Dish (Network) HDTV

[smoco]

Will Dish ever be offering all 4 networks in HD?

[BFG]

Yes

[smoco]

O.k. maybe that was a stupid way to word it . It was my first post! What are the issues and is there a timeline for the networks? Thanks

[BFG]

The issues are

For the FCC to develop a digital white area

Dish Network to have satellite bandwidth, they've said to get the bandwidth the will be switching to a new MPEG4 compression scheme.

The timeline Dish Network gave was 3 years.

[kenglish]

Doesn't San Diego have OTA DTV Stations? They are free!

[the_bear]

Even if Dish adds HD super stations, you will not be eligible for them because San Diego is not in the digital white area.

[waltinvt]

The issues are

For the FCC to develop a digital white area

Dish Network to have satellite bandwidth, they've said to get the bandwidth the will be switching to a new MPEG4 compression scheme.

The timeline Dish Network gave was 3 years.
As I understand it, the bill that got signed basically retained a lot of the original McCain - Ensign version which Dish (along with the DTC and CEA) was pushing for. Dish had gone on record more than once that if they were allowed to import digital distant networks to areas that couldn't receive them that they (Dish Network) were "could do that IMMEDIATELY". Charlie said this at one of his appearances to Congress last summer.

The "I want my HDTV" web site
http://www.iwantmyhdtv.com/iwanthdtv/wrapper.jsp?PID=5080-8
still has this posted:

"If Congress allows DBS providers to offer a digital signal, network HDTV can be available to all consumers immediately. ?


The DTC (Digital Transition Coalition) still has this posted:
".....This proposal would make digital signals available to families across the country immediately, not ten or twenty years from now......"

as part of a letter they sent to Congress 4/27/04 and which CHARLIE signed !

Dish has been very clear about this.

I have personally corresponded with (and have the emails from) a senior Dish official in their Government Relations office in Washington who said that if this bill got passed that Dish would put the HD versions of the national nets as soon as it was signed. This person provided me with a lot of info that I posted during some of the House & Senate debates last Summer. He asked me to not mention his name though. Now he won't even answer my emails.

In my opinion it appears that Dish has once again lied. Not only to us as customers but to Congress, the FCC and the general public.

I'm not sure what can be done about it but it may make some interresting articles in some of the HDTV media publications.

[Vermonter]

Its not like Directv has added the HD national feeds for loosers like us in Northern VT w/o OTA CBS/NBC/ABC/Fox. I tried adding them when I added BTV locals last week to no avail.

[snidely]

D* now has Fox, NBC, CBS HD avaialable for lots of people.. You should be able to get at least some of that.

...mike

[julesism]

It would be nice if E* could offer national feeds for those who cannot pick up a decent signal OTA. For example, just offer NYC for ET&CT, Denver for MT, and LA for PT. That should not require too much additional b'width.... no point on adding dozens/hundreds of HD locals when most of us can get the OTA already!

[BobMurdoch]

OK, crystal ball time...... D* adds FOX HD after a 2 month delay that many postulated was due to E* somehow threatening to invoke some FTC anticompetitive clause from the News Corp. takeover of D*. E* announces that they will be soon carrying a new Fox reality sat channel. I wonder if E* negotiated carriage of FOX HD for O & O markets in exchange for adding the new channel (and dropping their opposition to D* carrying the FOX HD feed).

Hey, it's just an educated guess, but the last non LIL major channels added were TNT HD and Nick Toons, which were both linked to new retransmission agreements. I'm surprised E* hasn't added NBC HD as well since they talked about adding a Universal music channel soon (which would also fit into the "gun to the head" negotiations theory I'm pushing here). I just hope they include UniversalHD in their next shotgun wedding-esque deal.