Dish prepares to add 40 more HD channels
March 22nd, 2010, 8:53 am · 15 Comments · posted by Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress
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How easy is it for Dish Network to add more HD channels? “We just launch another satellite,” the company told me when I chatted with them earlier this year.
Well, Dish launched another satellite over the weekend. This is Dish’s 15th satellite, which is targeted 119 degrees West longitude at an altitude of 22,000 miles. Never seen a satellite launch? Watch Dish’s video on the right.
The EchoStar XIV, built by Space Systems/Loral, will be used to offer more high-definition channels but the company won’t offer any specifics.
However, in the press release, Tom Cullen, Dish’s executive vice president of Sales, Marketing and Programming, said this will extend Dish’s “HD line-up to well over 200 channels.” It currently offers 160, plus access to local HD broadcasts in 152 markets.
Another 40 HD channels would definitely make Dish the nation’s king of HD. But according to Broadcasting & Cable, the new satellite also could be used to fulfill a government pledge to offer more local channels in rural markets. Read: “EchoStar Launches 15th Satellite.”
Over at TVPredictions, TV analyst Phillip Swann puts Dish at the top of HD channels. However, some of its 160 HD channels are on-demand and not 24-hour programming. Swann also mentioned that Dish CEO Charlie Ergen promised more HD channels starting next month. Read Swann’s take at “Dish Network Launches New Satellite For HD.”
More on Dish:
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Dish network raised my rates by $ 5.00 p/m. I told them that I am not paying one more penny for TV in a recession. So they cancelled me out. I went to DirecTV and saved $ 20.00 per month.
Wow! I’m used to hearing that DirecTV is more expensive than Dish.
i’ve had both directv and dish. started with dish, switched to directv and won’t go back. been with directv for probably almost 10 years now. directv is better. cost wise i’m not sure if it was much different. i can get nfl sunday ticket, though.
I agree Hank. Not to mention the 40 new HD channels will be in a language I have never heard of let alone understand. But they just want to be able to say they have the most.
Ill keep my DirecTV.
I called DISH for the same reason. My bill went up and they gave me a solution….. They told me I could save $10.00 a month if I got rid of my High def! This weekend my ESPN Classic also became a PAY channel! No notice – just increases in bills and channels being cut!
I’m switching to ATT Uverse! Atleast they will give me all the channels I want and $300 in visa cards! Good Bye DISH!
James I think my brother is going with that ATT deal too..Ill have to call him and see if it is the deal or not..
Tamara, dont worry with these comments about the price of Dish. It is STILL cheaper. Im getting over 60 HD channels, and over 200 channels for 75$ a month. The price hike for dish was in february, the price hike for Directv should be in a month or so. Every year there is a satellite price hike, people just dont know it. The price hike for dish was with the recievers, i didnt even get hit with that price hike because they are only affecting less than 10% of Dishs customers. This is probably as high as dishs prices will get for a while. Im enjoying HD channels that people over at Directv aren’t, and i don’t have to pay more or wait until summer for their satellite to go up. Dish is the best in the business.
Really? I do not believe that one! High def and those channels puts you in the higher tier of payment! Make sure to go cash your paycheck from DISH! My father has Direct and my buddy has U-Verse and they now pay less than me!
After dealing with Dish I can say they are the most crooked bastards I have ever dealt with. Installer came to my house, couldnt get a signal, left the dish in the backyard, said he would come back tomorrow and never showed, ever! I called Dish and found out they didnt have Premium Channel ON DEMAND, which I asked for and the salesman confirmed. I said the service isnt wanted then and they tried to chagre me $250 to cancel something that was never even installed. And since the installer gets paid after install, he lied and said he said up the equipment, I could go on, but just stay away from DISH.
Direct TV can use hacked boxes to record once you have service, but not in HD. DishN uses a telephone interface to limit service to only their box=DVR’s and you can for $50.00 one time fee to add a large hard drive to your DVR but you still can not play the media on a computer like you can from Direct TV. I still have dish but I’m looking at ATT because Dish makes me pay for HD but will only let me have one HD DVR without paying again for replacing the other two.
Adding another satellite is nice. But if your receiver is maxed out, your out of luck. I get the premium 250 which includes FSC. I get the HD package. But I can’t get FSC HD because that programming comes in on a 5th slot (terminology?) on my receiver and it is only capable of 4 slots. I’d have to drop something else to get it. And I have the best receiver they offer.
Good point. Let me see if Dish will respond.
Tom — This just in (Mar 25): Dish says that this is due to a limitation of your satellite configuration. Here’s what they told me:
“The good news is we can most likely fix his satellite configuration so he can receive the new HD. I just need some more information from him so I can have my Twitter teammates take a look at his account and see what we can do. …”
So, Tom, just e-mail them at press@dishnetwork.com or e-mail me and I’ll get your info to them.
Instead of adding 40 additional channels, I’d like to see them use the ones they have fully. The other night I went to watch the baseball game on Fox Sports Arizona. According to the guide it was being broadcast in HD, but when I went to it, all I got was the silly “Check back later to see if your team is playing in HD” bitmap.
Last nights game wasn’t even “advertised” on the guide as being broadcast on an HD channel.
According to FSAZ, all games are being broadcast in HD this season.
In both cases, I called support and got the standard answer: “The network didn’t make the game available to us in HD” – Rubbish.
This has been ongoing since last season, and I have an email from FSAZ that basically says Why wouldn’t we offer it in HD to all of our carriers? They’ve also had this complaint from Dish Network users repeatedly over the summer. Only one time (last fall) did I actually get a support tech tell me what I believe is the correct answer (at least it made sense). Something like that is there simply isn’t enough bandwidth, so they have to “pick and choose” winners and losers at times, he also told me that they are launching more satellites to increase the bandwidth.
So, until I either get a real timeline as to when this may happen, or a no BS reply from someone at Dish, I will continue to call their Tech Support every time a game comes on and isn’t being broadcast in HD (I’ve tried escalating during these calls and haven’t gotten either satisfaction or help yet).
I’ve had Dish for many years. I also had Directv for years so I could get NFL Sunday Ticket. I was able to do a direct comparison of the 2 satellite providers having both at the same time. I’ve had good and bad times with both providers, but Dish has definitely been the better of the 2. The costs were similar, though I never did the HD through Directv, but the biggest difference to me has been the quality of the receivers. I hate the receivers I had gotten through Directv. The receivers I have gotten through Dish have been very high quality. I did the original installs on both myself (back when I started satellite you had to install your own) so I don’t have a lot to say about the installers. Dish has installed new dishes & HD receivers for me and everything went well. When I started working weekends years ago, I dropped Directv because I wasn’t available to watch Sunday Ticket anymore. Now that Dish offers the NFL Network’s Total Access (in HD!) I would never even think about going back to Directv. Cable is not available in my area so I can’t compare cable to satellite. I’m satisfied with Dish and I’m glad to see they got another satellite up.