[kyoo]

I just received a letter in the mail this week that said Dish is yanking my Distant Network channels (east/west coast) on April 15th. Local channels are available to me on Dish, but this doesn't allow me to have west coast networks, so I can record more programs. I definitely need the 721 now with the dual tuners.

Any advice on this? I've had Distant networks turned on for probably 3-4 years. I figured I was grandfathered in or something, since they never turned them off before. This angers me.

Think I have a chance at fighting it at all?

Apparently Dish sent in waiver requests for me and they were denied, since I live in a major city, and in theory could pick up my local channels with an antenna. ;(

-Kyoo

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Nope they will go bye bye on the 15th, that is unless you own a REGISTERED RV. If you do send a copy of your registration to Dish Network and they will keep them on.

Other then that says Bye Bye.

Welcome kyoo! :hi:

 

[Rage]

Did you try to get waivers?

 

[RichW]

Just before SHVIA was passed, lots of subscribers had distant networks thanks to a company called PrimeTime 24 whcih took the subscribers word for it that they could not get a decent signal from an antenna. of course, several network affiliates were outraged and sued PT24 and later Dish when they started offereing their own distant network package to former PT24 subscribers. Sen John McCain drafted the initial SHVIA legislation which would have kept distant nets for most folks. Many, many people wrote Congress at that time in support of the McCain bill. The NAB and broadcast lobby sensed that they could not fully overturn what McCain proposed, but could water it down enough to where most people wouldn't complain. Thus many people were allowed to keep their distant signals. But the NAB dveloped a plan where they would challenge many of these subscriptions but over a long period of time. Thus the a few folks would lose theri nets each month but not enought to cause another flap in Congress. Most of the challenges are valid based upon a certain way of calculating TV signal strength. Dish wanted to use a different calculation which would allow more subs to have distant nets. They lost that battle in a Miami court.

If you have lost your distant stations, there are only a few things you can do to get them back. One is to present evidence that you are a long-haul trucker or you have an RV. This will allow you to get two feed for each network, but not your local channels since, by defintion, you don't have a "home DMA". The other ways are to lie about where you live and have a service address which qualifies for distant nets. The final way is to get Canadian DBS service through a broker In Canada and hopr that the NAB doesn't go after you in the future.

Of course, none of these are really acceptable to most people. The only long-term solution (short of Dish winning their suit in the Supreme Court - a very long shot) is to work with your Congressional representatives to change the law such that all broadcasts are eligible for retransmission anywhere in the US for payment of a statutory copyright.

 

[kyoo]

Rich.. thanks, very informative.

Too bad I don't own an RV.. i saw a used on forsale down the road from me, though.. hmmmm.

I just wish Dish would send me a 721 to make up for my lost of west channels, so i can still record two shows at once.

 

[DishDude1]

I heard Charlie say on the chat that this was part if their agreement with Disney, and they were doing it before the law required it

 

[Guest]

Does anyone know when on April 15th they are pulling distant Locals? 12:15am CDT and I am still getting mine.

 

[TNGTony]

If it's going to happen, I would say between 2 and 5 pm EDT. That is the time frame when they do most of their programming changes.

I'm crossing my fingers for NBC. According to Adress Broker, my service address no longer qualifies for NBC.

See ya
Tony

 

[kyoo]

Well, it's 5:21pm EDT and I'm still getting my distant networks... someone post when they lose their's.. (just one of you is fine)..

I'm waiting for it to cut off before I order my locals from dish.

-Kyoo

 

[TNGTony]

Mine are still there as well!

On a similar note... Boy do I miss PBS national! I used to watch this channel overnight a lot. Now with the locals, I can see color bars with a WCET on it.

I wrote WCET a nice letter (really) that flatly stated that since I can no longer see PBS programs when it's convenient to me, I no longer see the need to renew my membership. I told them I'd reconsider renewing my membership if I were allowed to get the PBS national feed again. I know they really don't have the power to do anything about it since PBS affiliates cannot issue waivers in the way commercial stations can. But it made me feel better and now I have an extra $160 a year to do something else with.

See ya
Tony

 

[kyoo]

I still have mine.. has anyone gotten them pulled? *crossing fingers*

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

April 15th has come and gone, did anyone get cut off yet? I don't have distant networks (or for that matter local networks) so I don't know.

Thanks

 

[Guest]

I was also supposed to loose distants on April 15. Now it is the 17th and they are still here. I'm not complaining.

 

[jblight]

Still have my network channels for now.

Let me tell you, I've requested network waivers because I'm in a pretty bad position. I'm currently unable to pick up the Sat @ 110 because I don't have line-of-sight.
Trying to get any love from ABC on this deal is impossible. Talk about a bunch of bastards. Not much of a big deal because I haven't watched anything on that network for a very long time, but just the principle of the matter.
Anyone who has a half way decent home theater system would agree, Signal Grade B does not cut it!!!
Just for the record, this SHIVA deal sucks.

 

[Guest]

It is now one week later (April 22) and I still have my NY distants. I am in the Philly region. I am hoping that they forgot about me.

 

[Guest]

Got the cut off letter about the April 15th cut off and then Dish cut my nets off 1 day early! (didn't even wait till the 15th)

 

[gopherscot]

Just got a note about the spotbeams .. they are replacing my Salt Lake City with Denver ... fortunately for me there was no change in my Minneapolis locals. I must be close enough for their spotbeam.