Dish Network customers weigh options for distant stations
December 6th, 2006Dish Network customers are still smarting from the loss of distant network stations, judging from comments I’m seeing. The satellite TV service dropped out-of-market network channels on Dec. 1, complying with a deadline imposed by a federal court. By providing distant channels to ineligible households, Dish parent EchoStar repeatedly violated federal regulations, according to the courts.
EchoStar, faced with the possibility of losing several hundred thousand customers, has to be hurting right now. But why, Dish subscribers ask, should we be punished? I’ll simply note, once again, that satellite and cable TV carriage rules do a much better job protecting broadcasters than the viewing public.
Dish customers who want their distant channels back may now, if eligible, get a similar service through another satellite provider, AllAmericanDirect.com. EchoStar is providing satellite capacity for the channels through an agreement with National Programming Service (NPS), a C-Band satellite programmer. The package costs $2.50 per month per network, or $9.00 for the four major networks. Viewers would receive network feeds from San Francisco and Atlanta on channels 5731 to 5738 of the Dish Network receiver. (The National Association of Broadcasters, as might be expected, is fuming about the EchoStar-NPS arrangement.)
Rival direct-broadcast satellite service DirecTV is offering $150 rebates, along with free installation and equipment, to some Dish customers as an inducement to switch. DirecTV, along with the Fox network, is part of the News Corp. empire. Last week, EchoStar railed against a “Fox Network-led coalition of broadcasters” who, they charge, intend to “deny consumers their freedom of choice and leave the Fox-owned DirecTV as a monopoly for distant networks.”
Earlier:
• Dish Network loses distant stations on Dec. 1
• Dish Network must drop distant network stations, court says
• Links: NPS, AllAmericanDirect.com, Dish, El Paso Times
A Malone says:
December 9th, 2006 at 3:38 am
I’m one of those struggling dish network customers. I think it was unfair to just jump on dish network. I bet directTv does the same thing. I did sign up for the stations with All American Direct TV except I am waiting for a waiver from CBS, only. It’s the only station that I need a wavier for. That will take another 30-60 days. I wish I had the New York City stations back, they are 4 hours from my house where atlanta is probably 2 days.
I think this ruling is trying to create a monopoly for direct tv, and it stinks. I was originally a direct tv customer and then switched to dish TV. I don’t think I’ll switch back, I think I’d go with cable first. Yuck.
Charles Stanton says:
December 11th, 2006 at 6:18 pm
What an out rage! I live in a small coastal community on the Oregon Coast. The nearest station is well over 100 miles. There is NO ‘local’ local stations, no TV reception. Without cable or satellite we would have no TV at all.
Now this, I have been accustomed to the quality of the broadcasters from New York and LA. The local stations we were left with come to us from Medford, they try, but there is no comparison to what we are used to.
I used to subscribe to Direct TV, what a mess they were. I will stick with DISH and pray that sensible heads prevail and we are allowed to receive the stations we WANT again.
P West says:
December 11th, 2006 at 6:51 pm
I resent the fact that I can no longer purchase the distant channel to Denver, Colorado. As a Denver Bronco fan, I want to watch the games which are not televised on National TV through local channels. I watch local channels for everything else so am bombarded by local commercials which I know are their sponsors.
This is America where free choice is one of the basic foundations. This ruling does not make sense to me and prohibits what I want to watch. I cannot afford the Sports Network so depended on distant local channels to give me the program I want. I am disappointed that a service was denied me. What about the fact that the customer is important? Please change it back or provide another inexpensive way to get the service. Thanks
AnnieK says:
December 12th, 2006 at 10:44 pm
I am in the same boat as A Malone. I live in a rural area. I do get Fox/ABC and NBC via the local-in-local. Don’t get CBS! Supposedly I can get it over the air with an atennae. Right. I have has several antennaes and none have worked so far. I have about 25% visibility with intermittent sound.
I went to directtv website and guess what??? They don’t even offer me local in local over satellite for any networks. Yoo-Hoo I thought, I must be eligible for all the distant network stations, right? Wrong. It states I am only eligible for Fox. The funny thing is, that with a super-sized antennae, I get ZERO from ABC and ZERO from NBC. No sound, no picture. So basically, I am in a valley, surrounded by 200 foot trees and stations are over 100 miles away, and somehow I am suppose to be able to receive everything according to directtv???
I just hope my local (hahah 120 miles away) CBS affiliate will grant the waiver. The biggest joke has to be on the Broadcast networks. Not one person in my neighborhood gets CBS so basically they have lost dozens of viewers. I love that someone sitting in an office in D.C. tells me what signal I can get.
Christina says:
December 15th, 2006 at 6:32 am
I want my L.A. stations back. I hate my ‘local’ news, that isn’t even local. They’re 40 miles away and could care less about our town. I loved my L.A. stations and I hate that Dish is being punished for offering something any company should be able to offer anyone, irregardless of where they are located in this “free” country. ugh.
Maureen says:
December 16th, 2006 at 5:17 pm
I am furious!!! we were getting Denver and LA stations, now our “local “stations are 400 miles away. We live in a very rural area, antena reception at its best is intermittant and fuzzy. For the life of me I don’ t know why if we can have “local ” channels that are 400 miles away and not get channels that are 250 miles away. We live in Nebraska, closer to CO. than Kansas, now how come Kansas is not a distance network channel and CO is?
Bonnie Watts says:
December 18th, 2006 at 2:14 am
We also lost our distant locals. Because of something to do with the airwaves we can not get our local channels from either West Virginia or Ohio. What really gets my goat is a neighbor just across the highway has the local channels but we can’t get them. Tell me how that works again!!! NBC refuses to let us have a waiver because like many others they say we can pick it up on an out side antenna. CBS, ABC, and Fox will let us have the distant locals but not anything close. Whoopie !!!! We live on a hill and yes we could put up an outside antenna but since we are supposed to live in a free world— you know freedom of speech, religion, etc — we elected not to put one up and our government says they have the right to tell us what we can and can not have. We feel it should be a choice as to whether we want to pay for the privlege of having local stations or put up the outside antenna and have to deal with all the upkeep and accessories that go with it. So much for a FREE WORLD. Gets more like Communism everyday
Teddy Shanks says:
December 19th, 2006 at 12:11 am
I need to know only one thing. Are you able to provide me with distantnetwork service ? If not, what other options are available to me ?
Thanks, Teddy Shanks
AnnieK says:
December 29th, 2006 at 5:48 pm
Oh, and here is the kicker… I could not figure out why so many people qualified for distant networks using allamericandirect.com. I need a waiver for a CBS station which I do not have locally. I have no cable, and an antenna gets no signal at all.
Well to my suprise, I found out that it doesn’t matter if you can receive all the Networks locally via your satellite, it all comes down to a company called decisionmark which by your zip code determines if you are able to get the signals for local networks with an antenna. I have relatives in one town over who receive all the locals over their satellite and yet they qualified for all the distant networks via allamericandirect because their zip code says they are not in signal range using an over the air antennal.
So I lost CBS and haven’t had it since December 1, 2006 and there is no way for me to receive it. I guess I will just twiddle my thumbs waiting on a waiver which may or may not come.
Other people have told me they did a fake “move”, in order to be in a good zip code area. Sad that we have to break the law to get a freaking channel.
Steven Sande says:
December 29th, 2006 at 7:45 pm
Thanks for the update, AnnieK. The FCC has designed rules for determining who is an “unserved” household, and thus eligible for distant networks — the regulations are simply lovely, if you’re a communications attorney seeking lifetime employment.
The rules involve something called the “Individual Location Longley-Rice (ILLR) algorithm,” a way of predicting what TV stations can be received over the air at a particular address. (It is, one must emphasize, a predictive model, not a guarantee.) For other readers, I’ll mention two consumer sites that use Decisionmark’s technology, which incorporates ILLR: TitanTV (a TV listings service) and AntennaWeb (which predicts which TV stations a household might receive using an antenna). Plugging in a location on one of those sites may give an idea of what local stations you can supposedly receive.
I hope the CBS affiliate comes through for you on that waiver, AnnieK!
randy bailey says:
January 1st, 2007 at 4:25 am
I paid thousands of dollars to get HD TV and cannot get network channels in HD. I would pay for this service but due to some Idiots that think they run out business I was told that I could not get anyother channels other than our local channels that are not HD. This sucks.
Rita Bailey says:
January 2nd, 2007 at 2:03 am
We are among the people who lost the distant networks in the middle of a CBS show on the evening of December 1, 2006. We are in a rural area and by law we meet the criteria and are entitled to receive the NYC networks. We did sign up for the substitute, All American Direct, but the shows come from Atlanta, GA. The programming is not the same, schedules are different and it is very unsatisfactory when we are used to NYC programs, since we live in upstate New York.
As usual, the customer is left hanging here. Dish Network will go on, but we are in the dark as far as receiving what we want.
Laurie Hossner says:
January 10th, 2007 at 4:48 am
We live in a small town in Idaho where our mountain ranges make it impossible to get TV without Satellite. I want my East and West Coast stations back so that we can get the actual news. Our local news is junk. I think its really unfair and I don’t understand the thinking behind the judgement. We should be able to pay for what we want and not forced to subscribe to our local networks.
CathyF says:
January 19th, 2007 at 11:43 pm
If you want to get those station who will not allow your area distant feed write thier sponsers a letter..telling them you will NOT BE BUYING THIER PRODUCTS, because that station will not allow the wavier for you..that will get all the prime time stations attention..The sponsers are who keeps CBS,ABC,NBC,FOX pockets lined with BIG bucks…Also write the networks and tell them you will be writting all thier advertisng sponers as well…this could turn this whole thing around..the prime time stations are the ones who got this law going to cut off distant networks to begin with…Show them you cannot bite the hand that feeds you…
Sheila says:
January 22nd, 2007 at 4:23 pm
I am freakin’ fuming at Dish Network AND DirecTV. I live in a mountainous area of West Virginia and lost all of my networks in early December. I am going through the hideous waiver process to try to get SOMETHING. I have not been approved for ANY of my networks yet! This has been going on for almost 2 months. What I am so P#$%ed off at is that my neighbor jumped ship and switched to DirecTV. He basically told them that if he could not get his distant networks, then he did not want to switch to DirecTV. Lo and behold, the same day the tech came out and installed his system—he got all of his distant networks—without going through the waiver process. Excuse me—isn’t this illegal????? He continues to brag about the fact that he gets his networks despite the fact that I told him he would probably get zapped sometime. I am wondering how many people DirecTV has illegally promised networks to without going through the proper (LEGAL) procedure in order to gain new customers.
Roy Parks says:
February 25th, 2007 at 8:10 pm
My wife and I live in NO. Central Wash. state, over 120 miles from Seattle,
where they have the 4 major networks–for years we’ve subscribed to the
distant networks thru Dish Network, at a cost of about $12 per month–it’s
been hard on us as retired, elderly seniors, as we could watch a program on
the New York station 3 hours earlier than Los Angeles–however, if we missed it on the east coast channel, we could still get it later out of L.A.–
I’ve written Senators, and I hope somehow enough angry subscribers will convince Congress to give us our channels back.
Roy Parks Wenatchee, Wash. 98801
frank Hooper says:
June 11th, 2007 at 5:18 pm
why won’t the ACLU TAKE UP THE CASE, and defend our freedom of the airways as well as the hi profile stuff they do It would certainly get the attention of those who keep distant chanels from us