It has slowed down a bit, but over the last 6 months or so they have been adding a number of SD markets....rcrose said:Has DTV given up on adding any more standard (not HD) markets? It seems like all their doing is concentrating on adding HD markets.
All markets that are being added today are only available if you have equipment that recieves HD as well... I doubt we will see any markets ever have dual SD and HD feeds again.... I have a feeling we will only see hybrid markets here on out... Some channels available in HD, others sd if not in HD... At this point, there really is no point in adding any SD markets...rcrose said:Has DTV given up on adding any more standard (not HD) markets? It seems like all their doing is concentrating on adding HD markets.
Actually, they don't need to offer a downresezd signal... they can let the boxes at customers homes take care of that... that way one feed gives them HD and SD to every home in that market..davring said:I really don't see why they wouldn't continue to expand all the unserved markets, but not in SD only, I would expect them to provide HD service to all new markets and provide a "downrezzed" feed for the SD customers. It would save them going back later and adding more equipment. HD will become the "norm" in the not so distant future anyway.
Why? Would you spend the money to install equipment that is out of date in less than 6 months? HD is the only way to go here on out...rcrose said:You would think they would try to get all DMA's up and running with something before HD.
I second that.joshjr said:People that dont have any locals at all such as me may differ on the subject of SD locals not having a point. We want any kind of locals we can get and if thats SD then its SD.
joshjr said:People that dont have any locals at all such as me may differ on the subject of SD locals not having a point. We want any kind of locals we can get and if thats SD then its SD.
Not what I was saying... At this point, if you are going to get locals... its more likely that the stations broadcasting HD will light up in HD, and the others will light up in sd.... (assuming contracts can be reached) There is no point in Directv putting up SD only markets, because all signals coming to them from any new markets will be the ATSC broadcast... One feed only per station is all that will be needed... That doesn't mean that some markets may only have sd feeds to be sent out, but there is no point in just asking for SD markets... these days in makes more sense to simply ask for your market. In fact, the best thing they can do is convert some of the markets that have seperate HD and SD feeds to Only MPEG-4 equipment in thoes markets, so that they can free up bandwidth and then light up additional markets in MPEG-4...DBSooner said:I second that.
The FCC has already set the requirements for HD must carry... There is no mention of subchannels at all... And they already know that for any market where they broadcast one channel in HD, by I believe 2012, they will have to broadcast all channels that offer a HD signal in that market, assuming the contracts are in place... This actually goes into affect I believe next year, with the requirement of that being the case in something like 5 or 10% of the markets where they broadcast any one channel in HD... and then every year, the % of markets where they must meet that requirement will increase...mreposter said:Back about five years ago when Fox (Murdoch) took over Directv, in order to get FCC approval they pledged to quickly expand LIL coverage and to eventually get to all 210 markets. Here's a link to one article about it:
http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/002060.php
My vague memory is that they pledged to get to 210 by the end of 2008, or around the time of the digital cutover, but the article states a squishier deadline.
As someone else stated, the FCC is thinking about changing the rules (ie: low power broadcasters) so D* and E* may be slowing down in case they have to pick up a bunch more broadcasters in existing markets. There have also been ongoing arguments about the secondary digital channels many broadcasters use. So far, the FCC has not forced D*/E*/cable to carry all the -2 -3 -4, etc subchannels, but that rule could easily change.
This thread is about SD locals, so my earlier post was to present Directv's earlier pledge to offer SD locals in all 210 markets as soon as possible. For those in the smaller markets that still aren't being served, this is fairly important.inkahauts said:The FCC has already set the requirements for HD must carry... There is no mention of subchannels at all... And they already know that for any market where they broadcast one channel in HD, by I believe 2012, they will have to broadcast all channels that offer a HD signal in that market, assuming the contracts are in place...
From that filing:mreposter said:Back about five years ago when Fox (Murdoch) took over Directv, in order to get FCC approval they pledged to quickly expand LIL coverage and to eventually get to all 210 markets. Here's a link to one article about it:
http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/002060.php
My vague memory is that they pledged to get to 210 by the end of 2008, or around the time of the digital cutover, but the article states a squishier deadline.
As someone else stated, the FCC is thinking about changing the rules (ie: low power broadcasters) so D* and E* may be slowing down in case they have to pick up a bunch more broadcasters in existing markets. There have also been ongoing arguments about the secondary digital channels many broadcasters use. So far, the FCC has not forced D*/E*/cable to carry all the -2 -3 -4, etc subchannels, but that rule could easily change.
As a condition of approving the merger, the FCC requires News Corp. to beam local channels into 130 of the nation's markets by the end of next year.
However, Adelstein said News Corp. is not required to provide local channels to all markets by satellite -- the company can do so by attaching an antenna to its satellite dish, which, in the nation's most rural areas, will not receive local channels, he said.
"One of biggest public interest benefits of this merger turned out to be a sham," Adelstein said in an interview yesterday.
News Corp., however, pointed out that it said as early as September in an FCC filing that it may not be able to provide local channels to all markets via satellite. If residents live in very rural areas outside the boundaries of the top 210 markets and are not able to get local channels over the air, they will not get them via satellite, either, News Corp. said, because the high cost required to do so would raise DirecTV bills to all its customers.
News Corp. pledged to provide local channels to the top 210 markets "by whatever means make the most sense," said a company spokesperson. "From a business perspective, a technology perspective and the consumers' perspective."
I hear ya... Let me rephrase what I am saying... I no longer think anyone should bother looking at lil markets in terms of HD or SD if they don't have any LIL yet.. I think the idea of new SD markets vs. HD markets is obsolete... When they come online, it will be one or the other, and won't really matter, because everyone in new markets will have to have equipment that will display whatever signal is sent on either an HD TV or an SD tv... which is why the whole idea of saying they are going to hit a certain amount of markets in sd and a certain amount in hd is no longer relevant IMHO... These days, for new markets, I think its all about simply turning on the market... we shouldn't bother with talking about if they are going to be sd or hd... because its very likely that some channels will be in HD, and some in HD for each new market that gets turned on...mreposter said:This thread is about SD locals, so my earlier post was to present Directv's earlier pledge to offer SD locals in all 210 markets as soon as possible. For those in the smaller markets that still aren't being served, this is fairly important.
I did drift off a bit into HD, sub-channels and low-power stations to explain that the FCC has been in political flux the last few years and could easily change the rules.