HD Locals for my area. Are they coming?

[I WANT MORE]

I just noticed HD Locals $0.00 on my on line bill. This has never been on there before. HD Locals are not available in my area yet (DMA 115). Should I read anything in to this?

[KHook321]

I've had that on mine for a while but still nothing.

[say-what]

Not sure what to make of that other than they're making sure your account is ready whenever your locals fire up. Could be soon, could be after D11 launches. I don't recall if I got a line item like that prior to my locals going live b/c I saw an announcement here first and knew when they were comming.

[Ira Lacher]

More likely the billing people just want it in place so they don't have to add it little by little. It is very expensive to program these on individual bills. It costs far less to implement the change on a global scale and just leave the line item blank. Sorry to disappoint! (Des Moines doesn't have HD locals yet either, and I'm not holding my breath.)

[warriorking]

:nono: I have been waiting nearly a year for my locals to become available from Direct in HD, I have basically given up waiting, Someday they will appear, but I don't loose sleep about it anymore.....

[Milominderbinder2]

I just noticed HD Locals $0.00 on my on line bill. This has never been on there before. HD Locals are not available in my area yet (DMA 115). Should I read anything in to this?
I looked you up in this thread because I did not know what DMA 115 was off the top of my head:

HD Locals - City By City What's Available (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=65321)

It turns out DMA 115 is:

115. Sioux Falls, SD Available on the 72.5 satellite HD Not Yet

It also shows that your HD via satellite are not yet announced.

So what we do know:
1. The next satellite, D11, is launching in early 2008 and is primarily to offer more local HD.
2. The lease on the 72.5 satellite runs out soon and those all have to be moved.
3. On February 18, 2009, DIRECTV has to broadcast local HDs (at least some of them).

So at most it will be 16 months for some HD to show up for you.

But why not use the OTA now?

I am 57 miles from my towers and get 27 out of 28 of my OTA HD. From the HR20 FAQ (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=76617):

→ Dozens of Great HD Channels are Just Waiting for You (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?p=817199#post817199)
→ Adding More HD Local Channels (http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=870155&postcount=5)

- Craig