Using Dish Network to provide a station's programming?

[MarcB]

How common is using Dish Network or DirecTV to provide a station's programming?

Last night I found out that our local Public Access Channel in Connecticut- Nutmeg TV is using Dish Network to feed The Classic Arts Showcase to their Educational Access Channel. I only found this out because it was raining hard and on Channel 95 it had a DISH NETWORK Loss of Signal slide on the screen along with instructions to get the signal back with the Nutmeg TV logo in the corner of the screen. DISH NETWORK rebooted and the screen went black and then the DISH NETWORK Menu Bar popped up at the top of the screen it said Channel Number - Classic Arts Showcase and the current time. Then it went back to Signal Lost.

This has to have been a recent change - perhaps since they moved from West Main Street in Plainville to Eastview Drive in Farmington because I don't ever remember seeing the DISH NETWOR loss of Signal Slide on Nutmeg TV before.

 

[fussbudget]

It's not quite the same thing but I know of a cable system at a major university in the SEC that uses Direct TV to rebroadcast some channels in its line up.

 

[azumanga]

Some low-powered translators of TBN have also used Dish Network to bring the programming to its transmitters. And it's not just weather outages but also lack of maintenance that can reveal its "true colors", as observed in this instance from Detroit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W47DL-D

 

[anotherguyTN]

It's not quite the same thing but I know of a cable system at a major university in the SEC that uses Direct TV to rebroadcast some channels in its line up.

The nursing home my mother is in has a cable system that carries about 50 channels from DiercTV.

 

[FreddyE1977]

still beats that LPTV somewhere in Kentucky that allegedly programmed the station with
DVD's of public domain movies bought at a Wal Mart up the street.

 

[nathannah]

My local public access station fills their overnight hours with Free Speech TV grabbed off Dish Network, and has for years, though they could do much better with an overnight channel choice (their overly paranoid programming outside of Democracy Now makes me feel ashamed to be a liberal).

I just wonder if this violates some kind of retransmission law on the books somewhere if you grab TBN off Dish or DirecTV (unless the network is paying for the service itself to the translator) and basically 'share' your service with a portion of the market, and if some bored kid or intern at a translator has ever decided to order a pay per view without knowing why it has to be stuck on TBN .

 

[Poledo]

Didn't Mediacom cable get sued by DirecTV for using a little dish to feed WSB to some cable head-ends? I assume it's illegal without paying Dish/DirecTV for retransmission consent... after the cable system pays WSB for retransmission consent.
What a mess of laws have come out of the FCC... and they did it with our money without asking us for our consent.

 

[JeeperOne]

It's not quite the same thing but I know of a cable system at a major university in the SEC that uses Direct TV to rebroadcast some channels in its line up.

Local hospitals here in Denver use cable & satellite fed to centralized locations & from there, the hospitals pick not only the service but also the channels that will be fed to all TVs (In patient rooms & other facilities where TVs are located) in the hospital

I believe LodgeNet is set up in a similar manner for hotels & motels if I'm not mistaken

Cheers & 73 ;D

 

[mjlarochelle]

Do any stations use Dish Network or DirectTV to feed translators?

 

[Sammi Brie]

A few years ago I remember watching KDPH-LP 48 (Daystar). The station was fed by DirecTV. Thunderstorm? Expect to see a cyclone logo.

 

[ngriffin]

Yes, some are. After the digital switch some translator sites could no longer get the parent stations (especially with switches from low VHF to UHF) or it was more cost effective to feed a translator from a mini-dish as it was to climb the tower, install a new receive antenna, and rechannel the translator. A station with translators would be smart to include some language in their carriage agreements with satellite providers to allow for this.

Here in the Greenville/Asheville (SC/NC) market, I've heard WYFF has done this at some of their sites that are still analog. They have also converted several to digital, but those are probably still fed with the off-air signal. Now that the FCC has set 2015 as the end of low power analog TV, stations will have to decide which sites are worth continuing and upgrading, and which are not. I think we'll see a lot of analog translators go off then (or earlier if equipment fails or leases run out). Even in isolated mountain communities, most people have satellite or cable. In some small markets where translators were used to fill in a missing network, a full power station may have picked up the network on a subchannel.

 

[Radiofreewill]

When I was in college, the university's headend used to feed TV5Monde into the system via Dish.

 

[Poledo]

Now that the FCC has set 2015 as the end of low power analog TV, stations will have to decide which sites are worth continuing and upgrading, and which are not. I think we'll see a lot of analog translators go off then (or earlier if equipment fails or leases run out). Even in isolated mountain communities, most people have satellite or cable. In some small markets where translators were used to fill in a missing network, a full power station may have picked up the network on a subchannel.

Sucks for people living in the "shadow" on the north side of the mountain. At least for DirecTV. Are Dish's birds located down south too?

 

[azumanga]

Sucks for people living in the "shadow" on the north side of the mountain. At least for DirecTV. Are Dish's birds located down south too?

All satellites that are used for broadcasting are positioned over the Equator in what is known as the Clarke Belt, about 20,000 miles above earth. The reception of the satellite depends on its strength, its longitudinal position, and the angle of its antenna.

 

[ngriffin]

The location in the sky depends on where you are and the satellite's position. Traditionally Direct was 101/110 and Dish was 110/119, so Dish would be more SW in the sky. With HD they are using other orbital positions, so there are fewer locations where all satellites are blocked.

But, if you live on the north side of a really big mountain, you might be out of luck for TV. Hiking, fishing, or reading a book might be better options.