Earl Bonovich said:
99 and 103 are going to be the core sats for the future of the HD programming on DirecTV.
Right now the two birds up there are "temporarily" borrowed for Hughes Sat systems. They are Spaceway 1 and Spaceway 2.
Two new sats are scheduled to launch in Q2 of 2007... which will replace those. They are more powerfull sats, and more specific to DirecTV goals for those two sat slots.
Right now both 99 and 103 are SPOT beamed, so it is very possible you are getting low readings on the one, as they are not really "directed" towards you.
Just like on the 101.. you will get 0's for some transponders, as those are the spot beam transponders that are not covering your area.
Earl, D* owns both Spaceway1 and 2, and they are not going away when D* 10 and 11 are up. There will be 4 total KU sats, 2 at 99 and 2 at 103. The 1500 local and 150 national HD channels assumes Spaceway 1&2 + DirecTV 10&11 are up.
Here are the details from D*'s Jan. 6 2005 press release:
" Local HD programming in the first group of markets will be available mid-year following the successful launch of the Spaceway 1 and Spaceway 2 satellites in the second quarter. The launch of these satellites and two others -- DIRECTV 10 and DIRECTV 11, scheduled to go aloft in early 2007 -- will play a vital role in the dramatic expansion of programming capacity for DIRECTV, announced last September.
The Boeing-built Spaceway 1 and 2 satellites will have the capacity for more than 500 local HD channels, bringing local HD programming to most of the U.S. population, and will enable DIRECTV to continue to expand standard-definition local offerings and other enhancements. DIRECTV 10 and 11 will have the capacity for more than 1,000 additional local HD channels and more than 150 national HD channels and other new programming offerings. All four satellites will use spot-beam technology to deliver local channels."