[mythtv-users] DISH Locals (was Re: Dish gotchas?)

Michael T. Dean mtdean at thirdcontact.com
Tue Apr 11 19:37:16 UTC 2006


On 04/11/2006 02:46 PM, Steven Adeff wrote:
> How do the local channels work with Dish? DirecTV has DirectKick (MLS)
> and NFL Season Ticket, which my apt-mate and I are interested in. Dish
> doesn't have this, but I've heard you can get local channels from the
> major cities.

Yep.

>  Are you only able to get them from your local stations
>   

Yep.

> or would it be possible to get them from other major markets (L.A.,
> NY, Chicago, etc)?

Yep.

"How can it be both ways--only locals, but also from other major 
markets?" you might ask.  Because we're in the US, of course.  ;)

Because your local TV stations have spent their hard-earned money to buy 
into a network franchise, the government wants to protect their 
investment.  (After all, isn't that what the government is for? ;)  
Therefore, you can get "local" channels from anywhere in the 
US--provided you get written permission from your local affiliate (a 
"waiver").  (OK, I realize if this weren't the case, we wouldn't have 
much in the way of "free" local channels, but it's still annoying.)  
Note that you can only choose channels from Chicago, Denver, LA, NY, and 
Atlanta.

Therefore, if you want ABC from New York and LA, but you live in the 
Orlando-Daytona Designated Market Area, you have to get written 
permission from WFTV channel 9 (the Orlando ABC affiliate) to receive 
them.  Same goes for NBC, CBS, and FOX.  Once you have the permission, 
you work out the payment details with DISH.

Note that there are also "independent" channels in the "superstations" 
package that you can get even without express local channel approval in 
some market areas (the local channels have granted a general waiver).  
Basically, in this package you get some or all of:

232, KTLA, The WB in LA, CA
234, WPIX, WB11 in NY, NY
235, KWGN, WB2 in Denver, CO
236, WSBK, UPN38 in Boston, MA
238, WWOR, UPN9 in Secaucus, NJ

(Technically, I'm not eligible for the UPN stations, but I'm 
grandfathered in because my local UPN station was added to DISH after I 
signed up for the superstations package. :)

Getting channels from other time zones is a great way to increase the 
amount of prime-time you can record without buying additional receivers, 
but as someone who lives in the Easter timezone, even with the 
superstations package, it only helps for the WB (with Eastern (my local 
channel and WPIX), Mountain (Denver), and Pacific (LA)) since all the 
UPN stations are Eastern time zone.

If it were up to me, I'd spread out my other channels to other timezones 
so I could spread out prime-time, but the FCC says it's not up to me.

I have DISH locals and the superstations package (and nothing else).  
Because I'm not buying one of DISH's "regular" packages (i.e. the $20+ 
"cable channels" packages), I have to pay a $5.99/mo customer service 
fee, plus $5.99/mo for the locals, plus $3/mo for all 5 superstations 
(discounted from $5.99 because I also get the locals) but it still works 
out pretty well for me (and I don't have to give any of my money to my 
local cable company--which is on my blacklist ;).

See http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/faq/search/channels/ for more and 
find out what you can get at 
https://customersupport.dishnetwork.com/customernetqual/prepAddress.do .

Mike


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