# DirecTV picks Space Systems/Loral for DirecTV 14



## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

Press release at http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sp...te-to-directv-2010-06-11?reflink=MW_news_stmp



> PALO ALTO, Calif., Jun 11, 2010 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) today announced that it has entered into a contract to provide a high-power satellite to DIRECTV. The new satellite, DIRECTV 14, which was started earlier this quarter under an authorization to proceed, is a 20 kilowatt spacecraft that will use Ka-band and Reverse DBS to expand the company's video services.
> 
> "By employing the world's most advanced technologies, like the highly reliable SS/L 1300 satellite platform, we are able to provide the best video experience to our customers," said Phil Goswitz, vice president, Space & Communications, DIRECTV. "DIRECTV 14 will be the sixth SS/L 1300 satellite platform in DIRECTV's fleet and we look forward to continuing our relationship with Space Systems/Loral and maintaining our leadership as the provider of the most HD and 3D available anywhere."
> 
> ...


So they've been building this new sat for a little while now, wonder when they're targeting a launch for it?

(Mod edit: added the full press release content)


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## Joe C (Mar 3, 2005)

Did they skip Directv 13 ?


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

Joe C said:


> Did they skip Directv 13 ?


Yep. They had an authorization to build one with the FCC but canceled it.


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

After having Boeing build their last 5 Ka satellites and use them for RDBS testing I wonder why they went with Loral? Did they get a better price from Loral or a quicker delivery? We'll probably never know just curious why the switch of vendors?


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## TBlazer07 (Feb 5, 2009)

What is "reverse DBS?" Is that when the customers charge DirecTV?


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

TBlazer07 said:


> What is "reverse DBS?"


IIRC it when they use the same frequency range that's used to uplink the progamming to the satellite for the downlink to the customer, up till now uplink and downlink were using two seperate frequency bands.


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## wmb (Dec 18, 2008)

I am surprised that they only annouced a DirecTV 14. They have to launch a total of 3 satellites with BSS capability. Here is a link from the D12 thread.

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?p=2308152#post2308152


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

Interesting that they are spreading around the contracts, as Boeing had their business for a number of years now.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

RAD said:


> IIRC it when they use the same frequency range that's used to uplink the progamming to the satellite for the downlink to the customer, up till now uplink and downlink were using two seperate frequency bands.


I believe you're right, and that beats my answer which was, "SBD."


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

Oh god, another place I worked and was......
Hope they manage this SAT better.


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

Looks like Sixto will have job security tracking D14.


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## trdrjeff (Dec 3, 2007)

Sixto's vacation just came to a screeching halt lol


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

RAD said:


> Looks like Sixto will have job security tracking D14.


I prepped him for that next "phase" several months ago... :lol:

Gives new meaning to a "grandfather clause"...


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## doctor j (Jun 14, 2006)

Boeing Spec sheet on D10/D11/D12 put beginning life Power at 18 KW.

Thus 20 KW is 11% increase.
? More transponders?

Doctor j


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

doctor j said:


> Boeing Spec sheet on D10/D11/D12 put beginning life Power at 18 KW.
> 
> Thus 20 KW is 11% increase.
> ? More transponders?
> ...


Saw that too...

Big, better, stronger... 

It's the American way. :lol:


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## Alan Gordon (Jun 7, 2004)

doctor j said:


> Boeing Spec sheet on D10/D11/D12 put beginning life Power at 18 KW.
> 
> Thus 20 KW is 11% increase.
> ? More transponders?


Makes sense since it appears to be both a KA satellite and a BSS satellite.

99° perhaps?!

~Alan


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## LameLefty (Sep 29, 2006)

doctor j said:


> Boeing Spec sheet on D10/D11/D12 put beginning life Power at 18 KW.
> 
> Thus 20 KW is 11% increase.
> ? More transponders?
> ...


Interesting choice. It could be based on price, but it might also be based on satellite bus availability. IIRC (and I might not - going from memory), SS/L has had some financial issues in the past that might have made them more willing to work with Directv on schedule and cost milestones.

It will be interesting to see the rest of the technical documentation and see how things play out.


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

LameLefty said:


> IIRC (and I might not - going from memory), SS/L has had some financial issues in the past that might have made them more willing to work with Directv on schedule and cost milestones.


You mean like going bankrupt

IIRC when they were in bankrupty Dish/Echostar tried to get the bankruptcy judge to deliver a sat that they were building for DirecTV, could have been D9S or D8, saying they would pay more for it then DirecTV did, didn't happen though.


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## woj027 (Sep 3, 2007)

from the SS/L site.

http://www.ssloral.com/html/products/1300.html

It looks like the 1300 could be spec'd to be as big as 25KW but DirecTV went with 20KW
and could have
"as few as 12 active transponders to as many as 150 transponders. "


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## LameLefty (Sep 29, 2006)

RAD said:


> You mean like going bankrupt
> 
> IIRC when they were in bankrupty Dish/Echostar tried to get the bankruptcy judge to deliver a sat that they were building for DirecTV, could have been D9S or D8, saying they would pay more for it then DirecTV did, didn't happen though.


Yeah, something like that. :lol:


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## Mavrick (Feb 1, 2006)

So where is the D14 Anticipation thread?


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## mattgwyther (May 22, 2007)

Why isn't D14 parked yet? There must be something wrong with the satellite. If Dish was launching it, it'd already be parked with 200 HD channel on it be now...


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

Mavrick said:


> So where is the D14 Anticipation thread?


I'm not sure if anticipating an anticipation thread is allowed...


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

mattgwyther said:


> Why isn't D14 parked yet? There must be something wrong with the satellite. If Dish was launching it, it'd already be parked with 200 HD channel on it be now...


I heard a rumor that D14 is in pieces right now.


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

Jeremy W said:


> I heard a rumor that D14 is in pieces right now.


!rolling !rolling !rolling


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

Jeremy W said:


> I heard a rumor that D14 is in pieces right now.




Is it even that far along?


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

Tom Robertson said:


> Is it even that far along?


As long as there are no parts left over after assembly..I'll be pretty happy...


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

Tom Robertson said:


> Is it even that far along?


Depends on how far you're willing to stretch the definition of "pieces." :lol:


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## puckhead (Sep 22, 2007)

Would it be reasonable to say _soon_?


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

puckhead said:


> Would it be reasonable to say _soon_?


Depends on how far you're willing to stretch the definition of "soon." :lol:


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

puckhead said:


> Would it be reasonable to say _*soon*_?




:lol:


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

puckhead said:


> Would it be reasonable to say _soon_?


I don't think so. Not even in satellite terms.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

Tom Robertson said:


> I don't think so. Not even in satellite terms.


I think we could say "soon" in astronomic terms.


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

dpeters11 said:


> I think we could say "soon" in astronomic terms.


In those terms we might even say instantaneous.


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## mattgwyther (May 22, 2007)

D14 is fine and will be in service as scheduled


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## ATARI (May 10, 2007)

mattgwyther said:


> D14 is fine and will be in service as scheduled


:lol:


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## matt (Jan 12, 2010)

In service or on service?


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## billsharpe (Jan 25, 2007)

Joe C said:


> Did they skip Directv 13 ?


...for the same reason most skyscrapers don't have a 13th floor?

(Yes, I already saw the technical explanation)


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## dpfaunts (Oct 17, 2006)

Triskaidekaphobia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triskaidekaphobia


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## erosroadie (Jan 9, 2007)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> I'm not sure if anticipating an anticipation thread is allowed...


Kinda reminds me of the old Steven Wright line..."I put instant coffee in a microwave oven and went backwards in time..."
:grin:


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## georule (Mar 31, 2010)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> As long as there are no parts left over after assembly..I'll be pretty happy...


Err, after the D10 "amelioration", I'm thinking a higher standard is appropriate!


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## Herdfan (Mar 18, 2006)

RAD said:


> After having Boeing build their last 5 Ka satellites and use them for RDBS testing I wonder why they went with Loral? Did they get a better price from Loral or a quicker delivery? We'll probably never know just curious why the switch of vendors?





hdtvfan0001 said:


> Interesting that they are spreading around the contracts, as Boeing had their business for a number of years now.


Just a guess, but I have to wonder if the Boeing contracts were part of the original Newscorp deal. IIRC, they claimed the Spaceways from Hughes and might have had an option to take the others from Boeing as already contracted capacity.

DirectTV 7S, 8 and 9S were all SSL sats as were much of the original DirecTV fleet. They may have just seen an opportunity for capacity and jumped on it.


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## jefbal99 (Sep 7, 2007)

billsharpe said:


> ...for the same reason most skyscrapers don't have a 13th floor?
> 
> (Yes, I already saw the technical explanation)


Yeah, my floor is the 12th and top floor, but the 1st floor is called "Ground" so that 13 could be avoided


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## Indiana627 (Nov 18, 2005)

Where's the D14 signal strength screen? Should I try to force a software download and see if it appears on my HR21?


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## Sixto (Nov 18, 2005)

It was getting a little quiet.


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## Indiana627 (Nov 18, 2005)

And do we know yet when the first TP will light up?


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## jefbal99 (Sep 7, 2007)

If they can't deliver the satellite to the launch site in the next week, there is no way that they can meet the **Guaranteed launch date I read on Swanni's site**


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## Nighthawk68 (Oct 14, 2004)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> As long as there are no parts left over after assembly..I'll be pretty happy...


"Some assembly required" :grin: tools required for assembly....


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## curt8403 (Dec 27, 2007)

jefbal99 said:


> If they can't deliver the satellite to the launch site in the next week, there is no way that they can meet the **Guaranteed launch date I read on Swanni's site**


What?!! is Swanni guaranteeing to launch himself into space?


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

RAD said:


> Did they get a better price from Loral or a quicker delivery?


I'd expect a shorter promised delivery as well has a much greater likelihood of on-time delivery. SS/L is rightly proud of their record of meeting deliveries.

If you look at what everyone else has used recently (Echostar, Sirius, WildBlue), there has been a decisive shift from Boeing towards SS/L.


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## LameLefty (Sep 29, 2006)

harsh said:


> If you look at what everyone else has used recently (Echostar, Sirius, WildBlue), there has been a decisive shift from Boeing towards SS/L.


As usual, you miss half the point. The U.S. government, which is a decidedly non-trivial consumer of satellites, has kept Boeing Satellite Systems quite busy with the WGS SATCOM line, the new GOES-P satellite, the SBSS satellites, the new GPS IIF satellites . . .

As I pointed out earlier in the thread, the decision was probably based on availability and flexibility in meeting cost/schedule milestones.


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## T-Hefner (Mar 29, 2010)

Good news....Glad DTV is getting the ball rolling on the next sat ..... Even with D12 just going live, it wont be long til D12 is FULL and we are waiting for D14... lol...


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

While I'm happy to see another Ka sat on order (along with RDBS) I thought on a recent conference call the CEO said the next sat order would be a replacemenr/spare.


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## Satelliteracer (Dec 6, 2006)

D14 Festivus....get out the Festivus pole


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## TheRatPatrol (Oct 1, 2003)

Oh great, another D* satellite anticipation thread. Way to torture us D*!  

Looks like we'll get every available HD channel out there now.

Any guesses as to where its going to be parked, 99?


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## LameLefty (Sep 29, 2006)

Satelliteracer said:


> D14 Festivus....get out the Festivus pole


You are terrible! :lol:


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

Up to post #56 and I would have thought by now there would be the discussion starting on how the RDBS band will impact current installs. Do we need new LNB's, are those expensive SWiM16's that folks got going to need to be replaced?


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## JoeTheDragon (Jul 21, 2008)

TheRatPatrol said:


> Oh great, another D* satellite anticipation thread. Way to torture us D*!
> 
> Looks like we'll get every available HD channel out there now.
> 
> Any guesses as to where its going to be parked, 99?


how about adding all OTA HD feeds and all Canadian HD feeds to the other of market packs?


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## kevinwmsn (Aug 19, 2006)

Where is this bird going? We'll going to need to have 100 channels in 3D:eek2:.


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## matt (Jan 12, 2010)

kevinwmsn said:


> Where is this bird going? We'll going to need to have 100 channels *of on demand movies*:eek2:.


Fixed it for ya. :grin:


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## alnielsen (Dec 31, 2006)

And what are they going to fill it up with? It looks, at the moment, that there isn't enough programming to fill D12.

I also looks like a couple of my receivers have to be replaced.


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## ub1934 (Dec 30, 2005)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> Saw that too...
> 
> Big, better, stronger...
> 
> It's the American way. :lol:


20 KW = less rain fade :grin:


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

ub1934 said:


> 20 KW = less rain fade :grin:


...and maybe it will handle my microwave popcorn while watching HD at the same time...


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## DodgerKing (Apr 28, 2008)

Jeremy W said:


> Depends on how far you're willing to stretch the definition of "pieces." :lol:





Jeremy W said:


> Depends on how far you're willing to stretch the definition of "soon." :lol:


:lol::lol:


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## HoTat2 (Nov 16, 2005)

kevinwmsn said:


> Where is this bird going? We'll going to need to have 100 channels in 3D:eek2:.


99 WL seems to be the most logical destination, where it will likely essentially duplicate what D12 is now doing at 103 WL. With new CONUS beam transponders on Ka A-band, but I assume unlike with D12's 4 BSS spots will be fully CONUS BSS beams (RDBS).

Or at least I'm not aware of any competing firms holding BSS licenses at 99 WL as our "cry foul" Spectrum 5 friends do at 103 WL.


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## Visman (Feb 17, 2008)

Were is it located


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## Groundhog45 (Nov 10, 2005)

Well, it's about time they got started on this. I was getting worried.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

alnielsen said:


> It looks, at the moment, that there isn't enough programming to fill D12.


There are more existing HD channels than DirecTV will have room for, even including D12.


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## Halo (Jan 13, 2006)

20,000 watts.
For comparison,
The first 3 directv sats were 4300 watts. The first comsat capable of transmitting TV signals (Telstar 1- not geostationary) was 14 watts.


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## Coca Cola Kid (Jul 19, 2009)

Calm down guys. D14 is fine and will be on service as planned.


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## timmmaaayyy2003 (Jan 27, 2008)

Coca Cola Kid said:


> Calm down guys. D14 is fine and will be on service as planned.


Is that "On Service" or "In Service"? There's a difference, you know.:sure:


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## Alan Gordon (Jun 7, 2004)

TheRatPatrol said:


> Any guesses as to where its going to be parked, 99?





HoTat2 said:


> 99 WL seems to be the most logical destination, where it will likely essentially duplicate what D12 is now doing at 103 WL. With new CONUS beam transponders on Ka A-band, but I assume unlike with D12's 4 BSS spots will be fully CONUS BSS beams (RDBS).


Ditto! I think the KA and BSS payloads give it away...



alnielsen said:


> And what are they going to fill it up with? It looks, at the moment, that there isn't enough programming to fill D12.





Jeremy W said:


> There are more existing HD channels than DirecTV will have room for, even including D12.


Exactly! I think D14 will satisfy most of us...

~Alan


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## LameLefty (Sep 29, 2006)

HoTat2 said:


> 99 WL seems to be the most logical destination, where it will likely essentially duplicate what D12 is now doing at 103 WL. With new CONUS beam transponders on Ka A-band, but I assume unlike with D12's 4 BSS spots will be fully CONUS BSS beams (RDBS).
> 
> Or at least I'm not aware of any competing firms holding BSS licenses at 99 WL as our "cry foul" Spectrum 5 friends do at 103 WL.


That sounds logical to me, provided there aren't any potential interference issues with other North American BSS allocations at 99 (like the Ciel situation at 103º for Canada).


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## spear61 (Sep 19, 2004)

Their deliveries are in the 24 to 30 month range so this one will likely launch in late spring or summer 2012.

Loral received zero (0) orders in the first quarter and had been nervious about an order slump.


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## Groundhog45 (Nov 10, 2005)

spear61 said:


> Their deliveries are in the 24 to 30 month range so this one will likely launch in late spring or summer 2012.


Cool, they can start broadcasting on December 21st. Celebrate the start of the new calendar.


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

Groundhog45 said:


> Cool, they can start broadcasting on December 21st. Celebrate the start of the new calendar.


...of course...that might require a new orbit as well...


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## ATARI (May 10, 2007)

Groundhog45 said:


> Cool, they can start broadcasting on December 21st. Celebrate the start of the new calendar.


Just great -- I get a whole bunch of new HD channels and then the world ends.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

LameLefty said:


> As usual, you miss half the point. The U.S. government, which is a decidedly non-trivial consumer of satellites, has kept Boeing Satellite Systems quite busy with the WGS SATCOM line, the new GOES-P satellite, the SBSS satellites, the new GPS IIF satellites . . .


If the issue was who is building government satellites, you might have a point. The point I was making was related to the kind of satellites that DIRECTV would utilize.


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## bjlc (Aug 20, 2004)

so when is the launch date? soon? Hurry up, because the new satellite doesn't do it for me any more.. WE NEED MORE.. RIGHT NOW.. hurry.. get it built and up there.. Next month.. is there a Sea Launch available? I bet we could get right in.. right now.. no waiting.. 

is it built yet.. WHY NOT? when does the thread start? GEES why are you guys being so patient? Lets get this thing going already..


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## Coca Cola Kid (Jul 19, 2009)

bjlc said:


> so when is the launch date? soon? Hurry up, because the new satellite doesn't do it for me any more.. WE NEED MORE.. RIGHT NOW.. hurry.. get it built and up there.. Next month.. is there a Sea Launch available? I bet we could get right in.. right now.. no waiting..
> 
> is it built yet.. WHY NOT? when does the thread start? GEES why are you guys being so patient? Lets get this thing going already..


+1 I want 300 HD channels NOW!!! :eek2:


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## jsg (Apr 15, 2010)

HoTat2 said:


> 99 WL seems to be the most logical destination, where it will likely essentially duplicate what D12 is now doing at 103 WL. With new CONUS beam transponders on Ka A-band, but I assume unlike with D12's 4 BSS spots will be fully CONUS BSS beams (RDBS).
> 
> Or at least I'm not aware of any competing firms holding BSS licenses at 99 WL as our "cry foul" Spectrum 5 friends do at 103 WL.


Do we know whether the current fleet has enough spot beam capacity to cover LIL completely? It it doesn't it seems to me that some of the BSS capacity might again be spot beams.

While they don't have the legal motivation to cover all DMAs E* has, I doubt that they will want E* to have a coverage advantage and the related bragging rights.


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## kevinwmsn (Aug 19, 2006)

Coca Cola Kid said:


> +1 I want 300 HD channels NOW!!! :eek2:


We could have that and more once D10 comes back online and we shutdown all SD on 101 and replace it with HD. However, it might bother some people with SD boxes.


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## Mark Walters (Sep 21, 2009)

D14 will cost $10 a month. It will be available when the 24 month free HD access expires.  It was a trick all along.


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## wmb (Dec 18, 2008)

harsh said:


> If the issue was who is building government satellites, you might have a point. The point I was making was related to the kind of satellites that DIRECTV would utilize.


What 'kind' would that be? Seems they could 'utilize' any satellite that can hold and power radio signals in the appropriate frequency range. Your limitation is like saying you can only use a compatible TV with DirecTV service. One of those huge requirements that elimates just about nothing.

The issue is not who is bulding government satellites. The issue is who has spare capacity. Someone with a large backlog, regardless of customer type is likely to have much less available capacity.

I'm wondering if they will use SpaceX. Maybe they can actually launch from the US.


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## LameLefty (Sep 29, 2006)

wmb said:


> I'm wondering if they will use SpaceX. Maybe they can actually launch from the US.


SpaceX Falcon 9 does not the GTO capability for a satellite as massive as the 702HP models as outfitted for D10/11 and 12, though they might be able to manage a medium-sized SS/L 1300 if it's not any heavier than Directv's other 1300-bus satellites. But be that as it may, SpaceX hasonly only had 1 launch of the F9 at all so far, and its second stage had some anomalies during flight - an increasing roll plus a failure to restart for the second burn as planned. These problems will no doubt be resolved with time, and there will be subsequent flights before F9 enters commercial service, but at this point it's pretty premature to think of them lofting a big commercial comsat.

Of course, a lot can change in the next 24 - 36 months before this satellite is likely to fly. 

Of course, a lot


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

kevinwmsn said:


> We could have that and more once D10 comes back online and we shutdown all SD on 101 and replace it with HD. However, it might bother some people with SD boxes.


Only 30 to 40 MILLION SD boxes out there... 

D14 will be launched long before the SD boxes are all replaced.

And D14 will be 1 tenth the cost...

And some satellites will be required to be launched or DIRECTV loses their licenses...

So maybe D14 is a better buy... 

Cheers,
Tom


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

When would we know who would be launching D14? Would Arianespace be able to handle this launch or is it too big for their launchers? What's the status of SeaLaunch, are they expected to resume sea operations and be a possible launch provider?


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## LameLefty (Sep 29, 2006)

RAD said:


> When would we know who would be launching D14? Would Arianespace be able to handle this launch or is it too big for their launchers? What's the status of SeaLaunch, are they expected to resume sea operations and be a possible launch provider?


Ariane would have no problem with this launch; however, their current Ariane 5 is oversized for single comsats, having originally been sized to launch ESA's since-canceled Hermes spaceplane. Consequently, most Ariane 5 missions are dual-launches, putting up two satellites at once. If Arianespace can schedule and coordinate a second payload, Ariane 5 would work just fine. The reduced-size Ariane 6 is years away from service, but Russian Soyuz rockets (the booster, not the manned spacecraft) are going to begin operating from Arianespace's Kourou spaceport soon. However, they are too small for a satellite of the size used by Directv.

SeaLaunch is still in the midst of their bankruptcy reorganization - it is unclear when they will return to commercial service, though the current target is apparently around mid-2011 if all the ducks line up right.


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## Supershooters (Mar 12, 2007)

I don't get Directv's fixation with Ka-band. I wouldn't want to subscribe to it in the rainy areas.


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## LameLefty (Sep 29, 2006)

Supershooters said:


> I don't get Directv's fixation with Ka-band. I wouldn't want to subscribe to it in the rainy areas.


Bandwidth. With a properly aligned dish, I lose signal on my HD locals for a TOTAL of maybe 10 minutes a year, during the absolute heaviest storm cells of the summer. HD nationals go out maybe twice as much. That's it. And my dish still could be tweaked a bit more.


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## evan_s (Mar 4, 2008)

jsg said:


> Do we know whether the current fleet has enough spot beam capacity to cover LIL completely? It it doesn't it seems to me that some of the BSS capacity might again be spot beams.
> 
> While they don't have the legal motivation to cover all DMAs E* has, I doubt that they will want E* to have a coverage advantage and the related bragging rights.


It's really hard to say if DirecTV could provide 100% coverage of all DMA's with its existing fleet. Coverage for locals is all about the design of the spot beams and how much reuse you can get from those spots. I suspect that D10 and D12 could allow greater reuse of those spots frequencies and combined with Spaceway 1 and 2's phased arrays that allow them to change the size and location of the spots they provide that DirecTV could provide 100% of all locals if they wanted to.

Long term I suspect that 103 BSS will be heavily used for spots for locals since the ITU decided to give out licenses there for multiple contries. Spectrum 5 (Dutch Antilles) and Ceil (Canadian company) both have licenses for BSS from 103 and Ceil's license was authorized by ITU first so they have priority. That means any usage by DirecTV would have to avoid interfering with Ceil's Canadian license which pretty much dictates spots.


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## tkrandall (Oct 3, 2003)

Concerning BSS and the receiver side of things, is the thinking that BSS delivered channels will require SWM setups and an LNB swap (for the BSS frequencies), but otherwise the existing SWM distribution architecture will be used from the Dish/LNB to the receivers?


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## evan_s (Mar 4, 2008)

LameLefty said:


> Bandwidth. With a properly aligned dish, I lose signal on my HD locals for a TOTAL of maybe 10 minutes a year, during the absolute heaviest storm cells of the summer. HD nationals go out maybe twice as much. That's it. And my dish still could be tweaked a bit more.


To expand on this a little more. Each Ka slot has 2 500mhz blocks, twice what a ku block has. They also have closers spacing, so 99/103 are closer than 2 Ku blocks would be and they provide the equivalent of 4 Ku blocks. This is really helpful for ease of installation as you need a much smaller LoS window than either of dishes eastern or western arc.

DirecTV sacrifices some of that additional bandwidth by using a different encoding and higher amount of error correction to improve the signal reliability but even then they still end up having a lot more useable bandwidth from a tight grouping of stats. Once D14 goes into service, the large amount of bandwidth available from the Ka slots should put DirecTV at over 300 HD channels all with out having to down-res the channels or compress them as much as Dish does.

Also when DirecTV went for their Ka build out there really wasn't any other options available. Dish had to grab a bunch of other sats spread out all over the place and downrez their HD to keep up with the number of HD channels they could provide. Dish did/does have some Ka applications but they were unable to build and launch the sats to meet their milestones. Most notably one at 97, which DirecTV filed an application for but last I heard the FCC said hold on DirecTV we haven't actually forfeited dish's license yet even tho they haven't met any of their milestones for actually using the allocation.


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## tkrandall (Oct 3, 2003)

Also, Dish/Echostar is expected to deploy reverse band on both eastern and western arcs, to they will also be using this spectrum with is close to Ka in frequency.


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## jefbal99 (Sep 7, 2007)

Supershooters said:


> I don't get Directv's fixation with Ka-band. I wouldn't want to subscribe to it in the rainy areas.





LameLefty said:


> Bandwidth. With a properly aligned dish, I lose signal on my HD locals for a TOTAL of maybe 10 minutes a year, during the absolute heaviest storm cells of the summer. HD nationals go out maybe twice as much. That's it. And my dish still could be tweaked a bit more.


Agreed with Lefty 100%, only the heaviest of thunderstorms completely take out my signal. I had many more issues with Comcast during storms because of underground lines and cloud to ground lightning.

The bandwidth provided by the KA blocks will set DirecTV up for years to come. Especially if/when MPEG2 goes away completely.


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## alnielsen (Dec 31, 2006)

jefbal99 said:


> Agreed with Lefty 100%, only the heaviest of thunderstorms completely take out my signal. I had many more issues with Comcast during storms because of underground lines and cloud to ground lightning.
> 
> The bandwidth provided by the KA blocks will set DirecTV up for years to come. Especially if/when MPEG2 goes away completely.


One of the reasons I left Comcast so long ago, was not only picture quality, but I would loose my signal all of a sudden on a clear Saturday afternoon for several hours. At least with a rain storm you know theres a reason for LoS.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

evan_s said:


> I suspect that D10 and D12 could allow greater reuse of those spots frequencies and combined with Spaceway 1 and 2's phased arrays that allow them to change the size and location of the spots they provide that DirecTV could provide 100% of all locals if they wanted to.


I'm not of a mind this is supported by the Schedule S of the D10 and D12 satellites. It is also not entirely reasonable to include the Spaceways as DIRECTV has essentially unloaded Spaceway 1 and announced that D11 was to be a "partial replacement" for Spaceway 2.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

LameLefty said:


> Bandwidth. With a properly aligned dish, I lose signal on my HD locals for a TOTAL of maybe 10 minutes a year, during the absolute heaviest storm cells of the summer. HD nationals go out maybe twice as much. That's it. And my dish still could be tweaked a bit more.


Agreed. My signal went out last night, but with the tornado sirens going off, it was one of those storms that you might consider unplugging things and heading to the basement with a weather radio.


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## ddobson (Nov 25, 2003)

Jeremy W said:


> I heard a rumor that D14 is in pieces right now.


Reese's Pieces... ET Home Phone.........


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