Update

[Zimmy]

Hello,

I was looking at a recent Discovery thread and I wanted to make a few comments. We do not have any word on Discovery so that is why nothing has been reported. Is it a good or bad thing? I don't know. I think you wonderful satellite forums folks writing them requesting to keep the service and being positive and thanking them will help.

It isn't that SRL and SKY doesn't care, it's more of there hasn't been much to report and that can be a good thing. If we have any news (good or bad) to report we have so many ways of getting the word out. We have the 2 forums, our website, our email lists, messages through the receivers and snail mail for those without email or computer access. We will use all means necessary to get any notification out when something comes up.

We are a small company and have been dedicated to the big dish and there will be no plans to deviate from this goal. We've had offers from small dish companies to sell them as a "courtesy" to our customers for those moving on from big dish. We have declined offers because we are very loyal and have made it clear throughout the years that when customers calls they will never have a small dish or other offers thrown down their throat. I think most customers can confirm that when you call us you are getting through fairly quickly without having to push a bunch of buttons or sales pitches.

I've seen Soap Net mentioned and that is a possibility. We are working on it but not really getting any attention from the ESPN/Disney folks after several attempts. It has been revived recently and we'll keep trying. I also saw someone mention ESPN2 and that is not a possibility. No one can contractually sell ESPN2 without selling ESPN and ESPNews which are not available in a format we can authorize. We are also trying to get some adult services, as they are in a format available to us. I know some people will like this and some will not but the more business the better. My predecessor tried getting them years back and could not get anywhere with them allowing us access. We will continue to try.

I thank everyone for the continued support.

Best Regards,

Tim

Satellite Receivers LTD.
The Programming Center

1-800-432-8876

www.programming-center.net

 

[tvropro]

Thanks for the response Tim. I'm going to copy your info here and make it available online at my website 4DTV | 4DTV Online By TvroPro | The Official 4DTV Info Site | C Band Satellite Programming | 4D Map Master
Many people also go there for information.

Keep up the good work and thanks for all SRL & Skyvision are doing.

 

[trinidex]

Thanks for the update Tim and thanks for all your efforts.

 

[tdti1]

Hi Tim, not able to get into satforums today but anyways any chance of working with Shaw and Motorola to get the new 600 receiver working on AMC-18? We need something because I am sure HITS will switch to S2 soon.

Shaw Direct announces new entry level HD satellite receiver : Hugh Thompson's Digital Home

 

[tvropro]

I had a person contact me about a company that would be willing to build IRD's with combo & HD for us. If you need the contact info Tim contact me here 4DTV Online... Contact Us

 

[tvropro]

A word on Soapnet

Soapnet will be going away in January of next year. It will be changed to Disney Junior, maybe SRL should speak to Disney about acquiring that. I would bet that the HITS channel will seamlessly change to that early next year when the master changes on G-10.

 

[tdti1]

Unfortunately tvropro a receiver would have to be licensed by Motorola and thats were the big bucks are. And since the 600 is 85% ready and available it would cost a heck of a lot less than contracting Motorola to make a receiver just for a few thousand people. If none of these already existing Shaw receivers can't be worked with it's pretty much game over, the 600 is the lowest cost receiver out right now this is why I mentioned it to Tim, the 605 and 630 are far more expensive.

 

[Mr Tony]

Soapnet is owned by Disney

 

[tvropro]

Unfortunately tvropro a receiver would have to be licensed by Motorola and thats were the big bucks are. And since the 600 is 85% ready and available it would cost a heck of a lot less than contracting Motorola to make a receiver just for a few thousand people. If none of these already existing Shaw receivers can't be worked with it's pretty much game over, the 600 is the lowest cost receiver out right now this is why I mentioned it to Tim, the 605 and 630 are far more expensive.

This is an option with Shaw. The person told me that this company he was talking about is suppose to be licensed I believe to build DC-2 though thats why I brought it up

 

[Zimmy]

Thank you for the feedback. I'm not familiar with the receivers or protocol that you are speaking of. I do know that if it will cost a lot of money or resources that it probably won't happen. The president of our company is also in the ATM business which is doing very good. That is where the focus is but we want to keep the big dish running for as long as possible. Everyone that answers the Programming lines work for the ATM side of the business too. As long as we can keep overhead low on the Programming side of the business the longer we can keep it going. Any additional info on receivers and such you can send to my email address TimM@srlcd.com


Someone mentioned something about HITS switching their signal. That will happen eventually but my contact at HITS doesn't think it will be anytime soon because fortunately there are many cable outfits that still use the old technology.

Also thank you for the insight on Soapnet. I knew it was owned by Disney but wasn't aware of Disney's plans in 2012. And yes you are right about change over being easy. Same thing with Discovery Health to OWN. It's the same tierbit so customers will automatically receive it. Now just getting Disney's attention to get it till 2012...

I found the following article:

Disney Drops SoapNet Channel for New Kiddie Network

 

[goaliebob99]

I would be very intrested in an HD solution as well as adult services. Too bad we couldnt just add access cards to existing boxes out there like AZ boxes and just sub from that card. That would be the best solution.

 

[tvropro]

You have to understand the whole network. Everything we sub to is DC-2. It is owned by Motorola and they call the shots The only way they will license the technology to anyone is mucho dollars have to be on the table. When C band made tall bucks they were glad to do things, now that were a blip of what we were they don't. So CAMs for AZboxes ain't happening today. We need to build c band up again and then try from that point.

I give SRL credit for standing up to pizza and telling them no on promoting. Every other provider including NPS caved and that dug us in deeper. We have leveled off with losses and are moving forward again. I was reminded this morning why I love c band and how good c band masters look vs pizza. A specific mux was ITC this morning for a few hours. I switched between the master and DirecTV countless times to see the difference in the picture. It was a day and night difference with c band winning of course. Plus Direct was 6 seconds behind. The master also had clearer audio Direct has some mud to their sound.. Just gotta love pizza compression.

Keep supporting C band guys. We got some good players working for us at the top. That this time really cares about us more than the almighty buck like NPS & YSP.

 

[LocutusOfBorg]

I just ordered the H2H SuperPak from SRL for 3 months. I hope it's worth the money.

 

[PopcornNMore]

Zimmy, has the number of H2H subscribers grown since last announced or have they remained the same or been reduced?

I'll probably be ordering the Digital Deluxe Package from Skyvision tomorrow since it's the 1st and then lowering my Dish Network from the Top 120 to the Welcome Package. I've determined this will give us 33 additional channels at roughly the same cost of the Top 120 package. Now the wife just needs to agree. Both packages together makes an excellent combination.

 

[Zimmy]

I'm really not at liberty to give out numbers but I would say they are very healthy. I'm an optimistic person and I always thought we'd get good numbers of customers that would do the conversion and carry on. The president of our company and some employees had their doubts but I proved them wrong. We did lose some SRL/SKY customers but we gained new NPS customers. This last month there has been a surge because the snowbirds are returning to the north and doing the conversion and signing up for programming.

 

[bigjohn500]

Tim, will the Discovery Suite be available to subscribers tomorrow 7-1-2011 ??

 

[tvropro]

I'm really not at liberty to give out numbers but I would say they are very healthy. I'm an optimistic person and I always thought we'd get good numbers of customers that would do the conversion and carry on. The president of our company and some employees had their doubts but I proved them wrong. We did lose some SRL/SKY customers but we gained new NPS customers. This last month there has been a surge because the snowbirds are returning to the north and doing the conversion and signing up for programming.

Tim

We are doing all we can to get the word out and get people to switch to or keep the BUD for programming. I am hoping that all our combined efforts will allow H2H to carry on for many years and expand. C band is still the best no matter what the pizza followers say.

 

[wallyhts]

We are doing all we can to get the word out and get people to switch

:up

 

[Zimmy]

To Big John- yes, we haven't heard anything from Discovery saying we cannot sell them any longer. They are good people to work with so I imagine they would give ample time for us to get notification.

 

[aaronmb]

Any chance we will get the Denver Nets back?