New Greek Channel Package Platform.

[addynia]

If nothing else, if MEGA ends up on HOME2US as it looks like it, it will give HOME2US a chance to update their website after just short of a year :P

[Grk101]

Well I just called and they said they have not announced anything yet, and that they will be announcing where the channels are going on Monday or Tuesday and to call back then for more information.

It seems obvious they are going to Home2us though.

Ok, so they did not want to get MEGA on Dish and I believe they never even had that as an option--which is their choice and their right, after all.

I wouldn't say it was never an option. It is obvious they were in negotiations with Dish Network. The Greek/international department at Dish Network was taking requests for it and told people to tell their friends to call in and request too, and said they would know the next week if they were getting it or not.

[likos]

I wouldn't say it was never an option. It is obvious they were in negotiations with Dish Network.

I doubt it. It seems they were trying to cover their asses because they knew how pissed people will be with YET ANOTHER move to a DIFFERENT platform. We knew here (since DKSat had told us) that it was a done deal, but they played this coy game of "we don't know where it is going" thinking it would defuse the anger, and from what I see in other forums it hasn't.

Maybe once MEGA is burned once again by the bad decisions of these bozos they will seek better representation in the US.

[Grk101]

I wouldn't say it was never an option. It is obvious they were in negotiations with Dish Network.

I doubt it. It seems they were trying to cover their asses because they knew how pissed people will be with YET ANOTHER move to a DIFFERENT platform. We knew here (since DKSat had told us) that it was a done deal, but they played this coy game of "we don't know where it is going" thinking it would defuse the anger, and from what I see in other forums it hasn't.

Maybe once MEGA is burned once again by the bad decisions of these bozos they will seek better representation in the US.

Why would Dish Network be playing the game too though? Their reps are the ones that were taking requests and said they would know soon if they were getting Mega.

I agree though that it was a done deal. But I think there were negotiations first.

[Grk101]

What about cable?! MEGA Cosmos is currently available through RCN & Cablevision, do they not plan on getting the channel on more platforms such as Comcast, Time Warner or Verizon FiOS?! Someone should ask GMG what their plans are regarding cable distribution. If it launches on more cable platforms then you don't have to worry about Home2US, just sign up with cable instead of satellite.

I would love for them to go on Comcast. The only problem is that Comcast is such a mess right now. Ant1 was added, but only in one region -- San Fransisco if I am not mistaken. From what I have read, each Comcast market has a different channel line up, equipment, and even on screen guides. They are trying to get each market to be identical eventually, but that date keeps getting pushed back further and further. Latest due date in late 2012 sadly. If Comcast could add the Greek channels nation wide, it would be on a huge footprint and be available to millions. If I recall they are the largest cable operator in the US.

As for Fios, it would be great for those who can install the service. They have effectively stopped expanding sadly. They started installing in the town I live in a few years ago, but stopped mid way. Now half the town can get Fios, and the other half can't. Guess which half I am on. <_<

GMG should really look into getting Mega (and ERT if they have the rights) onto cable though ASAP. Just look at the cable expansion Ant1 has accomplished.

[addynia]

Take a look at Home2us receiver.

http://www.webartmaestro.com/ADTH8800Manual.pdf

Not even an HDMI out. It's a joke

[addynia]

what about AT&T U-Verse. They have international programming and they are National. I would drop Dish and the Elite (crap) pack in a minute.

The only drawback with AT&T U-Verse is that FSC (Fox Soccer Channel) is not in HD.

[Grk101]

The more cable networks the better IMO. AT&T U-verse is not available in my area though, my only options are Comcast or satellite. :( According to Wikipedia, U-verse is currently available to "20 million living units in 22 states". (as of 2009 at least)

[Grk101]

April 1st is just 1 week away and they have yet to formally announce anything. Not only that, but they plan to formally announce it Monday or Tuesday they claim now -- just 2-3 days before it is off DirecTV!! Not only are they pissing people off with this game, but they are also going to piss off the very few people that might follow them. There is no way they are going to be able to get a home2us system (ship boxes, re-position and change LNB) by April 1st, thus those people will be in the dark for a few days, maybe even a week if an installer has to come out.

DKSat, if you are around, do you know if those who want just the Greek programing on Home2us will have to reposition their DirecTV dish and change LNBs? So far I have only seen this mentioned for those who want to keep DirecTV for American programing but also get Home2us. I think the dish is already pointed at 101

[gyros]

I'm sure the greek media group that is run by graduates from the wharton school of business are probably going to have fun answering to their overlords in Greece why they have no subscribers. I can bet their will be 1 subscriber to the service; that guy peddling ellas tv. I'm sure he has an installer and receiver in hand all lined up :LOL: You wonder why we have so many problems in Greece... We have geniuses like these making decisions.

[addynia]

Grk101 you have 2 LNBs not a dual, one receiving from 101W and the other from 95W where MEGA is transmitting until the end of the month. When they are talking about repositioning/realignment they are talking about pointing the one currently at 95W to 101W and connect that to the HOME2US receiver thus leaving the DIRECTV one unattached. Alternately if you want to support 2 HOME2US receivers you need a dual LNB receiving from 101W. I believe you cannot use a single LNB to connect to two receivers, one DIRECTV and one HOME2US. It has to be a dual.

Since I am a DISH NETWORK customer for American and Greek Elite program and because I don’t need DIRECTV anymore and because I am moving to a new house come Monday, I have been looking to use one DISH for all. My technician assured me that we can add an extra LNB on the DISH NETWORK dish to receive from 101W. That will be perfect. I hope I know for sure by Monday where freaking MEGA COSMOS end up.

[Grk101]

Hmm, strange though because I currently have 2 receivers hooked up with DirecTV. Done through professional installation too. If I even consider Home2us, it would most likely be 2 receivers again. (Maybe...) So I wonder how the set up is done. I see some type of switch or splitter (click) in the picture I posted though, so maybe that has something to do with it? That is why I am wondering if both the lines running into the house (to 2 different receivers) are already capable of getting the Home2us signal at 101w. As I understand it, a new LNB/repositioning is needed in order to have both LNBs pointing to 101w. (1 for DirecTV, one for Home2us). But in my case, I would only want 1 for Home2us at 101w since I don't plan on keeping DirecTV. Don't know if the existing one pointed to 101w would work, or if my set up can support that, or if Home2us requires some different kind of set up/LNB. Thanks for helping answer though since I am not good with this stuff. :) EDIT: Hahaha, here (click) is a closer look of what I am talking about.

[HellasHab]

I'm sure the greek media group that is run by graduates from the wharton school of business are probably going to have fun answering to their overlords in Greece why they have no subscribers.

I was wondering about this very thing- what is MEGA in Greece going to say when they see very little revenue coming in for MEGA Cosmos or do they even care?! If they only have a few subscribers, would they look at finding another company to distribute the channel or perhaps just shut it down because its not making money?! I wonder where they even found this GMG, they should look at Internatiional Media Distribution which is the company that Antenna has signed up with. Antenna Satellite is available on 7 different providers in the US- this is an example of a company that knows what the heck its doing IMO.

[gang3171]

I was wondering about this very thing- what is MEGA in Greece going to say when they see very little revenue coming in for MEGA Cosmos or do they even care?!  If they only have a few subscribers, would they look at finding another company to distribute the channel or perhaps just shut it down because its not making money?!  I wonder where they even found this GMG, they should look at Internatiional Media Distribution which is the company that Antenna has signed up with.  Antenna Satellite is available on 7 different providers in the US- this is an example of a company that knows what the heck its doing IMO.

Just by looking at this International Media Distribution website, one can tell they market these channels very well. Not only that, this website is actually updated and current which is more I can say about Greek Media Group and Home2US. Mega & Alter are doomed if they go to Home2US.

[Grk101]

I was wondering about this very thing- what is MEGA in Greece going to say when they see very little revenue coming in for MEGA Cosmos or do they even care?! If they only have a few subscribers, would they look at finding another company to distribute the channel or perhaps just shut it down because its not making money?! I wonder where they even found this GMG, they should look at Internatiional Media Distribution which is the company that Antenna has signed up with. Antenna Satellite is available on 7 different providers in the US- this is an example of a company that knows what the heck its doing IMO.

They really should hook up with them. They really seem to know what they are doing.

[Kolossos]

This is all very interesting how things are so much different regarding Greek TV from the USA to here in Australia.... I think Greek TV wise its better here IMO :gr:

Will be interesting to see how this comes out to see how Home2US will entice Greeks to joining as when TARBS folded here in 2003 and UBI started in 2004 only way to get Greeks to join was to offer them free alignments of there dishes and free installs with free box etc, so I would say Home2US will somehow have to subsidize all these outlays before Greeks will join.... and difference here is if you only want ERT you don't need to join anyone just wack a dish on your roof with a basic box and your up and going :)

[Grk101]

It will be interesting to see what they do, and if they will do what UBI did in Australia to entice subscribers. They may have a chance that way once the dust settles. But I think most of the anger this time around comes with people being fed up with yet another move just four years later and the uncertainty of related costs. It is getting ridiculous and people don't want to play games anymore especially in this economy.

Also now that you mention ERT, I remember when it was announced that PCCW obtained the rights to ERT World, DKSat had written that they planned to launch it FTA on a Ku domestic satellite in North America. (besides trying to get it on multiple platforms) I wonder if it could possibly be carried on SES-1 at 101w unencrypted since from what I see on lyngsat Home2us carries some FTA channels unencrypted.......although it now appears GMG has obtained the rights, so maybe the FTA plan went out the window.....

[harlem_reporter]

I wouldn't say it was never an option. It is obvious they were in negotiations with Dish Network.

I doubt it. It seems they were trying to cover their asses because they knew how pissed people will be with YET ANOTHER move to a DIFFERENT platform. We knew here (since DKSat had told us) that it was a done deal, but they played this coy game of "we don't know where it is going" thinking it would defuse the anger, and from what I see in other forums it hasn't.

Maybe once MEGA is burned once again by the bad decisions of these bozos they will seek better representation in the US.

Likos,

with all due respect, please stop insulting bozos and clowns: they perform a social service practicing a legitimate profession.

Calling those guys bozos is a compliment.

No wonder DirecTV kicked them out and they cannot get a deal with Dish, which ALPHA had no problem to.

[gyros]

It will be interesting to see what they do, and if they will do what UBI did in Australia to entice subscribers. They may have a chance that way once the dust settles. But I think most of the anger this time around comes with people being fed up with yet another move just four years later and the uncertainty of related costs. It is getting ridiculous and people don't want to play games anymore especially in this economy.

Don't hold your breath on any free re-alignments. There is no way they are going to pay an independent installer in your area to hook up home2us and give it away for free.

[harlem_reporter]

It will be interesting to see what they do, and if they will do what UBI did in Australia to entice subscribers. They may have a chance that way once the dust settles. But I think most of the anger this time around comes with people being fed up with yet another move just four years later and the uncertainty of related costs. It is getting ridiculous and people don't want to play games anymore especially in this economy.

Don't hold your breath on any free re-alignments. There is no way they are going to pay an independent installer in your area to hook up home2us and give it away for free.

How many installers does home2us have?

[ttentelh]

For those praying Mega Cosmos will return to Dish Network keep dreaming. Ant1 has exclusive rights with Dish in reference to what greek programming is offered by dish. That was the reason Mega left Dish in the first place. They couldn't be controlled or managed my Antenna since that was the deal with dish net. Especially now that Antenna renewed their contract with Dish for another 10 years, Mega will not accept to be bossed by Ant1.

[harlem_reporter]

For those praying Mega Cosmos will return to Dish Network keep dreaming. Ant1 has exclusive rights with Dish in reference to what greek programming is offered by dish. That was the reason Mega left Dish in the first place. They couldn't be controlled or managed my Antenna since that was the deal with dish net. Especially now that Antenna renewed their contract with Dish for another 10 years, Mega will not accept to be bossed by Ant1.

So how come Alpha is on Dish?

[ttentelh]

I guess you didnt get it the first time, the point is that Ant1 is in charge of who is going to be on Dish Network greek programming, if Alpha or anyone else accept Ant1 as their boss, then they will be accepted. Mega's pride is higher and they are rival enemies to accept Ant1 as their boss on dish.

[ttentelh]

As an ex-Dish network customer service promoting the greek channels, we used to meet with Ant1 reps almost on a monthly basis. They were giving us tons of T-shirts , pens and anything you can imagine with their logos on to push their channels not ERT or other channels. DIsh network was arranging those meetings and we were practically being bossed by Ant1. We were doing what Ant1 wanted us to do, to market and sell their product. I hope that answered you question on what the future of Mega will be on Dish Network. No such a thing. No way Mega will join Dish Network as long as Ant1 is in charge of the greek programming. Dish network is very happy with Ant1 and makes a lot of money from the greeks as is.

[HellasHab]

Since you say you are an ex-Dish Network employee, can you explain to me why ANT1 has so much power and control over decisions at a company they do not own?! Why would Dish execs allow a foreign broadcaster to have control over what channels they can offer or add to their packages?! Sorry this just seems a bit unbelievable to me and if true then Dish are idiots for allowing ANT1 to have so much clout. MEGA is the top network in Greece and has been for the last several years, they are crazy for not adding them to their service. ANT1 is full of crap these days, just pumping out garbage reality shows one after the other that very few care about, including many in Greece.

Also, what does this mean for ERT World when it appears that GMG is the one who is in charge of distributing the channel now?! Will it stay on Dish or become exclusive to Home2US along with MEGA Cosmos?! It would be great if they pulled it and moved it to Home2US, I wonder what Dish/ANT1 would do then as they would surely lose customers if ERT World was no longer offered.