The New DISH HD Is Up For Many
As I reported here in Tuesday’s edition of “The Satellite Dish” has come true, yesterday afternoon Dish Network lit up 9 new national HD channels to its customers.
A press release came out this morning announcing the new channels, but again I can see DISH Network is using fuzzy math. Just last week DISH was advertising that they had 150 national HD channels, and now by adding 9 channels they are claiming that they have over 160 channels.
I would love to see a list of all 160 national channels. I don’t count the regional sports networks since DISH Network does not carry any of the RSN’s except for the Big 10 Network 24 hours a day in HD. I don’t consider “select games in HD” being real HD channels.
And while a lot of customers are happy with the new HD channels there are a lot out there who are not because they can’t see the new channels.
DISH Network has placed the new channels on 129 and 72.7. For those who get their signals from 129 they are happy, but not too many people have Eastern Arc dishes in place to receive the 72.7 orbital location.
DISH Network issued a statement to me earlier today about the issue…
“A small number of customers have configurations that currently do not allow them to receive the recently launched HD channels. As each situation is unique, we are working with customers who wish to receive the channels on a case-by-case basis to determine the best solution for them.”
What does Dish Network consider a “small number?” According to polls at SatelliteGuys.US and DBSTalk.COM over 40% of those Dish HD customers have reported that they are not getting the new HD channels.
Since DISH Network started offering HD the HD signals for the most part have always come off of the 61.5 orbital location. A few years ago DISH Network starting using 129 to transmit HD as many folks on the West Coast had a hard time hitting the 61.5 satellite. The 129 was a godsend to many folks, but Dish had to keep the programming mirrored on 61.5 as many in the Northeast and Florida couldn’t receive signals from the 129 slot.
Now DISH has gone and placed its new HD on 72.7 and 129 leaving all of those pointing at 61.5 in the cold. Upgrading a customers DISH to one that can receive 72.7 is not a solution. 72.7 is part of Dish Networks all MPEG4 Eastern Arc service. Because is Eastern Arc it means that all of the receivers in a customers house must support MPEG4. Many customers will need receivers in their homes updated to ones that are compatible with the Eastern Arc service. These upgrades may require new commitments and out of pocket costs just to see the new HD. And for many they can not re point their 61.5 dish to 129 as the 129 satellite is too low on the horizon to be picked up. For these customers they might be out of luck getting these new HD channels and possibly any additional new HD that DISH night bring our way.
We will be keeping an eye on this one closely. We applaud DISH for bringing us new HD but we hope they can work a solution so that all HD customers can see all the channels they are paying for.
Bubba Gump commented:
This may be out of line. Does anyone know when the Bluefield/ Beckley WV locals will be launched
dish customer/employee commented:
I am a dish employee but also a customer who currently receives 110/119 and 61.5. I cannot receive the new channels. I think an easy solution to the problem is put the channels on 61.5 instead of 72.7. Duh!
John commented:
Dish's assertion that this affects a small number of Dish Subscribers seems to be an exaggeration or an outright lie. By a poll on one of the Satellite forums for Subs with HD on Dish Network 39-40 percent cannot get the new HD channels. This is not a statistically significant survey but at about 40 percent it suggests Dish is fudging the numbers for the sake of Marketing. BTW I'm one of those affect subscribers.
dishboy commented:
Just get Tv One
dish net commented:
I know this is off topic, but how does one find out how long they have left on thier contract... Short of calling dish that is...
gabriel commented:
I have 129 all new HD looks beautiful..
Hope issue gets resolved for people with 61.5
sat..
Its nit fair to leave these people out.
Stuck in the East commented:
People who can get 129 isn't the problem. The problem is for ages the standard for East coast installations was 61 and 119/110 since 129 is too low in the sky for much of the east. Dish Network has since created the all MPEG4 Eastern arc service that duplicates programming from 119 and 110 since parts of the North East had problems getting those too. However Dish Network was refusing to provide free upgrades to the eastern arc and was only offering it to new customers so legacy customers in the east would have to pay out of pocket to a local dealer to replace ALL of their recievers (including their MPEG2 SD only as not everyone has an HD set in every room) with MPEG4 ones and a new Dish in order to get the Eastern Arc. Until now that wasn't a problem as 129 and 61 were basically duplicates outside of some locals and as long as you could get 119 and 110 you were fine. However with Dish putting new HD on 129 and 72 instead of 129 and 61, they basically screwed over most of their eastern subscribers. Unless Dish Network wants a huge backlash, they need to provide a FREE upgrade for all legacy eastern HD customers and replace ALL their recivers for FREE as MPEG2 SD recievers will not work with the MPEG4 eastern arc signals. Everyone affected should call retention and threaten to cancel unless they provide a FREE dish and replace ALL of their recievers as this entire mess is Dish Network's fault and they shouldn't be punished by being forced to pay out of their pockets new recievers to get new HD channels that they're already paying for, or be forced to sign another 3 year contract.
RandallA commented:
Great planning Dish Network, great planning. Sigh!
Shield95 commented:
I am on 129 here, getting all the HD