Did anybody catch the retailer charlie chat?

[jeffwtux]

today? I heard they were announcing new programming. Does anybody know what that is? Any ideas?

[Scott Greczkowski]

I did not see it. Hopefully I get a tape of it this weekend.

I do believe they said that TNT is staying, but it is really not looking good for NESN now. I think they also announced 2 new Locals markets (But I am sure one was not Hartford) :(

[jeffwtux]

The NE markets are way to greedy for the number of customers that they generate. Now aren't they going to say something about NBA TV which Dish has come to an agreement on? If NBA TV starts broadcasting in January, then who needs TNT? NBA TV will have more games than TNT at I guess a more reasonable rate. Hopefully, the average customer will see through this and understand it's a good deal to drop TNT OR AT LEAST THREATEN TO.

I still want a better programming package like DirecTV total choice plus + locals. All they need to do is make a DishPak100 and DishPak150. You get a $1.98 discount with DishPak100 and a $2.98 discount with DIshPak150. I can take it from there and make it a better deal than Total Choice Plus +locals, at least for the first 2 years.

[Scott Greczkowski]

Jeff I would agree with you but the numbers dont add up.

New Hampshire has locals. The possible (and existing) subscriber base in New Hampshire is much less then Connecticut.

And while you may like TNT for the NBA, I am sure there are many more people who watch TNT for non NBA stuff. My wife loves their movie selection. Its good news that TNT is indeed staying.

[jeffwtux]

Scott. yeah but TBS has pretty much the same selection of olf tired 80s movies, but at a cheaper price. I know I've said it before, but this dispute is a result of DIsney and AOL/TW overpaying for the NBA contract. Stupid executives thought that people will have no problem paying forever escalating cable and satellite bill in order to make up for the advertizing shortfall. They wanted the NBA contract to be paid for on the backs of cable and mainly satellite subscribers. They figured it was easier to get them to overpay for an existing channel than overpay for acquiring a new one.

[jerryez]

So, what were the two new locals?

[Adam Richey]

The 2 new ones were probably Spokane and Louisville.

[Scott Greczkowski]

I think the two new cities were (and don't quote me on this I could be wrong) Columbus Georgia and Huntsville Alabama

Maybe a retailer who saw todays show can give us a breif rundown. :)

[jeffwtux]

Columbus Georgia?? You've got to be kidding me. What about Columbus OH

[TNGTony]

There isn't any room on the Ohio spot. Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Buffalo and Cincinnati are all shoved onto 3 transponders. No room at the inn.

In sharp contrast, the Georgia spot is more than half empty.

See ya
Tony

[Jacob S]

Darn, how are they going to get Charleston, WV and Louisville, KY and Columbus, Ohio up then? Isn't there a spot right over WV, one over Ohio, and one of Kentucky, three spots close together?

[AkShark]

Maybe Anchorage?

[bryan27]

Scott, Yes New Hampshire has locals, but New Hampshire doesn't have a DMA for New Hampshire stations. The only reason that 1 NH station is currently carried is because nearly the entire state is in the Boston Market. If NH had it's own market it wouldn't be carried.

Jacob, They aren't going to get Charleston and Columbus up that's all there is to it. The beam over West Virginia has 3 TPs (2,8,10). This is the same beam that covers Ohio. On this beam is Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Cincinnati, and Buffalo. The beam that reaches Louisville, but not the Charleston or Columbus markets has 2 TPs (4,6). On this beam is Nashville, Louisville.

[TNGTony]

I'm guessing that the Louisville/Nashville spot will be used for Chattanooga. That will fill it up. Memphis has too many stations to completely fit. But that never stopped Dish anyway. :)

See ya
Tony

[Darkman]

people - Retailer's Chat is on Dec 20th (check the DBStalk's chat link!)...and then check the date :)
lol
well maybe it is the 20th now for some of you anyhow..
but retailer Chat wasn't on yet... (unless i am going crazy)

hehe - all this speculation about 2 new locals - and the chat wasn't even on :)

P.S. - Tony - expect an email from me soon :)

[Mark Holtz]

Raising hand.... why can't the retailer pre-activate the 50x and the 721 prior to customer installation?

Also, how about a downloadable instructional video that will show the end user how to use some of the features of their new 50x/721 unit? The "new features" video that came with the two major 50x upgrades was very informative.

When will the 50x firmware be put in the bit stream?

[Steve Mehs]

Darkman, it appears the Retailer Chat was indeed on yesterday. Look like you told me the wrong date after the previous chat, don't worry I forgive ya ;)

[jeffwtux]

I got several email reminders that the Retailer Chat was yesterday, Dec 19.

[Richard King]

The December 20 date was mentioned as the date of the next chat at the end of the last one. I missed yesterday's because I set my timers on my DVHS to record today's chat at the time it was announced. I guess I get to wait for the reruns. :(

[Tomsoundman]

So if my locals are Huntington, Charleston WV., then I won't be getting locals anytime soon from Dish?

[scooper]

Don't count on it...

[Darkman]

Steve - lol - not my fault, they said at the end of last one - 20th :)

Well - in any case 18 mins left till 20th chat (that probably will not be on now..who knows though)..
Dish should be more accurate making dates and keeping them...
lol
I ve been told rebroadcasts might begin Mon, the 23rd...(if that is so, wonder if maybe they ll start those on 22nd - lol - just to be consistant :)

hmmm..that sucks anyhow
as to some locals that are coming next, The next market logically should be Omaha, NE...It's been reported to be uplinked already...but who knows though - they let Colorado Spring locals to be uplinked for a Long time.

[Touchdown Kentucky]

Anything said about the station holding out in Louisville, WAVE TV?
TD KY

[Darkman]

well - it is after 12:00 noon (Eastern) now on the 20th - and i ve beet told - there is no Retailer Chat, even though the EPG guide says so :(

Instead - there are frequent reminders that Rebroadcasts will begin Mon, Dec 23rd, at 12:00 noon (Eastern) (or something)

that actually Sucks..oh well - nothing could be done though...

Any1 out there who maybe saw the chat Yesturday or has a tape of it or something? - If so please let us know if any Locals were mentioned or any New or upcoming other channels, etc

[Steve Mehs]

Steve - lol - not my fault, they said at the end of last one - 20th :)

Your off the hook this this time :D

[Chris Freeland]

Originally posted by TNGTony
I'm guessing that the Louisville/Nashville spot will be used for Chattanooga. That will fill it up. Memphis has too many stations to completely fit. But that never stopped Dish anyway. :)

See ya
Tony

That may be true, as I have reported before that my dealer told me that Chattanooga was #63 on the E* list. Their are only 8 full power channels in the Chattanooga dma, one is a TBN channel that may or may not request "must carry", one is a GPTV-PBS based in Dalton GA that E* might be allowed to substitute the main Atlanta GPTV channel already on a National beam, this would leave just 6 channels which could possibly fit on TP6 with Nashville 7 channels. If they placed the TN-PBS channel on 61.5, E* would only need to have room for 5 Chattanooga stations. The only problem with the above is that Chattanooga is on the edge of the Nashville beam, I live in Hamilton county which would be in the Chattanooga dma and I only have a signal strength of 76 on TP6 on the Nashville beam, which is kind of borderline unless E* is planning on upping the power on the Nashville, Louisville and hopefully the Chattanooga beam ;) .

[Jacob S]

My DMA is #62 but DMA# does not make much of a difference once your spot beam is filled up. I will have to wait for another satellite launch now to have a chance of having locals here am I correct? Is it a good chance that there will not be a second beam over my area Charleston/Huntington, WV since there is already a spot here? If thats true then 20 or 30 DMA's ahead of me would get their locals instead of me, and it could be the same for many other DMA's.

[TNGTony]

Charleston/Huntington/Ashland, Beckly, Stubenville/Wheeling, Columbus/Chilicothe, Zanesville, Youngstown, Toledo, Lima, Dayton and Lexington are SOL for the time being. No soup for you!

There is no room at the inn. I think Ft. Wayne and South Bend are also in the "no room" category.

See ya
Tony

[jerryez]

Tony, How about Mobile/Pensacola(DMA62). Any room for locals on the Deep South beam.

[UpOnTheMountain]

While we are calling out our "make room for mine" wish list, How about Roanoke/Lynchburg VA ? Is there any room left for us on any of the spot beams?

[TNGTony]

It depends on how the dole out transponders in the south-east.

The 119 spot in the south-east is loaded with North Carolina channels.... No room there

The 110 spot 11 could get Pensacola, but I don't know how many transponders it will have. Columbus, Georgia (leaked already) and one other small city could be shoved on one transponder. So there is a possibility that it could be added. But other cities in the area are: Macon, Talahassee, Columbia (SC), Charleston (SC), Wilmington (NC), Ocala (FL) and a miriad other REALLY small markets.

Just a guess, though...Columbus and Columbia or Charleston (SC) or even just Columbus and the Atlanta non network stations!
---------------

Roanoke is not in a good location in relation to the spots I see now in the Rabbi's maps. But spot 10 @ 110 is loaded with Cincinnati, Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Buffalo. No room there.

Spot 13 has Philly and Washington locals (8 per transponder). You could SHOVE another 8 channels in there theoretically and screw up EVERYone's picture. But that spot can also get to Baltimore, Hartford, Providence, Albany, Scranton/Wilkes Barre, Richmond, Portland (ME), Augusta, (whatever the vermont DMA is...Brattleboro/Keene?). Basically the entire north-east.

Spot 14 at 110 is completely empty as far as I can tell. However it looks to be too far north to effectively reach Lynchburg. This spot looks like it reaches south to the Mason-Dixon line. covering PA, northern Jersey, NY and New England.

Spot 13 at 119 is loaded with Burlington, Boston and Hartford. No room at the inn there.

See ya
Tony

[Adam Richey]

Hartford? Hartford, CT? Hartford isn't available on Dish Network. Are the channels uplinked right now or was that a typing error?

[Geronimo]

Neither were most of the DMAs in that sentence Ogre. I think that our transpoder deity was simply expalining all the cities in range of that beam.

[Darkman]

Tony,
any chance for any more Local markets on 110's spot 7?
( sorry - i think i asked you this once before, but seemed to forget :) )
I think you answer was spot 7 is pretty full, or something like that?

[TNGTony]

Ogre, Geronimo got it right. I was illustrating just how many local markets are in the area the spot beam covers. Only a FEW of the cities mentione (and not mentioned but still in the spot) can be carried. Not all.

Darkman, 110° Spot 7 has Minneapolis, Des Moinses and Omaha on its two transponders. There is some room as we discussed earlier. Transponder 10 has 6 Omaha channels and 6 Des Moines channels on it. OMAHA IS NOT YET AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS (sorry for shouting that at you, but I knew if I didn't some one from the Evelin Wood set would have missed the whole point.
Spot 7's transponder 8 has 8 Minneapolis/St Paul channels on it. This means that they could theoretically cram another 4 channels on that transponder. If they decide to do what they did in the Ohio spot, they could take it up to 13 channels per spot and then you have enough room for 6 channels on the spot (5 on 8 and 1 on 10)

So, theoretically, there is enough room on 110 spot 7 for one more SMALL DMA.

See ya
Tony

[Darkman]

Grand Forks or Fargo??? :) (j/k - lol)

[bryan27]

Tony, Spot 14 is unuseable. Just like we have a beam that can't be used on 119. Spot 10 uses 2,8,10 and Spot 13 uses 4,6. Since all 5 TPs are used, Spot 14 can only be used if Spot 13 or Spot 10 are turned off.

Spot 7 suposedily has the same 2,8,10 make up as Spot 10. If so it can be jam packed like Spot 10.

Darkman, Grand Forks and Fargo are the same DMA. Also it is too far north. The most likely canidate is Sioux City IA, or Sioux Falls SD (beam might not cover enough of the Sioux Falls market).

[jerryez]

Tony, Pensacola is in the pandhandle of Florida. Spot 12 on 119 covers Pensacola and has Birmingham, but I do not see anything else. The spot also covers New Orleans, Jackson, Ms and Montgomery. How many more locals can the add to spot 12.

[Scott Greczkowski]

I almost had a heart attack when I saw that TngTony wrote that Dish was going to have Hartford locals.

Sad to said it's not true yet. :(

[Darkman]

Scott - it is Monday, Dec 23rd...and the Retailer Chat rebroadcasts were going to begin at 12:00 noon (Eastern) - as advertised....

But i ve been told - this Ad still advertising same Date/time, but it is past 12:00 noon Eastern now - and no Retailer Chat still..
(if that is true - not sure what they are doing over there at Dish)

:(

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by Scott Greczkowski
I almost had a heart attack when I saw that TngTony wrote that Dish was going to have Hartford locals.

Sad to said it's not true yet. :(


I don't think he menat that at all.

[Darkman]

hehe - Retailer Chat Rebroadcast started at 12:00 noon Central (and not Eastern as advertised)

lol - this Chat seems to be Jinxed or something:
a) was scheduled to originally Air on Dec 20th - but Aired on Dec 19th
b) the Rebroadcast was advertised to begin at 12:00 noon Eastern - but began at 12:00 noon Central

hmm - and it is not even Halloween :)

[Jacob S]

I thought Charleston/Huntington, WV was DMA #62.

So they will have to launch a new satellite in order to add locals for my DMA and those other cities that are located under the same spotbeam? When do they plan on launching a new satellite?

[jerryez]

Mobile/Pensacola is DMA 62 according to Nielson Media:

http://www.nielsenmedia.com/DMAs.html

[Scott Greczkowski]

Originally posted by Jacob S
So they will have to launch a new satellite in order to add locals for my DMA and those other cities that are located under the same spotbeam? When do they plan on launching a new satellite?

Their not going to. Basicly all the available bandwidth and satellite space is in use now. This was one of the reasons why they wanted to merger so that they could share spectrum, because once they have filled up what they have now, they are really full.

[jerryez]

Scott,
Charlie stated a few chats back that with the launch of E VIII, E* would be able to add 30 more locals. They had 47 at that time and have added about 6. There should be room for 24 more locals.

[Mike123abc]

They have room for probably 30 more markets, but they may not be the market you want or the largest markest currently not covered. They have spots all over the country that have room. They are not on the NE or the Midwest. Those spots filled up quick. They have them on the West coast and Golf coast. So, markets in WA, OR, CA, TX, etc will get more markets.

[TNGTony]

Scott and every one from the Evelin Wood classes... :)

I wrote "that spot can also get to Baltimore, Hartford, Providence, Albany, Scranton/Wilkes Barre, Richmond, Portland (ME), Augusta, (whatever the vermont DMA is...Brattleboro/Keene?). Basically the entire north-east."

I did not write WILL aslo get. Again I was illustrating at just how many OTHER markets beyond Lynchberg the spot reaches.
--------------------

Jerry,

I didn't realize Pensacola was al the way over toward Mobile. So the spot MAY reach the entire DMA. Anyway, to answer your question, there are as many as 13 channels per transponder on some spots. Picture looks like dookey when they do that on ALL the channels in the spot. But it can be done.

See ya
Tony