The Next Wave of Directv HD Locals List

[hdtvtechno]

I have this information on a reliable source.

The following markets are scheduled to launch in April 2006:

Seattle, Minneapolis, Miami, Sacramento, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, San Diego, Charlotte, Hartford, Nashville, West Palm Beach & Birmingham.

The following markets are scheduled to launch in May 2006:

Phoenix, Cleveland, Denver, Orlando, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Raleigh - Durham, Kansas City, Columbus (OH), Milwaukee, Salt Lake City & Fresno.

 

[Brewer4]

AWESOME. Thanks for the heads up! Nice to see Hartford treated with some respect. Any ideas on Cincinnati? My brother needs the locals over sat badly.

 

[Hogarth]

http://www.nielsenmedia.com/DMAs.html

Since Birmingham is DMA #40 and your Cincinatti is DMA #34, I'd guess they're in the next subsequent batch or two. (Read: June or July.)

H

 

[syphix]

Wow. That's mighty agressive. But April is a little later than E*'s stated release of HD locals: March 13th. I'd had thought D* might push up their roll out dates after hearing of Echostar's plans to deliver mid-March.

 

[benmusic]

I wonder why Birmingham (#39) is set for April and Cleveland (#16) is set for May?

Ben Music

 

[code4code5]

Same thing with Denver (#18).

 

[Digital Dude]

It may have to do with market penetration. Dish is way behind Direc here b/c Direc had locals years before Dish. I'd imagine Direc doesn't want to relinquish advantage in markets where they have a solid lead.

 

[RIRWIN1983]

I have this information on a reliable source.
The following markets are scheduled to launch in April 2006:
Seattle, Minneapolis, Miami, Sacramento, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, San Diego, Charlotte, Hartford, Nashville, West Palm Beach & Birmingham.
The following markets are scheduled to launch in May 2006:
Phoenix, Cleveland, Denver, Orlando, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Raleigh - Durham, Kansas City, Columbus (OH), Milwaukee, Salt Lake City & Fresno.

and who is the reliable source, a D* worker or just some retailer, not to be negative, just dont wanna get my hopes up for may 06 when columbus turns on

 

[lou_do]

I have this information on a reliable source.

The following markets are scheduled to launch in April 2006:

Seattle, Minneapolis, Miami, Sacramento, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, San Diego, Charlotte, Hartford, Nashville, West Palm Beach & Birmingham.

The following markets are scheduled to launch in May 2006:

Phoenix, Cleveland, Denver, Orlando, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Raleigh - Durham, Kansas City, Columbus (OH), Milwaukee, Salt Lake City & Fresno.

If this is true they must not be going in DMA order like they said they were. These are the next 12 in market order:

13 Seattle-Tacoma
14 Phoenix (Prescott)
15 Minneapolis-St. Paul
16 Cleveland-Akron (Canton)
17 Miami-Ft. Lauderdale
18 Denver
19 Sacramnto-Stkton-Modesto
20 Orlando-Daytona Bch-Melbrn
21 St. Louis
22 Pittsburgh
23 Portland, OR
24 Baltimore

 

[charper1]

Birmingham also has no pro teams either, this seems like a very odd bump up. If they were going to bump up much lower DMAs you would think they would have a good reason so I await to hear it.

 

[hdtvtechno]

reliable source, a D* worker

 

[syphix]

Geez..."worker" could be anything from CSR or janitor, to uplink engineer or president. I think I'll wait until D* makes an official announcement to get my heart all in a flitter.

 

[Brewer4]

Not that its 100% reliable but a CSR backed up via reading on screen notes that Hartford locals in HD were coming very shortly.

 

[JLucPicard]

I've seen it mentioned that there may be some consideration of the percentage of HD subscribers in a market when determining the rollout schedule.

As with most things we "hear" in this arena, there may or may not be some truth to it, and I do not at all puport to be stating this with any degree of certainty or "inside knowledge", but it could explain why things don't necessarily follow the DMA listing verbatim.

 

[hank527]

I'm DMA #41 any ideas?

Also any idea on if I can call them and get upgraded to mpeg 4 dvrs now?

 

[syphix]

hank - you're in the Top 50, so either by the end of '06 or early '07.

EDIT: whoops...didn't see "MPEG4 DVR"...refer to lou_do's post..

 

[lou_do]

I'm DMA #41 any ideas?

Also any idea on if I can call them and get upgraded to mpeg 4 dvrs now?

They will not even be available until later this year. I have seen some reports that say the 2nd quarter of the year, and others ones that say the 3rd quarter.

 

[herdfan]

If they were going to bump up much lower DMAs you would think they would have a good reason so I await to hear it.

Just a shot in the dark, but how is HD cable penetration in Birmingham. Once you get to the 40-80 markets, there is not much difference in size so other factors such as DBS penetration and cable carriage could come into play.

For example, my market at #64 has no nets on any of the 3 main cable companies. So we may go ahead of a higher market since D* could see possible sub growth by offering something cable doesn't.

 

[Hogarth]

If this is true they must not be going in DMA order like they said they were.

They never said they were going in order, just that they'd have the top X markets covered by Y date.

 

[syphix]

One other reason may be contracts and technical ability. If these aren't in line, then obviously a market can slip lower in the releases.