Distant Locals

[tm22721]

Well Dish finally discontinued my DC stations since my grandfather clause on 'distant locals' was struck down by Congress.

But I live in a mountain valley about 90 miles SW of DC and can pick up nothing from DC (or anywhere else for that matter).

They will give me the three lame Atlanta stations with no PBS or other channels.

What are my options ? NY ? LA ?

Does Dish care if they lose a 7 year customer with a 721, 6000, 5000, 921 on order, Everything Pack and Discovery HD ?

Never mind, I already know the answer.

[tampa8]

What exactly would you llike Dish to do? I don't get what your problem is with Dish. It appears from your post Dish is following the law.

[Jacob S]

Its not Dish's fault that they cannot legally provide you with the locals. Dont you think they would sell them to you if they could? Do you think they are just doing that on purpose? They can only do so much.

[Mike D-CO5]

"Move " back to a Wash D.C. address and you've got them back .
That is the easiest way to get back your big 4 and national PBS.

[Greg Bimson]

Well Dish finally discontinued my DC stations since my grandfather clause on 'distant locals' was struck down by Congress.What are you talking about? There has been no law by Congress recently? I believe it is more possible that Dish Network discontinued your DC locals.

Oh, and the 'grandfather clause' is still there.

[TNGTony]

Until the end of this year.

See ya
Tony

[Greg Bimson]

No, the end of next year. December 31, 2004.

Congress has not made any laws that change the Satellite Home Viewers Improvement Act (SHVIA), which was signed into law November 29, 1999.

Therefore, if anyone had their grandfather clause on distant networks removed, it was due to the actions of the provider (Dish Network), not Congress.

[tm22721]

What I would really like to know is, what is my best option for locals besides DC. LA ? NY ? are others available ?

TIA

[Greg Bimson]

Ok. Let's see if I have figured this out.

tm22721's name might have the zip code in his handle.

22721 is the zip code for Graves Mill, Virginia, which is in Madison County. Madison County is part of the Charlottesville DMA, according to EKB.

Therefore, tm22721 would have been receiving DC locals as a distant package. Dish Network is only allowing New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Atlanta as distant packages. Dish Network has been moving people off of any other distant package that isn't from one of the four above cities.

The only channels eligible are the FOX, ABC, CBS, and NBC stations, unless you pick up superstations, of course.

I hope that helps.

[dishrich]

Originally posted by Greg Bimson
Dish Network is only allowing New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Atlanta as distant packages.

They STILL allow Denver distants, too...

[RichW]

Yep Denver is still an option. If one wants to maximize time shifting, one strategy is to pick cities in other time zones for your distant locals. Following that strategy, i would recommend Denver and LA distants for tm22721. Chicago network programming is essentially the same as for the Eastern time zone. Of course, with a VCR or PVR, time shifting isn't as much of a factor for you east coast subscribers. But for the west coast, the distant nets mean being able to see late night programming at a decent hour.

[Greg Bimson]

My bad. I completely forgot Denver.

[MikeW]

Denver really sucks for PVRs. They start programs a minute or two before or after the hour. You'll almost always end up missing either the beginning or end of your recorded program.