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Why Denver?

Mad Capn Bob

By Mad Capn Bob,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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Mad Capn Bob

Mad Capn Bob

Posted
Posted

I've looked thru all 15 pages of the Carnival section, and didn't see this anywhere, so...

 

Can anyone tell me...regarding the couple of "local" channels offered on TV...why did they go with Denver, of all places? I could understand local tv of a ship's home port, but Denver is about as dryside as ye can get.

 

My favorite "station" on ship tv? That'd be the radar feed...

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Bodero

Bodero

Posted
Posted

The answer is well beyond my knowledge, but I'll take a novice stab at it.

 

In fact, I learned of the answer when I was trying to "move" my Dish Network service closer to Pittsburgh in order to get the Pittsburgh locals so I could watch Steelers games instead of Bills (otherwise I'd be in a Bills market). This involved calling Dish Network and telling them my service address changed. I read all about this on SatelliteGuys.US' website, and found out a lot.

 

It looks like most of the locals' channels are "spotbeamed," meaning, they are relayed to satellites that project the signal only to a regional area around the area of which the locals are broadcasted to. This frees up bandwidth to broadcast national channels on. Here's an example of spotbeam coverage provided by Spotbeam 09 (Pittsburgh market) on Dish Network's 110 degree W satellite:

 

E10_SB9.jpg

 

Now, it is my understanding that Denver's local market is too geographically large to put on a single spotbeam, so it must be placed on what's called a CONUS footprint (CONtinental US). Thus, this can be received anywhere in the United States.

 

I am not positive, but I am reasonably certain that this explains why Carnival has Denver locals - it is the only set of local channels (or one of a few, at least) that are broadcasted on a CONUS footprint and would thus allow reception anywhere they sail.

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Princesskiki

Princesskiki

Posted
Posted
The answer is well beyond my knowledge, but I'll take a novice stab at it.

 

In fact, I learned of the answer when I was trying to "move" my Dish Network service closer to Pittsburgh in order to get the Pittsburgh locals so I could watch Steelers games instead of Bills (otherwise I'd be in a Bills market). This involved calling Dish Network and telling them my service address changed. I read all about this on SatelliteGuys.US' website, and found out a lot.

 

It looks like most of the locals' channels are "spotbeamed," meaning, they are relayed to satellites that project the signal only to a regional area around the area of which the locals are broadcasted to. This frees up bandwidth to broadcast national channels on. Here's an example of spotbeam coverage provided by Spotbeam 09 (Pittsburgh market) on Dish Network's 110 degree W satellite:

 

E10_SB9.jpg

 

Now, it is my understanding that Denver's local market is too geographically large to put on a single spotbeam, so it must be placed on what's called a CONUS footprint (CONtinental US). Thus, this can be received anywhere in the United States.

 

I am not positive, but I am reasonably certain that this explains why Carnival has Denver locals - it is the only set of local channels (or one of a few, at least) that are broadcasted on a CONUS footprint and would thus allow reception anywhere they sail.

 

I don't know if that's correct or not, but it really sounded smart!! I believe you!

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5waldos

5waldos

Posted
Posted

Because it was the cheapest?

 

Because it is equidistant (pretty much) from east west north and south?

 

I find it rather depressing to be getting away from it all, only to have it follow me. I'd rather have someplace else except home, but it does allow me to know what the weather will be for our flights home- worth something I guess.

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Bodero

Bodero

Posted
Posted
I don't know if that's correct or not, but it really sounded smart!! I believe you!

 

Ha! Well here's some substantiation:

 

http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-network-forum/84430-la-locals-going-spot-beam-tonight-6.html#post751640

 

This is from 2006, but it's a guy who is discussing LA's switch from CONUS (nationwide coverage) to spotbeam (a single beam on the satellite to the Southern CA region), and discussing that because Carnival has E* (Echostar, their terminology, back in 2006), they'd have to keep at least one CONUS affiliate for cruise ships and airlines, and it makes the most sense to keep Denver since they'd need it as CONUS anyway.

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CapeCodCruiser

CapeCodCruiser

Posted
Posted
The answer is well beyond my knowledge, but I'll take a novice stab at it.

 

In fact, I learned of the answer when I was trying to "move" my Dish Network service closer to Pittsburgh in order to get the Pittsburgh locals so I could watch Steelers games instead of Bills (otherwise I'd be in a Bills market). This involved calling Dish Network and telling them my service address changed. I read all about this on SatelliteGuys.US' website, and found out a lot.

 

It looks like most of the locals' channels are "spotbeamed," meaning, they are relayed to satellites that project the signal only to a regional area around the area of which the locals are broadcasted to. This frees up bandwidth to broadcast national channels on. Here's an example of spotbeam coverage provided by Spotbeam 09 (Pittsburgh market) on Dish Network's 110 degree W satellite:

 

E10_SB9.jpg

 

Now, it is my understanding that Denver's local market is too geographically large to put on a single spotbeam, so it must be placed on what's called a CONUS footprint (CONtinental US). Thus, this can be received anywhere in the United States.

 

I am not positive, but I am reasonably certain that this explains why Carnival has Denver locals - it is the only set of local channels (or one of a few, at least) that are broadcasted on a CONUS footprint and would thus allow reception anywhere they sail.

 

I love the stuff I learn on CC!

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travelingtriumphess

travelingtriumphess

Posted
Posted

When we were in Costa Rica, the only English channels we had there were from Denver. We loved it because that is our home channel (I'm from Northern Colorado).

I am sure it is like Capecodcruiser said we have especially strong signals here. If you got local channels, most of them would be in Spanish.

I found the channel pickings pretty sparse myself, but I'm not on a cruise to watch TV, so oh well.

:)

T. Umphess

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markntara

markntara

Posted
Posted

Carnival has dropped the ball on this.

 

Lets take this scenario . . . a scene that plays out every every week in Florida. This is not make believe, or fake, this is 100% real.

 

Pick a ship with a 3 day itinerary, say the Sensation. Now lets say your sea day on that cruise is what day? . . . Saturday

 

How many people fly in to sail on a 3 day getaway? Not many, figure most people on that ship will drive to the port, and where did most of them drive in from? Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, North & South Carolina, Louisiana. I checked the car tags on my out to make sure . . .

 

On sea day, the Saturday, do you realize its almost impossible to get one of the more localized local college football games on TV.

This past Saturday:

GA vs Ga Tech

FL vs FL State

AL vs Auburn

SC vs Clemson

TN vs Ky

VA vs VA Tech

NC vs Duke

MS vs MS State

AR vs LSU

80% + of the cruise ship population resides with this area, and they were only able to show one of these games on TV. However, the games they did show . . .

Minnesota vs Iowa

Missouri vs Kansas

Indiana vs Purdue

Ohio State vs Michigan

Hawaii vs New Mexico State

 

People were booing the TV's! I felt bad for the bar staff that kept trying to explain . . .

 

Carnival can do a better job, Carnival should do a better job! . . .and I don't think they realize how much $$$ is lost at bar sales when so many people walk away . . .

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fotog303

fotog303

Posted
Posted

I work in Denver TV but not as an engineer, so take what I say with a grain of salt. Since long before Dish Network or DirecTV, we have been uplinking our off-air signal to a satellite. This was done because of our vast mountainous terrain in the Rockies. This was the easiest way to get our signals to the many small towns across the state. Line of site ground level relays don’t work very well with 14,000 mountains in the way. Back when this started you couldn’t spot a satellite signal so it was the whole footprint of the bird which meant all of North America.

We have viewers who still use their satellite dishes to tune us in manually from all over the country (you know like your neighbor down the block with the big 6 foot dish in the 80’s). I want to say we have viewers from across the world but I don’t know how that is possible besides Canada and Mexico but we’ve gotten emails, calls and letters over the years from many other places than Colorado.

So my theory (theory since I don’t have confirmation) is that long before Dish and DirecTV made it on to the seen… Carnival and other lines found our signal up on the bird (satellite) which was unencrypted (didn’t need a decoder box) and started feeding it to their ships.

Now working in Denver TV for years… I wish I didn’t have to watch it on vacation, but I try not to watch too much TV anyhow. I wonder if in Europe you still get Denver TV? I haven’t taken a Med cruise yet so I don’t have a clue.

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comeon530

comeon530

Posted
Posted
Carnival has dropped the ball on this.

 

Lets take this scenario . . . a scene that plays out every every week in Florida. This is not make believe, or fake, this is 100% real.

 

Pick a ship with a 3 day itinerary, say the Sensation. Now lets say your sea day on that cruise is what day? . . . Saturday

 

How many people fly in to sail on a 3 day getaway? Not many, figure most people on that ship will drive to the port, and where did most of them drive in from? Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, North & South Carolina, Louisiana. I checked the car tags on my out to make sure . . .

 

On sea day, the Saturday, do you realize its almost impossible to get one of the more localized local college football games on TV.

This past Saturday:

GA vs Ga Tech

FL vs FL State

AL vs Auburn

SC vs Clemson

TN vs Ky

VA vs VA Tech

NC vs Duke

MS vs MS State

AR vs LSU

80% + of the cruise ship population resides with this area, and they were only able to show one of these games on TV. However, the games they did show . . .

Minnesota vs Iowa

Missouri vs Kansas

Indiana vs Purdue

Ohio State vs Michigan

Hawaii vs New Mexico State

 

People were booing the TV's! I felt bad for the bar staff that kept trying to explain . . .

 

Carnival can do a better job, Carnival should do a better job! . . .and I don't think they realize how much $$$ is lost at bar sales when so many people walk away . . .

 

Did you read Host Mach's post? The cruise director on the Miracle last week explained this very question. It's simply a matter of what is available for the cruise line to purchase. They cannot just 'pick up' the stations you mentioned. Whatever they offer is fleetwide. They do provide major events like the Super bowl and World series. Do you really think that they lose bar sales just because a certain football game isn't showing? I doubt it. Most people aren't going to just sit in their cabin and twiddle their thumbs because they can't watch the Clemson game.

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tbjl24

tbjl24

Posted
Posted
The answer is really quite simple... The Denver feed is on the only one offered that provides all four network channels in addition to what is called the Turner Cruise Ship Package and ESPN.

:)

 

I really wish they would carry the REAL ESPN!!!!!

 

Mach, isn't there somebody you can talk to????? :D:D:D:D

 

I know it can be done, RCI has the REAL ESPN.

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tbjl24

tbjl24

Posted
Posted
Do you really think that they lose bar sales just because a certain football game isn't showing? I doubt it. Most people aren't going to just sit in their cabin and twiddle their thumbs because they can't watch the Clemson game.

 

Honestly? Yep, I do.

 

If they were to offer the NFL package on Sundays I would sit and watch my Buccaneers AND all the other games since I LOVE fantasy football. Meanwhile, I would be drinking quite a bit.

 

Instead, I just relax on the lido deck and have a drink when it gets too hot. Oh well.

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