Getting Political

We are less than 3 weeks away from electing a new President of the United States and both satellite companies are now in full political swing.

Two weeks ago Dish Network launched a dedicated channel for Barrack Obama, this channel which is a paid commercial announcement from the Obama campaign. The channel originally drew a lot of controversy when it launched as it appeared that Dish Network was using this channel to endorse Obama.  The folks at Dish however were quick to make it clear that Obama was renting the space and that McCain was also eligible to rent space if he so wanted.

Now it appears that DirecTV is also involved with the election as a number of readers have reported to me that there is an Obama ad this morning on their DVR’s in their “Movies Now & Showcases” Folder. The name of the commercial is “Michelle Obama, My Daughter.”

This election is definitely unlike any election before, candidates are using new and exciting ways to get their message to the people.  This is definitely a new media election and a lot of thought went in to find the best way to reach people.

Besides selling ad space to the campaigns Echostar will be using some of their spectrum at the 105 and 121 locations to rent space to television stations and uplink trucks so that local media can report on the elections from remote locations.

Echostar’s satellite access centers in Cheyenne, Wyoming and Gilbert, Arizona will manage more than 300 independent signal paths to serve dozens of news outlets across the United States.  Echostar was slated to make this announcement today at the SATCON conference in New York City.

Dish Networks Eastern Arc Expands

Dish Networks new all MPEG4 service dubbed the “Eastern Arc” has expanded to serve 32 markets. Dish Network was the first satellite provider to offer and all MPEG4 service to new customers.

According to a press release from Dish Network today the current markets being served by their new Eastern Arc service are:

Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas; Boston; Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo-Battle Creek, Mich; Greenville-New Bern-Washington, N.C.; Lansing, Mich.; Madison, Wis.; Milwaukee, Wis.; Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, Va.; Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne, Fla. West Palm Beach-Fort Pierce, Fla.; Wilkes Barre-Scranton, Pa.; Cleveland; Richmond, Va.; Baltimore.; Columbia, S.C.; Tampa, Fla; Green Bay, Wis.; Greensboro, N.C.; Providence, R.I.; Greenville, S.C., Knoxville, Tenn.; Raleigh, N.C.; Chicago; Detroit; Charlotte, N.C.; Dallas; Nashville, Tenn.; Minneapolis, Minn.; Philadelphia.; Washington, D.C.; New York, N.Y.; and Hartford, Conn.

Additional markets for the Eastern Arc service will be announced soon.  Again currently this all MPEG4 service is only for new Dish Network customers, current customers will gain no benefit at this time by upgrading their equipment to receive signals from the new Eastern Arc service.