SatelliteGuys.US DishNetwork Uplink Activity Discussion - Week Ending 12/15/2007

[VinceT3]

if I had to speculate (which of course I will ) I'm guessing the spotbeams are to deal with the digital transition which will require a ton of bandwidth.. (if they start using the hd version)

 

[tjwgrr]

I am one who moved to NYC. I've done this because OTA doesnt get me all locals (not that I should have to worry about that anyways). I'll be severely ticked if I'm without local HD channels again... unless we can finally launch Buffalo locals.

Move to a city with HD on 129 conus. There's a bunch:

EKB: Dish Network Channels at 129°

 

[Jim5506]

Rampant speculation:

Perhaps preparation for HD locals on 61.5 spots and maybe HD locals on 148.

I'm not really that gung ho for new pseudo HD national channels that uprez SD content and stretch it to fit the 16X9 frame.

 

[BoisePaul]

Move to a city with HD on 129 conus. There's a bunch:

EKB: Dish Network Channels at 129°

Not going to work for Darren, I'm afraid. If he's locate in Buffalo, he probably can't see 129.

 

[BoisePaul]

I like VOOM due to has some good shows on there and things you can see in HD that you would not see any where else.

I know that E* probably has no control over how VOOM delivers their programming, but with the current repeating schedule on the VOOM movie channels, I could see some serious consolidation, thus freeing a few TPs.

 

[shorrock]

I've been thinking about this, and want to see what some folks think.

I think the move on spotbeams for 61.5 is really related to the BTN. They made some statement about how they will go to a regional in the spring. Now, move these from the national list to the spotbeams, along with adding (hopefully) several local markets, you can throw in some new nationals and bing, you can keep doing stuff through the year till they get the satellites up.

I also think while they have lots of extra space, they really don't. With the delays in launches, if one fails, they need to have the ability to move channels around to keep the programming they have in space. I think they are really out, and all they can do is shuffle the deck chairs until the new birds are up.

Thoughts?

 

[Jeff_R]

I dont want to pay for voom channels that very few people watch. We all pay an extra 10 bucks a month. I"d bet you more people would watch YES on any given night than all the voom channels combined.

But as a California resident, I can't watch any of the live sports programming on YES, and I'm sure a lot of the filler material I can already receive via my local RSN, which only the people in the market area for those channels are paying for.

In other words, why should I, a resident of California, who receives pro sports programming from Comcast Sports Net West and Fox Sports Bay Area, pay an amount of money for a NYC RSN?

The Voom argument, although I agree, doesn't really matter in this issue. The Voom channels are available, without blackouts, to all subs. It sounds like YES wants me to pay, even though I won't receive the channel. I'd have to pay yet another 5 dollars a month to E* to get the sports pack to actually watch it. Yet I'd be sending a part of my monthly bill to them WITHOUT AN ABILITY TO WATCH THE CHANNEL.

 

[Pepper]

Not going to work for Darren, I'm afraid. If he's locate in Buffalo, he probably can't see 129.

I'm not looking at the map but off the top of my head I'd speculate that Buffalo is in the NYC beam?

 

[BoisePaul]

I think the move on spotbeams for 61.5 is really related to the BTN. They made some statement about how they will go to a regional in the spring.

I don't know. Big Ten country covers a fairly significant geographic area and would require quite a bit of repetition across different spotbeams (on E12 it looks like 4 or 5 different beams)

 

[BoisePaul]

I'm not looking at the map but off the top of my head I'd speculate that Buffalo is in the NYC beam?

Probably, but I don't have map that shows field of coverage. The map at the EKB only shows the centerpoint of the beam.

 

[Bradtothebone]

Probably, but I don't have map that shows field of coverage. The map at the EKB only shows the centerpoint of the beam.

Actually, Buffalo isn't covered by ANY beam off of E*12. (I have a spotbeam map put out by Cablevision when they announced the launch of VOOM).

Brad

 

[Hall]

YES and MSG channels are regional channels. That's the difference. It's irrelevant as to how many people watch the various VOOM channels or any other national channels for that matter.

 

[rocatman]

Using spotbeams from 61.5 W for the Big Ten Network won't work because there are too many gaps in the spotbeams in Big Ten Region of the U.S. The spotbeams are for HD locals. Currently Dish uses 4 CONUS TPs on 61.5 W for HD locals to 4 major DMAs on the east coast. Dish could provide HD locals to quite a few more cities using those 4 TPs in spotbeam mode. The latest Uplink Report has activity on 9 spotbeams, all on the east coast i.e., all east of the Appalachians. Unfortunately for the poster near Buffalo, the E-12 satellite at 61.5 W that has spotbeams does not have spotbeam coverage for the Buffalo area.

 

[Mojo]

I know that E* probably has no control over how VOOM delivers their programming, but with the current repeating schedule on the VOOM movie channels, I could see some serious consolidation, thus freeing a few TPs.

Roger that

 

[digiblur]

Using spotbeams from 61.5 W for the Big Ten Network won't work because there are too many gaps in the spotbeams in Big Ten Region of the U.S. The spotbeams are for HD locals. Currently Dish uses 4 CONUS TPs on 61.5 W for HD locals to 4 major DMAs on the east coast. Dish could provide HD locals to quite a few more cities using those 4 TPs in spotbeam mode. The latest Uplink Report has activity on 9 spotbeams, all on the east coast i.e., all east of the Appalachians. Unfortunately for the poster near Buffalo, the E-12 satellite at 61.5 W that has spotbeams does not have spotbeam coverage for the Buffalo area.

FYI....take note of the ? character after the spotbeam number on the report.

 

[Bradtothebone]

Actually, Buffalo isn't covered by ANY beam off of E*12. (I have a spotbeam map put out by Cablevision when they announced the launch of VOOM).

Brad

In case anyone is interested:

 

[Mojo]

Again... USA-HD and SciFi-HD are taking up very valuable bandwidth on 110, so there is very little chance that these won't be made available some time in the next week or two.

All the more reason to think that USA-HD and SciFi-HD are coming soon,

They would not do that and then uplink two new HD channels, unless they planned to make those channels available soon.

My guess (no knowledge whatsoever) would be 5pm MST today or else this Wednesday.

Now it's one or two weeks. If wishful thinking was gold you would be a rich man.
Since are are guessing, my guess is the 2nd quarter 2008

 

[RedSavina]

Are those MT## channels slates?

 

[digiblur]

Are those MT## channels slates?

Unknown...they are encrypted. But looking at the bitrate 2 of them have some "weight" to them.

 

[digiblur]

In case anyone is interested:

I see where the electronic version of that map came from now I remember seeing this same map with markets listed at the bottom.