[tseto]

Terrestial tv antenna can reach viewers at best 100 or so miles from the transmitters. As I always suspected. the 2 million plus homes with fta receivers all around north america represented a gigantic advertising base for commercial television. more people will flock to dbs tv if it is free. Free DBS is about to start broadcasting from a satellite in the 91 to 100 degree west orbital spot.
initial informations are:
equipment need. 22 to 39 inch dish
mpeg 2 compliant fta receiver, card slot will
be required for ppv events
footprint canada, united states, mexico
channels 18 to 22 digital channels in the clear
tvs sports, comedy and other events

sorry to learn that networks has been removed as was initially anounced.
reason given is that networks are available on ota.

don't go out and buy a system yet. wait until the the exact receiver informatons are released. as I understand, not all receivers will work 100%.

more informations from free dbs website if anyone is interested.

 

[travisc]

Doesn't sound quite legal to me?

 

[tseto]

FTA means free to air. all in the clear channels are always free and legal, no different than ota channel, the only difference is the mode of transmission. when you hack and decript an encripted channel without authorization, than you are stealing signal and breaking the law. the only exception is government communication channels not intended for public broadcast. they are always a no no. radar signal is one of those. in canada, an officer can and will confiscate your radar detector and may charge you for breaking the CRTC rules.

 

[nakedgord]

Doesn't sound quite legal to me?

They have their own channels that will be FTA - it's not like Space, SyFy, FX or Comedy will be on their dial and FTA is legal although usually it's foreign language programming where this will be english.

I'm not sure they'd be able to legally sell PPV to Canadians but the unencrypted FTA stuff is A-OK.

 

[JamesK]

in canada, an officer can and will confiscate your radar detector and may charge you for breaking the CRTC rules.

Actually, radar detectors fall under provincial traffic laws, because they're used to enable speeding, while avoiding tickets. Also, at the federal level, it's Industry Canada that regulates radio equipment and how it's used. The CRTC is responsible for broadcast operation, but not the actual transmitters.

There's nothing to stop you from using a radar detector in Canada, provided you don't use it while driving. Also, one band commonly used for police radar is shared with amateur radio. This means an amateur can even have a transmitter & receiver in his car on that band and it's entirely legal under federal law.

 

[tseto]

stand corrected
thanks

 

[ScaryBob]

sorry to learn that networks has been removed as was initially anounced

The probable reason for network deletion is that it would violate FCC rules regarding local broadcasters. In the US, no BDU service can provide out of market OTA network affiliates or broadcast stations. It might also create some issues under Canada/US broadcasting or copyright agreements and with copyright holders such as studios and networks.