DirecTV Local Channel Reception-Out of Area - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

spooka · 07-09-2005, 03:30 PM

I lived in Boston and moved to the west coast. I took my old directv boxes with me and they do not receive the Boston locals anymore even though I am still subscribed to them. All of the other national channels work as before. How do the receivers know that I am not in the Boston area anymore? I have not plugged them into a phone line.

Are certain transponders pointed at specific areas of the country? Short of moving back, is there a work around to this? Message at the bottom of the screen says "Searching for satellite signal. Please stand by." Help!

goddfather40 · 07-10-2005, 09:08 PM

Did you change your address with Directv? Otherwise I am not sure how they would know to stop giving you the Boston channels.

What I do know is that it is against the law for Directv to provide to you those channels if you now live in another market...which presumably have local coverage from Directv. If you are not in a market that has Directv local coverage, you must get the local stations over the air. If you live out in the boonies and can not get even the over the air transmissions, then Directv will give you the LA network affiliates if you are in the West and the NYC affiliates if you are in the East.

Daniel_ · 07-11-2005, 02:29 AM

A Satellite footprint probably won't cover from Boston to CA in geosynch orbit. Even if it does, you need to point your receiver at the Boston sat, not the CA one.

Talk to your local aerial installer, and he should be able to work out the new angles and so forth for your dish.

Over here we have the same issue with UK nationals taking satellite decoders to Spain - it should get the same satellite, but it doesn't always work and might be over the horizon.

brandon11983 · 07-11-2005, 10:58 PM

There is no such thing as a "Boston" sat and a "CA" one. DirecTV uses 3 main satellites to handle all programming. The other sats handle international programming. You pull programming off the same satellite in Boston and in Cali. The problem he is experiencing is strictly a legality. DirecTV can not legally transmit out of market signals into a market that already has its own. Odds are good that you can get local programming from whatever local affiliate is in your area.

Daniel_ · 07-11-2005, 11:21 PM

Fair enough.

Hw does the box "know" you moved?

catback · 07-12-2005, 05:51 AM

It's not a really a box programming or legality issue per say. The local channels are transmitted on a spot beam (not sure if that's the correct term but it's spot something) that's very localized down to regions or states. If your in the reception area you can get local programming for any locality that is in the spots reception area as long as directv offers the local channels for that city and is willing to give them to you. Since your moved your outside the spot beam so your not gonna receive the local channels, your gonna have to subscribe to something local if you want local channels. Either that or move the back to boston.

brandon11983 nice explanation for a sales person but that doesn't answer the how they know he's not in boston if he didn't connect the box to the phone line. DTV has 3 main satellites but each sat has individual transponders (transmitting dishes if that's easier to understand) and the locals are directed to a certain locality instead of nationwide. :-)

brandon11983 · 07-12-2005, 08:56 AM

You know I totally forgot about spotbeams. I sold Dish and DirecTV for two years, but my store focused primarily on Dish. Spotbeams do have a very narrow spread, so they only cover a certain region. catback hit pretty much every point that needed to be made. I haven't been in the satellite biz for a few years now, so I apologise if I'm a bit rusty. There certainly are legality issues involved though. I used to live in a small town in northwestern IL and I would always have to explain to customers why we could not legally turn on Chicago locals for them. They were in an area that already had a local affiliate (Quad Cities) and they had to receive them and not Chicago.

07-09-2005, 03:30 PM	#1 (permalink)
spooka Upright	DirecTV Local Channel Reception-Out of Area I lived in Boston and moved to the west coast. I took my old directv boxes with me and they do not receive the Boston locals anymore even though I am still subscribed to them. All of the other national channels work as before. How do the receivers know that I am not in the Boston area anymore? I have not plugged them into a phone line. Are certain transponders pointed at specific areas of the country? Short of moving back, is there a work around to this? Message at the bottom of the screen says "Searching for satellite signal. Please stand by." Help!

07-10-2005, 09:08 PM	#2 (permalink)
goddfather40 Llama Location: Cali-for-nye-a	Did you change your address with Directv? Otherwise I am not sure how they would know to stop giving you the Boston channels. What I do know is that it is against the law for Directv to provide to you those channels if you now live in another market...which presumably have local coverage from Directv. If you are not in a market that has Directv local coverage, you must get the local stations over the air. If you live out in the boonies and can not get even the over the air transmissions, then Directv will give you the LA network affiliates if you are in the West and the NYC affiliates if you are in the East. __________________ My name is goddfather40 and I approved this message. I got ho's and I got bitches, In C++ I branch with switches -MC Plus+

07-11-2005, 02:29 AM	#3 (permalink)
Daniel_ Evil Priest: The Devil Made Me Do It! Location: Southern England	A Satellite footprint probably won't cover from Boston to CA in geosynch orbit. Even if it does, you need to point your receiver at the Boston sat, not the CA one. Talk to your local aerial installer, and he should be able to work out the new angles and so forth for your dish. Over here we have the same issue with UK nationals taking satellite decoders to Spain - it should get the same satellite, but it doesn't always work and might be over the horizon. __________________ ╔═════════════════════════════════════════╗ Overhead, the Albatross hangs motionless upon the air, And deep beneath the rolling waves, In labyrinths of Coral Caves, The Echo of a distant time Comes willowing across the sand; And everthing is Green and Submarine ╚═════════════════════════════════════════╝

07-11-2005, 10:58 PM	#4 (permalink)
brandon11983 Stereophonic Location: Chitown!!	There is no such thing as a "Boston" sat and a "CA" one. DirecTV uses 3 main satellites to handle all programming. The other sats handle international programming. You pull programming off the same satellite in Boston and in Cali. The problem he is experiencing is strictly a legality. DirecTV can not legally transmit out of market signals into a market that already has its own. Odds are good that you can get local programming from whatever local affiliate is in your area. __________________ Well behaved women rarely make history.

07-11-2005, 11:21 PM	#5 (permalink)
Daniel_ Evil Priest: The Devil Made Me Do It! Location: Southern England	Fair enough. Hw does the box "know" you moved? __________________ ╔═════════════════════════════════════════╗ Overhead, the Albatross hangs motionless upon the air, And deep beneath the rolling waves, In labyrinths of Coral Caves, The Echo of a distant time Comes willowing across the sand; And everthing is Green and Submarine ╚═════════════════════════════════════════╝

07-12-2005, 05:51 AM	#6 (permalink)
catback Psycho Location: North America	It's not a really a box programming or legality issue per say. The local channels are transmitted on a spot beam (not sure if that's the correct term but it's spot something) that's very localized down to regions or states. If your in the reception area you can get local programming for any locality that is in the spots reception area as long as directv offers the local channels for that city and is willing to give them to you. Since your moved your outside the spot beam so your not gonna receive the local channels, your gonna have to subscribe to something local if you want local channels. Either that or move the back to boston. brandon11983 nice explanation for a sales person but that doesn't answer the how they know he's not in boston if he didn't connect the box to the phone line. DTV has 3 main satellites but each sat has individual transponders (transmitting dishes if that's easier to understand) and the locals are directed to a certain locality instead of nationwide. :-)

07-12-2005, 08:56 AM	#7 (permalink)
brandon11983 Stereophonic Location: Chitown!!	You know I totally forgot about spotbeams. I sold Dish and DirecTV for two years, but my store focused primarily on Dish. Spotbeams do have a very narrow spread, so they only cover a certain region. catback hit pretty much every point that needed to be made. I haven't been in the satellite biz for a few years now, so I apologise if I'm a bit rusty. There certainly are legality issues involved though. I used to live in a small town in northwestern IL and I would always have to explain to customers why we could not legally turn on Chicago locals for them. They were in an area that already had a local affiliate (Quad Cities) and they had to receive them and not Chicago. __________________ Well behaved women rarely make history.