EchoStar Seeking 120-Day Transition

[Peter Parker]

FWIW there is apparently an extension till the 21st. We will see then what happens.

 

[MikeD-C05]

IT makes no sense to me that they have the 105 and 121 satellites and won't use them to finish up the rest of the country's dmas. IF they aren't going to use them for locals then what are they good for?

 

[mike123abc]

The 105 satellite alone has the capacity for all the remaining markets, but some are going to be on 110 anyways as they finish filling in the gaps left over on E10. The main issue of not providing all markets is that it costs big $$ to add a DMA.

1. They need to establish point of presence (PoP) in the DMA. They need a building or lease space somewhere where they can put up antennas to pick up the local stations. They might also have the issue of having to have multiple sites to receive all the channels they want without issue. You probably also want to have an employee/employees there to fix problems. How long will subs wait if CBS goes out during the ending of a CSI episode because an owl decided the antenna was a nice nesting ground and knocked the antenna out of alignment?

2. They need compression hardware installed to package up all the stations

3. They need a high speed fiber link between the PoP and the uplink location

4. They need an agreement with the local stations, sometimes they have to pay local stations a monthly per user fee

You have to consider the percentage of households that subscribe (or would subscribe) in the DMA and what % of these subscribers would subscribe to the local channels package. Take this number and multiply it by the subscription rate minus what they have to pay to the local stations and see if it covers the costs involved.

Currently it looks likes Dish eeks out some sort of profit out of the top 175 or so markets. There is of course indirect profit of how many new subs they get and how many stay because of local channels. Dish has had a lot of experience with these numbers.

 

[MikeD-C05]

But if they did supply ALL dmas for the country they would be able to compete on a national scale with Cable. DISH is well on its way to doing this. If they had already done this last year , instead of adding nothing in the way of sd locals, they would not need the 120 day tranisition. They would also have a way to provide the truckers and rv drivers the locals they need where ever they are in the country at that time. Like a hotline for just rv and truck drivers that they can call in with a zipcode and they get those locals turned on for where they are at that time. With unlimited times that they can change their locals with no fees. While the picture quality won't be as good as with the distant New York and L.A. stations , they will at least have access to the networks. Hopefully when Mpeg4 is finally in place for all programming , they will be able to improve the picture quality for locals especially. Right now they are an overcompressed mess, especially compared to their hd counterparts.

 

[waltinvt]

<snip>.... While the picture quality won't be as good as with the distant New York and L.A. stations , they will at least have access to the networks. Hopefully when Mpeg4 is finally in place for all programming , they will be able to improve the picture quality for locals especially. Right now they are an overcompressed mess, especially compared to their hd counterparts.

I'll say. I just added my analog LiLs (Vt) back and so far haven't lost my NY dns. The comparison isn't even close. The Burlington locals on Dish are actually worse than cable.

Also the 1st weekend I had them back, 3 out of the 4 of the Vt networks were substituting "paid programming" for the national feed, as in hour-long commercials for BowFlex or Oxi-Clean.

Maybe Vt is unique in this regard but if it typifies what many other affiliates are doing, this is a big reason why viewers prefer distants over locals and certainly something that should be looked at when deciding how much longer they (the affiliates) should be shielded from competition.

 

[jegrant]

What I really don't get about Lafayette, is that the one CBS station in the market is co-owned with the Indianapolis CBS affiliate, and would probably cost Dish very little to add. This would then allow Dish to offer all the Indy locals to Lafayette subs - if LIN (owners of both CBS stations) give Dish the same terms as cable, both CBS stations would be carried with no interruption/blackout.
(As far as Dish having to establish a point of presence in Lafayette, IN - I doubt they would - they could take a feed direct from LIN master control in Indianapolis, where all master control functions are centralized.)

 

[mecro]

What I really don't get about Lafayette, is that the one CBS station in the market is co-owned with the Indianapolis CBS affiliate, and would probably cost Dish very little to add. This would then allow Dish to offer all the Indy locals to Lafayette subs - if LIN (owners of both CBS stations) give Dish the same terms as cable, both CBS stations would be carried with no interruption/blackout.
(As far as Dish having to establish a point of presence in Lafayette, IN - I doubt they would - they could take a feed direct from LIN master control in Indianapolis, where all master control functions are centralized.)

Exactly!!! The two CBS stations would probably be thrilled that DISH was interested in carrying them. DISH's point of presence in Indianapolis is close enough to Lafayette that they could pull in the Lafayette CBS station without a whole lot of difficulty, just as our local cable company pulls in all the Indianapolis channels without any trouble.

Now...we just have to get DISH to realize it, and then I'll subscribe out here! I've had nothing but fantastic service in Cincinnati, but I'd really like to have real television while in Lafayette!