Scott Greczkowski

The Plot Thickens
April 24, 2008

The legacy of AMC-14 continues to live on.  The satellite, which failed to reach proper orbit after lifting off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, is still just floating around in space.

On Tuesday Echostar filed with the FCC for a Special Temporary Authority to Execute Controlled Re-Entry of the AMC-14 Satellite.  Echostars plan to the FCC was to deorbit the satellite into an unpopulated area of the South Pacific.  The STA from Echostar was increadibly detailed and well thought through.

This seemed like it was finally going to be the end of the satellite, but then news came out yesterday afternoon that the satellites owner SES Americom was looking to sell the satellite.  Reports are now saying that they are negotiating with the United States Department of Defense to sell the satellite.  It is expected that if the government buys it that they will put the satellite into a geostationary inclined orbit.

In addition it is being reported that other communications companies are interested in purchasing the satellite from the insurance underwriters and performing a lunar flyby technique to get the satellite into a usable geostationary orbit.

I imagine it is possible that another company could purchase the satellite from the insurance company and get AMC-14 into proper orbit.  How wild would it be if whoever buys it then turns around and leases the transponder space back to Echostar?  Just something to make you go hmm.

More HD Locals from Dish Network

Showing that it does not necessarily need the  AMC-14 satellite to launch new HD the folks at Dish Network have lit up more HD Locals.

The new local HD markets added over the past 24 hours include:

Burlington – Plattsburgh, Vt.; Greensboro – High Point – Winston Salem, N.C.; Greenville – Spartanburg – Asheville – Anderson, S.C.; Huntsville – Decatur, Ala.; Jackson, Miss.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Mobile – Pensacola (Ft. Walton Beach), Ala.; and Providence – New Bedford, R.I.

Dish Network has now expanded their Local HD offerings to a total of 54 markets.  These 54 markets serve more then 64 percent of the U.S. television households.  Dish is well on their way of reaching their goal of 100 local HD markets served by the end of the year.

Clarification From DirecTV

In the last edition of “The Satellite Dish” I told you that DirecTV was changing the hours of their general care from 8am to 10pm. 

I have received the following update from Charles Miller of DirecTV explaining what these changes mean.

“We will be available by phone 24/7 to answer technical questions and our automated self-service options (web and phone systems) are also available 24/7 for help and general account support.

Since most customers call with billing, account, and installation questions during the day, (ie general care) we are changing our hours for these calls and are readying our staffing levels to match that.

Our new hours of operation for non-technical calls are 8:00am to 10:00pm based on the local time of the customer where they receive service.

Hope that helps clarify the upcoming changes.”

Thanks Charles, makes sense to me!

Posted by Scott Greczkowski on April 24, 2008 | Comments (0)