Sunday Ticket

[dozens]

I want to order a HD receiver & Sunday Ticket using a broker and have a few questions...

1) Is it possible to order ST "al a carte", ie no monthly programming cost ?

2) Assuming the answer #1 is no, who has the cheapest monthly cost and still broadcast all the HD games ? Up until just recently I thought BEV was the only HD ST provider.

3) Do I need a phone line connected to the receiver ? I have a VOIP line if that helps.

4) Can I re-use my D* 3 LNB dish for any the Canadian providers ?

 

[pretzelboy]

I haven't switched to SC from ExpressVu yet but I you need a minimum of the "locals" tier (which for SC is "Digital Basic") and then you can add the Sunday Ticket on top of that. So, you'd have a recurring C$20 monthly plus the $179 hit once (their site says: $179.00 is a one time cost to purchase the full NFL season. No cancellations or refunds.)

You'll definitely get stuck having the "Digital Basic" monthly fee which is presently $15.77 a month in US Dollars at the present exchange rate. (Today's exchange rate is C$1 = 0.7883 US$)

I'm not sure if SC requires a phone line verification for sports packages or not. You wouldn't want it dialing in from the US anyhow.

I don't think you can use the DirecTV or Dish dishes for SC. I've seen reference here to old primestar dishes. If you order the receiver from Kusat the price with or without the dish is the same. As for ExpressVu. You can use either D* or Dish single satellite round dishes for ExpressVu. I'm doing that here with a DirecTV dish. The multiple satellite dish is really just a Dish Network Dish500 dish which can be purchased here if you go with ExpressVu but, again, the price is the same with or without a dish. The shipping weight will just be greater.

 

[Jumbo Dumbo]

Sunday Ticket will be on F2 this year so an elliptical dish is required. Single receiver SC customers, without Instant PPV activated, do not need phone connection. Actually the 205 has no modem.

 

[dozens]

Is SC a better choice then BEV for ST in HD ? If I remember correctly, SC's basic package is lower then BEV's.

 

[Derwin0]

The Directv triple lnb dish can not be used with either starchoice or expressvu (or dish network for that matter), as starchoice is a different polarity and expressvu/dish recievers don't know how to handle the built-in switch.

Minimum package on Expressvu is Digital Standard @ $25.00CAN/month, which you'll need anyway, as the games that are on any of the Global channels will not be in the Sunday Ticket tier, SD or HD. Also there is a $10.00CAN/month charge for the HD channels.
Between the Fox/CBS East & West HD channels, and Global HD, plus the 4 Sunday Ticket HD Channels, pretty much all the games get on in HD.
All HD games will be on 82, so you'll need a 2-sat system (aka Dish 500).

Not sure how Starchoice handles Sunday Ticket HD.

 

[Mr Tony]

I want to order a HD receiver & Sunday Ticket using a broker and have a few questions...

1) Is it possible to order ST "al a carte", ie no monthly programming cost ?

no

2) Assuming the answer #1 is no, who has the cheapest monthly cost and still broadcast all the HD games ? Up until just recently I thought BEV was the only HD ST provider.

both SC and ExpressVu have HD games. It depends on how many games they wish to carry

3) Do I need a phone line connected to the receiver ? I have a VOIP line if that helps.

dont plug it into the line

4) Can I re-use my D* 3 LNB dish for any the Canadian providers ?

nope...need a different dish

 

[Mr Tony]

I haven't switched to SC from ExpressVu yet but I you need a minimum of the "locals" tier (which for SC is "Digital Basic") and then you can add the Sunday Ticket on top of that. So, you'd have a recurring C$20 monthly plus the $179 hit once (their site says: $179.00 is a one time cost to purchase the full NFL season. No cancellations or refunds.)

We can’t guarantee pricing right now since it is early….SC & ExpressVu may have not updated their site

You'll definitely get stuck having the "Digital Basic" monthly fee which is presently $15.77 a month in US Dollars at the present exchange rate. (Today's exchange rate is C$1 = 0.7883 US$)

You have to add 15% for taxes…I have this package and its about $20 including my CC transfer fee (from CAD to US $$)

I'm not sure if SC requires a phone line verification for sports packages or not. You wouldn't want it dialing in from the US anyhow.

Nope. No dial in needed

I don't think you can use the DirecTV or Dish dishes for SC. I've seen reference here to old primestar dishes. If you order the receiver from Kusat the price with or without the dish is the same. As for ExpressVu. You can use either D* or Dish single satellite round dishes for ExpressVu. I'm doing that here with a DirecTV dish. The multiple satellite dish is really just a Dish Network Dish500 dish which can be purchased here if you go with ExpressVu but, again, the price is the same with or without a dish. The shipping weight will just be greater.

StarChoice uses linear, which is what KU band is. You need at least the 60e dish (32x19). I have the 75e dish (37x27)..less rain fade : )

For ExpressVu, you could use a single dish setup, but you will only see one satellite. The HD stuff is on a different satellite, so you would need 2 dishes and a SW21 or a Dish 500

 

[Mr Tony]

The one thing to remember also is that there are Canadian networks that show NFL football, so if you don’t need the WHOLE package, you can get “NFL Lite”

There are 2 sets of feeds you can get with ExpressVu (Boston & Seattle) and you can pick 2 of 4 feeds with StarChoice (Buffalo, Detroit, Seattle, Spokane…one E one W)

So if you have both feeds, you’ll get 2-4 games there

Global has games on their feeds. Depending on who is playing (more like who they can simsub), you could see 4-6 different games on top of the CBS/FOX/ABC games. TSN has ESPN Sunday night football

One week between my SC system and my Dish Net locals, I was able to see 14 of 16 games. Most of the time, it was between 8-10

 

[dozens]

Thanks for the all the help so far guys, I am starting to feel information overload and have a few more questions, hopefully the answer will help me make a the right choice. BTW - There will probably be more people looking for NFLST in the near future because of the D* new pricing.

I do not want to have two dishes and I only care about HD so am I limited to SC or is BEV still a valid choice ?

I already have access to the Boston feeds to so it sounds like ExpressVu would only add the Seattle HD feed. Where if I subscribe to SC then I can avoid any overlap.

BEV HD Tier, it sounds like BEV has one and is required to view the East & West HD feeds of Fox/CBS because those games will not be part of NFLST, correct ?

Does SC have an HD tier ? If so, how does it effect what games are offered in NFLST ?

How long does it take to order equipment from say some place like kusat ? I do want to activate service until end of August.

If I had to choose right now, it looks like SC is the better choice because of the Boston overlap I will have with ExpressVu despite have higher equipment cost.

 

[jose44]

I have SC and it is not clear to me that SC will broadcast Sunday Ticket in HD at all. The current channels reserved for ST are SD, and SC is in bandwidth trouble right now because of the CRTC ruling.

Last year Bell broadcast Sunday Ticket in HD. Starchoice didn't (somebody please correct me if I'm wrong.)

 

[Mr Tony]

Thanks for the all the help so far guys, I am starting to feel information overload and have a few more questions, hopefully the answer will help me make a the right choice. BTW - There will probably be more people looking for NFLST in the near future because of the D* new pricing.

I do not want to have two dishes and I only care about HD so am I limited to SC or is BEV still a valid choice ?

You could use a Dish500 dish and get both 91 & 82 on it : )

I already have access to the Boston feeds to so it sounds like ExpressVu would only add the Seattle HD feed. Where if I subscribe to SC then I can avoid any overlap.

True. However, SC had a ruling against them for how they were doing HD (sharing channels) so in a month we will know how that turned out

BEV HD Tier, it sounds like BEV has one and is required to view the East & West HD feeds of Fox/CBS because those games will not be part of NFLST, correct ?

Wrong….EVu doesn’t do those lame blackout rules like Direct does. They use traditional blackout rules for Seattle, Buffalo & Detroit (if game isn’t sold out, its blacked out)

Does SC have an HD tier ? If so, how does it effect what games are offered in NFLST ?

Its included in essentials package, but again…the new HD rules may effect what they can show

How long does it take to order equipment from say some place like kusat ? I do want to activate service until end of August.

Takes about 7-10 days to get equipment

If I had to choose right now, it looks like SC is the better choice because of the Boston overlap I will have with ExpressVu despite have higher equipment cost.

HD equipment price is about the same, unless you get the DVR With the SC basic package, you get one set of feeds (Buffalo, Detroit, Seattle, Spokane). You could add another set of SD feeds (opposite coast) for 6.99

SC will only have HD football on whatever CBS & FOX Detroit & Seattle have. So you will get 4 games.
ExpressVu has I think a c ouple more, but don’t quote me on that.

 

[Mr Tony]

I have SC and it is not clear to me that SC will broadcast Sunday Ticket in HD at all. The current channels reserved for ST are SD, and SC is in bandwidth trouble right now because of the CRTC ruling.

Last year Bell broadcast Sunday Ticket in HD. Starchoice didn't (somebody please correct me if I'm wrong.)

EVu had some games in HD
SC only had what HD CBS & FOX games Detroit/Seattle had

 

[Derwin0]

Wrong….EVu doesn’t do those lame blackout rules like Direct does. They use traditional blackout rules for Seattle, Buffalo & Detroit (if game isn’t sold out, its blacked out)

I didn't mean blackout perse... What I meant is that Bev only has 4 dedicated Sunday Ticket HD channels. They use those 4 channels to complement the games available on the CBS-E, CBS-W, Fox-E, Fox-W and Global HD channels to maximize the games available. So in effect, they can have up to 9 games on at once depending on scheduling. So if a game in on one of the HD American nets or Global-HD channels, they do not put them on the Sunday Ticket HD channel if there are 4 others games available. So you'll need the HD pack to see those games. (btw, I'm not sure whether they require the HD pack to see the Sunday Ticket HD games or not)

 

[dozens]

EVu had some games in HD
SC only had what HD CBS & FOX games Detroit/Seattle had

I just called KuSat and they said neither SC or BEV would have an HD version of NFLST, does this sound right ?

 

[Derwin0]

Bev does not charge extra for the HD games, they are included. Hence no package.

 

[dozens]

Bev does not charge extra for the HD games, they are included. Hence no package.

So if I don't have the BEV HD package I will only get to see the 4 games in their HD NFLST slots which most likely be less then 4 games since the CBS-E, CBS-W, Fox-E, Fox-W and Global HD channels get first "dibs" on those games.

 

[dozens]

HD equipment price is about the same, unless you get the DVR With the SC basic package, you get one set of feeds (Buffalo, Detroit, Seattle, Spokane). You could add another set of SD feeds (opposite coast) for 6.99

SC will only have HD football on whatever CBS & FOX Detroit & Seattle have. So you will get 4 games.
ExpressVu has I think a c ouple more, but don’t quote me on that.

According to kusat the SC HD STB is above $100 more then the BEV and if I understand things correctly I will need to get the SC dish, lnb and switch will increases shipping cost. If I go with BEV I can pickup the LNBs locally and just get the switch sent with the receiver saving some shipping.

 

[Mr Tony]

According to kusat the SC HD STB is above $100 more then the BEV and if I understand things correctly I will need to get the SC dish, lnb and switch will increases shipping cost. If I go with BEV I can pickup the LNBs locally and just get the switch sent with the receiver saving some shipping.

havent checked pricing recently, but yes SC requires a different setup than ExpressVu

 

[Derwin0]

So if I don't have the BEV HD package I will only get to see the 4 games in their HD NFLST slots which most likely be less then 4 games since the CBS-E, CBS-W, Fox-E, Fox-W and Global HD channels get first "dibs" on those games.

Depends on how many games are played, and whether or not the E-W feeds of CBS and/or Fox are showing the same game.
Also, I do not know if the HD Pack is required for Sunday Ticket HD games or not, that could be a wildcard.

If I go with BEV I can pickup the LNBs locally and just get the switch sent with the receiver saving some shipping.

You could, but I don't think the shipping is much different. I would though try to get a Twin lnb locally, as Bev doesn't seem to know they exist and a twin will eliminate the need for a switch.
btw, $51.63US to ship receiver plus Dish kit (Dish + SW-21 + 2 dual Lnb's) and $18.73US to ship receiver only.

 

[Derwin0]

btw, I miscounted. Bev has 5 Sunday Ticket HD Channels (465-469).