Dish Adds MSNBC HD

Today Dish Network launched MSNBC in High Definition to its customers. Unfortunately many Dish Network HD customers can’t see it however as the channel has not been made available to their TurboHD or HD Absolute customers.

TurboHD is Dish Networks HD only package (and HD Absolute was an earlier version of an HD only package that was available before TurboHD. Users with the HD Absolute package have been grand fathered into it.)

I am wondering if this is truly the end of Dish Networks Turbo HD package. The once widely advertised package is now hidden on the Dish Network website. And many of the new HD channels that have been added over the past few months are not available to the Turbo HD customers.

This lack of new HD additions to the TurboHD packages have gotten customers upset as the TurboHD packages were supposed to get all the new channels added to the package.

I have talked with a few folks at Dish about this issue, and it seems to be a programming contract issue and not Dish withholding these channels to get the TurboHD customers to upgrade to a more expensive package.

But I can understand the frustration of the TurboHD customers as when they call Dish about what’s going on they get varied answers from Dish Networks CSR’s. Dish has yet to issue a public statement about what’s going on with their TurboHD packages.

I would not surprise me at all if Dish Network stopped offering its TurboHD packages to new customers in the next few months.

Putting Up a New Dish

As you might remember back in May I wrote that my wife was letting me get a new C / KU band satellite dish. With my vacation and other stuff that has been going on I have had to wait to obtain everything and put it up.

But now everything is here and the weather has been good enough here in Connecticut the past 2 days that I have finally started putting the new dish up.

Now some of you might be wondering why I am putting up an old fashion 8-foot satellite dish. Well the truth is good old-fashioned C Band satellite is getting interesting again. Over the past few years C Band signals have gone in a variety of digital signals, which have not been receivable by the home viewer. I am happy to report that the home satellite receiver technology has now finally caught up and is able to view most of the in the clear digital signals up there.

So because of these advances in the technology I have decided to jump in again. I haven’t owned a C-Band satellite system for close to 15 year now.

Earlier in the week I dug a hole in my year and planted a pole for my new dish. Last night because of a break in the weather, I couldn’t wait anymore and with the help of my father, my wife and my son we were able to get that 8 foot dish up on the pole.

Now its not running yet, I still have a lot of work to do to get it online. But this morning as I was leaving to go to my office I got to see it for the first time in daylight. I looked at this big dish and felt proud of the steps I have made so far.

More on the install of my new Dish in upcoming editions of The Satellite Dish.

Now I need to wait for the weather to be good so that I can work on it again. I have never seen more rain and storms then we have had this year here in Connecticut.

Stay Tuned!