HD/DISH network Help

They probably want a certain channel number, so they are waiting till it frees up in February of '09, then they can put an over the air signal up.

 

How does that work? I thought every station had to broadcast a digital signal for free.

Anyway, welcome to Dish. I've had it for about a year. I, too, was thrown about the local channels. I paid a little more for my antenna, but I pick up all the stations (CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, PBS) over the air and the signal is great 98 percent of the time. Everyone once in a while it cuts out for a second or two.

 

There are still a few holdouts for technical reasons. For example, the CW affiliate in Pittsburgh's tower is way east of the city, as that station used to be in another market. The new owners weren't able to get the tower move to Pittsburgh approved by the FCC because then the signal would have been too close to an Ohio station. The FCC compromise was to change the channel assignment, it has been appealed, blah blah...so now, they wait, because in 2009, once the NBC affiliate turns off their analog signal on channel 11, the CW affiliate gets it.

 

Digital doesn't equal HD. I can get the fox digital OTA but it isn't HD because they decided to screw everyone but mediacom customers.

 

Hang on a second...you are saying they DO have a digital channel OTA, but are only passing HD programming to those with cable?

 

Right. Dish says the stations aren't negotiating right now.

But the small town religious station does have HD and dish has negotiated with them for it. :

 

As I understand it, yes. My friends who live in an apartment have Fox in HD on cable. I have ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS in HD but not FOX. I have their OTA digital signal which has been recognized by my Dish. But it is def. not HD.

I'm sure there's the "official" explanation here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=463780

It's about 12-14 pages in but the discussion is there including some e-mails from the station manager.

I'm pleased with dish(had it since august) and very please with HD especially HD Net and NHL Network in HD except you can really tell when the camera is out of focus when watching hockey.

My only question now is why doesn't Dish have E! in HD so I can see the girls next door in HD?

 

Glad you found the AVS Forum. Great resource.

 

It could be worse. In the Topeka market, the cable company is threatening to take them off of cable all together if they won't give the cable companies what they want with the digital signals.

 

Because most stations are trying the hostage tactic of charging separate for the digital signal. In a year, what does it matter?

 

The cable companies there are doing the same thing. They want to charge extra for network tv in HD. That's why the stations don't want to negotiate.

A friend says their sales people are figuring they're out of jobs soon and he's thinking of applying at my station.

 

http://www.highdefforum.com/

Very good resource.

Playthrough, a phone isn't necessary for DirecTV anymore. It comes into play if you use the remote to order PPV.