DISH Network Named Official HD Sat TV Service for 2008 Democratic National Convention

[James Long]

DISH Network® Named Official High Definition Satellite Television Service Provider For 2008 Democratic National Convention
Dedicated Satellite Channel to Provide Gavel-to-Gavel Convention Coverage

DENVER – Continuing its efforts to bring communities across the country new and innovative ways to experience the Convention, the Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) today named Denver-based DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH) as the Official High Definition Satellite Television Service Provider of the 2008 Democratic National Convention, to be held August 25-28 in Denver.

In that role, DISH Network will bring live satellite video feeds into the Convention hall from off-site locations across the country. DISH Network will also offer uninterrupted, unedited live satellite Convention coverage to approximately 13.79 million subscribers across country, available on DISH Network Ch. 211. In addition, DISH Network's video feed will be broadcast in HD on television monitors throughout Convention venues and will be made available via satellite to television stations for downlink across the country and around the world.

"When we set out to make this Convention more inclusive and accessible than ever before, we wanted to do more than get our message out – we wanted to bring the voices of American people into the process, and DISH Network will help us to do just that," said Brook Colangelo, Director of Technology for the DNCC. "Whether from inside the Convention hall, at watch parties in communities across the country, or from the comfort of their living room, DISH Network's technology and services will enhance the Convention experience for everyone who's tuning in."

"As a leader in digital television and high definition television, DISH Network is proud to be the Official High Definition Satellite Television Service Provider of the 2008 Democratic National Convention, and excited to assist in hosting a successful Convention here in our hometown," said Charlie Ergen, Chairman, CEO and President of DISH Network. "We are pleased to bring the many voices of Americans into the Convention live utilizing our industry-leading technology to provide end-to-end HD broadcasts."

DISH Network, the nation's third largest pay-TV provider, is headquartered in south Denver and contributed to bringing the DNCC to Colorado, as well as providing a variety of HD video and production services during the Convention, including industry-leading HD DVR technology.

http://dish.client.shareholder.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=327841

[James Long]

A note from the Uplink Reports that channel 211 has been renamed DNC08 (instead of being an anti-satellite tax channel that was taken down on Wednesday). That is a SD channel. No "HD" version is obvious but DISH does have several HD channel slots available (TMP and TST channels) that could be used.


(Also note that while the convention is political we won't be getting into politics here at DBSTalk. The news here is that the feed will be available as stated above.)

[jclewter79]

So, at this point ch 211 will be availble in SD but, they will be providing an HD feed at the convention? Hopefully they light it up where we can all see that HD feed too.

[tedb3rd]

So are they going to cover the republican convention too?

[cornflakes]

This is ironic considering I think Dish is quite conservative with all their religious programming and refusal to carry gay channels (Here TV and Logo)

[James Long]

This is ironic considering I think Dish is quite conservative with all their religious programming and refusal to carry gay channels (Here TV and Logo)I nearly hit the delete button on this because we are NOT going to get into politics here ...
But you should note that DirecTV has more religious channels as well as Logo.
DISH had HereTV as a PPV channel for a while but it was dropped for other content.

I hope DISH can do the same for the RNC convention. Unfiltered access is nice ... less talking heads telling you what someone said and reducing hours to a soundbyte - which seems to happen on all news channels.

I don't see DISH choosing this convention over another nor any endorsement of candidate or party in their programming choices. An opportunity was presented or developed and now DISH customers get something special. Will the DNC be live and direct on DirecTV?

[Lord Vader]

I think DISH was named the "official" DBS provider primarily because of the location of this year's DNC. DISH is more tied into that area geographically than is DirecTV.

[phrelin]

This is totally consistent with Dish's "DISH Decision 08" interactive TV feature. I assume they will do the same for the Republican Convention if given the chance.

And good work with the monitoring efforts, James. Keep that "delete" button handy!

[karlhenri]

I think DISH was named the "official" DBS provider primarily because of the location of this year's DNC. DISH is more tied into that area geographically than is DirecTV.

Well, strangely enough DirectV also has a huge presence in Colorado. They have a Denver Center and a broadcast center in Castlerock, Co which is suburban Denver and Liberty Media which owns 48% of DirecTV has its headquarters in Englewood, (which is also Denver), blocks away from Dish's headquarters.

:scratchin Makes you wonder whether Dish and DTV's main shareholders are not just a bunch of old time buddies who are just amazed at how we fight every day on this board on which's the best while they are making money. :icon_hug:

http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/global/contentpage.jsp?assetId=P1300109

http://www.libertymedia.com/ir/default.htm

http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/about_us/company_profile/index.shtml

[Lord Vader]

DISH has been established there then has DirecTV, and in a larger capacity.

[Richard King]

Charlie had sponsored fundraisers for Hilliary during the primaries and donated to her campaign. While I don't know of his activities for Obama, I suspect he has made some efforts there also.
http://www.newsmeat.com/billionaire_political_donations/Charles_Ergen.php

[phrelin]

Don't read too much into this stuff. Charlie's just your average billionaire who wants "friends" everywhere. Consider this from this story from Time Magazine (http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1725768,00.html) which would make you think he's a long-time McCain supporter: The subject of the hearing was legislation to allow satellite companies to relay local network signals to viewers, an idea promoted by McCain but opposed by the broadcast and cable industries. A major proponent of the bill happened to be a McCain supporter, Charles Ergen, head of the Dish Network. Less than a month after the hearing, Ergen held a fund raiser at his Denver home for McCain, reportedly raising more than $40,000. A few years later, Ergen's company gave more than $50,000 to a nonprofit institute that employed Davis and was chaired by McCain himself.Again, this is totally consistent with Dish's "DISH Decision 08" interactive TV feature.

[cweave02]

Glad I have D*

[phrelin]

Glad I have D*Yeah, Malone ranks only 553rd on the Forbes world's billionaires list (http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/10/billionaires08_The-Worlds-Billionaires_Rank.html) as opposed to Ergen who ranks 87th. I have alot more in common with the 553rd highest billionare than the 87th.:rolleyes:

[ahintz]

While I am actually going to be at the Convention (work), I think this is a great idea. And I would hope that coverage like this would be made available to everyone (both cable and satellite) and for both conventions. Enough money, time, and energy is spent putting on these conventions that it would be great for those so interested to be able to see the full proceedings. And for everyone else, there are plenty of other channels :)

Now if only I could figure out a way to get this into the hotel where we'll be setup....

[Slamminc11]

Glad I have D*

thanks for adding something constructive :rolleyes:

[James Long]

Convention coverage on channel 211 runs from 5pm to 12:30am Eastern Monday through Thursday ... Thursday night (Friday morning) from 12:30am ongoing there is an interesting EPG name of "DISH SLATE" with the DNC description remaining.

No sign of a HD feed yet (but it is early).

On Monday, Sept 1st at 8pm the EPG returns to the "Stop Satellite Tax" information. :(
(Hopefully that will change - although the RNC is on CSpan 210 from 3:30pm-11pm Eastern.)

[James Long]

9445 (mapped 211) is up and running in HD now!

[blooker68]

Good PQ on night 1.

[SE_Sooner]

How refreshing to watch an event without half the screen being taken up by what's now, what next, what's later. Not to mention the goofy ground floor meter on the left side of the sceen. What's that supposed to do for me? But don't forget Gavel to Gavel on the right side of the screen.

Bottom line - If you want to really watch the DNC uninterrupted, ch. 9445 seems the best bet. I agree with blooker68 PQ is very good.

[packethauler]

Excellent PQ from the 129 W bird. I wonder if some bandwidth was freed up now that the extra Olympics channels are no longer broadcasting?

[lee635]

Seems like this encroaches on C-SPAN territory - Never thought I'd see the day that C-SPAN has competition in the unfiltered live feed of politics field. When will we see C-SPAN-HD? :)

[James Long]

C-SPAN is still filtered ... they do a decent job of carrying events mostly intact but they have hosts and commentary about what they show. Someone decides who gets on air.

It was interesting to see what happened during the breaks last night ... when the talking heads were talking and commercials were playing. I'll have to peek at C-SPAN some time to see if they are laying back. I didn't like C-Span's coverage of The Saddleback Civil Forum last week, but I guess they had to fill the breaks with something.

I did see one nice thing on C-Span last night ... a shot from the floor of C-Span's sky box ... right next to Al Jazeera. (I won't say if they were to the right or the left of Al Jazeera ... that would be a matter of perspective. :))

[rasheed]

Good unfiltered coverage in HD. C-Span as mentioned used to be the closest, but with no HD and commentary, it is not the same. I also did find the volume thing on CNN HD bizarre, so I used the unfiltered feed instead.

Rasheed

[James Long]

And 211 survives to cover the RNC next week ... I'll be watching unfiltered for that one as well.