I just spoke to one of the higher-ups at Skyvision, and received this report:
This news was released only last Friday, so they have not really had sufficient time to address all details yet. Both Skyvision and Satellite Receivers Ltd will be conducting tests in a very short time to confirm what sized antenna will be sufficient to use for C-band reception across the U.S. Those that have purchased DSR-410 receivers should not give up---it is my understanding that those receivers can be re-mapped for reception on C band / AMC-18 from 105 West. You will have to install a C-band antenna, and as I said, testing is planned to see how small will still be reliable.
I personally see this whole development as a good thing. While unfortunate for anyone that cannot use a C-band antenna, the combining of all HITS signals to one place in the sky presents a great opportunity to revitalize the former C-band industry as an alternative to the small dish DBS systems. More channels in one location...no need for a motor drive...a true alternative to DBS with better picture quality. Very few if any problems with rain fade common to Ku-band. A way to re-energize existing neglected BUD antennas (there have got to be a lot of G-5 systems doing nothing out there).
Details need to be worked out about transmission format compatibility, but the end result should be a great improvement in the number of channels that X4 Ku-band subscribers are presently getting. Wasn't that one of the complaints from some of the critics of the X4 programming packages? With just about every cable channel available in one place, it should be an non-issue. Give things a few weeks to work themselves out...simulcasting should begin shortly, and the existing Ku-band signals on X4 should continue until June.
