Week of 4 August 2008
Wednesday
The Olympic channels were turned on.
Broadcasting and Cable, Multichannel News: Dish thinks that the DTV transition should come with some retrans consent restrictions so that no signals get pulled.
Tuesday
The Consumerist publishes Dish's executive contact numbers.
After the Wall Street Journal reports Charlie is thinking about a merger with his competitor, Dish and DirecTV won't comment.
Monday
Multichannel News finally picks up the GOL TV story.
$41 million is going to EchoStar as insurance proceeds from AMC-14. Total revenue jumped 46% year-over-year to $483 million and reported net income this year - it sustained losses last Q2.
Cablevision's got its head in the clouds, and for good reason: its network DVR ("cloud DVR" as it might be termed) is good to go. Craig Moffett claimed a victory for cable operators.
Expect Dish's stock to lose some value: Dish Network lost 25,000 subs in Q2, becoming the first ever US satellite operator to do so, according to Craig Moffett. Their SEC filing says that the housing market and promotions by DirecTV, cable, and telco cable service bundles (FiOS, U-verse), as well as direct Internet distribution of programs.
Other stats: Dish had total revenue of $2.91 billion, more than 5% up from $2.76 billion. Net income jumped by a third over last year ($224 million) to $336 million. Basic earnings per share also jumped at the same rate, from 50 to 75 cents per share. Then there's five channels Dish is having problems wrangling in, four of them high-profile Big Four locals in the Midwest.
Sunday
It's rare that the News Monitor brings a weekend story, but we missed another silent change on Friday: several sources are bringing up GOL TV and its departure from Dish. GOL TV's website (the first source) does say that it is no longer available on Dish "despite efforts" to keep it. The other sources note that Setanta Sports has replaced GOL TV.
Week of 28 July 2008
Friday, Saturday
Site note: Fixes to possible display errors in Internet Explorer 6-based browsers. HTML 4.01 Strict validation took place yesterday, with the chief issue being entity definitions with the ampersand in URLs.
TurboHD is on! A slew of channels became available today but hidden. Lifetime, LMN, CBS College Sports are stretchovision, but the latter is reported [Multichannel News] to be having HD college football soon. 6799 changed names to "TURBO". In the early morning hours, a Turbo-charged HD timer countdown (EPG "Turbo Upgrade in Progress" appeared on several channels, including ESPN2HD, ESPN, A&E, Showtime, Bravo, TBS, and HBO. MPEG2 HD will not be upgraded. Encore HD on for AT250 Ultimate and reported to be on the Essentials package.
That software update is L610 for the 722, L520 for the 211, and others yet unknown to SatelliteGuys.
DBSTalk, Multichannel News, Broadcasting and Cable: All Citadel stations are no longer on Dish Network. Here is the contact information for Citadel Broadcasting:
7201 W. Lake Mead Blvd., Suite 400
Las Vegas, NV 89128
DBSTalk: San Diego viewer alert: Today, KSWB and XETV swapped affiliations, KSWB becoming a Fox affiliate and XETV taking on The CW. However, KSWB is getting mapped to 6-0 and XETV to 69-0. And to make matters worse, KSWB identifies as channel 5. XETV HD has been replaced with KSWB HD.
In retrospect, this has been one heck of a week. Multiple uplinks every single weekday, large amounts of news articles, double and triple sources, lots of high-profile news. Next Monday is even more mission critical as Dish and EchoStar release earnings for Q2 and a bunch of other goodies.
Thursday: Uplink Report Highlights, Retrans Consent, and 1080p
75 was removed and replaced with 6799 map 75.
Two PBS mirrors jumped to MPEG4 SD from MPEG2 ViP.
NYC Eastern Arc locals received their city of license tags and are now available but hidden.
Multichannel News, Gizmodo, BetaNews, Broadcasting and Cable: Get ready for a software update! This one will enable 1080p resolution on Dish Network, but given how everything's either 1080i or 720p, it might not work. They will do movies in 1080p, such as I Am Legend coming TOMORROW. (There's been a lot of news that Gizmodo's been covering, abnormally, in addition to my normal roulette of Broadcasting and Cable and Multichannel News.)
WBBH-TV: Fort Myers viewers might be having some Dish problems with Waterman Broadcasting...
Wednesday: Uplink Report Highlights, Olympic Edition
Lincoln, Nebraska here, telling you that your precious KLKN might go under the retrans consent knife. All Citadel stations are affected: KCAU has an Important Viewer Advisory on its front page as well.
The Olympics are on the top of the heap this week, as a slew of channel changes got made with NBV Universal channels.
The dedicated Olympic basketball and soccer channels are now on 365 and 367 - conveniently mapped to 99 and 98 too!
The multiview channels are back in the swing of things for the X Games. A sixth channel has been added.
655 and 664 OLMPC/OLMPK channels added.
A ton of package flag changes for internationals, indicating a freeview change there. Meanwhile, the 6100 range has some hidden international treats from all over the world - their corresponding channels are on 61.5 tp 14 and presumably moving off the sat (tp 13 did the same thing at 121).
Rejoice one more time, Florence-Myrtle Beach SD local subscribers! WMBF SD has been added to 7840 map 32. The HD version of this DTV-from-day-one channel was added last week. Once again, 8 August is the launch date.
Two PBS mirrors were removed at 8856 and 9346.
NEWS! now is just INFO5. 9450 is an unavailable test channel and has also reverted back to MPEG4 SD. It might be an info slate for all those Citadel stations.
Freeview mania! Biography, Planet Green, Oxygen, and MSNBC changed package flags. Oddly, the NBC Universal channels are going AWAY from the freeview. Also changing package flags is a data channel in the 19000 range.
As part of the Olympic mania, Universal HD got a package flag change too.
The Greek channels and Indian channels had a package flag shuffle.
Rejoice, Houston! I read a story recently that KHCW would be changing to KIAH. This change is now in the EPG.
DBSTalk: Channel 710 in the Filipino range might get the plug pulled.
DBSTalk: Cleveland locals are down as of 08:08 GMT.
Kotaku: DirecTV is offering a video game convention for pay-per-view. Yes, I am not kidding.
Tuesday: 72.7 West News?
Today's Uplink Report Highlights is focused on two satellites at the end of the Dish spectrum. Notably, the first channels have been added to 72.7: 100, 166, 239, 322, 341, 345, 346, 456, 457, 494, 495, 496, 19007 (VOD), 19206 (Olympics multiview), and the Extended EPG.
Channels 533, 573, and 580 disappeared from 61.5 and 148 and 5992 also went off 61.5.
A minor shuffle of TPs at 119 and a big one at 61.5. A ton of internationals and other channels moved TPs there - even PI, Business TV, employee channels, and the 61.5 channel weren't safe. JohnH noted that as of that posting (early in the morning hours), there was no detectable signal from EchoStar VI at the nascent satellite location, though is very close to its new home.
Broadcasting and Cable, Multichannel News: August 1st is a red-letter day for DirecTV as it launches Eurocinema, which is a foreign-film on demand service, on its DirecTV On Demand platform.
Gizmodo: There's also another red-letter day at DirecTV: August 14. On that date, 30 new HD channels will appear, some of which are premium channels. Some are in the works for Dish or are there already: Planet Green HD, ABC Family HD. Additional PPV channels and 23 regional sports networks are also coming - and when DirecTV 12 comes to life next year, it will push the number up to 200!
Gizmodo: Gizmodo has another interesting headline about FiOS.
Monday: Digital Television Mania and NY HD Wars - and DirecTV
Broadcasting and Cable: Get ready, Poughkeepsie and Fond du Lac. One station each in those two cities is going digital. Keep in mind that digital isn't always HD.
Broadcasting and Cable: "This TV" is another new channel for stations to put on .2, a partnership between MGM and Weigel Broadcasting. (Will WCIU end up with another subchannel!?)
Broadcasting and Cable: An interesting cover story on WMBF, the all-DTV NBC affiliate for Florence-Myrtle Beach set to launch in just ten days. It will be HD/DTV from day one and has Dish retrans deals.
What you never knew about the News Monitor. Yes, we have a seemingly colossal amount of external links compared to internal links.
Cablevision's adding 15 HD channels in New York, but Verizon is putting 100 in its FiOS package. (Both articles from Multichannel News)
Multichannel News: And if all that HD wasn't enough, 44 markets will get HD locals from DirecTV by the end of the year. Beginning in August, locals for markets such as Boise, Baton Rouge, Rochester, Syracuse, El Paso-Las Cruces, and Toledo will be turned on.
Week of 21 July 2008
Friday
BusinessWeek via SatelliteGuys: Is Dish a sinking ship?
Multichannel News: HR 3679 update: The committee has agreed to move it forward. 3679 would help level the playing field in terms of satellite taxes.
Broadcasting and Cable: With XM-Sirius about to come to a last end, could Dish-DirecTV be next? No.
Wednesday: Uplink Report Highlights
The NHL channels are up in the old MLB range, while the old ones are gone. Only 626 is available.
New international channel: TV9 on 807 at 118. TV9/Sneha TV (website) has Kannada and Telugu-language feeds.
Lifetime and LMN HD have been added to the 4000 range.
Shuffle in Florence-Myrtle Beach: 5172 went from being WFXB to WMBF (the Raycom-owned NBC affiliate launching on 8 August), 5173 became WFXB, and WWMB (the CW affiliate) was readded on 5174. I will probably be yelling out "Rejoice!" next week for this market.
Birmingham locals now have {city of license tags}.
NHL Network was added to 9540 and 9541 map 403 and 113. 403 proper was removed.
Channel 5340 was removed. ESPNEWS had moved in the first place.
WMOR MPEG4 on 61.5 was removed from its beam. It never was available.
Another MPEG4 removal: 9400 and 9401's variants are gone.
Channels 9556-58 were removed.
8700 and 8703 MPEG4 SD moved from tp 7 to tp 1 and 3, respectively.
Rejoice, Asheville-Greenville-Spartanburg! You have shiny new MPEG4 SD locals, including WMYA, WYCW, WNTV, WUNC, WNEG, and WGGS. You need the 61.5 satellite for these locals.
Tuesday
Rejoice, Shreveport! KTBS and Dish Network have reached a deal (video link). 7014 was removed and 7015 jumped back to tp 27s15 at 110, according to JohnH's Uplink Report.
JTV gained a mapdown of 86 and NHL Network HD (9542) had a mapdown and availability change to 114 and available. PBS XD MPEG4 lost its mapdown to 90, as did 560 at 77W.
SatelliteGuys: School starts up the day Dish has its earnings call, which means that coverage WILL be delayed here.
SatelliteGuys: Could Ciel-2 be coming earlier than expected to save 129?
Sunday
When somebody up there doesn't love you: a DirecTV installer is looking at anywhere up to seven years of prison time because he stole more than $5,000 from a customer's locked safe. And he's only 21 years old.
Week of 14 July 2008
Friday
SatelliteGuys: 705 Sears stores will now carry the DTVPal.
Delayed presser fun: They've finally officially announced those Beaumont TX locals.
Thursday: Even More Uplink Report Highlights
The storm is coming! A slew of announced HD channels, including the HBO suite, Planet Green (9459), Lifetime, LMN, the Starz suite, and Encore HD have been added, and a temp channel now will be CBS College Sports. At the same time, a slew of HD test channels were also yanked. At the same time, an Ontario poster (non-legit Dish service?) noticed that 376, which he said was a test channel for MOJO, was removed.
Wednesday
Consumerist: The FCC fined a Dish telemarketing firm $75,000 for hanging up on customers. They used automated systems, which were then supposed to connect to a telemarketer. But there would sometimes be too many customers than telemarketers.
EchoStar XI's launch has gained significant coverage: Multichannel News says it went off without a hitch but that EchoStar II bit the dust (DBSTalk reports, as does SatelliteGuys) - forcing all of the channels to be moved. Gizmodo also chimed in, mentioning incorrectly that the satellite's launch was tied to the 17 new HD channels (those will go on 61.5 and 129). Broadcasting and Cable also mentions that this is an SS/L satellite designed for 15 years of service. It is a 20kW-power satellite.
Uplink Report Highlights is still strong this week:
Planet Green HD (4194) and ActionMax (9479) are added but not available. 75 is back, but hidden.
A slew of package flag changes for 581, 678, 680, 681, 697, 708.
Rejoice, Beaumont and Bozeman (and Helena, too)! You either have two HD locals or PBS!
Some minor shuffles to the test range.
Tuesday
Multichannel News: Now we know why Comcast SportsNet Philly was hiding under the terrestrial loophole. (There's probably some PRISM stuff hiding in the Spectrum, for all I know.) The News Monitor has previously done a feature about PRISM and the FCC-sanctioned quirks of why its successor can't get onto satellite.
Here goes! A slew of moves at 148 leave the evens vacant.
Week of 7 July 2008
Thursday: Recap of the Recap, Retailer Chat, SatelliteGuys
HD locals planned to launch by 30 July: Abilene, Fargo, Greenville NC, Madison, Myrtle Beach, Sherman-Ada, South Bend, Waco, Wichita Falls, Northeast Pennsylvania (Scranton, Wilkes-Barre).
Also this summer: Columbia-Jefferson City (we've had news about it recently), Des Moines, Joplin, Omaha, Lincoln NE, Quincy, Topeka.
A new value option is called the Welcome Pack, which includes 20 channels among which are Food Network, TBS, MSNBC, and the Weather Channel. (really lame name alert). There's also a Dish Latino flavor. You can get locals OR the Welcome Pack (and in DL flavor for the same price) for $9.99 or both for $14.99 beginning 1 August.
TurboHD by Dish Network, The Only 100% HD Service! 17 new channels 1 August, and now Multichannel News is backing it up! We're going BACK to Bronze, Silver, Gold! The new channels are the HBO, Starz/Encore ones (Encore HD launches likely next week, "middle of this month" stated) plus Lifetime, LMN HD (the News Monitor called it first, and a delay to 21 July for Cox's Lifetime HD rollout means Cox still gets it first!), one Cinemax channel, Planet Green HD, and CBS College Sports HD.
1 August also seems to be MPEG-4 Day for dumping MPEG-2. Also: new customers with low credit scores will not be able to use debit cards after that date (credit cards only), new DHA customers must pay a $99 registration fee as of that date if they want no commitment (THAT'S it, Dish!), and new DHA customers will get the 612 as their base receiver.
New residential and commercial promotions.
Existing customers cannot downgrade to the Bronze HD Only package.
All of this is not contingent on EchoStar XI's successful launch.
Wednesday: Uplink Report Highlights
A string of new MPEG4 SD test channels added at 148 tp 8. They're packing in 25 channels on that one TP!
ESPN2 on 5301 was deleted and replaced with ESPNEWS.
Rejoice, Nashville, Twin Cities, Atlanta, and Birmingham! You now have 61.5-style HD locals. Do note that WPCH is not in the Atlanta package...yet.
EchoStar XI Newswatch: SatelliteGuys: The Sea Launch vessels have departed Home Port and are heading for the late-night (at least for the News Monitor, as it is scheduled for 22:21 PDT) launch of EchoStar XI, the 110 satellite that relieves EchoStar XIII there. The launch site is at 154 West, meaning it must go 44 degrees toward Arizona (this new sat is right in line with the eastern part of the state) to get to 110.
Tuesday: Uplink Report Highlights and HR 3679
Our tip line has paid off! Doug Mendenhall, Jr., from Harrisburg, PA, says it promotes HR 3679, the "State Video Tax Fairness Act", a resolution that levels the playing field currently in the House of Reps - write your rep, etc. All subs, I assume now. stopsatellitetax.com, a site operated by Dish and DirecTV, has some more information on this. Florida, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, and Utah currently have discriminatory DBS taxes.
NOTAX is now at AT100 for all subscribers. See above for 211's info.
Lifetime Movie Network - officially LMN now - is now in AT200 - again! It was in AT250 after 2006's Lifetime dispute (and LMN's 895 mirror, which is now Oxygen, is how I got my big break at the EKB). SatelliteGuys has the press spin on things. Some people are thinking Lifetime and LMN HD are next. (Lifetime HD is set to be carried TOMORROW by Cox Arizona, making it about the first national channel Cox has that Dish doesn't already.)
Monday
Multichannel News: Cadbury's Sour Patch Kids, MTV Networks, and Dish Network are coming together in fruity interactive ad form. Exclusive voting on The N's Queen Bees premiere (Friday, 9pm ET/PT) is the centerpiece. Do be wary - if MTVN is letting Dish keep a split channel to do this, it will likely stay that way.
SatelliteGuys: By letting NPS provide distants for Dish, the latter is not in violation of its court-ordered injunction, according to the US Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.
Week of 30 June 2008
Thursday: KRCGone and Others
SatelliteGuys: Dish is now a sponsor of the athletics department of the Tennessee Volunteers? And orange dishes? Hope that they're for 129 or the Channel Chart might confuse them.
ShowMeNews via SatelliteGuys: Show me some retransmission consent, Missouri! KRCG and Dish have had a falling-out in Columbia - and that means KRCG is leaving Dish. Looks like retrans consent is the problem here. UPDATE: KRCG has moved to tp 8 at 110, home of the retrans consent slide!
Wednesday: Uplink Report Highlights
International free previews changed.
The NOTAX channel reappeared - unavailable, of course.
Five new MPEG4 SD test channels at 148.
Get ready to rejoice, Chattanooga, Syracuse, Albany, and Lansing! WDEF, WDSI, WSTM, WSYT, WLNS, WSYM, WTEN, and WNYT HD are available but hidden in the 5100s.
Rejoice now, Dallas, Detroit, and Charlotte! You now have HD locals at 61.5!
The multiview channels are now hidden and using DISHx names.
Earlier, a bunch of channels moved at 110 on the Road to EchoStar 11!
Tuesday
I'm sorry. This is kind of a mash up of two code revisions and new changes.
Multichannel News: The big HD launch schedule is here. Among the markets are Albany, Madison, Des Moines, Syracuse, NE Pennsylvania (already uplinked), and Topeka.
Multichannel News: AT&T is stopping its Dish reselling at the end of the year under a 2003 agreement, but is looking to what it should do beyond that.
Week of 23 June 2008
Broadcasting and Cable: The DTVPal became available.
Note: I only posted one news item in the week otherwise - a DBSTalk version of Uplink Report Highlights.
Week of 16 June 2008
Friday
James Long on the ESPN2 move: "It looks like a mass renumbering of HD is coming ... some signs of that already, but I wouldn't expect numbers we see (other than the SD range mapdowns) to remain consistent."
Channel 4180 was turned on, but it's hidden. It also gained a mapdown to 180.
Wednesday: Uplink Report Highlights
Site note UPDATE 9.24pm PDT: The link to the change log has been removed due to upcoming changes under a non-disclosure agreement at this time. It will return soon.
But before that, how about some tasty news?
Oh, we've got some 77 West News today: Aransay's got hardware! Thankfully, somebody was able to translate it into English:
The IRD interface was in Spanish, but he couldn't watch a single channel. The IRD was a Dish 301 with a 500-style antenna that had a GRAY Dish logo. He saw how the antenna was mounted. It was almost at floor level. He thought that he saw a motor in the antenna, but he isn't sure. The LNB is a single DP.
Also from 77 West News, another user posts an FCC filing about Charlie's plans for the location for the US - which include moving EchoStar 8 over.
Multichannel News: It seems like Dish and AT&T could be drifting apart further.
Consumerist: Now that's bad DirecTV installation.
Multichannel News: Versus and the Golf Channel are getting separate HD feeds, and E! is also getting one. All of this will occur in December.
Uplink Report Highlights
A new MPEG2 SD/flagged HD channel is on 9450 at 110: "NEWS!" I hope it's good news, though someone at SatelliteGuys theorized that it could be the death of MPEG2 HD.
There's something on channel 75 mapped down from 6799. It is MPEG2 SD ViP with EPG name "HiDef". No video or audio yet.
Three new HD alternates on tp 20/61.5 (441-443/9517-9519). Unavailable.
HD added today: New Bern-Greenville-Washington NC and WOTV. All unavailable. WOTV is owned by LIN TV.
Now on 5302: MPEG4 version of ESPN2 HD. 5301's a dead duck, apparently.
Now on 61.5: Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Raleigh-Durham HD locals.
The free preview channels have changed for internationals.
WBSF in Bay City, Michigan now has a city of license flag.
WHTV and WKAR MPEG4SD moved from tp 15 to tp 1 at 61.5.
The US Open multiviews will be used for Wimbledon, according to name changes.
Monday
SatelliteGuys: There will be a free preview of Starz from Friday to Sunday this weekend. It was not announced, but notice was placed on the Starz page of the Dish Network site.
Sunday
Site notes: Resynchronized the weeks back to Monday beginning this week and refreshed the 2007 archives with the newer style. Other housekeeping changes were made that are currently under a non-disclosure agreement as of this time.
In the meantime...let's use some filler from the Dish Sports Series! Last week was the history of PRISM and how it affects Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia. This week affects the West Coast, more specifically the San Diego area:
"Where are the Padres?"
Exclusivity in Cox-land, of course! Cox operates a local cable channel for San Diego, 4SD (similar to CN8 in the Northeast), that has the exclusivity rights to EVERY Padres game. Yep, all of them. So - in a CSN Philly situation - Cox blocks off access to the service from Dish and DirecTV. The deal lasts until 2011, so don't expect Cox to budge anytime soon.
Week of 10 June 2008
Saturday
SatGuys: TiVo's big contempt motion is out, and the clouds on the horizon seem as black as the black in the TiVo logo.
Friday
DBSTalk: Press release about that movie that Dish has a PPV exclusive on.
I, too, express my deepest sympathy to the family of Tim Russert. He will be remembered.
Thursday: Raymie Called It...Again
Multichannel News: That brand-new Tribune agreement also provides for Dish to carry the OTHER HD signals that weren't added. (It rounds out to 23 stations in 19 markets.) One thing they missed was that WTIC was turned on as well.
77 West News: A lot of stuff, but in Spanish - and Google's translator botched EVERY aspect of it, down to the subject pronouns. Some alliance between Carlos Slim/Telmex to buy 51% of MVS is about the only news I can reason from this.
SatelliteGuys: A first look at the DTVPal.
SatelliteGuys: TerreStar purchased EchoStar's spectrum in the 1.4GHz range.
Wednesday: Uplink Report Highlights
On 61.5: three new HD package source channels.
A bunch of HD test channels either moved, were removed, or went from SD to HD today.
Dreams TV's free preview is over (in other words, your dream ended; wake up).
WTIC and WPIX, as well as WGN on 6316/129, are available. The WGN one does not have any local flags, yet is only available to Chicago market subscribers.
5327 and 9446 are now WGN America HD. Looks like a big Tribune deal was struck weeks ago.
Remember that KCPQ and KTXL test channels were added months ago. UPDATE: Yep, KCPQ and KTXL were flicked on. Raymie called it!
UPDATE: New TMP channel activity hints at one new item:
9428 TMP A: HBO HD, 9471 TMP D: STARZ HD, 9473 TMP F: HDNET, 9475 TMP H: HDNMW, 9476 TMP I: NFL HD, 9480 TMP M: TNT HD, 9481 TMP N: HIST HD, 9495 TMP T: CBS College Sports HD
UPDATE: Those KIDZ matured (8177 is on in Abilene), y KUVM es disponible.
Tuesday
Multichannel News: We knew Dish was to do a U.S. Open multiview system. This just confirms it.
Monday: Recap of the Recap, Charlie Chat Edition
Big things are coming with the Olympics, apparently. To prepare, they've added a slew of HD feeds. MSNBC is one of them, though the HD+ service is probably 16:9 SD or Stretch-O-Vision (S-O-V on NBC). Also coming - FINALLY to its first provider ever - is WGN America (and the Cubbies) in high-definition! (But Cox will NOT add it until 2010 at the rate they're going.)
Good news: Interactive apps for the Olympics and 800 hours of HD alone on the NBCU channels.
Sunday: Announcing the Dish Sports Series
I am beginning a mini-series feature today that covers the topic of sports on Dish Network and why regional sports networks are missing from the Dish lineup. There's a lot of cases where it's not the satellite carrier's fault, like our first question:
"Where's everybody from Philly?"
Why, most of them have Comcast - and for good reason. Using an FCC loophole, Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia - the flagship - can block its signal from satellite. (There's no land-line infrastructure.) But why no land-line infrastructure?
We can trace it back to July of 1976. A new television network was founded by a company called Spectacor, PRISM (Philadelphia Regional In-Home Sports and Movies). And it carried lots of movies and local programming. But it had the Flyers, 76ers, and Phillies. PRISM was meant to be regional, so it did not go out by land-line.
PRISM was shut down in 1997 - 14 years after being bought out by Rainbow Media - because Comcast bought Spectacor (and the 76ers). They wanted to form a new sports network with what PRISM already carried. SportsChannel Philadelphia became the first Comcast SportsNet, while PRISM folded, with the space being used to carry Starz.
Side note: PRISM founded a New England version, which today is Comcast SportsNet New England.
Week of 3 June 2008
Saturday: WMFD
If you live in the Cleveland DMA, Michael P at DBSTalk has news for you about WMFD, which is flash-cutting to digital in nine days. He wants some people to bombard Dish to carry WMFD - the signal is at Dish, and Dish has to turn it on before January 1.
Friday: Court orders, L510 (622/722), and fiber cuts
SatelliteGuys: A court order has been issued in Texas for 4 September against Dish. (The Texas court is TiVo v. EchoStar, and the Delaware one is the opposite.)
SatelliteGuys: Remember how LIN TV and Dish struck a deal to promote Dish in case of retransmission consent problems? Well, Comcast is having distribution problems with one (1) WOOD-TV, and LIN TV is promoting the Dish deal - and just like in the book, offering $50. And later on, someone mentions Charter and WCTX/WTNH also. And someone also mentions that LIN and DirecTV have HD carriage problems.
DBSTalk: A fiber cut knocked out ALL Seattle locals on Dish and DirecTV.
I don't normally post software releases for Dish boxes - in fact, today is my first. Here are the release notes for L510 for the 622 and 722 (courtesy of Scott):
It integrates external hard disk recordings into My Recordings, displays archive counters in release builds in the Counters screen, adds support for a new data dump remote and a button for stopping Check Switch, adds an enable/disable screen for the 908 popup and a mode reminder screen text update, as well as modified text in popups PU 349 and 311, a new regional uplink outage popup, and fixes for reboots, DishCOMM, and IPTV.
Thursday: NAB and local ads
Broadcasting and Cable: The NAB goes to bat to try to get SD/HD mandates for satellite operators.
I heard a local radio ad today, saying "Test drive Dish and get one year's subscription to TV Guide and an iPod!" I also got another flyer from good old Planet Earth Satellite (we've posted about them in the past). Now they throw in a $100 gas voucher and one year's worth of phone service...if your high speed connection is better than 1.5 mg [sic]. I've never had a connection running at 1.5 milligrams a second! I never knew that the Internet was a viscous liquid! (I think they meant 1.5 MB, not 1.5 mg.)
Wednesday: Uplink Report Highlights and News
Multichannel News: Dish shares tumbled 91 cents after Craig Moffett issued a grim outlook based on legal and competition issues.
A new VODSV channel was added to 541 at 61.5 and 110. Not available.
TMP14 on 5379 was removed and replaced with one at the same locations at 5327.
INFO2 (yummy!) was added on 110 tp 8, channel 5996. Unavailable.
The local WGN (not WGN America) was added to 129 at 6316 on a ConUS beam. I wonder if it will be available to those outside of Chicago.
New PBS XD mirrors were turned on at 7526m60 and 8448m60. The old ones moved to 61.5.
15257-15271: New guide data added for WETK, WVTA, WVER, and WVTB. All four make up Vermont Public Television.
KCWK is off the air and removed from channel 9373. Wikipedia:
"On May 29, 2008, it was observed that the station's offices had been emptied, indicating that KCWK has ceased operations. This was the result of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing for some Pappas stations, including KCWK. As of May 30, 2008, the channel 9 cable slot remained vacant on Charter Communications' Tri-Cities systems. It is currently unknown if Charter will replace the channel position with another CW channel. Viewers of Dish Network will receive Los Angeles' KTLA as a temporary replacement." SatelliteGuys confirms this.
5995 and 8042 moved together to tp 2 on 110.
Channel package flags changed for internationals: ERT, APUNJ, FUTUR, Star+, KINO, ARYDI, EurCh, KAIRA, NTV.
All of the MPEG2 HD networks in the new 4xxx range were changed to ViP-only, and 6799 became a type=171 channel. 7526 and 8448 at 61.5 are also type-171s.
As expected, the EPG name DHOME changed to GREEN today to reflect the Planet Green name.
Tuesday: Uplink Report Highlights!? AND 77 West News?!
A bunch of new HD aliases in the 4xxx range were turned on and uplinked today.
Official news from MVS about the departure of 52MX from Cablevision Mexico City came today. Note that this translation has been tweaked from the one on DBSTalk due to major inaccuracies:
Response to our kind subscribers (02.06.2008)
Dear subscribers:
Due to the removal of 52MX from Cablevision System of Mexico City this June 1, we feel the need to disclose the following information:
Soon, MVS Communications Group will launch a pay TV system [Dish Network Mexico] like Sky and Cablevision. It is perceived as a direct competitor as well as a serious threat to its growth plans. This is why they have removed our channels from their respective systems in a unanimous decision, despite the acceptance that these channels had.
We very much regret these incidents that harm our image and customer service and of which we are not responsible.
Very soon, you will receive news through various means on new projects by MVS Communications, who will revolutionize the pay TV industry in Mexico.
Thank you for your attention.
Source: MVS Communications
Monday: 77 West News
"*undeterminable name* was the main investor in Mexico when DirecTV Latino operated. DirecTV in Mexico closed and is selling its subscriber database to Sky Mexico. The same MVS people that worked on DirecTV Mexico are the same ones working on Dish Mexico now. Yes, MVS channels were exclusive to DirecTV at the time. A year before they closed, they were added to Sky Mexico and Cablevision. Some months ago, they were taken out from Sky. Today, 52mx (?) - which carries everything WWE - MultiCinema, MultiPremier, and ZAZ were taken from Cablevision."
It sounds like MVS/MSV (whichever is used) is pulling its channels from other providers for no other reason...to make them exclusive on Dish Mexico?
Sunday: 77 West News
It's another fine edition of 77 West News, sponsored by Aransay!
"All MVS MultiVision channels previously on Mexico City Cablevision left today. Months ago, they left Sky Mexico. When DirecTV Latin America existed, they were exclusively on that. Remember, MVS was the owner of DirecTV Mexico. They are part of the Dish Mexico alliance.
Week of 26 May 2008
Friday
Broadcasting and Cable: Now it's EchoStar v. TiVo in Delaware. The fight rolls on!
SatelliteGuys: The first amended complaint has been filed in Voom v. EchoStar.
Consumerist: A person had problems with their DirecTV installer not showing up. Thanks to the Consumerist (a site that deals heavily in talking about bad customer service, etc. - I've cited them before) posting DirecTV high-up customer service information, a reader sent an email (to the CEO of DirecTV and to the installer) and was able to get the account transferred from the installer to DirecTV proper. Here's an excerpt from the letter:
"[A CSR] phoned me four times during the course of the install to check on [the installer's] progress. The installer's supervisor also phoned him numerous times to make sure the job was going well. The installer truly did an outstanding job going far beyond minimal expectations. I talked with him while he worked, and he told me that 'everyone' in their company saw my email. He said it was labeled OOP (Office of the President). I said to him, 'I'm really "nobody" other than an informed consumer'. He said, 'Well, you're somebody today'." (If you are switching and end up having trouble, here's the contact information.)
Thursday
Multiple sources: One EchoStar XI arrived in Long Beach on Tuesday at SeaLaunch home port. It will be launched later this summer, providing relief to not just 110 but other locations, because EchoStar 8 can be moved. (EchoStar 6 is also at 110, but not providing services. It will likely move to 72.7.)
Wednesday: Uplink Report Highlights and 77 West Corrections
Site note: Switched HTML type to 4.01 Strict and weeded out a bunch of stuff per resident HTMLer BobaBird. Most of what is gone is style comments from the Dreamweaver template and HTML coding changes, the latter of which made the page valid! Added a button to celebrate.
In tons of markets, MPEG4 SD channels took a step closer to completion on 61.5 with new package flags installed.
In the 5440 range, the Big Ten Network SD alternates were added. They were removed from the 440 range. Same TP assignments and location.
Channels 5960-5961 are AVAILABLE on 118.7, 148, 61.5, 129, 119, and 110. 5960 is MPEG2 SD and 5961 is a data channel.
720, 722, and 723 are gone from 121.
5998 is gone from 61.5/129.
ALL LOCALS ON 105/121 ARE GONE! A slew of REMOVEDs mark the uplink report for today, and they include minors from Austin on 119 tp 7 and minors from Houston on 110 tp 12s16.
9470 and 9486 were removed, as were 19017, 19025, and 19152.
New preview channels: GSN, WE, Bravo, TCM, Hallmark Channel, G4.
Dreams TV was turned on at 118.7 and 61.5 channel 769 to those who get Egyptian channels.
HD locals are now available in Buffalo, mapped down and on 5181-5184.
Aransay sent me some corrections: the test zone is not Mexico City, but the Polanco Lomas area. And why, he's in that too! They told him to expect related news in the days to come, not that something is happening. An MVS-related contact told him that the tests have started in these areas.
Tuesday
The News Monitor is getting a bit of a facelift! The new look for the News Monitor features a navigation bar and new blogroll (which we've never had before), along with the same news items you're used to seeing. All news items previously on this page are now in the new 2008 archives.
DBSTalk: DirecTV can now begin testing DirecTV 11.
It's time for the regular irregular feature on the News Monitor: 77 West News! And this one looks like a doozy. Here's the direct quote, complete with grammar cleanups from the News Monitor:
"Dish Network Mexico Tests Start ...And they told me [it] is in the Mexico City zone; I'm in that zone. I want to participate. My contact (77 West related) told me something was happening today, as I said before in this forum. The announcement - as expected - came today. Now, I have the info. If anyone from Dish Network can help me get in these tests, please help. [Sentence removed per corrections from Aransay, 28 May]