I'm not holding my breath that we get the CW

[joellyn]

I called Direct TV this morning and they couldn't offer much help. Apparently my market (Wilmington, NC) is one of the ones that might not be getting anything. Something about contracts, etc.

Customer service said she would submit a suggestion from me and that maybe they were trying to straighten everything out but I'm not holding my breath. I sent an email also.

I just don't understand why we can't get the CW channel out of Wilmington when all my local channels are Wilmington.

[dishrich]

I just don't understand why we can't get the CW channel out of Wilmington when all my local channels are Wilmington.

Because YOUR market does NOT have a LOCAL CW channel to GIVE you - before with the WB, they were giving you another one from another market (Miami or Baltimore). This was by contract with the WB - evidently, D* did NOT do a contract with the CW to do the same thing for them.

Until D* does this, you will NOT be getting any CW, since (again) there is not one locally to give you... ;)

[JimSpence]

This is why I have the Superstation Pack from DirecTV.

[ManOfChill]

Is this something only offered in select markets?

[bidger]

This is why I have the Superstation Pack from DirecTV.
I believe you meant to say "Superstation Pack from Dish Network", Jim.

[tjperez]

I believe you meant to say "Superstation Pack from Dish Network", Jim.

...or are you "grandfathered" into the superstations D* offered 10 years ago? I would be surprised if they still transmitted those.

[dishrich]

...or are you "grandfathered" into the superstations D* offered 10 years ago? I would be surprised if they still transmitted those.

D* NEVER, EVER had the superstations (at least the 5 we are specifically talking about in this post) - what are you all talking about? :confused: :confused:

[phox_mulder]

I had the Superstation Pack when I had Dish Network.

It was wonderful, it helped solve many conflicts back when UPN and WB had good programming on at the same time, east coast and west coast feeds, couple of each.

Wasn't happy when I switched to DirecTV and found they didn't offer it.
Both my UPN and WB stations were crap OTA (analog) so I had to record them via DirecTV, along with everything else I was recording, many conflicts.

Point is moot now, since I can get the CW crystal clear in HD OTA.


phox

[tjperez]

D* NEVER, EVER had the superstations (at least the 5 we are specifically talking about in this post) - what are you all talking about? :confused: :confused:
I swear, they had distant stations (maybe not Superstations technically) but they were "out of area" stations and they were not the NY and LA master feeds, they were affiliate stations. I am not sure what networks or what cities they were based out of (it was so long ago) but we had it before they offered Atlanta locals.

[dishrich]

I swear, they had distant stations (maybe not Superstations technically) but they were "out of area" stations and they were not the NY and LA master feeds, they were affiliate stations. I am not sure what networks or what cities they were based out of (it was so long ago) but we had it before they offered Atlanta locals.

They did have "distant networks" out of various cities, but those are NOT considered the Superstations we are talking about. The "Superstations" are NOT (or had been) affiliated with any of the "big 4", while the "distant networks" were. They were actually just the feeds from a company called Prime Time 24, that provided E&W network feeds for C-band ("big dish"/BUD) customers that could not get good reception of network TV. D* also provided PBS from KRMA-Denver, instead of the PBS-X feed they now use for distant subs.

When they were on D* & before they were dumped for the NY/LA distants D* now uses, PT24 was using ABC from Nashville, TN/Seattle, WA, NBC from NY/LA, CBS from Erie, PA/San Fran, & Fox from either Chicago or Miami (can't remember which one, as PT24 switched affiliates & I don't remember at the time which one was on D*) & they only had an E feed for FOX.

I actually had all these (along with the Denver 6 feeds) when I still had a BUD - it was pretty cool having all these choices of station feeds, not to mention the beautiful picture quality on all of them; your sure don't see quality like THIS on SD pictures on DBS these days... :( :rolleyes:

[trainman]

When they were on D* & before they were dumped for the NY/LA distants D* now uses, PT24 was using ABC from Nashville, TN/Seattle, WA, NBC from NY/LA, CBS from Erie, PA/San Fran, & Fox from either Chicago or Miami (can't remember which one, as PT24 switched affiliates & I don't remember at the time which one was on D*) & they only had an E feed for FOX.

I have some old TV Guides that show that, circa 1997-98, DirecTV's distant Fox service was being provided by FoxNet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxnet), which I'm surprised to find out was still in existence up until, well, early last week.

[Dkerr24]

Is this why Veronica Mars is not showing up when I try to setup a season pass for it?

[JimSpence]

I believe you meant to say "Superstation Pack from Dish Network", Jim.Ooops! That's gotta be one of my worst typos ever! :)

I pay Dish $6/month for access and $5.99/month for the package. Once things settle, I may only buy WPIX for $1.50 + the access fee.

[tjperez]

They did have "distant networks" out of various cities, but those are NOT considered the Superstations we are talking about....
Yeah, I recognize some of those channels now. That's what I had then. I didn't realize they were provided by PT24. I guess that's also when the movie channels were provided by USSB, if I recall?

I don't miss the gigantic dish but I do miss the programming, especially the "off-camera" activity during commercials on the raw feeds.

[LADYBUGBLUE2002]

Because YOUR market does NOT have a LOCAL CW channel to GIVE you - before with the WB, they were giving you another one from another market (Miami or Baltimore). This was by contract with the WB - evidently, D* did NOT do a contract with the CW to do the same thing for them.

Until D* does this, you will NOT be getting any CW, since (again) there is not one locally to give you... ;)

While that is true it would have been nice if Directv was more proactive like some of the cable companies as I know people in my area are still getting CW but through cable rather than satelite. I could have been taken care of but IMO they waited until now and I am sure they are getting a lot of complaints and questions that are tying up the phone line etc. that maybe wasn't necessary.

[Mavrick22]

If you had wb54 out of Baltimore and now have no CW then I urge everyone to contact WNUV CW54 in Baltimore.

I talked with a supervisor at Directv last night and he said that they want to offer CW54 the same way that they did when the station was WB54 but as of yet they have been unable to come to a carriage agreement with them to broadcast this station outside of the Baltimore viewing area but they hope to soon.

Now I do take this with a grain of salt for it came from a Directv CSR supervisor! :) and we can only guess if it is true.

I filled out the contact the CW Baltimore info on this webpage http://www.wbbaltimore.com/inside/contact.shtml and urge everyone else that had this station do the same. For if it is them that is holding this up then it would be nice if they knew how many Directv customers want this station back.

I have recieved a response back for CW54's program director stating that she has forwarded my message to the stations General Manager and Chief Engineer to see if they have and update on what is happening with the agreement.

[dishrich]

While that is true it would have been nice if Directv was more proactive like some of the cable companies as I know people in my area are still getting CW but through cable rather than satelite. I could have been taken care of but IMO they waited until now and I am sure they are getting a lot of complaints and questions that are tying up the phone line etc. that maybe wasn't necessary.

I'm not going to disagree with you, but the ONLY thing that's important to D* is signing up as many NEW customers as possible - they ALREADY have YOU as a customer, so the fact you can't get a CW affiliate is NOT on their list of priorities... ;) :(

[dishrich]

I have some old TV Guides that show that, circa 1997-98, DirecTV's distant Fox service was being provided by FoxNet, which I'm surprised to find out was still in existence up until, well, early last week.

That is correct, but when D* FIRST had DNS service, it WAS FOX Chicago, as that is what PT24 supplied. Eventually, PT24 did switch the FOX feed over to FoxNet. (I was not 100% sure of the timetable that the FOX feed was changed on D*, but I DO know it was changed at least 2-3 times before D* started using the NY/LA nets f/DNS service)

And yes, it is very much in existance, as there are still many areas that do NOT have a local FOX affiliate - the local cable co. use this feed if they don't have any nearby FOX affiliates to draw from. (It's actually still available for C-band owners as well ;) )

[trainman]

And yes, it is very much in existance, as there are still many areas that do NOT have a local FOX affiliate - the local cable co. use this feed if they don't have any nearby FOX affiliates to draw from. (It's actually still available for C-band owners as well ;) )

As I linked to in my original message, Wikipedia says they went out of business on September 12th (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxnet). The one place I ever saw FoxNet was in a motel in Joplin, Missouri, which apparently has a Fox affiliate now (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KFJX).

[dishrich]

As I linked to in my original message, Wikipedia says they went out of business on September 12th (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxnet). The one place I ever saw FoxNet was in a motel in Joplin, Missouri, which apparently has a Fox affiliate now (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KFJX).

Sorry, I didn't check out your link, as I already KNEW there was such a thing as FoxNet. I did NOT know they just went out of business a week or so ago, nor did I understand that is what you really meant. (I thought you meant that was the last time you had checked it out, oh well...)

I just checked the subscription channels list on www.callnps.com, & it does appear the FoxNet feed is gone - this means that now the ONLY way BUD users can get a FOX feed is the Denver feed, since PT24 no longer supplies a FOX feed, either. (they shut down a FOX feed from Miami & switched their FOX users over to the FoxNet a year or two ago) And, the other 3 network feeds they have up are NO longer in analog; they switched those over to a Digicipher II feed a few months ago, as did the Denver network feeds before that.

[Magnolia88]

Is this why Veronica Mars is not showing up when I try to setup a season pass for it?

The season three premiere of Veronica Mars is on October 3, and it wasn't showing up for me in my guide until yesterday. So check again, b/c it's probably showing up now. (If not, then you probably do lack access to the CW for whatever reason.)