Public Interest channels now in HD-only package

[TuxCoder]

I have the HD-only package, which up until tonight has not included the P.I. channels (9400-9417), at least on my receivers. Now those channels are available to me. The guide information is almost entirely missing, which is always the case with new additions (and I did see the two threads about the program guide problems--this isn't due to that).

 

[TNGTony]

Those channels were always available to HD-only on request (and after playing CSR roulette!). But it is interesting to see that they are now being added automatically!

See ya
Tony

 

[KE4EST]

Yeah very interesting.

 

[kb7oeb]

They should only exclude them from the family pack automatically

 

[Ilya]

Also appear to be included (perhaps some of them on free preview - not sure) the following SD-only channels:

NASA-TV, DOC, GAME, BRAVO, TCM, VS., shopping channels, religious channels, Chinese CCTV9, etc.

 

[TNGTony]

Ilya, those extra ones are this month's free previews. When the free preview is over in a couple of weeks they will go away from the HD only pack.

See ya
Tony

 

[Ilya]

When the free preview is over in a couple of weeks they will go away from the HD only pack.

That's unless some of them (like Bravo) go HD.

 

[JohnEL]

PI channels are avalable to anyone with DISH.
As said above you may need to insist on this but you can receive them. I've had them since I have been with DISH for many years, with several package combinations; AT packages, Family package and now with the HD only package.

Enjoy

 

[TalonDancer]

Those channels were always available to HD-only on request (and after playing CSR roulette!). But it is interesting to see that they are now being added automatically!...

Exactly! When I switched to dishHD (only) I only had the NASA PI Channel. I just never got around to playing CSR roulette to get the others switched on. Thanks Dish for fixing this automatically

Talon Dancer

 

[TuxCoder]

Exactly! When I switched to dishHD (only) I only had the NASA PI Channel. I just never got around to playing CSR roulette to get the others switched on. Thanks Dish for fixing this automatically

Talon Dancer

Same with me. I had all of them (well, the ones on 110 & 119) when I had AT200 and later AT100, but after switching to dishHD I only had NASA.

 

[charlesrshell]

PI channels are available to anyone with DISH.
As said above you may need to insist on this but you can receive them. I've had them since I have been with DISH for many years, with several package combinations; AT packages, Family package and now with the HD only package.

Enjoy

Well, if PI channels are available to anyone, they should be on all the satellites. I had to pay to have a 61.5 dish installed so I could receive the The Pentagon Channel (9405). It is a public interest channel as far as I know. My area requires a four LNB (119, 110, 129, 118.7) 1000+ dish to receive HD locals and Multi-Sport package. All them birds and no Pentagon Channel. It is only on 61.5 and 148. And, Dish has it listed in the AT 100 package too.

 

[AdamGott]

Cool! It's nice to have the Documentary channel again, there is a lot of good stuff on that channel.

I tried playing CSR roulette for this one but gave up after about 5 or 6 tries, including one high-level tech support guy who tried to force me to get transfered off of the DISH HD only package.

 

[Jim S.]

Well, if PI channels are available to anyone, they should be on all the satellites.

Unless I'm mis-informed, they're required to have a certain number of PI channels per satellite. So doing it the way you want it would defeat that. (Plus, The Pentagon Channel, as well as many others, is probably available for free elsewhere if you want to put up a 1-meter dish.)

 

[charlesrshell]

Unless I'm mis-informed, they're required to have a certain number of PI channels per satellite. So doing it the way you want it would defeat that. (Plus, The Pentagon Channel, as well as many others, is probably available for free elsewhere if you want to put up a 1-meter dish.)

What do you mean doing it the way you want it would defeat that!!

 

[Jim S.]

You said you wanted all the PI channels on all the satellites. They're only required to have a certain number on each satellite, so they're not going to duplicate them and waste space, or if they were to duplicate them then they'd want to reduce the total number to save space so there's no guarantee that they'd carry the one you wanted.

 

[TNGTony]

Dish and the FCC had a fairly long fight about this. Dish wanted to shove all the PI channels on 61.5°. The FCC said "Sorry Charlie". The rules are simple: 4-7% of the bandwidth of EACH satellie in use needs to be for PI channels. The only copies are for non-conUS locations: 61.5° and 148 as well as 61.5 and 129 share PI channels. If you have 110, 119 and 61.5 you get all the PI channels Dish has.

For the rules and for a list of all the PI channels on Dish see
Free Public Interest Programming Package

See ya
Tony

 

[charlesrshell]

You said you wanted all the PI channels on all the satellites. They're only required to have a certain number on each satellite, so they're not going to duplicate them and waste space, or if they were to duplicate them then they'd want to reduce the total number to save space so there's no guarantee that they'd carry the one you wanted.

OK, thanks Jim S. I understand what you are saying now. Check out this link provided by TNYTony. Free Public Interest Programming Package There is a same foreign country PI channels that are on four satellites. The American channel (The Pentagon Channel) is shared on two satellites. I think there could be a better way of sharing the satellites for PI channels so customers don't have to install a second dish at their own expense.

 

[charlesrshell]

Dish and the FCC had a fairly long fight about this. Dish wanted to shove all the PI channels on 61.5°. The FCC said "Sorry Charlie". The rules are simple: 4-7% of the bandwidth of EACH satellie in use needs to be for PI channels. The only copies are for non-conUS locations: 61.5° and 148 as well as 61.5 and 129 share PI channels. If you have 110, 119 and 61.5 you get all the PI channels Dish has.

For the rules and for a list of all the PI channels on Dish see
Free Public Interest Programming Package

See ya
Tony

Thanks TNGTony. Good info. I understand the PI channels situation a lot better now. I feel if a customer requires an additional dish to view a channel they want, it should not be at the customer's expense if it is advertised in the AT100 pak. I am paying extra for the Multi-Sport pac that requires bird 129. That requires a dish 1000+ for my area. You would think that Dish TV would have installed dish 61.5 at their expense. Also, it would be nice if Dish would produce a five or more satellite switch. Oh well, water under the bridge. Thanks again for the info.

 

[jegrant]

Dish does, usually, mention in fine print on AT100 ads if certain channels do require an extra dish.

But since the actual channels are now available free of charge, it seems like it's not entirely unreasonable for customers to pay for their own dish(es) as necessary for PI channels.

 

[charlesrshell]

Dish does, usually, mention in fine print on AT100 ads if certain channels do require an extra dish.

But since the actual channels are now available free of charge, it seems like it's not entirely unreasonable for customers to pay for their own dish(es) as necessary for PI channels.

I think Dish could do a better job of sharing the PIs on all their satellites to help prevent the situations like I am in. It wasn't that big of deal for me having to pay for the 61.5 dish. But, I wish Dish at least had a five or more satellite switch so I could keep all the LNBs connected. I have 129 disconnected most of the time.