| moderator | Thank you for joining us today. The chat will begin in approximately 5 minutes. |
| moderator | Welcome to today's C-band chat, featuring Mike Mountford. At this time, we would like to welcome your questions. |
| dtschndr | Any news on sports channels. If not ESPN, are there other possibilities like COMCAST. Thanks, Don |
| mike_mountford | What Comcast channel are you referring to? |
| cbfan | TBN announced they will be dropping their analog feed. TBN and several other religious networks are mapped on X4. Will NPS carry any of these as free feeds or as part of a subscription package? |
| mike_mountford | We haven't given it any thought because it's a non-subscription channel. But I will look into it. |
| mike_mountford | Do you have any contact information at TBN? |
| dtschndr | like the one on 402 gb |
| mike_mountford | Unfortunately, that doesn't help me. They don't allow Cband dishes in my neighborhood...oops. |
| mike_mountford | So do you know the name of the channel?? |
| lonhilliker | hi-would it be possible to receive the NASA station with the 4DTV system if enough people were interested? thanks |
| mike_mountford | Is it on HITS? |
| wtkflhn | Mike. There's also a Comcast sports ch on the Denver 8 Mux on W4. But not mapped for us. |
| mike_mountford | I'll ask my friend at Comcast about this. |
| MIKE3367 | if you get the channels on x4 can you get them too on amc hits satellite? |
| mike_mountford | I doubt it though. They're pretty protective of their sports channels. |
| mike_mountford | We also have the problem of 4DTV receivers not being able to do blackouts correctly. |
| mike_mountford | If you get the channels on x4 now, you will be able to get them on the AMC satellites soon. |
| mike_mountford | By the way, they will be on Cband on the AMC satellite as opposed to the KU where they are now which should make them available to more people. |
| mike_mountford | So, if you don't have a KU feed and you've been wanting the channels from HITS on x4 you're in luck. |
| dtschndr | The sports channel is just called comcast SEC |
| ilovebigdish | I like the Comcast Sports Southeast for their boxing o GB402 |
| mike_mountford | SEC stands for Southeastern Conference and I have no contacts there, but again I will talk to my friend at Comcast. |
| mike_mountford | Do you get it on GB402? |
| Lobo | Any idea as to when the Turner channels will leave analog? |
| mike_mountford | No, they haven't communicated that to us, so I think it will be later this year. Possibly even the end of the year. |
| mike_mountford | We have reserved spots on our uplink for them when they do. |
| Lobo | Any news on WGN? |
| mike_mountford | Yes! I made a good contact last week. Thanks for asking! |
| mike_mountford | Now don't go thinking that we'll have WGN next week, but at least we're starting down the path and that's major progress. |
| wtkflhn | Mike. Any idea when they will mab AMC 18 for us? |
| mike_mountford | No idea at this time. Again, I will ask my friend at Comcast that question too. |
| wtkflhn | I thought GB 402 was FP most of the time. |
| mike_mountford | Is FP Free Preview? |
| dtschndr | I get comcast 0n GB/X7 channel 402 |
| mike_mountford | That's great! |
| ilovebigdish | It is but could scramble anytime |
| mike_mountford | Well good, at least enjoy it while you have it and I will try to do what I can. |
| Lobo | Any news on Nickelodeon? |
| mike_mountford | No, the Viacom people helped us get Comedy Central up in a rush a couple of weeks ago and said they would get back to me on Nick. |
| wtkflhn | It's more that a previes. It's like free every time I look> |
| mike_mountford | Good! You can't beat that. |
| cowboy | Anything new on IPTV? |
| gc | what the latest on iptv? |
| mike_mountford | Unfortunately, nothing new on IPTV. We're continuing to wait on the prototype receiver to be finished and then tested. |
| hughy1 | Any luck on getting Golf channel in hidef? |
| mike_mountford | No luck getting it in HD because the 4dtv receiver does not support HD for that channel. However, I was told I would get a contract for the Standard Def feed using HITS transport sometime this week. |
| ilovebigdish | they don't know we see it |
| mike_mountford | I won't tell them. |
| reevyn46 | Is there any chance of getting BBC America as A La Carte? It is only available now in very high priced packaging and I only have the small family package. Thanks. |
| mike_mountford | Unfortunately not. That is a service that requires us to package with all other basics, with very few exceptions. |
| Lobo | Thank you Mike and NPS for helping us C-Banders! |
| mike_mountford | You're welcome! It's not always easy, but it's fun. |
| Bill | we can buy the the x4 channels alacarte. will be still be able to when they go to c-band? |
| mike_mountford | You can't buy the x4 channels from us alacarte. Our contracts do not allow us to sell them that way. |
| dtschndr | why can't I get HD channels like National Geo. while I can get HD on the nebraska PB channel. |
| mike_mountford | Because HD downlinks are in 3 different formats and only one can be understood by the 4dtv/HD 200 receivers. |
| cbfan | TBN is on the web at www.tbn.org/ , I don't have a phone number |
| mike_mountford | Ok, thank you |
| reevyn46 | Sorry about BBC, what about something like SoapNet? |
| mike_mountford | SoapNet is a Disney product and they won't give us ESPN or the Disney channel. We'll take SoapNet with the restrictions and do the best we can. |
| Bill | we are buying the x4 channels from nps alacarte for 49.04 a year per channel. part number 704 and up. |
| mike_mountford | You are not buying the channels alacarte, you've bought a package of 10 or more services and therefor can add channels to that package. |
| gc | when the hits platform comes to c band will that add any different chanels that are not on x4 now |
| mike_mountford | I don't think so. |
| wtkflhn | Soapnet is on HITS, if it helps. |
| mike_mountford | It is still the same. |
| Bill | so will we still be able to do that when they go to cband. |
| mike_mountford | Yes, we're not changing our packaging requirements. |
| ilovebigdish | will we have Comcast G4 subscibeable on AMC 18,it currently isn't on GB |
| mike_mountford | I spoke to the folks who do the Golf channel for Comcast and they are going to work on G4 and a couple others after we finalize a Golf channel contract so that it can be the prototype and hopefully everything else falls in line easily. |
| paulaustin656 | Isn't the reauthorization of SHVA up for review soon? |
| mike_mountford | Yes, it sunsets on December 31, 2009. |
| mike_mountford | Primarily because of our distant network business, we have begun working on this heavily. |
| mike_mountford | I've made 3 trips to Washington within the last 2 months. |
| lowell | This may be an old question but was wondering if alacarte is a dead issue. |
| lowell | My question about alacarte was more along the lines of "Is it going to remain priced out of sight per channel" |
| mike_mountford | As you may have seen in any arguments against alacarte, programmers, cable companies, etc have said that when programming is sold alacarte is definitely more expensive. |
| mike_mountford | The best value that we have right now is our Absolute Digital Package. |
| dtschndr | This may not be your area, but do you know of any better decoder than the HD 200? Thanks, Don |
| mike_mountford | You're right, I'm not an engineer, but I don't think anything else works with the 4dtv to get HD programming. Limited though it be.. |
| lonhilliker | hi -where is the HITS station located? |
| mike_mountford | HITS is a transporter. When we refer to HITS, we refer to a group of channels that are currently on x4 and will be going to AMC. |
| Nickh30 | FYI: mike is correct.. there are no other HD decoders for 4DTV receivers besidses the HDD-200 |
| gc | when the x4 channels go to amc will they be added to the all digital pak or will it still be a seperate package |
| mike_mountford | Thank you |
| mike_mountford | Good question. I hadn't considered that yet. The way we got around contractual requirements was that the x4 channels are on KU and many of our subscribers do not receive KU, so to charge them for a package that included KU channels would not have been fair. |
| ilovebigdish | most likely uplinked from pensyvania where comcast headcorders is |
| dtschndr | I'm sorry, what is AMC? |
| mike_mountford | AMC is a new satellite. I don't know the full name. Can somebody out there help me? |
| ilovebigdish | Get a MPEG2 Receiver and get the Networks FREE |
| mike_mountford | Sounds good to me. The networks should be free. |
| Nickh30 | AMC18 C band is where HITS is moving their X4 Ku to |
| mike_mountford | Thank you |
| moderator | Does anyone have any other questions? |
| wtkflhn | AMC 18, is a c-band sat at (I think) 104 degrees west long. |
| mike_mountford | Thank you |
| ilovebigdish | 105 |
| mike_mountford | Thank you everyone. Good questions and good participation today. We'll be typing to you next month! |
| mike_mountford | Please be here, it's more fun this way. |