What happened to the "Dish Audio" (Muzak) mono-only stations?

comfortably_numb

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Nov 30, 2011
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Kansas City / Las Vegas
Been awhile since I looked at the channel lineups, but I no longer see those mono-only stations available anymore. Just to clarify, these are different from the "Dish CD" and SiriusXM channels. They were some of the Muzak channels that Dish made available to us in the higher-end packages. Did they remove them?
 
Bobby must be correct that they are hidden in the guide for me. Just strange because I can see other channels that I'm not currently subscribed to

They must have been non-hidden in the distant past because I seem to remember that it was customer requests that caused them to add them to AT250. But normally, a lot of non-subscribed channels are hidden: locals, sports networks, and (when they were still mostly on the core satellites) foreign channels.
 
I had the Top 120 til this past week and could've swore I was getting those so called "hidden" music channels. I upgraded Friday to the Top 250 for the sitcoms on Centric, Logo and Sundance.
 
Aren't you struggling with a Hopper? :D
It is not a Hopper thing. They are also hidden on the ViP's. For a couple of months each year, from early November to early January, some of the AUD channels are un-hidden and made available in free preview for the holiday music. Usually, those channels get hidden again after the preview ends, but sometimes Dish (accidentally?) leaves those particular channels un-hidden and red in the guide the rest of the year, only to hide them again after the following year's free preview.

They must have been non-hidden in the distant past because I seem to remember that it was customer requests that caused them to add them to AT250.
I think it is kind of the opposite. The AUD channels were always available in AT250 (since when the package was introduced as AT150) and Dish hides them from non-subscribers because they don't want customers with lower packages calling them to request those channels as a separate package. (The idea being that not many lower-package subscribers would upgrade to AT250 just to get those channels, but they might be willing to spend a few bucks per month to add just the AUD channels. Either Dish is contractually not allowed to sell them as a separate package, or they just don't want the hassle of offering such a package that they think very few people would be willing to pay for, especially with so many other music channels already included in lower packages.)
 
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It is not a Hopper thing. They are also hidden on the ViP's. For a couple of months each year, from early November to early January, some of the AUD channels are un-hidden and made available in free preview for the holiday music. Usually, those channels get hidden again after the preview ends, but sometimes Dish (accidentally?) leaves those particular channels un-hidden and red in the guide the rest of the year, only to hide them again after the following year's free preview.


I think it is kind of the opposite. The AUD channels were always available in AT250 (since when the package was introduced as AT150) and Dish hides them from non-subscribers because they don't want customers with lower packages calling them to request those channels as a separate package. (The idea being that not many lower-package subscribers would upgrade to AT250 just to get those channels, but they might be willing to spend a few bucks per month to add just the AUD channels. Either Dish is contractually not allowed to sell them as a separate package, or they just don't want the hassle of offering such a package that they think very few people would be willing to pay for, especially with so many other music channels already included in lower packages.)

I'd pay $5 a month for them. I'm a big radio geek and I also like the fact that the Muzak stations are of a commerical quality, programmed by audio engineers. Dish's "Dish CD" stations are (or were) just that: a bunch of CD's in an auto changer. I've seen photos of them. Or, at least that's how it used to be. I'd imagine they might be audio files streaming from a server now.

When I was a teenager in high school, I worked for Wendy's, eventually as an assistant manager also. We always had Muzak's FM1 (Foreground Music 1) station playing, which came from a Dish receiver. Interesting how the progression and tempo changed from what was played in the early morning hours, to lunch time, dinner and then late night.
 
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I'd pay $5 a month for them. I'm a big radio geek and I also like the fact that the Muzak stations are of a commerical quality, programmed by audio engineers.

I don't know what the bandwidth is, but they're mono, or at least were the last time I checked.
 
I don't know what the bandwidth is, but they're mono, or at least were the last time I checked.

Yes, that's correct, because they're primarily broadcast for use in businesses and restaurants, whose ceiling speakers would be mono. When I said "commercial quality," I was referring to song choice and imaging, not so much bitrate.
 
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