SUPERSTATIONS HD/ ENCORE CHANNELS HD???

[gatekeeper]

Has anyone heard anymore info on the SUPERSTATIONS becoming available in HD as part of the SUPERstation PACKAGE?Last year I remember ENCORE announced they were planning to launch some more additional HD CHANNELS in their encore package.If I remember correctly I believe 2 of them were ENCORE-DRAMA and ENCORE ACTION.I was wondering if anyone has heard any info on any of these channels? Thanks..

 

[Tampa8]

I have not heard anything about Dish adding any HD for Encore. I am not expecting or heard they will for the Supers. If you are in the NYC spotbeam area you do get WWOR in HD as a superstation on the Eastern Arc.

 

[garys]

PIX is HD in NYC market as well.

 

[Tampa8]

PIX is HD in NYC market as well.

It's not for the Superstations, which was the question. Only WWOR is in a very limited way even if not in the NYC market.

 

[garys]

I agree, WWOR and WPIX are superstation channels, but both are NYC local channels and both are in HD in NYC dma. I was only adding info to what you stated.

 

[Tampa8]

I agree, WWOR and WPIX are superstation channels, but both are NYC local channels and both are in HD in NYC dma. I was only adding info to what you stated.

AND -only WWOR is available as an HD Superstation which is the whole point of the thread. There is nothing special about WPIX being in HD every Superstation is in HD in their DMA as a local channel (WSBK is - though not carried by DISH in HD locally.) But WWOR being available in HD (very limited) to people outside the DMA is different.

 

[ScottChez]

Yep, an other I wish the superstations were in HD thread.

Seems like everyone wants the Superstations in HD, Dish reads these threads, but they never add the SuperStations in HD.

Is it due to bandwidth limitations or some legal reason? I would think it is not legal since the WWOR is already out side of its DMA in HD on the spot beam.

 

[Peter Parker]

It would be legal but i suspect that it would lead to more requests for blackouts so DISH and DISH does not want to deal with that.

 

[dishrich]

OK, with (so many) screaming for 24/7 RSN's...E* is NOT going to suck up MORE CONUS HD bandwidth for 5 HD channels that have (very) limited appeal.
You AND myself may like them(& I actually do myself)...but that still does NOT mean they have wide appeal, sorry

As far as CAN they even (legally) offer them in HD...I am NOT 100% sure they actually can. Does the latest law that allows for supers, specifically address this? If it doesn't, they many very well NOT be able to offer them in HD - I don't think anyone can provide concrete evidence either way.

On the blackouts, agree w/Geronimo; offering them in HD is only going to call MORE attention to local stations, (& NOT just CW/MNT affiliates, BTW) requiring E* to do either individual show blackouts (which they will NOT do) or having to restrict their sale in some DMA's even MORE than they already are.

Bottom line...I can 100% GUARANTEE you supers in HD is NOT ever going to happen, period - be thankful they are still around AT ALL!

 

[garys]

AND -only WWOR is available as an HD Superstation which is the whole point of the thread. There is nothing special about WPIX being in HD every Superstation is in HD in their DMA as a local channel (WSBK is - though not carried by DISH in HD locally.) But WWOR being available in HD (very limited) to people outside the DMA is different.

Yet, Dish confirms that none of the superstations are HD outside of their local markets. They were informed that WWOR is and they claim it is not. I am in NYC dma and am going by Dish's statements as I cannot verify it. What channel number is it for the HD? If it is 6307, it is listed as on Sportbeam not Conus. It may be a glitch that Dish doesn't seem to be able to fix. If this is not the case, then I stand corrected.

 

[david_jr]

I wonder if Scott has ever heard anything official or unofficial from Dish on supers in HD? If they don't go HD soon I'll be jettisoning them to help offset the cost of an eventual move to the H/J system. $7 a month and only WWOR in HD. If WPIX were in HD I'd keep them or at least the HD ones. We have no local CW in HD on DISH and can't get it OTA. Only OTA local that I can't get actually. I have been hoping (along with many others it appears) for Supers in HD for a long time.

 

[Peter Parker]

OK, with (so many) screaming for 24/7 RSN's...E* is NOT going to suck up MORE CONUS HD bandwidth for 5 HD channels that have (very) limited appeal.
You AND myself may like them(& I actually do myself)...but that still does NOT mean they have wide appeal, sorry

As far as CAN they even (legally) offer them in HD...I am NOT 100% sure they actually can. Does the latest law that allows for supers, specifically address this? If it doesn't, they many very well NOT be able to offer them in HD - I don't think anyone can provide concrete evidence either way.

On the blackouts, agree w/Geronimo; offering them in HD is only going to call MORE attention to local stations, (& NOT just CW/MNT affiliates, BTW) requiring E* to do either individual show blackouts (which they will NOT do) or having to restrict their sale in some DMA's even MORE than they already are.

Bottom line...I can 100% GUARANTEE you supers in HD is NOT ever going to happen, period - be thankful they are still around AT ALL!

I am sorry but the law would have to specifically address it as forbidden to make it forbidden. How ele do you explain one superstation being available in HD outside it's DMA?

I really think this is a business decision. It used to be everyone was convinced that the law required superstations do go away n one date or another. Now everyine thinks that it is legal to carry it in SD but not HD.

 

[Juan]

The Super stations were great when they had sports now they are mostly redundant programming..cept for the smaller DMA's

 

[Mojo Jojo]

Has anyone heard anymore info on the SUPERSTATIONS becoming available in HD as part of the SUPERstation PACKAGE?Last year I remember ENCORE announced they were planning to launch some more additional HD CHANNELS in their encore package.If I remember correctly I believe 2 of them were ENCORE-DRAMA and ENCORE ACTION.I was wondering if anyone has heard any info on any of these channels? Thanks..

It would be wonderful if Encore Drama HD and Encore Action HD would appear on Dish especially for Encore Movie Pack subs as well as AT250 and AEP subs.

 

[dishrich]

I am sorry but the law would have to specifically address it as forbidden to make it forbidden.

I'm sorry, but that is not true. If we went with YOUR logic, then WHY were there laws that DO allow LIL, distant nets (in SD & HD), etc.
Just because a law does NOT forbid something...does NOT (necessarily) mean you are allowed TO do it...

How ele do you explain one superstation being available in HD outside it's DMA?

A screw-up on DISH's end, that is allowing a VERY small subset of SS subs outside the DMA, but that just happen to be within the NY spotbeam - NOTHING MORE.
It simply has NOT been on DISH's priorities to properly fix yet; I suspect eventually it WILL be...

 

[johnissoevil]

We should be thankful the Superstations are available at all. I'm not going to speculate on why they're not in HD to every Dish customer across the country, but if it is indeed because of fears of more stations across the country invoking Syndex to have them blocked in more markets from being sold, then I'm all for them leaving them in SD. Just remember, between 1990 and 1997, the only way you got WWOR outside of the New York City metropolitan area was their "sanitized" EMI Service feed (heck, even Long Beach Island in NJ, considered part of the NYC market according to Nielsen research for satellite, had to settle for the EMI feed). I'll take what we get now, the NYC feed in Standard def, over a sanitized feed which during commercials during simulcast hours actually left in promos for shows that were covered up, thus causing confusion.

 

[tempVAdish]

WGN is the only "superstation" available in HD, however, I don't believe they're classified as a "superstation" any more. I think for us to get the others (I only have PIX anymore) they'd have to want to drop the "superstation" identity and become full time cable channels like TBS did years ago, and like WGN has done more recently...

Not sure if this will make sense to anyone other than me, I know what I'm trying to say, but perhaps someone else can put it in better terms...

 

[dishrich]

WGN is the only "superstation" available in HD, however, I don't believe they're classified as a "superstation" any more.

Correct, it is simply a "cable channel" just like TBS, TNT, etc, that just happens to have some of the same content as it's OTA version.
That is why it called WGN America - & NO longer has SS references.

I think for us to get the others (I only have PIX anymore) they'd have to want to drop the "superstation" identity and become full time cable channels like TBS did years ago, and like WGN has done more recently...

The ONLY way those other (5) SS's could be distributed nationally, would be to have a (separate) syndex-free feed for outside their DMA. (basically like the WWOR/EMI feed mentioned in the above post) Which would also mean a separate programmer/distributor (like an "EMI") would have to come in & do this work of providing alternate programming for ALL of the local programing that is subject to Syndex rules - which is basically ALL syndicated &/or CW/MNT network prog - which obviously really only leaves local prog/news left for distribution.
Don't hold your breath waiting for this to EVER happen...

 

[johnissoevil]

The ONLY way those other (5) SS's could be distributed nationally, would be to have a (separate) syndex-free feed for outside their DMA. (basically like the WWOR/EMI feed mentioned in the above post) Which would also mean a separate programmer/distributor (like an "EMI") would have to come in & do this work of providing alternate programming for ALL of the local programing that is subject to Syndex rules - which is basically ALL syndicated &/or CW/MNT network prog - which obviously really only leaves local prog/news left for distribution.
Don't hold your breath waiting for this to EVER happen...

Actually, they wouldn't necessarily need an outside programmer/distributor to do this nowadays. Over the past I believe 11 years, Tribune, owner of the local WGN, has been behind the programming of the Superstation WGN/WGN America feed. They own three of the Superstations (WPIX, KWGN, and KTLA), but I doubt they'd want to do national feeds of more local stations. And I don't see FOX (owners of WWOR) or CBS (owners of WSBK) being interested in doing something like this.

 

[Peter Parker]

I'm sorry, but that is not true. If we went with YOUR logic, then WHY were there laws that DO allow LIL, distant nets (in SD & HD), etc.
Just because a law does NOT forbid something...does NOT (necessarily) mean you are allowed TO do it...


A screw-up on DISH's end, that is allowing a VERY small subset of SS subs outside the DMA, but that just happen to be within the NY spotbeam - NOTHING MORE.
It simply has NOT been on DISH's priorities to properly fix yet; I suspect eventually it WILL be...

The reason that here are laws that allow sistant nets etc is because there are other laws that would make it illegal. there is no such prohibition here. There is a law that allows for retransmission of the supers and it does not prevent it from being in HD------if it did DISH would not be able to provide even the limited HD Distribution of WOR, Even if it were a slipup it would have to be corrected by now.


It is legal but as I and others have mentioned there are valid business reasons why DISH may have chosen not to do it----just as D* could start providing them at any time but has not chosen to do so.