2003 Locals

[shilton]

Charlie has mentioned that more locals are on the way for 2003 but did not mention whose. I feel this was a poor call seeing how DirecTv just rolled out a major announcement as to exactly who is coming and about when. Does Anyone have any insight as to which local markets Dish will be launching this year or at least has their eyes on? God knows if I ask them, all I will get is the vague "we are looking at everything and maybe we will be hitting you soon" email...
I want to know truth and fact. Bringing these locals takes a great deal of time and planning and I am sure Dish has some idea where they are planning to be in this new year. Anyone have any insight?

I know a few of you had the inside scoop on the rate increases before they were announced so maybe someone knows something about LIL markets coming soon.

[TNGTony]

Shilton...With the exception of Chico, Ca and Tyler, Tx the list from last year's (2001) December Charlie Chat has been followed pretty well.

See the bottom of http://ekb.dbstalk.com/19

See ya
Tony

[shilton]

Originally posted by TNGTony
Shilton...With the exception of Chico, Ca and Tyler, Tx the list from last year's (2001) December Charlie Chat has been followed pretty well.

See the bottom of http://ekb.dbstalk.com/19

See ya
Tony
The only PA markets left are Wilkesbarre/Scranton and Johnstown/Altoona. D* has already announced Wilkesbarre/Scranton. I have been told that there is still one beam over PA which is unused (I think even unactivated at this point). It is currently called a "back-up beam" but one would tell you that Dish probably won't utilize it for that purpose. My question is this...is it reasonable to assume that E* will hit these PA markets thus offering ALL of PA? Both are mentioned as likely cities had the merger been approved. Any ideas as to what the odds are??? I happen to have my eyes on Johnstown/Altoona so I am hoping that if E* only picks one of the 2, they will steer away from Wilkesbarre/Scranton since D* is already going there and take on an area that D* won't be offering (as this seems to be their gameplan in many of these smaller markets they are adding).

[Darkman]

Tony - nice page there btw :)

there is a little boo-boo on the very bottom of it:
it says Chico is coming Jan 30 (on charlie chat they said Feb 6)

Also interesting to me:
Des Moines (IA) was added, but now Cedar Rapids - another IA,
Omaha, NE was added, but i see a possibility from your page there for another NE - Lincoln..
And was pleasantly surprised to see - 1 for each Dakota:
Fargo for ND, and Sioux Falls, SD
hmmmm

[Eyedox]

Originally posted by Darkman
Also interesting to me:
Des Moines (IA) was added, but now Cedar Rapids - another IA,
Omaha, NE was added, but i see a possibility from your page there for another NE - Lincoln..
And was pleasantly surprised to see - 1 for each Dakota:
Fargo for ND, and Sioux Falls, SD
I assume you are talking about DISH adding these DMA's since you mention Charlie Chat above, correct? I am glad to see Sioux Falls, Omaha, Des Moines, and Cedar Rapids added. If they would just add the Sioux City, IA market, my dad would be happy.

[Karl Foster]

Originally posted by Eyedox

I assume you are talking about DISH adding these DMA's since you mention Charlie Chat above, correct? I am glad to see Sioux Falls, Omaha, Des Moines, and Cedar Rapids added. If they would just add the Sioux City, IA market, my dad would be happy.

In the meantime (until his locals are added), why don't you "move" your dad to your address? He would be able to at least get Des Moines locals.

[Darkman]

Eyedox - i was mostly just Observing what Dish have done already (or was planning to do) in that particular Geographical Area ( and was thinking out loud :) ) - after i viewed that TNGTony's page.....

[speedy882001]

So per the internet linc above it looks like Ohio is screwed unless they put up another satelite.

[Jacob S]

And the same for West Virginia, I am in the middle of this spot beam, and obviously they are all filled up. When is Echo 9 going up and will it have the spot beams? We are market 62 and 20 or 30 markets ahead of us will probably get theirs before we even have a chance to get ours. Is there even that many locals out there available for the spots they have up now in the top 100 or 125 ?

[Mike123abc]

Echostar 9 is not a DBS satellite. So, dont expect it to give capacity.

[jerryez]

Originally posted by Jacob S
We are market 62 and 20 or 30 markets ahead of us will probably get theirs before we even have a chance to get ours. Is there even that many locals out there available for the spots they have up now in the top 100 or 125 ?

There are only 7 or 8 ahead of you by the numbers, but E* has or is adding many smaller cities that are way below you in DMA rankings. Chico is 132 and there are several more between #62 and # 132 that have been already added. As was previously explained, many of these smaller cities only have 3 or 4 locals and can be squeezed onto spot beams that are full except for room for three or four more locals. Plus , I am sure that they know how many subscribers that they have in a local area and use that ranking to help determine what cities to add. Then the willingness of the stations to be added cheaply is a prime factor also.

[Jacob S]

How does it look for Direct spotbeams? With them adding that many mine should definitely get added, and if not then something is most definitely wrong.

[Mike123abc]

Direct TV will probably pick up around 11 spot beams with D7s when it goes up. While I have not seen projected beam usage it would probably be as follows:

3 transponders with 4x reuse = 12
1 transponder with 3x reuse = 3
7 transponders CONUS = 7

That would add up to 22 total transponders. DirecTV has 11 uplink transponder frequencies at 119, since they use 2 uplink sites, they can get 22 total uplinks. So, they will probably have 15 spot transponders, they are replacing 4 already in use so 15-4=11 net gain in spot transponders. This will give them 15 spots on 119 and 38 on 101 so they will have 53 spots. Dish has 50 spots right now. This will make them about even since dish puts some of the LIL stations on the wing satellites, should make up for the 3 less beams.