What's SkyAngel?

Hi all.... Welcome!

Since I'm the author of the page and the "What is Sky Angel?" at the EKB and the moderator here, I'm giving myself license to reprint the Sky Angel page here:

What is Sky Angel?

Dominion Sky Angel is an independent DBS service that provides Christian, family friendly programming. Currently Sky Angel offers a subscription service of 18* TV channels (16 full time channels and 2 channels sharing a slot) and 16 audio channels.

Even though Dominion Sky Angel is an independent DBS service, they partnered up with Echostar because Dominion does not have the facilities to deliver a satellite signal. This long-term agreement means that Sky Angel's programming is available using any standard Echostar (DiSH Network) receiver with a dish antenna pointing at Echostar 3 located at 61.5° WL.

This unique arrangement with Echostar is not without its faults. The Sky Angel Programming should be ordered directly from Dominion (1-800-SKY-ANGEL). Since Dominion is using the Echostar uplink facilities to deliver the signal to the viewer's home, Dominion notifies Echostar to activate a customer. This will take anywhere from two to four BUSINESS days. This means if Sky Angel programming is ordered on a Friday evening after "regular" office hours for Echostar, it MAY take up to the following Thursday before the programming is activated. This is a worst case scenario and is usually completer in two business days. Sky Angel has no control over this at the moment. Please remember, they want to get programming to you as soon as possible too!

It has been reported that Sky Angel programming may be purchased directly from Dish Network (1-800-333-DISH) as well. However, many Dish customer service representatives (CSR) do not know what the Sky Angel package is since it is not a Dish Network service. Dish CSRs frequently confuse the Sky Angel subscription service with Angel One. Angel One (channel 262) is one of six channels from Sky Angel that are available to all Dish Network subscribers. (Fox News Channel, Hallmark, Halmark Movie Channel, HGTV and soon TBN are the other 5 channels also available on Dish Network on varying packages)

DiSH Network subscribers with a dish pointed at 61.5° will not see the Sky Angel channels listed on the electronic program guide (EPG) unless they subscribe to Sky Angel.

A subscriber to both Dish Network and Dominion Sky Angel service will be able to switch channels between services seamlessly.

The standard subscription includes the following:

TV Channels
Angel One 9701
Angel 2 9702
Kids and Teens TV (KTV) to add Spirit TV (Shared channel) 9703
TVU (Television U) 9705
Spirit TV (To be removed) 9706
Guardian TV Network (WSFJ TV 51 Newark/Columbus, OH) 9707
FaithTV 9708
Superchannel TBN WACX TV 55 Leesburg, FL to become TBN national channel 9709
3 Angels Broadcasting Network (To be Removed) 9710
Safe TV (KSBN TV 57 Springdale, Ar) 9711
Cornerstone TV (WPCB TV 40 Pittsburgh, PA) 9712
Total Living Network 9714
Golden Eagle Broadcasting 9715
The Liberty Network WTLU-CA 19 (Lynchberg, Va) 9716
Catholic FamilyLand (Marian) 9717
Fox News Channel 9718
HGTV 9720
Hallmark Channel 9729
Hallmark Movie Channel 9730
Worship 9732

Radio Channels
His Kids Radio 9750
Oasis Radio Network 9751
God Listens Radio 9752
Radio U 9753
WAY-FM 9754
Today's Christian Music Radio 9755
America's Talk Radio 9760
Calvary Satellite Radio 9762
KTLW The Living Way Radio 9764
Moody Broadcasting Radio 9765
Solid Gospel Radio 9770
Sacred Favorites Radio 9771
Voice of Hope (from Jerusalem) 9772
Z - 73 KDAZ-AM Albuquerque, NM 9773
Radio Nueva Vida 9780
Bott Radio Network 9781

There are two subscription packages for the channels listed above.

Monthly Subscription
14.99/mo as of September 1, 2005
11.99/mo as of April 1, 2003
Originally priced at $9.00/mo

Annual Subscription
149.90/year as of September 1, 2005
119.90/year as of April 1, 2003
Originally Priced $99.00/year
 
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Tony,

1-how many transponders Sky angels have?
2-What is the compress ratio compare to dish own SD channels?
3-What is the PQ of their SD channel - same as dish or better than dish?
4-In case of technical difficulty who do customers call? Echostar or Sky Angel?
 
Okay,

1) How many transponders: Short answer...2
Dominion (the parent of Sky Angel) "owns" 8 transponders at 61.5 degrees. They do not have their own satellite, though they have been claiming the plan to put one up there for years. Since the company really doesn't have the money to do this, they set up a barter system with Dish (Echostar). Dish gets to use 6 of Dominion's 8 transponders. In return Dominion gets to use the other two transponders, the Echostar uplink facilities and the Echostar billing facilities. This deal is good until 2010 or until E*3 blows up...whichever comes first. We're in the fourth year of the 10 year agreement.

2 & 3) SA compresses their channels more on average than Dish. But not much.
Sky Angel shoe-horns in 20 TV and 16 radio channels into two transponders. So that's 10 video and 8 audio on one transponder. Dish sometimes goes as high as 13 video channels or 8 video and 10 audio. So it's pretty close.
Sky Angel is at their limit pretty much. So for now Sky Angel services are a zero sum game. If they add a channel, they have to take one away to make room. That is why World Harvest was removed to make room for Spirit TV coming soon. (Next week, probably). The PQ on some channels like Catholic FamilyLand and SuperChannel TBN is usually quite good depending on the source material. Sometimes an old, worn out film is shown and the MPEG encoders don't know what to do with all that noise. The PQ on Faith TV and are acceptable, but not "good" IMHO. Remember that Sky Angel is about the message.

4)It depends of who they got the equipment from. Generally a Sky Angel-only customer should always call Sky Angel at 1-800-SKY-ANGEL. But a dual customer can call Dish.

See ya
Tony
 
That's quite a deal that echostar has 6 TPs in return! So that's 6 years left in the contract. Maybe they can use V* as barganing chip (in 2010) if it does not blow up. What makes you think that it will blow up or even bring this up? :) Is it an old bird?
 
The bird is fine as far as I know. I just mention the bird blowing up because the contract is for "the life of E*3" or 10 years, whichever comes first.

See ya
Tony
 
Tony:
I had been racking my brain trying to figure out for the last few days what channel 9719 had been..Just noticing it missing from my guide. It was World Harvest Television.which along with Pulse Radio was replaced by Spirit TV (from TVU) and God Listens Radio (KSBJ-FM Houston, Tx.)

Tim Lones