At one time, DIRECTV provided satellite service to the US from 7 different satellite locations. Getting all of them required at least two satellite dishes and a lot of patience. Over time, the company has consolidated. It’s launched ever larger satellites and focused on three primary locations, at 99, 101, and 103 West longitude. Of those three locations, DIRECTV only holds licenses for Ku-band broadcasting at its 101 location. That’s important, and I’ll explain why.
A little bit of broadcasting technology
Most satellite television across the world uses frequencies from 12-18GHz, known collectively as the Ku band. However, DIRECTV’s broadcast licenses for its 99 and 103 locations are for the Ka band, at 28-40GHz. This was done to make sure DIRECTV had enough space to broadcast thousands of local channels in HD from these two locations. However, Ka-band broadcasting is more difficult and more power-consuming. It’s also more sensitive to “rain fade,” that phenomenon where signals dissipate during heavy rains.
Operating three satellites is obviously going to be more expensive than operating one, from beginning to end. The broadcast side needs to be more complex, the dishes need to be more complex, and the receivers need to be able to work with those more complex dishes. In theory, if DIRECTV could get all its programming at one satellite location, that would simplify things a lot. As an added bonus, folks with single-satellite dishes would be able to get all their programming much more easily.
What would it take?
Currently, DIRECTV’s broadcast licenses allow for about 125 HD channels at that location. Right now, there are fewer than 10 HD channels broadcasting from that location, but there are also roughly 1,500 standard definition channels broadcasting from the 101 location. Ending broadcast of all standard definition programming will allow those extra HD channels to live at the 101 location.
However, DIRECTV currently has between 1500 and 2000 HD and 4K channels including all local channels. That number changes depending on the sports packages that are currently active and the number of pay-per-view movies that are available. In order to use existing satellite broadcast licenses, that number would have to be pared way down.
Another option would be to get new broadcast license. DIRECTV’s T16 satellite carries the ability to use Ka-band broadcasting the same as its satellite at the 99 and 103 locations. However, there are two issues there. First, it takes a lot of time to get those licenses, if they are available at all. Second, it would take all new equipment for people be able to receive those frequencies. Add those two factors up and you’re talking about tens of billions of dollars spent.
Are we likely to see this?
There’s one scenario that sees DIRECTV consolidating its national channels down to 125. After all, you don’t really need 7 different HBO channels when you can stream. In fact, you could narrow all Warner Bros. Discovery content down to about 8 channels total. Basically you keep CNN, HGTV, HBO, TBS, Discovery, and just a few more and limit the amount of duplicated content. Moves like that would save a lot of capacity, but of course the content providers would have to do the work and they’d have to negotiate all new contracts.
While that would cover national channels, what about local ones? Conventional wisdom says that people won’t use a pay-TV service that doesn’t include their local channels. DIRECTV could do what DISH does with their Sling service and give away free antennas, but that might put a dent in their subscriber numbers. Not everyone wants to put up an antenna.
So, it’s hard to imagine this being a really good solution, at least for the next 10 years or so while the satellites at the 99 and 103 locations are completely operational. After all, the big money was spent in putting those satellites up there. It costs money to operate them, but shutting them off prematurely would be very wasteful.
What does this mean for mobile and marine customers?
It’s still good news. As DIRECTV continues to sunset its standard definition channels, the most popular HD channels will move to the 101 location. This will make them more reliable for all customers, and will give mobile and marine customers a lot more HD choices. However, mobile and marine customers may lose access to local channels. While this isn’t a really big deal since these customers often travel outside their local areas, it is something to be aware of.
If you have other questions about how your satellite service may change in the coming years, call the experts at Signal Connect! We’re here to answer all your questions at 888-233-7563. If it’s after hours, fill out the form below and we’ll get back to you, usually within one business day.
