I'm curious.....

saving money today --will result in costing you more no matter your choice - as the Streaming channels PKG's come and go and don't think their prices won't go up as time moves forward.

 

Yep, their "core fleet" now is D10, D11, D12, D14, D15, T16 (using the names Directv called them when they launched, now they are all Txx) And D10, while in use currently, could be retired without consequence since D15 can entirely replace it. So the oldest core satellite, D11, was launched in 2008. Satellites of its type generally last at least 20 years, so they should be fine for a decade, and quite likely more.

Then it gets down to a question of, if D11 was gone, what do they lose? They would lose 14 99cb transponders, which wouldn't impact them at all a decade from now, and also a bunch of local markets. How much losing locals will matter in 10 years who knows - if ATSC 3.0 and SFN has taken off by then maybe almost everyone can pick up their locals OTA in the world of 2029. If so, losing those spot beams would have little impact on Directv's viability, and they could probably remain viable without any new satellite launches in the mid to late 2030s.

 

My prediction for 2032 is that the new DirecTV/Dish company will provide us with a sat box with both a built in 5G receiver and projector eliminating the need for a TV. DBSTalk will have a section for 'best screen' to buy.

There will be questions about whether the new box (HS71) is waterproof, of course, because folks will want to take it outside and forget to take it in.

Oh - and @Rich will start a thread about replacing the HS71 SSD with a quantum drive.

 

Two comments: I got the "bag" for my Oasis today. Naturally, the Oasis doesn't fit in the bag. Says it will in the Amazon offering, take a look: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KX8TY10/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Makes me think Amazon doesn't vet any offerings.

Second comment: What the hell is a quantum drive? Let me Google that...didn't show any drives that would be appropriate. Was that a WAG?

Rich

 

Got it! Thought it sounded familiar.

Rich

 

Can't wait to see the program guide on my contacts. I wonder what font they'll use?

 

Whatever it is, it will start out with something everyone likes and then be followed by an update that makes it too small to read with a weird contrast/color scheme.