DirecTV recently launched their ninth satellite, the DIRECTV 9S, with a flawless liftoff from the spaceport in Kouou, French Guinea. Controllers successfully tested the operation of the new high-powered spot-beam satellite, which will provide backup services and local standard-definition local channels throughout the US coverage area -- wait a minute,
standard def? Where's the national high-def customers have been waiting on? Let me rescan the news release for more info: okay, four satellites have been launched in the past two years, lots of local channels offered now, details about how the bird was launched and such, ah here it is; DIRECTV10 and DIRECTV11 will be launched in 2007 to offer that long-awaited HD national coverage. Meanwhile, Echostar's Dish Network offers over 30 HD channels right now. While few can doubt the mighty wisdom and weight behind DirecTV and their decision to launch a backup SD sat, its customers only have to wait a mere 14 months maximum (assuming no
launch delays or other technical problems) to get more high-definition channels. Here's to you, DTV subscribers! May your wait be short!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Kevin @ Oct 16th 2006 3:35PM
More sats does not mean more channels. You need bandwidth.
Tim P @ Oct 16th 2006 5:07PM
I just signed up with DirecTV. I heavily weighed going with Dish instead, but the option of having NESN in HD (Red Sox and Bruins games), was too much to pass up. Also, the HR20 receiver isn't too bad. I haven't had any of the problems many others seem to have. It's no Series 3 Tivo, but it's also not $800 :-)
naijai @ Oct 16th 2006 6:09PM
ok so they launched a new satellite to replace one of the other sats that has gone way past its life cycle so they can get their basic channels to the 14+ million cutomers that subscribe to them! doesnt make any sense at all
Aron @ Oct 16th 2006 6:57PM
Kevin, I'm confused. I thought you needed spectrum space and the ability to make use of it, and that for sattelite providers currently the latter is the limitation (not the former). As a consequence, more sats means the ability to make use of more of their alloted spectrum space, and hence more data transfer capability. Is this not correct? Also, if it is correct, and if some of the current satelites broadcast both HD and SD, then might not launching new SD sattelites free up more bandwidth for HD by reducing the need to broadcast SD on the current HD/SD satellites?
Kevin @ Oct 17th 2006 10:18PM
Sorry. Someone has told me that you ARE correct (Aron) about the satellite/bandwidth issue. I'm a satellite radio expert. In the satellite radio world, staellite do not equal bandwidth.
Kevin @ Oct 17th 2006 10:18PM
Sorry. Someone has told me that you ARE correct (Aron) about the satellite/bandwidth issue. I'm a satellite radio expert. In the satellite radio world, staellites do not equal bandwidth.
j @ Oct 18th 2006 1:07PM
The launching of a new spot beam satellite for SD operations is very good news for DirecTV HD subscribers. Basically what all the HD subscribers are asking for are more national HD channels, it only makes sense to carry these channels on the orbital slots (101 deg, 110 deg etc) that blanket the country since these are nationally syndicated networks (read: not spot beam satellites). However, currently the 101 and 110 orbital satellites are totally full up with existing programing including SD local channels. Think about it, DirecTV offers local channels over the satellite in almost 200 markets; 200 markets X 4-6 channels per market = a whole lot of bandwidth that they have to send into space and beam back down. What spot beam allows them to do is focus the signals on different areas of the country. In this way they can use the same frequency range on the same orbital slot to carry different data, just focused on the east coast or the west coast or somewhere in between. With spot beam they can dramatically increase the capacity of each satellite. Therefore, if they launch a new spot beam satellite for SD operations, that means they can move many existing SD local channel offerings to the new spot beam satellite and free up space on the national orbitals for MORE HD CHANNELS. Furthermore, just because this satellite is slated for SD operations now doesn't mean it can't be used for HD later or for their MPEG4 AVC systems down the road. I'm a DirecTV HD subscriber and I don't think a day goes by where I don't curse myself for not getting Dish (as I flip endlessly between channels 70 and 90); DirecTV is way behind the competition on HD. However, the launch of the new satellite and the continued build out of a all new MPEG4 network is keeping my fingers crossed that DirecTV will leapfrog Dish in the not too distant future. More satellite capacity is never a bad thing folks.
SivRami @ Oct 19th 2006 6:55PM
I have just ordered Direct TV and they are going to install the stuff on Nov. 6th
Will they give me the new satellite and HD reciever or do I have to buy it from them?
I live in Los Angeles.I have just ordered Direct TV and they are going to install the stuff on Nov. 6th
Will they give me the new satellite and HD reciever or do I have to buy it from them?
I live in Los Angeles.