How many Channels can a satellite broadcast?

[rtt2]

R/L DBS, the satellite is designed to carry the 11 channels assigned to it at the 61.5° W.L. orbital location. Rainbow 1 will deploy antennas that will enable it to transmit on most, if not all, of the assigned frequencies into a beam that serves the continental United States (CONUS) or into one or more
of 22 spot beams.
So my question is in theory how many standard def channels can this satellite broadcast? and how many Hi-Definition channels is this bird capable of broadcasting?

[Mike123abc]

R/L DBS in the past has indicated that they will use 8PSK and MPEG-4 on all its transponders. It is not clear that it is the current plan, this is based on what they were saying during the E/D* merger talks. Based on what E* has been getting with 8PSK on HDTV they would end up with about 54 Mbit/sec on each transponder (Dish gets 33 and Direct 35 roughly on the standard transponders).

Using MPEG-4 plus the higher datarate they could probably get about 17-22 channels/transponder at the same PQ as Dish and DirecTV.

R/L DBS future will be interesting if they plan on buying the 2 "unassigned" transponders, or even if they plan on buying out Dish on 61.5. Or if Dish ends up buying them. Also rumored is that there is a deal between Dish and R/L that R/L could resell Dish's international services in exchange for Dish being able to resell the R/L's HDTV channels.

[rtt2]

If they were to use MPEG-2, working with industry standards what would the results be then? (Before factoring the 2 unassigned transponders.)
If possible could you tell me the results as well with those 2 unassigned transponders

[Mike123abc]

Using 8PSK without using MPEG-4 and assuming the satellite has sufficient power for 5/6 error correction, they would have 50% more capacity per tranponder than Dish or DirecTV. Dish does 9-12 channels per transponder. This would let them do 15-18 per transpoder.

I have not seen any results of the auction for the extra 2 transponders, I do not know if it has even started.

[rtt2]

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-03-411A1.pdf

Auction will be held August, 6 2003

[Jacob S]

So this means that they should be capable of carrying just as many basic channels as Dish or DirecTv but when it comes to LIL they may be limited. Perhaps they should be getting together on making a deal like they are talking about with the internationals and HD with the LIL's.

[rtt2]

From what I understand Cablevision has yet to build a uplink facility. I have not heard anything about them securing a set-top-box contract either.
This makes me believe that Cablevision is partnering with Echostar to administer the bird and possibly lease more capacity like LILs.
But for the life of me I don't understand why cablevision is entering the satellite business in the first place. I used to be a Cablevision customer and left because they have the HIGHEST rates in the nation. They nickle and dime you to death will you believe that cablevision charges a .21 rental fee on for a remote control rental fee per month each! Also the vast majority of their subscribers are still analog. Something like 80% of their subscribers are still analog and yet this company wants to run a satellite business.
It just concerns me because it would be a shame to see my evil old cable monopoly teaming up with my satellite provider. It just rubs me the wrong way and may force me to reexamine my relationship as a Dish customer.

[Mike123abc]

My money is on a merger/partnership with Dish. I do not see them being able to have the penetration with only one satellite, 11 transponders (maybe 13 if they win the auction), and now LIL. Dish and DirecTV have proved LIL sells satellite service.

If Dish were to buy R/L they could move the satellite to 110 and dramatically increase LIL service. I have heard satellite has 22 spot beams and up to 7 frequencies per beam. Of course what would you do with 121 then? Add 100 HDTV channel capacity? Maybe they keep the satellite at 61.5 and provide HDTV LIL major nets for the top 20+ markets (CBS/NBC/ABC/FOX/PBS)?

But, knowing Dish they would not want to buy R/L would cost too much... could just wait for them to fail and pick up assets on the cheap. E* may have problems battling for the low end users, R/L brochure implied you could subscribe to just the channels you want or mini packs of channels.

[rtt2]

End of the Rainbow?

http://www.cedmagazine.com/cedailydirect/0403/cedaily030425.htm

[Mike123abc]

Well one thing we will know the outcome in a few months. They are quickly approaching the time they have to launch and soon after have to set up a business or lose the license and have nothing but a dead bird in orbit. I bet Charlie is really applying the pressure now... Probably offering less than the bird cost to build for both the bird and the DBS frequencies.

[Jacob S]

It will be worth more when launched, this is why they are probably going to go ahead and launch it. Is there an MPEG 4 receiver that is being used by another satellite company in which they could use the same hardware? I am also curious about the uplink facility, how long would that take to build and how long would it take to manufacture these receivers that are needed?

I bet the company will advertise it as wireless cable because that is what Charter was doing around here where they would sell to customers without any money upfront, it was like Primestar, and they were starting to do pretty well around here until they went belly up. People were telling me that they were going to offer the locals in the near future on them too.

Cablevision does have a name for itself and they would just simply advertise it as service the customer can receive anywhere and they would probably get customers in which Dish or Direct may not have received before because of the different approach. People that call up for cable service would be told that they cannot get it because a wire is not run there but they have an alternative but they just bring the signal in differently.

[rtt2]

Cablevision has so much anti-satellite propaganda that they advertise that I wonder how they are going to pull an about face on this. Their commercials are so outrageous that one of them even said BIRDS could interfere with a satellite signal. I kid you not BIRDS!
They have brainwashed their own customer base, so it would take a significant sum of money to change any minds of their former cable customers. So it leads me to believe that Cablevision would have to target customers on the east coast, with a view of the southern sky, able to point to 61.5 without tree obstruction. It is still a big market but the competition is going to be fierce with a newly invigorated DirecTV.

[Jacob S]

Good point, I never thought about this, but maybe thats why they might view themselves as wireless cable giving it a new meaning. I had seen ads that Primestar put in the paper or some other outfit that viewed themselves as wireless cable.

[rtt2]

This got me wondering what Echostar is planning to do with Echostar 9 if they buy Rainbow 1. The last I heard Echostar 9 was going to be launched by Boeing's Sea Launch system. (Here is the link for the press release announcing it on March 20). http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2003/q1/nr_030320s.html
However when I went to the Sea Launch website today, it looks like the Echostar 9 satellite launch has been taken off the website and replaced with the Thuraya-2 launch. http://www.sea-launch.com/

Under the section that said current launch Echostar 9 used to be listed and it looks like it has been changed. There is no press release announcing why there was a change or if the launch simply was pushed back.
http://www.sea-launch.com/special/sea-launch/current_launch.htm

Does anyone have any info on the current status of the Echostar 9 launch? Has the delivery platform changed? Is that why Charlie was in Mexico during the last Charlie Chat?