HD LiL and capacity...

[Stewart Vernon]

Ok, so WRAL and WRAZ lit up today for the Raleigh DMA. Woo!

But in looking at things, I have a question...

Basically, for many (maybe all) DMAs that have HD LiL up right now... we seem to have an abundance of transponder space. In Raleigh, for instance. We have 4 HD channels now on 2 transponders.

Assuming the new MPEG4 encoders... and 6 HD channels possible per transponder... we have space to do one of two things:

1. Move all the Raleigh channels onto one transponder, and still add 2 more channels.

2. Add 8 more channels (4 per transponder).

In this market, the only remaining HD not covered are PBS, CW, and MyNetwork.

I do not know where Dish stands in negotiating other carriage OR if they plan on adding more in each market vs compacting and doubling the amount of HD LiL markets... but it seems like right now they either have at least twice as much capacity as they are using OR have room to light up the rest of the networks in all markets... and possibly a combination of both.

Anyone heard anything in regards to this?

[harsh]

As Raleigh HD LIL is on a CONUS bird, it isn't reasonable to make assumptions about how much bandwidth is "dedicated" to your market. If you look at TNGTony's list, all 118W HD LIL markets are split across two transponders.

[Stewart Vernon]

As Raleigh HD LIL is on a CONUS bird, it isn't reasonable to make assumptions about how much bandwidth is "dedicated" to your market. If you look at TNGTony's list, all 118W HD LIL markets are split across two transponders.


Still, my point is... there is a lot of unused space. They could launch tomorrow double the markets that are currently up there on 118.7 if they had agreements in place to do so... Or they could get the rest of the channels in HD for the already-launched markets.

Being conus, they could launch any market since most everyone that can see 119 should be able to see 118.7 with the dish upgrade to do so.

I noted in my post that most, if not all, HD LiLs are similarly spread 4 channels across 2 transponders... so at least for all the markets on 118.7 they could add more channels or double the markets there by launching more new markets.

So I was asking and thinking wonder why Dish hasn't done something with that "extra" space sitting there. They could launch a bunch of new HD LiL tomorrow if they wanted, for instance.

[harsh]

So I was asking and thinking wonder why Dish hasn't done something with that "extra" space sitting there. They could launch a bunch of new HD LiL tomorrow if they wanted, for instance.I would guess that it is primarily an issue of equity. Why should you have six or more HD channels when not everyone has four yet?

[Stewart Vernon]

I would guess that it is primarily an issue of equity. Why should you have six or more HD channels when not everyone has four yet?


Did you read either of my posts?

I said that Dish could double the amount of markets they are covering using available space. A secondary option was to put more channels up in existing markets... but first I suggested they could launch the big four networks in at least twice as many markets as are currently uplinked.

I never said that adding channels in an existing market was the first option... just that it was another option.

Right now they are doing neither, and are leaving unused space on the table.

[scooper]

From what it appears to me - the stations are playing a little harder with regards to the HD locals than they were with the SD versions. And we all know that Dish is a pretty hard negotiator on adding programming.

[Mikey]

IMHO, after looking at this for a while, I think the new MPEG-4 encoders at the uplink stations are the bottleneck. There aren't enough to go around yet. I assume there would need to be one per transponder, and my guess is that each one is a hefty capital expense.

[scooper]

That is certainly a possibility as well.

[BobaBird]

Are the transponders on the FSS sats able to pass the same bandwidth as the DBS sats? When I read post #1 I thought there might be a response showing the difference in power levels, signal rates and FEC. (At least I think that's the reason for 2 vs 4 ch/tp, or 6 with the new encoders.)