New FTA service with 20 english channels

[Scott Greczkowski]

Nice story in MultiChannel today too.

 

[neljtorres]

interesting updates recently

Yes it looks real I wonder in what bird will it be on and if its going to be on ku band

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

For a 33 inch Dish its going to have to be on a KU bird.

 

[N5XZS]

Where is the link on Mutichannel's website?

Thanks!:

 

[Morbius]

Free Satellite TV For All - The Satellite Dish | Blog on Multichannel News

 

[Mr Tony]

lets not combine a couple of different "startup ideas" into the thread confusing people

this thread is for freedbs.org

any other "free" company should be in a different thread

 

[melgarga]

Per the New and Updates from the web page

"January 20th, 2010: Contacted by Brian Gohl - President Glorystar Christian Satellite Service"

so it's not hard to specuate that a combination of "free services" is under consideration. The obvious motivation would be economics.

The more exisiting FTA content providers that see an advantage of a "buy in bulk and save" co-op approach to purchasing bandwith, the more this venture may attract.
It is possible in their current arrangement that some content providers could operate with less bandwidth, but must purchase a minimum. Inside the co-op'd bandwith, the requirements may be more flexible, or no minimum at all.

If it were possible, wouldnt be nice to see some of the Equity channels we lost resurected? Maybe Safe TV too, or any of the other "independents" that the new owners decided it wasnt neccessary or cost effective to stay on satellite? If the price is right and the customer base pans out they might be interested again.

Perhaps there is another station owner/mgr that had the same vision as Ted Turner. (W)TBS started out as The Superstation, channel 17 in Atlanta. A nobody, independent before going national via satellite feed.

Yes, TT has DEEP pockets, and they held exclusive rights to all the Braves and Falcons games (DUH), but he did have the vision to see the advanages to satellite broadcast. I wonder if you can still even get WTBS OTA in Atlanta.

ALTV might be another to approach for re-uplinking. Since the are essentially FTA too, they might consider it a good investment to open their customer base to DVB if the price is right.

Are all APTN channels supposed to be "closed"? If not they may be approachable as well for re-uplinking to increease potential customer base.

All in all the potential seems limitless, but to be a big enough thorn (churning) in the big boy's side and get the "name brand channels" signed on will be a challenge. We may have to settle for being in the "niche" we have become accustomed to.

Cable and TelCo IPTV content provider customers will be harder to sway since many bundle their MM services with IP services, BUT I see a potential here too.

As a splinter project for future consideration a Satellite ISP that goes heads up against Hughes and Wild Blue at half the cost would be awesome. Sign me up!
I have a newer HughesNet and an old DirectWay setup I'd love to re-purpose for such a (fairly priced) service but for many, a downlink side only would be sufficient. Data capable DVB cards are cheap, and it may even foster a "stand alone wireless" variant of the hardware, similar to NAS.
It would not even have to be non-profit AFAIC. I dont have a problem with them making a bussiness profit off of me, just not an obscene one.
And the saga continues........

 

[melgarga]

I saw this posted by someone on another supporting forum's site -

Re: FTA channels for all in the works !!!
A Email I recieved from them!



Need a job?

Direct Broadcast Satellite News will be hiring over one thousand freelance reporters worldwide.

If you do not have experience in media production, you can volunteer.

Our qualifications are:

1. The ability to verbalize clearly and succinctly.

2. Present high quality video media.

3. Document sources and report truthfully.

4. Have your own staff, camera person, production manager etc.



Thanks, Leon Program Manager





I hope they do good!

which seems to imply they are looking for/planning some form of upstart content as well. As for upstart content, are we overlooking the obvious here?........
how about The FTA Channel.
DN has their PVR and such "Help channels" so why not. I can see it including a public access type channel that carries home produced how to's, equipment reviews and other relevant home FTA reception content. Maybe even a "Lifestyles" segment where adventuous TVRO stations owners could send a "showoff" video tour of their setups.
Contributers could use Skype (works for Oprah) or some other social network MM platform to present their content to a central location for review, approval and scheduling for broadcast.
Could be a decent and appropriate area for Satellite Equipment Vendor's Ad space as well.

 

[classicsat]

They don't need a separate channel. They could do the DBS news channel in a European format, where the first half hour is news, the second themed programming, mostly pre-produced. BBC-World (and I guess BBC2), Deutsche Welle (when I watched them on analog), and Russia Today, at least, run their schedules that way mostly.

 

[Mr Tony]

Yes, TT has DEEP pockets, and they held exclusive rights to all the Braves and Falcons games (DUH), but he did have the vision to see the advanages to satellite broadcast. I wonder if you can still even get WTBS OTA in Atlanta.

yes and no

WTBS doesnt exist anymore. A couple years ago they switched the OTA feed from WTBS to WPCH (for Peachtree TV). They show Braves games still and lots of movies/syndicated shows. What you see on TBS on satellite and cable is different than WPCH (until they changed the 2 stations were pretty much the same sans a few local commercials)

Canada gets WPCH on cable/satellite (WTBS was approved in Canada to be carried, TBS Superstation is not)

Its still OTA in the ATL on channel 20
WPCH-TV - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[melgarga]

..............I wonder if you can still even get WTBS OTA in Atlanta.

I knew you would know Oh Guru of all things OTA.....lol
I didnt really expect the current TBS content would be OTA since it is now considered a pay channel on the services. A far cry from it's cheezy independent filler channel beginnings on C band and cable ~30 or so years ago.
Any comment on viability of APTN or the other content providers I mentioned T?

classicsat, that does make better sense, the content, not the physical channel more accurately describes what I meant to say. A public access, or more accurately a public input forum for FTA subject matter should help promote the understanding and operation to a wider base which should ultimately promote FTA's growth.
Of course someone somewhere would have to edit, produce and schedule the "News and Info" offerings and from that email I quoted it seems they (FreeDBS) intend to do this.

 

[Conky]

what about RFD tv? Don't they tout themselves as a Rural Free Delivery channel? They have a slot for a farm channel but why reinvent the wheel

 

[melgarga]

I like it. Certainly worth passing on to the organizers. I havent tried to submit anything because I would like to avoid duplicating others' submissions.
Perhaps the guys collecting the input would try to make it a point to publish a list of those stations already submitted for considerstion so duplicate submissions could be avoided.
It would not have to comment on the status any further than the source had been submitted for consideration.

 

[Stargazer]

As a splinter project for future consideration a Satellite ISP that goes heads up against Hughes and Wild Blue at half the cost would be awesome. Sign me up!
I have a newer HughesNet and an old DirectWay setup I'd love to re-purpose for such a (fairly priced) service but for many, a downlink side only would be sufficient. Data capable DVB cards are cheap, and it may even foster a "stand alone wireless" variant of the hardware, similar to NAS.
It would not even have to be non-profit AFAIC. I dont have a problem with them making a bussiness profit off of me, just not an obscene one.
And the saga continues........

Already happened. SkyWay USA. $30 per month, Satellite download, dialup return path for 256K service. Have seen some of those dishes going up now. One of the phone companies around here are offering the equipment for free to their subscribers from the way I understood it but they systems usually run $150 (after rebate).

 

[AcWxRadar]

Yes it looks real I wonder in what bird will it be on and if its going to be on ku band

For a 33 inch Dish its going to have to be on a KU bird.

If they desire to provide maximum service to Mexico, US and Canada from the east coast to west with roughly a 30-33 inch dish, it would absolutely have to be a Ku band signal for the dish size recommended.

Then, the satellite that they use should logically be one that is more centrally located in its orbital position so that both coasts are served equally. (i.e. 93, 95, 97, 99, 101, 103 or 105 West sats would be logical choices). Sats 107.3 and 111.1 may also be possibilities.

Personally, I thought of satellite 97W, but I spoke to one of their reps regarding my proposal and I got the impression that they didn't have much space available on that sat. Other satellites were recommended to me at that time.

97W would logically be the most desirable satellite to launch from. It is centrally located, it is a strong satellite with an already well established FTA base. Also, many FTA consumers already have a "fixed point dish" for this sat (making it highly prized for audience capture). This satellite would be my goal if it were my project, for many reasons.

The only drawbacks would likely be available TP space and cost.

RADAR

 

[classicsat]

Sats 107.3 and 111.1 may also be possibilities.

Not on them. The Ku is used by Shaw Direct, the CBC, and a few TV networks in Canada for specialty channel distribution (also sold by Shaw Direct.)

I would think 105 or 91. Something that would work well with a 97/101 multi-dish system.

 

[Mr Tony]

yeah the 2 Anik birds are out

105 I could see...remember Dish is leasing the sat and since they arent using it anymore (they used it at one time for local networks) they sublease to really anyone

I just cant see 97W as its already dang near full
93 god I hope not (too many satellite issues)
89 is a possibility

 

[RedSavina]

Not on them. The Ku is used by Shaw Direct, the CBC, and a few TV networks in Canada for specialty channel distribution (also sold by Shaw Direct.)

I would think 105 or 91. Something that would work well with a 97/101 multi-dish system.

105 sounds interesting because it could work well with the 4 degree separation capability on Glorystar equipment. Of course, I doubt the dish configuration will be quite as important as the satellite side of things.

 

[RedSavina]

Channels page has a new look today, along with reserving space for NASA as a stand-alone channel (PBS & CSPAN are still placeholders). This is good news, that could be made even better with the addition of the sub-channels for all three networks. (I'm starting to like PBS Create more and more!)

Has anyone seen any indication of radio channels, too?

 

[LoTech]

They also have a Free Movie Channel listed. I wonder what that will be?