Today's Retailer Chat - Feb 25, 2003

[Darkman]

Not much new (i think) to know to the "General Folk Population"...

Charlie and Jim confirmed all the latest local markets that came to Life recently (such as Monterey-Salinas, Lexington, etc)...
They also confirmed adding some local channels to the existing markets..
Examples: 2 channels for Colorado Springs, 1 for Omaha, 1 for Tuscon, etc....

They also said more local markets will be added on a Constant basis...

They repeated that next Consumer's Charlie chat is on March 10th.. (pretty sure it is 9:00 PM Eastern time)

They announced the date for the next Retailer Chat.
It is March 21, 12:00 noon Eastern time

[sampatterson]

No 921 or HDTV news? (ESPN or HDNET)

[Scott Greczkowski]

I understand they mentioned that Dish will be airing additional HD NBA Games. Thats about all the HD they announced today. :(

[mjschuyler]

Any idea which locals will be added? Add me to the list for Connecticut. Any insights Scot G. ? Thanks murray

[TNGTony]

Rumored upcoming cities:
Tyler, TX (Uplinked, but not yet available)
Anchorage, AK (Yeah, yeah... all four major network affiliates told dish to suck an egg)
Monterey, (Done)
Huntsville, (In the Dishplayer "hidden" guide)
Ft. Myers,
Shreveport,
Sioux Falls (how, I don't know...the spot looks pretty full)

See ya
Tony

to head off the mandatory questions :D
No, I don't know about any other city now
No, you will not lose your distant networks by ordering locals when they become available.

[angiodan]

I sent a friend over to Dish Depot to get set up after she was complaining about cable, and she told me that Mark thinks Fort Myers, FL locals are going live Mar. 6. Great news for this area (and for business at DD), although I get OTA myself for the couple of HD feeds we have.

[Jacob S]

Still nothing on Charleston, WV and its DMA 61 but I guess everyone else will be getting their DMA before us due to room on the spot beam issues.

[Mike123abc]

Don't worry Jacob, Dish is going to have to do something soon to address LIL. Direct TV just announced the opening of 2 more LIL uplink centers, by doing so they will significantly increase they LIL capacity they have when D-7s goes up. Dish will start to really feel the pressure because suddenly Direct will have 75% more LIL capacity. I speculate that this will pressure Dish into buying the R/L DBS satellite to increase their capacity up to the same as Direct.