Last May at Dish Network’s annual retailer convention “Team Summit” event Charlie announced his dream of launching an all MPEG4 service where Dish could expand their offerings by using its existing capacity.

It was a great idea and it well received by all the retailers in attendance.  Since the announcement was made last year in Dallas this MPEG4 project became known as the “Eastern Arc” project.

For this years Team Summit conference retailers heard more details on the Eastern Arc project, including the orbital locations of the new service, plus were shown a brand new “Eastern Arc” satellite dish which could receive all 3-satellite locations on one single dish. 

There have been rumors going around that “phase 1” of the new Eastern Arc service would roll out in September.  However from where I sit perhaps it’s time for Charlie to rethink the plan and consider scrapping the idea for now.

Earlier this week the Echostar II satellite died, this 12-year-old satellite was supposed to play a role in the Eastern Arc project as Echostar filed for permission (and was granted permission) by the FCC to move the aging satellite from its slot at 148 degrees and move it to 77 degrees for the Eastern Arc.

Now that Satellite is gone and it will not be moving anywhere.  The second satellite at 148 is now doing all the work at 148, and that is the original Echostar I satellite which is a year older then the satellite that died.  If that satellite were to fail many people on the West Coast as well as Alaska and Hawaii would lose their locals service.

Another satellite that was supposed to be part of the Eastern Arc project was AMC-14, this satellite was launched but failed to make it to proper orbit.   The Echostar 3 satellite at 61.5 was supposed to be replaced by the AMC-14 satellite.  Echostar 3 has had a number of issues with power and also has a number of dead transponders. The Echostar 3 satellite is about to turn 11 years old and is at its end of life.  Currently all the national HD channels served from the 61.5 satellite are transmitted from Echostar 3.  If there is any kind of failure of Echostar 3 many customers will lose their HD channels. (Note RAINBOW 1 is also at 61.5 and is currently in use transmitting HD locals for Dish Network)

Now these two slots (61.5 and 77) were to be used for Eastern Arc alone with the 72.7 orbital location.  Without the satellites needed I personally don’t think it is best for Charlie to move forward on Eastern Arc plans at this time.  For the first few years after launch I don’t see Eastern Arc making extra money for Dish Network, so I don’t see it economical for Echostar to duplicate everything at the 110 / 119 and 129 orbital locations on the Eastern Arc in MPEG4.

Perhaps it’s time for a plan B from Dish and that is consider upgrading some customers with new MPEG4 compatible equipment and begin moving some of its standard definition programming to MPEG4.  Sure it will cost more, but then customers will have modern equipment that can earn more revenue for Dish, including PPV VOD, Interactive applications and more.  Plus the customers could also see better quality from Dish because of the quality and bandwidth savings that the new MPEG4 encoders give. 

It and sure would take years to upgrade everyone with new equipment but if done in waves for subscribers of certain channels it could be done efficiently.

I am not Charlie Ergen, but if I was this is what I would look at doing.  The Eastern Arc service was a great idea, but I don’t think this is the time to be gambling on the operating of the older satellites when the gain for customers and Echostar is minimal at launch.

Charlie is known to be a gambler and it would not surprise me to see him pull an ace from his sleeve.  Thats one great thing about Charlie Ergen, you never know what he’s going to do next.

Play Ball

We are now midway through the baseball season and after the All Star break, baseball is back and DirecTV is giving it’s customers another its Major League Baseball Extra Innings package.

The free preview of the package lasts until July 23^rd.  In addition to the free preview DirecTV is offering a special mid season price for the MLB package. The price for the rest of the season is $129 (and if you want the games in HD add another $50 to that price.)

HD Locals come to Beaumont – Port Arthur, Texas

Dish Network has flipped the switch on HD locals for the folks in the Beaumont – Port Arthur, Texas area.  In order for customers in this are to get their new HD locals they will need a satellite dish pointed at Dish Networks 61.5 orbital location plus one of Dish Networks VIP MPEG4 satellite receivers.

Dish Network now offers HD locals in 66 markets, serving more than 69% of the US television households.  Dish is aiming to have 100 HD locals markets online by the end of the year.