Local Channels on Satellite

RJsfishin wrote:
Ok, I was a touch late w/ my last post about Bill.

Part of my question was, is it really legal to rebroadcast in SD, or will it possibly cost them dearly one day. Of course no one knows, but it is sometimes surprising what appears to be a legal ripoff, all of a sudden become illegal in a lawsuit, costing millions.

SD is not dead in the OTA world, and you will find LOTS of stations transmitting in both SD and HD at bitrates that make the picture look terrible because they are stacking 'dot' channels in the same stream. Its all about bandwidth and what you can stick in your allocation.

As far as Direct, Dish, or any cable company, the rules and contracts are very complicated. One cannot make the flat statement that any MVPD MUST carry ANY station, that is set up one of two ways: Must Carry, and the other where the MVPD must pay the program originator to carry their service. Thats common with any popular service like the networks, ESPN, Discovery, etc., and you see the results of that when contracts come due. Stations that opt for Must Carry basically get stuck wherever the MVPD wants to stick them, and their format likely depends on who calls and complains the most. I push the pictures around and could care less how these contracts are written, too much else to do..

I don't like Directs HD premium either, but sooner or later it has to go away. Currently they carry lots of SD stations in addition to their duplicate HD, and I'm told thats not changing for the foreseeable future. They have WAY more customers than Dish and it would cost tens of millions to upgrade all the SD receivers out there. The infrastructure is already in place, and unlike Dish, they have the bandwidth to keep it.

RJsfishin wrote:
Ok, I was a touch late w/ my last post about Bill.

Part of my question was, is it really legal to rebroadcast in SD, or will it possibly cost them dearly one day. Of course no one knows, but it is sometimes surprising what appears to be a legal ripoff, all of a sudden become illegal in a lawsuit, costing millions.

The point you seem to be missing is that Direct and Dish rebroadcast the locals they contract with in both SD and HD in many cases, but you have chosen not to have the necessary satellite equipment to receive the HD signals. Dish does not charge subscribers that meet certain criteria for HD reception, while others pay $10/month to get HD. I understand DTV also charges $10/mo for HD. Both companies do require you to have HD capable equipment to receive HD of course.

They are not charging you extra for "local channels in HD." They are charging you extra for "HD." You can pay extra for "HD" and get "HD." Or, you can not pay extra and get everything in "SD."

The satellite providers don't have to provide the OTA channels in the same format as the OTA channels are originally broadcast.

The Satellite companies have to pay dearly to re-broadcast the Network programming! It ain't hardly free. Look for the recent discussion about Dish not being able to broadcast CBS due to a licensing agreement dispute. It happens all the time with all the Networks as well as the major cable channels. They want more and more money from the satellite providers and eventually they will come upon an agreement and our fees will go up AGAIN. It's a never ending battle.
There are only a few markets in the US where the Networks are not broadcast in HD but you must have the proper equipment to receive it. Most of the markets are still being broadcast in both SD and HD. It sounds as though the only reason you are not receiving the HD is because you do not have the required equipment.

Ok, I was a touch late w/ my last post about Bill.

Part of my question was, is it really legal to rebroadcast in SD, or will it possibly cost them dearly one day. Of course no one knows, but it is sometimes surprising what appears to be a legal ripoff, all of a sudden become illegal in a lawsuit, costing millions.

Bill,
Why are you of all people asking me ? You tell me whose doin the rippin !
I know my OTA locals are not coming from the same place as my sat locals.
What I said was,..."they" are getting the locals from the same place as I would be, which is OTA, (out of the air) and if I get them for free, I'm sure they get them for free. So why/are they pulling the HD out of the signal ??.......so they can charge me the extra to get it in HD ?? Of course they are ! But don't ask me,....I asked you first, remember ?

Bill.Satellite wrote:

RJsfishin wrote:
which I don't get, or pay for on the Sat locals. So then I raised the question,.... why not ?? They get the locals from the same place I do, and I get them in HD by no choice. So how is it that they are not rebroadcast in HD ?? How is it not against FCC law for them to rip me off for my HD ?? Is this something that they will be forced to pay me lots a money thru a class action lawsuit for ripping me all these years ? Ok, I'm not holding my breath:R

The OTA TV channels ARE NOT coming from the same place if you are comparing the OTA broadcast to the satellite broadcast. I remain a bit confused about what your rant is about. Who do you believe is ripping you off? The FCC? The local OTA broadcast? The satellite TV providers? HD is available via OTA and via satellite TV in nearly every market. I apologize in advance for my ignorance but I need a bit of clarification in hopes of being able to provide some reasonable feedback.

Yes, unless something has changed recently, Dish offers the HD service free with a 2 year contract and DirecTV charges $10/month. The question about why is that they can. Not a valuable answer but a reality. The companies are not required to re-broadcast in HD, only required to re-broadcast. I called DTV and told them I was going to move to Dish if I had to pay the $10 and they waived the fee for a year. I plan to do the same thing next year.
As an aside, all the equipment you need to receive DTV HD should be available as a free upgrade if you sign a new contract.

Quote:
RJ's comment was that he doesn't get the same channels on sat in HD as he does OTA.
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This is correct.
I dint suspect my question to be hard to understand.

I know all about needing special equipment to get HD on satellite, which I do not have, only because it is not free w/ Direct tv.
So are some of you saying you are getting HD for free on Dish ?
I highly suspect if I have to pay extra for HD on Direct, I'd have to pay for it on Dish too.
My beef is,.....if my locals are broadcast OTA in HD for free, why are the satellite providers, whoever they mite be,....charging me extra to get them in HD ?
( because of trees, I cannot receive my OTA locals here at home)

RJsfishin wrote:
Just got back from 4 days RV'n, 380 miles RT, and got stuck parkin in huge trees to the south, so no Sat tv. But my new sensor pro, along w/ the new sensor IV UHF head, did a good job getting OTA tv in mostly HD, which I don't get, or pay for on the Sat locals. So then I raised the question,.... why not ?? They get the locals from the same place I do, and I get them in HD by no choice. So how is it that they are not rebroadcast in HD ?? How is it not against FCC law for them to rip me off for my HD ?? Is this something that they will be forced to pay me lots a money thru a class action lawsuit for ripping me all these years ? Ok, I'm not holding my breath:R

Well they are required to re-broadcast, That is all, Also not all receivers can do HD (I do not know which service you have or what Receiver) It is my understanding DIREC is rebroadcasting the locals on their HD birds.. (NOTE: I do not have Direc, and thus can not tell if they are in HD or not).

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I also do not have DISH, I have a very nice Sensar II with Wingman and Sensar Pro.. Works great, why pay for it if you do not have to?

GoPackGo wrote:

SCVJeff wrote:
You don't get ALL the OTA channels in HD over satellite, only some. And rarely any of the dots

I also have Dish. And I call them and get the locals. Do I get all of them in HD ? Don't know. But I get a bunch. The majors - ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, and also many of the public TV channels. Close enough that I'm happy.

Tim

RJ's comment was that he doesn't get the same channels on sat in HD as he does OTA.