Question of CSN-Chicago HD

[jgags6]

Ive heard around that CSN will be showing all home and away games of the white sox and cubs in HD this year, does anyone know if Dish will be showing all the games or will they just be showing the home games?

 

[hockeynut5150]

Ive heard around that CSN will be showing all home and away games of the white sox and cubs in HD this year, does anyone know if Dish will be showing all the games or will they just be showing the home games?

they should be showing what the RSN produces in HD

 

[jgags6]

Thats what I was thinking, but you never know with dish.

 

[talljoel]

CSN Chicago and CSN Chicago+ will be producing all Cubs and White Sox home and away games in HD.

The people at Dish who handle e-mail questions don't have a clue when it comes to CSN and CSN+.

I sent an e-mail asking if Dish would show in HD the games that are on CSN+. In my e-mail I explained CSN+ telecasts are provided to Comcast SportsNet affiliates and distributed to viewers when two life events are scheduled simultaneously.

Dish responded by stating Comcast SportsNet Chicago in HD is not currently available. They would like to add it but they do not know if or when that will happen.

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The first road game this season is March 31 - White Sox at Cleveland. The on screen program guide shows the game will be on channel 429. The guide does not show the game will be on HD channel 429HD. I'm a glutton for punishment. I sent Dish an e-mail asking why they are not showing the game in HD when it is being produced in HD.

I received an other classic response from Dish. " Dish Network is not responsible for any of the programming content shown on stations carried on the satellite. Each network has control over its own programming lineup. Please understand the programming offered by Dish Network does not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the corporation."

I think Dish will show the home and away games in HD. I do agree with jgags6 - you never know with Dish. And asking Dish is an exercise in futility

 

[flyingsquirrel]

From a friend at CSN, they understand that Dish will be showing all HD Events in HD. Whether they are home or away, White Sox, Cubs, Bulls or Black Hawks is immaterial. Apparently there is a "Flag" on the program guide that they send Dish that indicates that an HD event is on, and then it is on HD on Dish. I have found this to be true when CSNChicago was televising HD basketball or Football. Also, there should be very few occasions when Comcast Sports Net Chicago is doing two HD events at once. The CSN guys was not sure they could even do that, technically. And he thought that there will be fewer total baseball games on CSN for that reason (see below)

The bigger issue is that many of these "overflow" HD games will be on either WGN or WCIU, neither of which Dish carries in HD. So it you don't have OTA, you are out of luck for those games for the foreseable future.

 

[js6425]

The bigger issue is that many of these "overflow" HD games will be on either WGN or WCIU, neither of which Dish carries in HD. So it you don't have OTA, you are out of luck for those games for the foreseable future.

Dish did uplink WGN9 (local) in HD last week on 61.5, they just haven't made it available yet.

 

[flyingsquirrel]

A lot of people near Lake Michigan can't see 61.5 (including me) and Nothing has been said about WCIU, which will have more than 25% of the Cubs and Sox games.

Also, with the low look angle, trees are a real problem with 61.5, even away from the Lake.

 

[rad]

A lot of people near Lake Michigan can't see 61.5 (including me) and Nothing has been said about WCIU, which will have more than 25% of the Cubs and Sox games.

Also, with the low look angle, trees are a real problem with 61.5, even away from the Lake.

Don't know about your lake issue but when I had E* out in Mundelein no problem hitting 61.5. I know of others in Norridge, Lake in the Hills, Willowbrook, Evanston, Grayslake that also have no problems with 61.5.

 

[talljoel]

From a friend at CSN, they understand that Dish will be showing all HD Events in HD. Whether they are home or away, White Sox, Cubs, Bulls or Black Hawks is immaterial. Apparently there is a "Flag" on the program guide that they send Dish that indicates that an HD event is on, and then it is on HD on Dish. I have found this to be true when CSNChicago was televising HD basketball or Football. Also, there should be very few occasions when Comcast Sports Net Chicago is doing two HD events at once. The CSN guys was not sure they could even do that, technically. And he thought that there will be fewer total baseball games on CSN for that reason (see below)

The bigger issue is that many of these "overflow" HD games will be on either WGN or WCIU, neither of which Dish carries in HD. So it you don't have OTA, you are out of luck for those games for the foreseable future.

There are numerous overflow games on Comcast SportsNet Plus.

Chicago Cubs 2008 Schedule (with television schedule)

White Sox 2008 TV Broadcast Schedule -- chicagotribune.com

I sent an e-mail to Comcast SportsNet Chicago asking if the overflow games will be in HD and if they are in HD will Dish Network make those games available for their customers.

I received the following reply. " We anticipate Dish Network will carry our games including overflow games in HD.

There are channels for overflow games ; 444HD, 445HD, 446HD - HD Sports Alternates

I think Dish will show all the Comcast Sports Net Chicago HD games in HD. But, asking Dish if all the Comcast Sports Net HD games will be made available in HD is a waste of time. When I asked that question I was told they do not have CSN HD. So, the only way to know for sure if Dish will show the CSN games in HD is to wait and see what they do.

If I didn't have an OTA I would not be able to get the games on WGN and WCIU in HD. As mention Dish does not have those channels in HD.

 

[flyingsquirrel]

You information confirms mine. I would expect Dish to carry all the games in HD on CSN HD or the "alt" channels. And asking Dish about it is foolhardy.

It gets hairy with rain delays, though. I remember a game or two getting cut off last summer.

61.5 is a problem for me in the Winter when you get that constant fog bank over the Lake. Not so much in the summer.

But when Dish was using 61.5 for the lesser viewed locals like 26, 50, etc., it was tough to get those in the evenings. Really low signal strength. A friend of mine in Highland Park often lost those signals, and I have seen the same situation in eastern Wisconsin. And near the Des Plaines River in Libertyville, where there is a big hill in the way.

I guess my point is that near the lake 61.5 is not nearly as good as 110, 129, 119, etc. So I don't understand why they would move the locals. Just seems like Dish is making things harder than they need to.

 

[rad]

I guess my point is that near the lake 61.5 is not nearly as good as 110, 129, 119, etc. So I don't understand why they would move the locals. Just seems like Dish is making things harder than they need to.

IMHO, they need to free up CONUS transponders so they can add national HD channels and the only way they can really do that now is to move the HD locals on CONUS to the spot beam transponders that they've had on Rainbow 1/E12 that they haven't been using until now.

 

[flyingsquirrel]

IMHO, they need to free up CONUS transponders so they can add national HD channels and the only way they can really do that now is to move the HD locals on CONUS to the spot beam transponders that they've had on Rainbow 1/E12 that they haven't been using until now.

Just asking: How many subscribers does Dish have in Chicago DMA? 100,000 out of 3 million total households? And how many of those have a Dish pointed at 61.5? Probably less than half. That's a lot of service calls.

 

[rad]

Just asking: How many subscribers does Dish have in Chicago DMA? 100,000 out of 3 million total households? And how many of those have a Dish pointed at 61.5? Probably less than half. That's a lot of service calls.

They've done things like that before when they had some of the locals on 61.5 and the FCC mandated that anyone that wanted it could get a free dish until E* put all the SD locals on a single dish. And if you wanted any HD a number of years ago that also required a 61.5 dish. So I think you'll find there's more then you think already installed.

 

[flyingsquirrel]

They've done things like that before when they had some of the locals on 61.5 and the FCC mandated that anyone that wanted it could get a free dish until E* put all the SD locals on a single dish. And if you wanted any HD a number of years ago that also required a 61.5 dish. So I think you'll find there's more then you think already installed.

I think you have it backwards. The FCC mandated that Dish go from a 2-dish system to a one-dish system. I read somewhere that BEFORE that happened less than half of the DIsh subscribers had both dishes. The NAB used this argument to get the FCC to get rid of the 2-dish system because the second-dish locals we at a disadvantage.

My guess is to comply with the ruling Dish would have to move ALL chicago locals to 61.5 and OFF of 129. That sounds silly. That would easily cost a million dollars and take many months. I guess I am not sure what the advantage is in a DMA like Chicago. I can see the logic in someplace like Grand Rapids.

 

[rad]

I think you have it backwards. The FCC mandated that Dish go from a 2-dish system to a one-dish system. I read somewhere that BEFORE that happened less than half of the DIsh subscribers had both dishes. The NAB used this argument to get the FCC to get rid of the 2-dish system because the second-dish locals we at a disadvantage.

My guess is to comply with the ruling Dish would have to move ALLL chicago locals to 61.5 and OFF of 119. That sounds silly. That would easily cost a million dollars and take many months. I guess I am not sure what the advantage is in a DMA like Chicago. I can see the logic in someplace like Grand Rapids.

The FCC didn't care how many dishes you had just that all the SD locals in a DMA be located on a single dish. E* couldn't/wouldn't comply with that right away so in the mean time they would install a 61.5 and a switch for anyone that requested it. Now if you're talking about moving the HD to 61.5 on spotbeams they can still leave the SD on 119, nothing says that SD and HD have to be available on a single dish at this time. If they've modified their rule that says the SD and HD locals all need to be on a single dish I missed that and I'm sorry.

 

[flyingsquirrel]

I think you have to have ALL HD locals on one dish. I could be wrong. Judging by my dishes, I don't think you could have a dish that sees 129 and 61.5

 

[ehren]

I hope it gets moved to 61.5, especially now that the Chicago HD locals are now sportbeamed on that satellite now.