Date: Tue, 26 Mar 1996 04:29:27 GMT Reply-To: Direct Broadcast Satellite Technology From: Franklin Werren Subject: DTV/USSB Lineup update This is the Channel Lineup for the Direct TV/USSB DBS System off my Showroom My Showroom uses a Basic RCA DSS IR Remote system for DTV/USSB HTS system with UHF Remote for the DISH Network Startrak 800 with a UHF Remote for standard C/Ku Update 3-24-96 Source Signal Station DSS Channel Satellite Channel Scrambler DTV 100 DTV PPV 101-199 DTV 200 CNN 202 G5-05 VC2 Court 203 C3-06 DVC CNN/HN 204 G5-22 VC2 ESPN 206 G5-09 VC2 ESP ALT 207 Part Time G1-09 & 14 VC2 ESPN 2 208 G5-14 VC2 ESP 2 ALT 209 Part Time G1-09 & 14 VC2 DTV 210 TNT 212 G5-17 VC2 HSN 213 C4-10 ITC HGTV 214 G1-20 ITC/VC2 E! 215 C3-23 VC2 MUCH 216 G6-09 VC2 BET 217 G5-20 ITC/VC2 AMC 219 C4-01 VC2 TCM 220 G1-16 VC2 A&E 221 G5-23 VC2 HIST 222 C3-12 VC2 DIS 1 (E) 223 G5-01 VC2 DIS 2 (W) 224 G1-07 VC2 DISC (E) 225 C4-21 VC2 DISC (W) NONE G5-12 VC2 TLC 226 C3-02 ITC TOON 227 G1-08 VC2 USA (E) 229 G5-19 VC2 USA (W) NONE G1-21 VC2 TRIO 230 ??? FAM (E) 232 G5-11 VC2 FAM (W) NONE C3-01 VC2 TBS 233 G5-06 VC2 TNN 235 G5-18 VC2 CMT 236 C4-24 VC2 SCI-FI 240 G5-04 VC2 CSP1 242 C3-07 ITC CSP2 243 C4-19 ITC BIT 245 ??? CNBC 246 G5-13 VC2 AT 247 G1-10 VC2 TWC 248 C3-13 VC2 NWI (CBC) 250 E1-16 OAK CNNI 252 G1-15 VC2 TRAV 254 C4-13 VC2 BRAV 258 C4-07 VC2 IFC 1/2 TIME 266 FULL TIME G6-13 VC2 STZW 269 G1-13 DVC NEW S4-18 VC2 STZE 270 G1-13 DVC S4-11 VC2 ENCR 271 G1-03 VC2 LOVE 272 G1-13 DVC WSTN 273 G1-13 DVC NEW S4-04 VC2 MYST 274 G1-13 DVC ACTN 275 G1-13 DVC TRUE 276 G1-13 DVC WAM! 277 G1-13 DVC ENC+ 278 G1-13 DVC CBS WRAL 282 G4-14 VC2 CBS KPIX 283 S4-24 VC2 NBC WNBC 284 G4-22 VC2 NBC KNBC 285 S4-06 VC2 PBS KRMA 286 C1-03 VC2 ABC WJLA 287 G4-10 VC2 ABC KOMO 288 S4-08 VC2 FOX (Nat) 289 S4-10 or C1-19 VC2 TVA 298 G6-12 Digital ? DTV 299 DTV 300 DTV 301 NWSP 303 S2-22 VC2 GOLF 304 G7-07 VC2 CSN 305 G7-23ku ITC SV 306 ??? OV 307 ??? SCNE 309 S2-21 VC2 MSG 310 C4-06 VC2 NESN 311 C3-14 VC2 SCNY 312 S2-01 VC2 EMP 313 S2-ku Digital SCPH 314 S2-11 VC2 PKBL 315 ??? Digital ? HTS 316 S3-23 VC2 SPTS 317 Part Time S3-19 VC2 SUN 318 C1-24 VC2 PASS 320 S3-21 VC2 SCOH 321 C1-15 VC2 SCCN 322 C3-11 VC2 SCCH 323 C1-13 VC2 MSC 324 G6-15 VC2 PSSW 325 C1-10 VC2 PS 326 C1-17 VC2 PSW 331 C1-07 VC2 SCP 332 C1-04 VC2 DTV 335 NFL Sunday T. 336-350 T1-01 to 09 VC2 NFL Sunday T. 350 Add from DTV NBA 351-369? NHL 370-379? DTV 380 ESPN Full C. 390+ Part Time G1-09 or 14 or ??? VC2 ADLT (SPICE) 401 Part Time T4-15 Full Time VC2 PBTV 402 G5-02 VC2 MC1-31 501-531 NRTC 599 ??? RDTV 790 ??? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- USSB Channels Private 879 USSB 899 ANC 963 ??? VH1 965 C4-23 VC2 LIFE (E) 967 C4-04 VC2 LIFE (W) NONE C3-04 VC2 NICK (E) 968 C4-03 VC2 NICK (W) NONE C3-18 VC2 FLIX 970 G3-24 VC2 MAX (E) 973 G1-19 VC2 MAX 2 974 G3-17 VC2 MAX (W) 975 G5-16 VC2 TMC (E) 977 C3-17 VC2 TMC (W) 978 C4-22 VC2 HBO (E) 980 G5-15 VC2 HBO 2 (E) 981 G3-16 VC2 HBO 3 982 G3-19 VC2 HBO (W) 983 G5-08 VC2 HBO 2 (W) 984 G3-20 VC2 SHO (E) 985 C3-15 VC2 SHO 2 986 G3-10 VC2 SHO (W) 987 C4-20 VC2 MTV (E) 989 C4-17 VC2 MTV (W) NONE C3-16 VC2 COM (E) 990 C3-21 VC2 COM (W) NONE G1-01 VC2 SUND 995 ??? USSB 999 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ITC = In The Clear on C-Band, no subscription needed VC2 = VideoCypher 2 or VideoCypher 2+/rs, Not all channels on the commerical side uses the 2+/rs boards. All home users use the VideoCypher 2+ or 2+/rs boards DVC = DigiCypher ??? = Unknown source or scrambling method. ITC/VC2 = In the process of converting to VC2 and is In The Clear now or is part time OAK = Oak Orion Decoder ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DBS channels labeled as NONE but shows a source channel means that DTV/USSB does not carry that second feed Channels labeled DTV or USSB are Barker Channels or Info Channels PBS KMRA may be picked up via local antenna at the uplink site in Castle Rock Co. and does not use the satellite to pick up this station. This station is placed on C-Band satellite by Netlink who is owned by TCI. There are other Denver stations available via c-band satellite, called the Denver 5 + 1 (FOX). If DTV evered put all the Denver stations on Direct, it may cause a stir with TCI who is part owner of Primestar. MTV-VH1-NICK Stations may also be scrambled using the Compressed Digi Cypher on C3-19, Show-TMC are using G5-24 and HBO is using G1-18. I do not know which format is being used by USSB on getting their siginals. The Newsworld channel on DSS 250 does according to reports is edited, with BBC and other major news programs left out. This means DTV controls this channel content more than the other channels with adds insertion. As far as the Sports Packages are going like NHL and NBA, they will pick up the actual Sports Channel like MSG and also send it out on the NBA/MLB or NFL in order for them to keep track of the different blackout rules. On C-Band you only order SSN, Sports Channel and MWSC package to get it all, and the consumer Video Cypher keeps it straight, but the consumer gets more including Wild Feeds of different games. Right now a C-Band user only looses PKBL and Empire Sports, but most games are available via other sources. The C-Band customers only needs to plug a phone line in if they want Instant PPV. Sports on C-Band does not need a phone line connection. ESPN Full Court uses lots of ITC channels on both C and Ku and can be found almost anywhere in the sky. I expect that DTV is notified of what and where to get the games to re-uplink them to the DSS satellite. I expect that a number of stearable dishes are used for this. The Encore Channels unless noted are not available via C-Band, most are compressed on G1-13 using the Digicypher. Stars E & W, Western and Encore are the only ones available on C-Band. USSB this last Christmas used the EWTN feed on G1-11 for the the service from Rome. PPV on DTV is done in house and does not use the PPV services on C-Band to gets programming. USSB will use a C-Band feed for it's PPV live specials. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- There appear to be 13 different satellites used to pickup the listed programming. C1,C4,G1,C3,G5,E1,S4,G4,G3R,G7,S3,S2 C and KU. With G3R and T2R launched, I expect some moves of C-Band channels from T3 and G7 to the new satellites. I expect all the dishes that are used to receive the programming at DTV and USSB are dual C-Band feeds with digital C-Band Lnb's for any programming that uses the DigiCypher compression. The dish for Empire Sports on S2-ku is a 9 Ft using a Digital LNB and CLI digital receiver. This is because I installed a dish for Empire at a Cable Co. and was supplied by Empire Sports. PKBL also may use the same format on S2-ku, but I do not know. I bet that DTV and USSB combined have at least 14 dishes or more, some may be combined like C1, C4,G1,C3 into a single dish, but I also think they have spares that are moveable across the arc. Boy I would love to see a Picture of there dish farm !!!! I would also expect that each station transmitted is monitor both up and down in a control room of some sort. Downlink would be an 18" dish and a number of RCA basic receivers, each on a differnt channel. This makes sense because if a problem is happening, it is easier to see what is happening at the coustomers house. ======================================================================= Updates are made when major changes happen. The following changes happened, The T3 channels moved to G3 in the USSB lineup. Several new channels in the DTV lineup have been added. There was a Sports channel lineup number changes on DTV. ADULT Channel on DSS is SPICE, and is full time on c-band and part time on DSS WABC NYC on March 1, 1996 will be dumped for WJLA-Washington DC and have a fiber link to the c-band uplink. WABC was uplinked using an off air antenna to get the station and caused many problems with picture quality and too many customer complaints. This a PrimeTime 24 change, not a DTV change. ======================================================================= DSS-1,2 and 3 are located at 100 deg. West next to S4 at 101 degs. Echostar 1 is at 119 degs West between T3 and M2 The slot at 110 degs is not in use yet. The dish and LNB of the DSS and Echostar system are interchangable but the LNB's are not configured to be interchangeable between the DSS and Echostar dishes but by using a little duct tape in an emergency, you can use it in a pinch until the right LNB arrives. I did not try a Sony LNB but the same physical construction may be a problem. ======================================================================= If there is a correction or addition needed, please e-mail me. Franklin Werren, Sysop of Highland BBS (716) 761-6451 Frank's Radio, a TVRO, DSS, Cell and 2-way Radio Dealer P.O. Box 990 and Cable Eng. Sherman NY 14781-0990 (716) 753-3500 Fax (716) 761-6460 N2JYG fswerren @ epix.net