What happened to the original plans for 105?

[miguelaqui]

I was told, from a very good source, in Nov. 2003, that 105 and 121 were going to be very similar to 61.5 and 148. The international channels were going to be the same, but the locals were going to be different. Also, those new sats were going to have HD programming.

I heard, in early 2004, that the reason why they did not put the international and HD on 105 was that Florida's panhandle could not receive the 105 signal very well.

Now that they have the new sat. at the 105 slot, shouldn't the problem be solved?

I do not understand why they do not put the international channels, especially those not offered on 61.5 and 148, on the 105 satellite.

I emailed Dish and asked them if they had any plans on putting the int. channels on 105, they responded "At this time, DISH Network does not have any plans to broadcast International channels from the 105 orbital location."

Do they not understand that there will be some areas where subscribers will want locals from 105 and international programming from 121? Who wants 2 superdishes?

Why aren't they going through with the original plans? Will they ever put HD on 121 and 105?

 

[James Long]

Life goes on ... the plans of 2003 are long gone and new possibilities are on the horizon.

I believe that another reason for abandoning HD on 105 was the lack of HD to put on 105. HD really hasn't blossomed as much as expected. There are channels that COULD be added, but HD is only now coming in to a level of acceptability worth spending satellite space on. Meanwhile MPEG4 has been developed and despite new satellites at both 121 and now 105 E* has learned that DBS satellites are better than FSS. (Think how much D* is risking on Ka! E* isn't planning on putting any video programming on Ka - they don't trust it for video programming.)

Will they ever put HD on 121 and 105 ... I believe YES - but it will be HD locals replacing the non HD locals that are currently on 121 and 105. We will be more than two years past the predictions and rumors of 2003 when E* relaunches HDTV this fall/early 2006. And I'm betting that there will be as much on 110 as they can fit.

Internationals are oddballs ... They are not popular enough to put on four satellite locations. Their current location on 121 is a decent neighborhood for new internationals ... with winged internationals left over from the pre-121 days (with a few additions lately). But I agree that the two superdish problem needs fixing ...

JL

 

[Stargazer]

The size of the SuperDish is LARGE and EXPENSIVE compared to a DBS satellite. Perhaps they did not want to have to install a SuperDish at every home and that everyone does not want that large of a dish at their home. Most people would think that the dish size would get smaller than larger as they have been getting with DirecTv and Dish Network over the years.

 

[miguelaqui]

The size of the SuperDish is LARGE and EXPENSIVE compared to a DBS satellite. Perhaps they did not want to have to install a SuperDish at every home and that everyone does not want that large of a dish at their home. Most people would think that the dish size would get smaller than larger as they have been getting with DirecTv and Dish Network over the years.

Yes, I agree. Even more reason for either putting the internationals, which are currently on 121, but not on 61.5, on 105 or 61.5. A 2 superdish solution is too much.

 

[lvkewlkid]

what is wrong with a large dish, why would it bother people?

 

[miguelaqui]

what is wrong with a large dish, why would it bother people?

Some people like to keep the dishes hidden. Some live in very conservative neighborhoods. I know of one in the area which does not allow the dish to be seen from the street. I think, if the dishes continue to get larger, more neighborhoods will do the same, which would be awful! I really don't care; they don't bother me. I do think that 2 superdishes is a bit much for me though.

 

[rocatman]

So do you think some folks will balk at having the new 24" x 36" DirecTV dish installed for HD?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

The SuperDish was the Edsel of the 21st century. It was not well thought out nor was the plan tested before they launched it, which to me shows some major management problems at Dish Network.

Here the Satellite was ALREADY in space, they could have tested out things before making their grand annoucement, which overall now seemed like it was a way for Dish to get a quick boost in its stock price as the announcment did not deliver on any of its promises.

105 DID have HD on it when the SuperDish was launched, it mirrored everything that was on 61.5 They just never made those channels available to anyone so the only people who saw them were employees and hackers.

Now they are jumping on the Dish 1000 bandwaggon, I understand we will be hearing a lot about it over the next few months, but again there is a problem, 129 is too low on the Horizion for many on the East Coast to pick it up. It will be funny when they have NY HD up on 129 when hardly anyone in the NY area can pick it up.

 

[rocatman]

Now they are jumping on the Dish 1000 bandwaggon, I understand we will be hearing a lot about it over the next few months, but again there is a problem, 129 is too low on the Horizion for many on the East Coast to pick it up. It will be funny when they have NY HD up on 129 when hardly anyone in the NY area can pick it up.

It appears you're implying that Dish will put national HD programming on E-5 at 129 or HD locals including northeast U.S. locals such as Boston, N.Y., and Philadelphia. I think that would be a big mistake unless Dish mirrors the programming on 61.5 presumably with R-1. Another possibility would be to put HD programming on AMC-16 if the FCC approves its move to 118.7. Obviously this would require a Superdish. I think either the two dish solution with HD programming going on 61.5 or the Superdish solution will be much more acceptable to most folks than DirecTV's 36" dish.

 

[johnnytuinals]

Some people like to keep the dishes hidden. Some live in very conservative neighborhoods. I know of one in the area which does not allow the dish to be seen from the street. I think, if the dishes continue to get larger, more neighborhoods will do the same, which would be awful! I really don't care; they don't bother me. I do think that 2 superdishes is a bit much for me though.
Reply With Quote

First you can put any dish on your property,I don't care if its a 10 or 12 foot dish on your roof.
Nobody can say take it down or give yea a fine.
Everybody has a right to watch tv if its by Cable Dishtv or a 10 foot dish,the FCC made that rule in 1984.So if i want to put a 10 foot dish on the front of my roof nobody can do anything even if they take you to court.
that why we have the SCBA surporting us.Johnny

 

[kavula]

The new rule (yeah, it's 10 years old, though) says you can have a 1-meter dish, and no one can stop you. Any more than that, some HOA can stop you.

 

[miguelaqui]

The new rule (yeah, it's 10 years old, though) says you can have a 1-meter dish, and no one can stop you. Any more than that, some HOA can stop you.

Yes, it was a HOA which made the rule in this particular neighborhood. I'm not saying that I agree, but most people just do not want to fight. I had a landlord tell me that I had to have renter's insurance to have a dish. I didn't fight b/c I didn't think it was worth a legal battle when I could get the insurance for $75/year. Lots of people just would prefer not to fight. I hate HOAs in general!!!

Thinking about it...Yes, The sat at 105 was already there. They could have easily had a Beta tester in FL to point out that the footprint was too small and that the signal was not down there! If that is indeed the reason why they decided not to go along with the HD/International plan.

I agree. Why in the world did they continue with the 105 plan, if they knew that the big plan for the 105 Superdish was really just going to be locals for some areas?!

I never thought of hackers being able to see that stuff! That means that hackers could also get the "Soraya Chat" from 148 or 61.5 and know about future promations!!!

From looking at their website there are many international channels... ABN AMERICA, ARMENIA TV, several Chinese Channels, 3 Farsi channels, 2 German channels,2 Greek, 1 Isreali, 2 Italian, Several South Asian, 1 Tagalog, and 1 Urdu on 121, which are not on 105.

I did hear that they really wanted to put the locals on 105 to stop the 2 dish solution b/c the "minor" locals were becoming more popular.

How difficult would it be it put those international channels on 105 also? If they offer the programming, they should have an easier solution than having 2 Superdishes.

 

[James Long]

First you can put any dish on your property,I don't care if its a 10 or 12 foot dish on your roof.
Nobody can say take it down or give yea a fine.

BZZZ. Sorry, but the FCC protections only apply to dishes 1 meter (about 39") or less - and only prohibit rules that would unreasonably prevent a customer from getting service.

A rule that required back yard placement or screening COULD be upheld. The FCC rule isn't an absolute "you can do anything you want and the HOA/government can't stop you".

JL