# Foreign language channels getting more popular



## Chris Blount (Jun 22, 2001)

More and more Americans don't speak English at home, and pay TV companies are noticing.

Once a neglected group, recent immigrants and other multilingual Americans are getting some TV viewing options these days from Chinese variety shows to Mexican soap operas to Polish news.

EchoStar Communications Corp., whose Dish service is seen as the leader in the field, is starting to face more competition as rival satellite TV company DirecTV Group Inc. ramps up its foreign-language offerings.

At the same time, cable companies, some of which already had substantial offerings in certain markets, are expanding or repackaging their services.

Statistics explain the increased interest. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, nearly one in five U.S. residents about 47 million people now speaks a language other than English at home. That's 15 million more people than in 1990 and double the number in 1980.

*More*


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## Evil Capserian (Jul 28, 2003)

Dish might be the leader for international programming but the price they charge for 2 international channels 24.95 when you can AT top 60 for 2 dollars more? Hmm, I think I will learn english and get more for my money.


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## TNGTony (Mar 23, 2002)

We've been thought this argument a dozen times. There are a few things at play here:
1) Oportunity cost: The satellite space costs the sam whether one person is watching or 13 million. If you have a with a potential paying audience of 13 million you can charge a lot less than a channel with a potential paying audience of say a half million people and make the same revenue.

2) Supply and demand: You can get all the AT60 channels from at least 3 sources just about everywhere in the country. You can't say that about any channel in Tamil or Portuguese.

3) Cost of the backhaul and copyrights to sell the programs in the US. Many of the international channels have to be beamed via satellite from another part of the world to the US via satellite. Some one has to absorb that cost.

Is Dish making a lot of money from these channels? Yup. But so what? When competition starts to eat away at the market share, the capitalist system will work its magic.

See ya
Tony


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## gglockner (Mar 25, 2004)

Where I disagree with you is that people are paying extra to view these foreign-language channels. OTOH, if you add another basic channel, most people are going to expect it in one of their regular packages.


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## kenglish (Oct 2, 2004)

A small Ku dish and FTA receiver will get you over 100 free channels of TV and many dozens of free radio, just from IAm-5 (ex. Telstar-5). Adding a Horizon-to-Horizon motor will add hundreds more. All for about $200-500.
Save your money to buy the few that are not free.


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## rid0617 (Dec 27, 2004)

Ah you beat me to it. If all you want are foreign channels a FTA receiver and dish will set you back about $200-$225. Point it at T-5 and you will get all the foreign channels you could want plus some religious. My system cost me $320 with the motor and I can scan all the satellites at no charge. The only charge you will ever pay again with this system.

Satworks 3688
Horizon to horizon motor
30" dish

Mounted on a 5 foot pole in the back yard


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