Help with Directv and national feeds

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sgkane

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Dec 18, 2015
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83
We have Directv and since we are full timing we pay for the national feed service for Fox, NBC, CBS etc. No matter where we are in the US we get the east coast feeds. I spent almost two hours on the phone today being transferred from one customer service rep to another at Directv trying to figure out how to switch this to the west coast feeds. I've received the following advice:
1. Directv doesn't offer that service and you need to change your billing address to get the local channels.
2. You need to be on the west coast to receive west coast feed, currently I'm in Albuquerque, NM and apparently that is not far enough west.
3. They need to send a service tech out to my location to point the satellite to another satellite. I mentioned to them that I am currently locked into Sat 101 and asked which one I should be looking at, they told me only the service tech's have that info.

I'm thinking that maybe west coast vs east coast feeds might be location specific as opposed to a switch they do at headquarters  and since I'm using a dome SD dish that it's not able to lock into new locations. Does anyone know how this really works and if I buy a Traveler HD sat dish would that cure my issues and allow it to switch for east coast to west coast as we move around?

 
Satellite broadcast companies, like Directv, are regulated by FCC and local station broadcasts on satellite are determined by DMA (designated market area), which is linked to your billing zip code on Directv. It's my understanding that the only way to change the local channel lineup is to change your billing zip code that is linked to your satellite receiver box.
Antenna pointing is irrelevant.  As a Directv customer for many years, I took a receiver box from the bedroom and a portable satellite antenna on the road and just lived with the "home" local news and used the external digital antenna for actual local news feeds.
 
I took a receiver box from the bedroom and a portable satellite antenna on the road and just lived with the "home" local news and used the external digital antenna for actual local news feeds.

I've got a Trav'ler, but that's essentially what I do. It has the advantage (at least for me) that it doesn't disrupt scheduled recordings at home while I'm on the road, so I can watch them when I get back, if I don't catch them on the road. But for full time I guess I'd either live with what they gave me or use the OTA antenna to get local channels (I know, sometimes there's not much there), or both.
 
NY_Dutch said:
As I understand it, DTV bases DNS availability on your billing address, versus a locals change that's based on your service address.
Dutch - That was what I was thinking but my billing address is TX so you would think it would default to the west side. I know the locals like channel 04, 05 etc are determined by your billing address but I'm pretty convinced the national feeds (directv channels 390 etc) are controlled by another factor.
 
sgkane said:
Dutch - That was what I was thinking but my billing address is TX so you would think it would default to the west side. I know the locals like channel 04, 05 etc are determined by your billing address but I'm pretty convinced the national feeds (directv channels 390 etc) are controlled by another factor.

"Qualified customers living in Eastern/Central time zones receive the East Coast DNS feed while all others receive the West Coast feed."

https://www.att.com/esupport/article.html#!/directv/KM1102671
 
NY_Dutch said:
"Qualified customers living in Eastern/Central time zones receive the East Coast DNS feed while all others receive the West Coast feed."

https://www.att.com/esupport/article.html#!/directv/KM1102671

If you have a DVR, I can't understand why anyone would want the Western DNS feed.  We pretty much DVR everything and watch it when we want.  If we're on the West Coast the programs do come on pretty early as a result, but we're under no obligation to watch them until we wish to.
 
docj said:
If you have a DVR, I can't understand why anyone would want the Western DNS feed.  We pretty much DVR everything and watch it when we want.  If we're on the West Coast the programs do come on pretty early as a result, but we're under no obligation to watch them until we wish to.

Yes we use a DVR but some sporting events are only broadcast in the east or west feeds. That was my main reason in wanting Directv to change my feed.
 
sgkane said:
We have Directv and since we are full timing we pay for the national feed service for Fox, NBC, CBS etc. No matter where we are in the US we get the east coast feeds. I spent almost two hours on the phone today being transferred from one customer service rep to another at Directv trying to figure out how to switch this to the west coast feeds. I've received the following advice:
1. Directv doesn't offer that service and you need to change your billing address to get the local channels.
2. You need to be on the west coast to receive west coast feed, currently I'm in Albuquerque, NM and apparently that is not far enough west.
3. They need to send a service tech out to my location to point the satellite to another satellite. I mentioned to them that I am currently locked into Sat 101 and asked which one I should be looking at, they told me only the service tech's have that info.

I'm thinking that maybe west coast vs east coast feeds might be location specific as opposed to a switch they do at headquarters  and since I'm using a dome SD dish that it's not able to lock into new locations. Does anyone know how this really works and if I buy a Traveler HD sat dish would that cure my issues and allow it to switch for east coast to west coast as we move around?
sgkane
Currently the DirecTV DNS (Distant Network Service) stations are limited to either East coast OR West coast stations..depending upon the location of your billing address.
If you change your billing address at/with DirecTV to an Albuquerque, NM address you will receive the West coast network stations... (but you will no longer receive the East cost network stations).

BTW, because I've had BOTH East and West DNS for nearly 15 years I was "grandfather in" and still receive both E&W network stations, (using my roof mounted Kingdome), wherever I park my motorhome, in the lower 50 states.

See: https://www.att.com/esupport/article.html#!/directv/KM1102671?gsi=F04y4S0
 
I wonder if they still have the "RV exemption" for those who have roof-mounted satellite TV.  It has to be permanently attached, not portable.  When we got ours it was quite a deal requiring notarized documents attesting to the fact that it was permanently on the RV and included photo.  It was so long ago I don't remember the details but I believe it was the FCC to which we sent the documents.  It was designed primarily for full-timers who have no other address than the RV and wherever it happened to be located at any given time.  We weren't full-timers but the dish was permanently mounted on the RV and we changed locations frequently so we qualified.  I believe it came about because of the new "equal access" rules for satellite TV.

ArdraF
 
"We look forward to providing you with these DNS Network services. However, before we can add the DNS networks to your mobile vehicle receiver, federal law requires that you send us the following information:"

1.Photocopy of your vehicle registration
2.Mobile Vehicle Declaration of Intent form (Form enclosed).
3.Photocopy of commercial driver?s license (if you are requesting service for a commercial vehicle).
4.Application for a New Mobile Vehicle Account form (This form is required if your residential account has more than one receiver and one of those receivers is located in your mobile vehicle. Form enclosed).

https://www.att.com/ecarecms/dam/att/2016/support/docs/DNS-Vehicles-Aff.pdf
 
ArdraF said:
I wonder if they still have the "RV exemption" for those who have roof-mounted satellite TV.  It has to be permanently attached, not portable.  When we got ours it was quite a deal requiring notarized documents attesting to the fact that it was permanently on the RV and included photo.

We first got DNS in 2005 and there wasn't any requirement to show that we had a rooftop dish.  Nor did we send our forms to the FCC; the FCC is simply the "rule making agency" that regulates DirecTV.  It's up to DirecTV (and Dish) to comply with the FCC's rules and be able to demonstrate they have done so if they are ever audited.

The key issue here is pressure by advertisers to ensure that you have to watch channels in your local area so you get to see their advertising rather than ads from a different city because you watched an "out of area" channel.  This is clearly a pre-DVR, rather out-dated, concept since anyone who records shows can easily skip through the commercials and never see them.  But, like many things in life, this will probably hang in there for a few more decades before someone figures out that it doesn't accomplish anything.

FWIW if some of you don't know how to make a Genie DVR skip forward 30 seconds rather than fast forwarding through them you might want to read this: https://forums.att.com/t5/DIRECTV-DVR-Receivers/New-Genie-doesn-t-have-30-second-skip/td-p/5304789
 
We got ours way back during the RV Forum's first Centremost rally in Estes Park CO when we still belonged to CompuServe.  One morning we had DirecTV and that evening we had none!  They told us we had to get all those forms notarized, etc.  It was a pain, needless to say.  It all happened because of a court order requiring that everyone should have "equal access" to satellite TV, as I recall because cable TV had a stranglehold on their subscribers and was trying to prevent them from dumping cable in favor of satellite.  We RVers and those who live in the boonies without benefit of cable hookups had to "qualify" to gain access to satellite TV.  We lived in the San Francisco area at the time and had great OTA TV so we didn't have cable.  Our only satellite dish was on the motorhome so we didn't have to cancel cable and wait for a certain period of time before we could get satellite.  But we did have to jump through their hoops to get it!  And, yes, DVRs had not been invented yet.

ArdraF
 
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