The Next Wave of Directv HD Locals List

[agsbill]

Birmingham is also near total flatness and very tiny land area, thus easy HD reception
############

Actually, BHM is at the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains......It aint FLAT...I guess you have never flown a airplane into BHM....

 

[rifleman69]

Ok, so who in the TOP 36 markets get !@#$ed so that Birmingham and Fresno can get lit up.
Based on the 2005 DMA rankings, these cities are left wanting:
#23 Portland, OR
#34 Cincinnati, OH
#35 Greenville, SC
While these cities jump to the front of the line:
#38 WPB, FL
#40 Birmingham, AL
#56 Fresno, CA

Doesn't bother most people in the Portland, OR area who can easily receive most if not all of the local channels in HD. Even if I got the new H20, I'd still use my HR10-250 for recording anything local on HD. Waiting is just fine for me as well as many others.

 

[fkostyn]

Except for the one that counts the most: Birmingham is a FOX O&O. D* is owned by FOX. They are taking care of their own first.
As for Fresno at #56, since it appears to be an ABC O&O, they need to be able to serve that market so that they can turn off the LA HD DNS in time for NFL ST in the fall as they are going to have all the CBS games in HD as well instead of the three we had the past 2 years.

Phoenix's FOX is also O&O

 

[charper1]

Birmingham is also near total flatness and very tiny land area, thus easy HD reception ############ Actually, BHM is at the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains......It aint FLAT...I guess you have never flown a airplane into BHM....

A couple of times, even driven through tons more, it is a comparative, and compared to LAX, SFO and PHX, Birmingham has barely bumps.

 

[pmayo]

Take a look at the E* list of top 48 markets to get local HD ( the rest will have to survive on OTA).
http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=51279
They leave out -- (in the top 48 DMAs)
(#12) Tampa, FL
(#28) Hartford, CT
(#32) Columbus, OH
(#34) Cincinnati, OH
(#38) West Palm Beach, FL
(#39) Grand Rapids, MI
(#40) Birmingham, AL
(#41) Harrisburg, PA
(#47) Greensboro, NC
(#48) Las Vegas, NV
It certainly must have to do with market size and customer base. Certainly in the West Palm area -- I think D outnumber E* by at least 5 to 1, as they were the first to offer locals here.

 

[Skyboss]

It looks to me that they are after markets with O&O service first.

This woudl be good for me. NBC is O&O...

 

[fkostyn]

and there's nothing like flying into Sedona, AZ

 

[chui]

I live about 2 miles outside of New Orleans (in Jefferson Parish) and am wondering if anyone has heard how the storm has affected our place in line to get MPEG-4 service? Thanks.
Patrick

 

[Groundhog]

I'm in Austin, TX (#53) and can get all of the locals OTA and record in HD on my media center PC so I'm only eager for them to convert everybody to MPEG4 and we can finally get more national HD content. The HD package we have now is pretty lame.

 

[scotsmanron]

Only PRETTY lame?

 

[aeneas3]

so looks like may or june for buffalo (49). I had been told march. oh well, gonna have to wait for it.

 

[Brewer4]

I'm in Austin, TX (#53) and can get all of the locals OTA and record in HD on my media center PC so I'm only eager for them to convert everybody to MPEG4 and we can finally get more national HD content. The HD package we have now is pretty lame.

Thats the right attitude. Most just complain about HD locals over sat but I see it the same way. Get them out there ASAP so we can get to the other stuff.

 

[Barney]

Any updated guess when #53 Austin, Texas might be getting updated? The wife told my son (he asked when we'd get satellite again) that she wanted to get it after her car is paid off (9 more payments---Oct 2006). Can't come soon enough....

Barney

 

[JosephB]

Some things that probably helped Birmingham is its proximity to Atlanta and Nashville (reuse the same spots, close to major IP fiber networks, etc) And also the fact that Fox 6 is owned by News Corp.

I live in birmingham and its not that great an area to get HD reception. The cable companies (Bright house in B'ham proper, Charter in the suburbs) don't have all the networks yet, and if you live further than about 15-20 miles outside of the city then you can't get them OTA very well. Also, the ABC station is split between Tuscaloosa and Anniston, and there is a very well known problem getting these stations, even in analog, OTA.

And while the city yes is losing population, the metro area has a very large population, but the DMA includes counties well outside the metro area which is very very far away from birmingham, meaning that HD OTA reception in some parts of the DMA is impossible.

 

[VIPERS-PIT]

Here is a wild question. I live in the Youngstown loacal market. But when I submitted the waiver it went out to Pittsburg and Cleveland Stations. Cleveland said yes Pittsburg and Youngstown said no. So with Pittsburg getting HD Locals in april I should get them on the 5 LNB dish. I have already wrote a letter to the FCC because I can not recieve the Youngstown locals OTA in either SD or HD. the stations admit this but say since I get the SD feed off Direct tv I have ZERO right to ant HD channels. And they would be fightting D* from carring them on the spot beam. I live 30 min from Youngstown and it is as flat as a pancake between here and there. But pittsburg is on the other side of MOUNTIANS and I recieve all their locals OTA with zero trouble as well as Cleveland.

I HATE YOUGSTOWN. I live 30 min from there but have been downtown once in my life and that was one time to many!! Youngstown is truly the arm pit of the world!

 

[Tower Guy]

Here is a wild question. I live in the Youngstown loacal market. But when I submitted the waiver it went out to Pittsburg and Cleveland Stations. Cleveland said yes Pittsburg and Youngstown said no. But pittsburg is on the other side of MOUNTIANS and I recieve all their locals OTA with zero trouble as well as Cleveland.

I HATE YOUGSTOWN. I live 30 min from there but have been downtown once in my life and that was one time to many!! Youngstown is truly the arm pit of the world!

With OTA working, what's your problem?

 

[VIPERS-PIT]

OTA not working

I get Pittsburg OTA channels. Youngstown is my "local" market. Pittsburg is over two hours away. I can not get ANY fox stations. and "house" and "24" are our favorite shows. would you be happy?

 

[JerryVolunteer]

I live in Memphis,Tn and the CSR told me yesterday that we would be getting the locals in June.

 

[charper1]

With Spaceway2 about to be parked and in DirecTV hands (if its not now) you should see the top 50 online by Q3 2006 as reported/rumored a few weeks ago along with the revaluation of ALL NEW installs get the AT9 dish.

 

[aeneas3]

spoke with a csr last week. looks like they are saying that those of us in buffalo ny may not get a free dish upgrade from 3lnb to 5lnb b/c the mpeg4 "can be carried on the existing hardware"
that seems strange to me...