Is Something Going To Happen?

[robby3333]

C/P

By Scott Greczkowski | October 20, 2009

I have banging my head against the wall for the last two days on what to write here in “The Satellite D*sh” there is a strange kind of quiet going on in the industry and to me it feels strange because to me this calm also feels kind of exciting in a strange sort of way.

My bones are aching like there is something major coming down the pike, but for all I know it could just be the unusually cold October weather we have been having. Both satellite companies are being extremely quiet and to me that’s a sign.

D*recTV is getting read to launch its new D*recTV 12 satellite in December and lots of folks are getting excited about this launch. D*recTV is betting a lot of its future on this launch, the DirecTV 12 satellite is D*recTV’s key to giving customers more HD programming. The new D*recTV satellite when used in combination with the D*recTV 10 and 11 satellites will have the ability to deliver 210 national HD channels plus 1,200 local channels in HD.

D*sh is being quiet as well, but they are sitting on all kinds of bandwidth on their “Eastern Arc” service as the NIMIQ 5 satellite is in full operation, besides the 16 transponders that D*sh Network now has access to on January 1st they will gain control of the other 16 transponders on the satellite. NIMIQ 5 launched on September 17th and was put into use less then a month later, D*sh Network moved the first signals to NIMIQ 5 on October 13th, the rest of the signals were moved over a few days later. D*sh Network “Eastern Arc” customers are seeing great signal gains from the new satellite, signals that were in the low 50’s are now in the high 70’s. And even with the new space gained by the new satellite D*sh Network is working to increase bandwidth as of last night D*sh Network started reclaiming some bandwidth on the satellite by using 8PSK in addition to MPEG4 on their Eastern Arc transponders. The addition of 8PSK will give D*sh about 25% more bandwidth to use.

The question now is what will they use it for?

If I had to guess I would say more national HD, and I would think that would be a safe guess. For me my big question is when. Will D*sh start lighting up new national HD now or will they wait until CES to announce another big wave of new HD? The way they are rushing to do things now it is my opinion that we could see more HD sooner then later from D*sh, but that’s just my opinion and I will be the first to admit I have been wrong.

Speaking of national HD I have received a huge wave of email over the past week asking me if D*sh Network has plans to add EPIX at the end of the month. And honestly I don’t know but I feel that D*sh is crazy if they don’t offer it at its official launch. I said it before but will say it again; D*recTV is the leader of HD sports, while D*sh Network is the HD movie leader. The addition of EPIX would fit right in their lineup perfectly. Let’s hope D*sh does not upset its movie fans. (D*recTV has stated they have no plan to add EPIX to their lineup at this time.)