Question on local channels

[Tbear]

I've been told that Directv sends local channels to a limited local area. How do they limit the sat. signal to the broadcast area? If you were able to get Boston local in Boston and took the rec. to Omaha shouldn't it still be able to get Boston local? The signal from the sat. would have to carry all the "local" channels and be seperated out by something in the receiver (my thought). One thought I had was to use the zip code entered as part of set-up.

 

[Mr Tony]

Spot beams

Instead of having the TP (transponder) beam across the US, they concentrate on one area for the locals. This allows them to reuse the same TP number in 3 or 4 or more areas. So as an example, TP8 on DIsh (where my locals are) can be used for areas in Minnesota, Ohio, California, & Texas. So instead of getting only 12 channels on a TP, they can have up to 48.
If I took my receiver from Mpls to Florida, I wouldnt be able to see my locals..