Fate of "old" HD channels

[shelston]

I'm wondering if anyone knows what the fate of the "old" HD channels (70-99?) are? Is DirecTV planning on using them for something else? I find it redundant to have most channels (HBO, ESPN, etc ) avail in 2 spots.

Just curious.

Thanks!

[Michael D'Angelo]

At some point next year DirecTV will be turning off the MPEG2 HD channels and moving them over to MPEG4.

They just need to get the majority/maybe all customer upgraded from MPEG2 equipment to MPEG4 equipment and it looks like that is starting. There has been a few posts over the last few days saying people received calls from DirecTV to upgrade their old MPEG2 HD equipment to MPEG4 I believe for free.

[shelston]

At some point next year DirecTV will be turning off the MPEG2 HD channels and moving them over to MPEG4.

They just need to get the majority/maybe all customer upgraded from MPEG2 equipment to MPEG4 equipment and it looks like that is starting. There has been a few posts over the last few days saying people received calls from DirecTV to upgrade their old MPEG2 HD equipment to MPEG4 I believe for free.

Right. I actually got an email and a phone call from DirecTV to get me to upgrade my old equipment for free. This is part of the reason for my msg.

Thanks!

[mrudo]

The biggest driver of the ability to turn of MPEG 2 will be NFL Sunday ticket. Currently the games are broadcast in MPEG2. If they turn it off and NFL ST owners don't have MPEG 4 equipment, there will be holy hell to pay.
NFL ST is the biggest driver of subscriptions for D*, period.
I think it might take them more than 1 year to replace thousands of receivers, if not millions, to avoid NFL ST issues.

[TheRatPatrol]

I wonder if they'll move UHD, HDTH, HDNM, and HDNet to other channels or keep them in the 70 range?