These are the planned cutoff dates, a bunch of things could extend these a bit.

Also everyone must have a working G3 card in every receiver and it turns out that some receivers don't work with G3 cards - these must be swapped out:
3750
351
5000
5500
6000
6000U
721
921
942
JVC IRR

The cutoff date for Adult, Internationals, HD and PPV is 03/04.

The cutoff date for movie channels is 03/11.

The cutoff date for everything else is 04/08. I don't think they will make this one.

For those interested, the info posted can be verified on 999.

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As people get hooked up weather east or west, they will be getting the new recievers that are mpeg2/4. They will cover what they have to. Two of the three birds in the eastern arc are all mpeg4 compression both standard-def and hi-def channels. Also completly n3. There is no n2 on the 72.7 slot or the 77 degree slot.
Chuck wants to go completely mpeg4. This however is very expensive and time consuming to do a reciever swap all at once. Not to mention the people he will tick off by forcing them to "upgrade" their year old reciever. So in time, over a few years, they will be swapped out. Possibly when the customer goes to renew their subscription. Starting a few days ago the first of a series of "special promotions" has started to encourage a reciever swap. These new recievers are cardless and mpeg2/4 compatible. The goal is to move totally to mpeg4 nationwide to make better use of the birds transponder space. But this will take some time.

Also after checking every source I know. The cutoff dates are real.Charlie has confirmed these dates. The dates are subject to change, However at this time they do not anticipate any changes. So as they stand at the moment.......

1. International Channels ......... Immeadiatly.

2. High Definition Channels ...... 3/4/09

3. Premium Channels.............. 3/11/09

4. All Other Channels.............. 4/8/09

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