DirecTV Local Channels question
 

We just got DirecTV hooked up today. We are not in a Local Channels market so we will be getting the NY and LA feeds of the major networks, correct? Should we also be getting UPN and WB with those? Also, when my father called up to order our package, they CSA said it would take 45 days to get the networks... Does it really take this long? I thought you were supposed to get them hooked up right away.

Brian

You won't necessarily get the LA and NY feeds. If you have locals available in your area (by cable, digital cable or antennae) then you almost certainly won't be allowed to get the LA and NY feeds. Those are usually only for people in Montana, Alasaka, and other far out places that have no TV service.

I'm in Alaska... our network affiliates other than FOX were from Seattle and FOX was from Anchorage, but that's nowhere near me.

Brian

Hypothetical question:

Let's say you live in Boston and move to another part of the East Coast. Could you tell DirecTV that you still live in your old city and continue to receive your old local channels.

Not looking to do this (I don't even use DirectTV), just always wondered if it was possible.

Hypothetical answer: 1) DirectTV can accomodate a different service address and billing address. 2) You can change your billing address online almost instantly, once your new service address has activated its channel lineup.

When people on this board, or the Tivo or Home Theater boards, discuss "moving" -- in quotes -- they're typically referring to something that takes advantage of these facts. Do a search on those boards for a more complete reference. That's probably as far as I (or anyone else) should go in discussing it here.

bd -- If you live in an area where there is no over-the-air network coverage at all, I can't understand why they'd be making you wait for your distant networks, either.

adamblast- Not looking to break any rules, just was curious if this was something that was possible.

Thanks for the response.

The CSR that my dad was talking to last night must have not been trained very well or something... he called again today, the CSR talked to her supervisor, and indeed we were supposed to get all the Nets... so they're all working now :)

Still too bad DTV doesn't offer a "national" feed of UPN or The WB, but whatever.

Brian

That's the one major drawback of the service: no National feed of UPN or The WB. I got DirecTV in late '98, and had to wait 90 days until I could get network access. As I understand the regs, if you can get what they call a "Grade B" signal, or better, of your local network stations, you aren't eligible for Network feeds, this applies to ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS and FOX. I get good signals for all of those but ABC, and so I have access to WABC (New York) and KABC (Los Angeles)

One of my friends has Dish Network (what I originally planned on getting, but the trees around here made that impossible, conflicting with the sight lines of their satelite.), and he tells me that he has access to several feeds of both UPN and The WB.