Dish distant networks, was Space Ship TV Antenna

[Don Bradner]

Some general notes about Dish and DNS (long):

Federal law DOES allow RV owners to get distant networks. There are
tons of nuances involved, including whether you can get locals and DNS
as well (you can only if you had both prior to October 1, 2004).

Dish was sued 8 years ago for violating the law in the way they
qualified home (not RV) users. They lost at every turn. The law has two
remedies, the first being money, but with a finding of a "Pattern and
practice" of violations, the law requires that DNS be taken away from
the provider. Last May the federal appeals court in Atlanta made that
finding, and after an unsuccessful appeal to the Supreme Court, a full
shutdown was ordered for December 1. RVers not exempt.

A company (American Direct/NPS) that is in the business of providing
DNS to C-Band customers has leased space on the 119 satellite and is
beaming Atlanta and San Francisco stations to Dish customers. Separate
signup and payment is required to them. If your address does not
qualify, you need the RV document and they are currently saying 35 days
to process. URL is http://www.mydistantnetworks.com

Early adopters say the picture quality is poor.

The networks have filed a motion to have Echostar and NPS cited for
contempt, and NPS shutdown. The judge this morning referred everything
to a Magistrate Judge for "report and recommendation." He also denied a
request from NPS to have non-Florida lawyers. The case is in Florida.

There is NO Federal law for the size of spot beams. Echostar has
several cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, and
Denver, where the network beam is US-wide. If you have an address in
one of those areas you will get the "local" networks nationwide. If you
are in the area you will also get other "locals" which are spot-beamed
only.

The size of the rest of the beams varies.

Senate Bill 4067 by Senator Leahy does not currently have an RV
provision. That will hopefully be added. It provides that a carrier
that loses their legal right under current law can get it back with a
$20 million deposit with the copyright office, much higher fines for
errors ($100 per customer per month, vs $5 under the main law). It also
reduces the number of network stations that can be sent to 1 instead of
2, and removes all local+DNS regardless of grandfathering.

Finally, DirecTV was not sued and is not affected, presumably because
they were more careful in qualifying home users.

Don Bradner
Wanderlodge wannabe and long-time lurker here
http://www.datastormusers.com