be new channels around the 645 range that read FSS-a, etc. They don't have any listings, (it says To Be Announced) so this could be where they are putting the HD versions of the RSN's.

 

[wyatt9696]

take this for what it's worth, i just spoke to a manager at NESN, and asked about the rumor of NESN HD going live tomorrow(7/1) and he said it's not true, but they are in negotiations with DTV but all the contractual stuff isn't done yet. he also said he heard of some other rsn's possibly going live tomorrow, but didn't have any info on them. whether this info is true or not is beyond me. i'm just passing on what i've heard.

 

[bgilga]

All week, channel 96 had Devil Rays at Nationals on the program guide. This morning, channel 96 was gone. It was not on the guide at all. If you type in 96, it tells you channel not available, but the same channel you were on remains on. Something is definately going down tomorrow, I just hope we are all not disappointed.

 

[Questioner]

Yes, I noticed channel 96 was gone too, though I wouldn't read too much into that, they drop games from 95, 96 and add others all the time.

 

[Smthkd]

take this for what it's worth, i just spoke to a manager at NESN, and asked about the rumor of NESN HD going live tomorrow(7/1) and he said it's not true, but they are in negotiations with DTV but all the contractual stuff isn't done yet. he also said he heard of some other rsn's possibly going live tomorrow, but didn't have any info on them. whether this info is true or not is beyond me. i'm just passing on what i've heard.

Now do you really think he's going to give you info that would probably jepordize his disclosure agreement with D* before its release! I highly doubt it. Think about it, why woould he deny NESN release but turn around and say "Oh, by the way, I think some other RSN will go live July 1st"

 

[Beavis]

I agree. If I worked for NESN, or any other RSN, I would never guarantee anything. I don't think the channels will be in the 90 range. Just to clarify, ALL HD RSN's will be mpeg 4 & spotbeamed. I wish they'd all be CONUS for us EI subscribers, but oh well. Seeing the Rangers and the Astros in HD.......


......will still suck.