Orby apparently biting the (star)dust

[Mediafrog+]

Looks like the Orby satellite service is winding down operations: Satellite TV service Orby stops accepting new customers

Orby had a batch of popular cable/satellite channel, but another interesting feature is that it used a regular VHF/UHF antenna in addition to the satellite dish to receive local signals OTA, thereby avoiding retrans fees.

We'll see how long it is before Orby shuts down its service. Note that AT&T's U-Verse stopped accepting new customers a year ago, and hasn't marketed itself since 2018, yet is still in operation.

 

[anotherguyTN]

It's too bad that it isn't Dish and DirecTV that are going out of business.

 

[Mediafrog+]

It's too bad that it isn't Dish and DirecTV that are going out of business.

Even though both Dish and DirecTV have lost a large number of subscribers recently, and both have customer service issues, there is still a significant market for at least one satellite TV provider. Many rural and small town residents have no other option, and if they do, it is often a cable TV system that is stuck in the 1980s and provides horrible service.

At some point the FCC and the politicians will have to get past their monopoly concerns and allow Dish and DirecTV to merge into a more viable entity, which would ensure rural coverage, at least until high speed internet for streaming services (whether via wireless or fiber/coax) becomes available literally everywhere.

 

[Mediafrog+]

And Orby is now officially gone: Orby TV Shuts Down, Directs Customers to Dish

Guess the free-to-air satellite enthusiasts will have more secondhand equipment to modify. Presumably the terrestrial OTA tuners on the Orby receivers will still work.