Questions about DNS

[shkarter1985]

I've got some questions about DNS eligibility. I know that the DNS eligibility is governed by federal law. According to DirecTV's website some of the factors including:

You don't live near a metropolitan area
You can't get any TV reception whatsoever
You live more than 70 miles from TV station broadcast towers

What does the three factors mean?

I live more than 70 miles from my NBC affiliate (WYFF 4) and my CBS affiliate (WSPA 7) towers, more than 90 miles from my ABC affiliate (WLOS 13) towers, 80 miles from my FOX affiliate (WHNS 21) and CW affiliate (WYCW 62) towers according to TV Fool website of my address of over-the-air signals.

When I tried my 7 inch LCD Portable TV set outside my house, I can't get over-the-air digital receptions of any station in my area. Yes, I used the antenna that comes with my Portable LCD digital TV set. Do you think I'm living in an unserved household or rural area?

If you already get over-the-air signals of your local stations, you can't get the DNS feeds on satellite. I think that's true.

 

[Mr Tony]

honestly it dont mean diddley anymore since the rules have changed.

It use to be during the analog times (pre 6/12/09) if you were outside Grade B contour of a station as defined by the FCC you were eligible for distants if your locals were not on satellite. If you had distants and locals became availble, you were grandfathered to a point then had t choose which to have (locals or distants).
Grade B meant...lemme see if I remember the rules.....it was a decent signal half the time using an antenna 20 feet up in the air or some crazy rule like that.

If locals are available, regardless if you sub to them or not, you dont qualify for distants through Directv.

With digital now the rules have kinda changed due to digital not going as far as analog so there is no "grade B" rule.

Basically its simple...if your locals are available you cant get distants regardless how far you are. Where our cabin is we are approx 100 miles from the Minneapolis stations and the only station we can maybe get OTA is PBS from about 30 miles away (not the Mpls PBS) (CBS is iffy now with digital) yet we get Minneapolis locals.

 

[shkarter1985]

honestly it dont mean diddley anymore since the rules have changed.

It use to be during the analog times (pre 6/12/09) if you were outside Grade B contour of a station as defined by the FCC you were eligible for distants if your locals were not on satellite. If you had distants and locals became availble, you were grandfathered to a point then had t choose which to have (locals or distants).
Grade B meant...lemme see if I remember the rules.....it was a decent signal half the time using an antenna 20 feet up in the air or some crazy rule like that.

If locals are available, regardless if you sub to them or not, you dont qualify for distants through Directv.

With digital now the rules have kinda changed due to digital not going as far as analog so there is no "grade B" rule.

Basically its simple...if your locals are available you cant get distants regardless how far you are. Where our cabin is we are approx 100 miles from the Minneapolis stations and the only station we can maybe get OTA is PBS from about 30 miles away (not the Mpls PBS) (CBS is iffy now with digital) yet we get Minneapolis locals.

Does this mean we have no choice but to get local-into-local? I think it's unfair.

 

[Mr Tony]

Does this mean we have no choice but to get local-into-local? I think it's unfair.

no matter how many posts or threads you make by spinning the words (since you have posted the same info in other threads), if locals are available you do not qualify for distants....period. That is a FCC rule, not a Directv rule.

This is for both SD & HD.

The only way to get distants is to "move"

 

[shkarter1985]

The only way to get distants is to "move"

That means by changing your service address (like NYC or LA) and keeping you 'real' address the same.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

That means by changing your service address (like NYC or LA) and keeping you 'real' address the same.

Maybe.

 

[Mr Tony]

per the D* site

How is eligibility for DNS determined?

Unlike LIL, where eligibility is market based (zip code plus county), a customer's eligibility to receive DNS Service is determined through a two step process.

First, we check whether the customer is eligible. More specifically, in the markets where DIRECTV offers LIL in high definition, it cannot sign up new DNS subscribers at all. In markets where DIRECTV offers LIL only in standard definition, it cannot sign up new subscribers for standard definition DNS (but can sign up new subscribers for HD DNS.)

If a customer is eligible under the no distant where local rule, we still have to check whether the subscriber is also eligible based on his or her physical address. If a customer is not predicted to receive a sufficiently strong signal, he or she is considered to be "unserved" and DIRECTV can provide DNS service. If a customer is predicted to receive a sufficiently strong signal from a station, he or she will be eligible for DNS service only if that station grants a waiver. Signal strength predications are made using the Individual Location Longley-Rice model.

I bolded part of it. I also checked the D* site for your location. Since both SD & HD locals are available, you are disqualified from receiving distants in SD Or HD since your local market is available in both HD & SD

 

[PMKS]

All of this sounds complicated.... lol.

The rules now make no sense at all for some of us rural customers.

I live 148 Miles from Houston Texas, 78 miles from Corpus Christi Texas. and I get the Houston local HD feeds, go figure

The only OTA I get is a "local" low-power ABC station, and thats with an antenna on a 20' pole.

Before the Houston locals were offered in HD, I went through all the hoops and hurdles ( letters to the FCC, waivers, etc ) and finally got the NY mpeg-2 HD feeds, they were promptly turned off when the Houston locals went mpeg-4 HD.

Now my big deal is why I can't get the Corpus stations from DirecTV as significantly viewed locals, the local cable companies offer the Corpus stations, not Houston.

oh well, good luck

 

[Mr Tony]

I agree PKMS on the distance thing

Where our cabin is we are 120 miles from MInneapolis (the TV towers are in the north metro) and only 85 miles to Duluth yet we are in the Mpls DMA.

Now my big deal is why I can't get the Corpus stations from DirecTV as significantly viewed locals, the local cable companies offer the Corpus stations, not Houston.

so cable has NO Houston stations? Thats pretty odd. Usually they would have some SV stations

 

[PMKS]

so cable has NO Houston stations? Thats pretty odd. Usually they would have some SV stations

The two towns I live by have a population of around 1200 and 800 respectively.

The cable systems have no HD, no internet, and around 30 channels, I'm surprised they stay in business as most residents in the city limits have gone to DirecTV or Dishnet.

Time Warner recently bought out both cable systems and are supposed to upgrade the systems, it won't affect me any as I'm 2 miles from town.

I'm happy for the most part with DirecTV, I would like cable internet however....

 

[Lodi25]

You have 2 options.

"Move" to a rural place.

Or if you just want LA or NYC locals, just "MOVE" to one of those cities.

NOTE: you will only get NBC CBS ABC & FOX. NO CW or other locals from either LA or NYC.