Is Satellite Ready For the Digital Transition?

Is satellite ready for the digital transition?  We are just months away before the switch is flipped and analog broadcast television.

All over the country broadcasters have started doing digital preparedness tests trying to get the word out that people need to act now.  For these preparedness tests broadcasters are putting up graphics on the screen which can only be seen by those receiving the station’s signal via analog means.  For other stations they are turning off their analog signals for 60 seconds at a time with a warning that if you lose signal that your television that your television of programming provider is not ready yet.

Last week WRAL in Raleigh, North Carolina ran one of these tests and viewers of Dish Network were surprised to find out that they failed the test.  Dish Network currently receives its signal from WRAL from its Analog signal.

But while a failure might sound bad, fear not. If you see one of these tests on satellite and it fails, be assured that both satellite companies are working with broadcasters around the country to upgrade the equipment needed to deliver their customers the digital signals.  By February 17^th, 2009 all of the equipment in the background that delivers satellite customers their locals will be updated, so when the switch is flipped off on analog broadcasts, satellite customers will still continue to enjoy their locals.

Galaxy 19 Launches

At 5:28 AM Eastern Time, the folks at Sea Launch successfully launched the new Galaxy 19 satellite into space.  The satellite was launched from the Sea Launch platform located at 154 degrees West Longitude.

The Galaxy 19 satellite contains a total of 52 physical transponders and will serve all 50 states as well as the Caribbean, Canada and Mexico.  The satellites home will be at 97 degrees West Longitude.

Weather on the 8’s Coming to DirecTV

One of the biggest complaints of satellite customers over the years has to be the lack of local weather on the Weather Channel.  For DirecTV customers they will soon be able to rejoice as DirecTV will soon be offering their customers the popular “Weather on the 8’s” feature on The Weather Channel.

Those customers with interactive DirecTV receivers will be able to enjoy the Weather on The 8’s feature very soon.  According to Jason Crandall of SatelliteGuys.US this feature could start rolling out to customers as soon as 3am on Thursday September 25^th.  The new Weather on The 8’s feature will only be available on the standard definition version of The Weather Channel.

Weather on the 8’s was made available last year to customers of Dish Network.

Soon the complaint by satellite customers about not having their local weather forecasts on The Weather Channel will be a thing of the past.