Organize channels

[CapeCodder]

Here's what I wish. I wish D* would organize their channels to make it easier to wander surf the guide and not need to memorize a whole bunch of illogical channel assignments. For example, put all sports in the 600s including ESPNs, Golf and anything else. They could reserve 600 to 615 or whatever for the nationals and 616 for the regionals. Move all the news stuff to 200s, all movies to 500s, including FMC, Disney, Lifetime, etc.. Put general entertainment in the 300 and 400s. You get the idea, make channel assignnments more user friendly. Sky (UK) already does something similar and it makes finding programs much easier.

[jimmyv2000]

some channels like CNN,ESPN and the like have terms with D* on channel # placement, CNN has been on 202 since the beginning.
It would be nice to have the categories grouped together but it is not happening

[jdspencer]

They kinda went the other way. The Golf channel has been moved from 605 to 218.
As pointed out here.
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=149415&highlight=golf

[Jeremy W]

They're grouped together fairly nicely right now, with a few outliers. It's about as good as it's going to get.

[mreposter]

They kinda went the other way. The Golf channel has been moved from 605 to 218.
As pointed out here.
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=149415&highlight=golf

They seem to be clumping all the sports channels run by the different leagues in the 210's, next to the ESPNs. The regionals and others are down in the 600s. So that sorta makes sense.

If ESPN didn't have it's channel location in it's contract D* would probably dump all the sports in the 600s. The same with CNN - they have a lock on 202/204. Personally, I think it's silly, I don't know anyone that mindlessly starts at channel 200 and picks the first program that looks interesting.

[Jeremy W]

I don't know anyone that mindlessly starts at channel 200 and picks the first program that looks interesting.
Seriously?

[myselfalso]

Personally, I think it's silly, I don't know anyone that mindlessly starts at channel 200 and picks the first program that looks interesting.

Wow. That's a bizarre statement, considering I do. I start at 202 and go from there on a daily basis.

[JoeTheDragon]

Why are the 200's 101 dupes / remaps not linked to the HD Ver?

[Jeremy W]

Why are the 200's 101 dupes / remaps not linked to the HD Ver?
They just never bothered to do it for some reason.

[trainman]

...all movies to 500s, including FMC, Disney, Lifetime, etc...

I wouldn't consider Disney and Lifetime to be movie channels -- they're general-entertainment channels that sometimes show movies, just like, well, pretty much every other general-entertainment channel.

[jdspencer]

Well if 202-204 won't move then maybe DirecTV should move the other news channels (353-360) to the 200s.

[spartanstew]

Wow. That's a bizarre statement, considering I do. I start at 202 and go from there on a daily basis.

But don't you do that because you know what's on 202? Or else why not start at 201 or 200 or 203?

I think his point was, if you didn't know where any of the channels were, it seems odd to just start at 200 (as opposed to 100 or 1 or even 300) to do your channel surfing.

[Jashobeam]

If I'm not using my favorite's list I start at 222 because it's an easy number to punch in and it skips all the PPVs.

[harsh]

Are you guys sure about channels numbers being contracted?

CNN is on 200 on E*, 57 on my area Charter and 44 on my area Comcast.

[BattleZone]

Are you guys sure about channels numbers being contracted?

CNN is on 200 on E*, 57 on my area Charter and 44 on my area Comcast.

Yes. With both Dish and DirecTV, CNN is on the lowest-numbered, non-system-reserved channel in the 200s. Both systems reserve the sub-100s for locals, and the 100s for PPV and other internal channels, so 200 is where the external programming starts (202 for DirecTV, who reserves 200 and 201 for internal use). CNN made sure they would be the first such channel on both systems.

Cable is different, being regional and having very different channel lineups from system to system, and until recently, all channels being under 100. Thus, there wasn't much point in reserving a location that wouldn't be consistant across all systems under the corporate umbrella.

[mreposter]

As to my comment about knowing few people that just start at 202 and page through the guide... Since D* generally has their channels well grouped, most other D* customers I know tend to zone in on channel groups, so if their sports fans they zip straight to the ESPN cluster or to the sports channels in the 600s.

I also know a number of TW cable customers who suffer from a completely jumbled channel lineup. These people have a much more difficult time of finding things. Using my parents as an example, my Mom knows about a dozen channels and rarely ventures beyond them - her locals, HGTV, CNN and HBO. My Dad knows about his locals, all the sports stuff (mainly basketball) and a handful of things like History and the Military channel.

Most friends with TW Cable also tend to stick with a set of about a dozen channels and very rarely venture beyond them. And I don't blame them, with 150-odd channels all in a jumble it would take a good 15-20 minutes to page through it all with that crappy guide.

If anything, channel grouping strengthens channels. It's a bit like car dealerships, the more there are on a given street the better they do. By putting like channels together, people with a specific interest can sample the various offerings quickly and will tend to stick in that grouping. If you you like movies but have to go to 15 different channels scattered between channel 30 and 600, you're probably only going to check one or two of them and then give up.

[JoeTheDragon]

1-99 is for Locals and mpeg-2 hd
100-116 is for Direct TV stuff
117-200 is PPV

[skyviewmark1]

Yes. With both Dish and DirecTV, CNN is on the lowest-numbered, non-system-reserved channel in the 200s. Both systems reserve the sub-100s for locals, and the 100s for PPV and other internal channels, so 200 is where the external programming starts (202 for DirecTV, who reserves 200 and 201 for internal use). CNN made sure they would be the first such channel on both systems.



Not sure where you get this.. Dish programming starts in the 100's. The PPV's are up in the 500's out of the way..

[jdspencer]

1-99 is for Locals and mpeg-2 hd
100-116 is for Direct TV stuff
117-200 is PPV202, 204 have news and then more news at 353-360.