Transponder Space - Gone April 5th?

[gredneck]

voom going to have problems on 4/04!

I was checking out voom(think this is a good oppurtunity to switch) at there website and I clicked on the plus pack details
and here is what I read:

The STARZ! and Showtime unlimited plus packs delivered on satellite capacity that is only temporarily available. rainbow dbs's regulatory authority to use this capacity will expire on april 5, 2004.

well i'll think I will stay with dish, I don't need to go through this again

 

[Sean Mota]

I would not worry too much about it. The FCC scheduled the next auction for July 14, 2004 (Auction No. 52) and said the following about the licenses to be auctioned.

Source

Licenses to Be Auctioned

Auction No. 52 will include three licenses for unassigned channels at orbit locations of 175° W.L., 166° W.L., and 157° W.L. The license to use the two available channels at the eastern orbit location of 61.5º W.L., which was included in the list of licenses available for auction in the Auction No. 52 Comment Public Notice, will not be offered in Auction No. 52 because there remains pending the issue of whether any eligibility restrictions are appropriate for this license.

So it looks like VOOM will remain with the two transponder that Echostar gave them and where the Starz package resides.

 

[gredneck]

I would not worry too much about it. The FCC scheduled the next auction for July 14, 2004 (Auction No. 52) and said the following about the licenses to be auctioned.

Source

Licenses to Be Auctioned

Auction No. 52 will include three licenses for unassigned channels at orbit locations of 175° W.L., 166° W.L., and 157° W.L. The license to use the two available channels at the eastern orbit location of 61.5º W.L., which was included in the list of licenses available for auction in the Auction No. 52 Comment Public Notice, will not be offered in Auction No. 52 because there remains pending the issue of whether any eligibility restrictions are appropriate for this license.

So it looks like VOOM will remain with the two transponder that Echostar gave them and where the Starz package resides.

that's good to know thanks.

 

[obba]

HD Marquee Pack (Discovery, NFL, Bravo) HD Channels - Gone April 5th?

Installer was here and installed Voom, (will make a thread on that later ), and in the install package where the papers are, there was a note saying:

"Attention:

The Hd Sports and HD Marquee PlusPacks are only temporarily Available. Rainbow DBS's regulatory authority to provide these channels expires on April 5th, 2004. .....
the HD Sports and HD Marquee PlusPacks will cease to be available to you on or before April 5, 2004 without prior notice.
....
"

Will Voom start to charge for the Marquee PlusPack?

Any info on how much it will be?

Is this old news? if so, tell me and ill delete the thread or let a mod do it.

 

[Sean Mota]

No the TPs are not for auction until the FCC decises to do so. They are not even up for auction on 6/04. So it looks like VOOM will keep these until the FCC decides to auction them.

Licenses to Be Auctioned

Auction No. 52 will include three licenses for unassigned channels at orbit locations of 175° W.L., 166° W.L., and 157° W.L. The license to use the two available channels at the eastern orbit location of 61.5º W.L., which was included in the list of licenses available for auction in the Auction No. 52 Comment Public Notice, will not be offered in Auction No. 52 because there remains pending the issue of whether any eligibility restrictions are appropriate for this license.

So it looks like VOOM will remain with the two transponder that Echostar gave them.

 

[obba]

Great!

finally got hd. and wow. had some problems with local ota, but ill make a thread with that. is it preferable to make a new thread, or to post in the install thread?

 

[Sean Mota]

Great!

finally got hd. and wow. had some problems with local ota, but ill make a thread with that. is it preferable to make a new thread, or to post in the install thread?

Whichever you prefer... I usually merge them anyway once the thread has gotten cold...

 

[obba]

cool, ill start writing.

 

[obba]

cool, ill start writing.

 

[Lucky]

It looks like according to Sat Biz that VOOM will only ask permission to keep the two temporary transponders. That implies that even though the FCC is not auctioning these transponders now, VOOM may not keep them. See here :

TODAY'S HEADLINES
WEDNESDAY MARCH 17, 2004
U.S., CANADIAN FIRMS VIE FOR MORE CANADIAN DBS SLOTS
CBS' LETTERMAN, MOONVES TAKE WACKS AT ECHOSTAR
ECHOSTAR, SECURITY VENDOR WORK ON CARD SWAP
VOOM PLANS TO ASK FOR MORE TIME TO USE EXTRA DBS FREQUENCIES
NEWS & NOTES: The Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association is expected today to announce the long-anticipated appointment of Richard DalBello as its new president...As expected, Hughes Electronics changed its name to The DirecTv Group Inc...Contrary to a published report Monday, EchoStar Communications and SES Global, the parent company of SES Americom, are not engaged in negotiations regarding a "wide-ranging alliance."...DirecTv and NDS reached a new six-year agreement that calls for DirecTv to use NDS' conditional access card...As of last night, it did not appear one-day work stoppage against EchoStar and DirecTv, scheduled for today, by an ad hoc group of satellite dealers and installers had gained many followers.

http://www.satbiznews.com/

 

[Sean Mota]

VOOM PLANS TO ASK FOR MORE TIME TO USE EXTRA DBS FREQUENCIES

http://www.satbiznews.com/

Interesting...I wonder what the heck the FCC is planning to do with the frequencies if there is only three providers that can use them -- Echostar, VOOM or Dominion. In my own opinion, do not believe that FCC will take those away from VOOM. The fact that they are asking for time (assuming this is true), it seems like there is plan B. Plan B could be the deployment of MPEG-4 but I do not know if MPEG-4 could compensate for losing two TPs. Maybe they have another plan in the work that we are not aware of.

 

[Dan Berndt]

It looks like the channels we are going to be losing in April have changed. If you click on the PlusPack Details button under Programming in the VOOM web site, it says we are going to loose the Showtime and Starz channels. It says we may loose these channels even earlier than April 5th.

I sure hope VOOM can work out a deal so we can keep these channels.

 

[Acerone]

When I was on the phone with Voom yesterday the CSR said they are coming out with a sports package. ESPN HD and MSG and some others. He went on and on but I wasn't really in the mood to listen because of my issues I was having with my new Voom box. I kind of remember this guy saying that MSG will cover the east coast events but I don't recall the other info. I didn't want to hear what a CSR has to say anyways by the way

Let's just hope for more HD.....

 

[rudolpht]

Plan B should be drop SD channels, but I doubt it will come to that.

 

[rang1995]

There are other plans in the works,from what i have heard but by no means are these slots going away on 4/5 the FCC wants competition

 

[fayrich]

STARZ & SHOWTIME PLUS-PAKS

Any truth to the disclaimers about losing these 2 Plus-Paks? Have been seeing about the Starz Pak from day one, but have just recently seen somewhere about Showtime.

 

[madpoet]

They are obligated to putthat on there because of the pending auction of that space. They have petitioned to be able to keep it however, and it doesn't look like they are going anywhere soon.

 

[Sean Mota]

See this thread for more information...

http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=9679

Will merge this one with that one.

 

[vurbano]

Ive always wanted to ask... "what sports Pak?" where? Was this something they had before I signed up?

 

[James Long]

In my own opinion, do not believe that FCC will take those away from VOOM.

The FCC took them away from E* to give them to Voom. E* had the original STA on those two transponders, but when they asked for renewal last year the FCC denied the request an approved Voom's request to TEMPORARILY use the channels.

Personally I think they should give TP23 to Voom and TP24 to E* Both have valid uses for the frequency, and prior requests to use it.

JL