He Wants His MeTV

Hick came in from mowing the yard/fields on Tuesday evening, and plopped down in his recliner to watch some old reruns. He's partial to MASH, and Hogan's Heroes after that. And sometimes Emergency if he gets home earlier. These shows are on channel 24 on our DISH service. Channel 24 used to be a religious station in St. Louis, started by evangelist Larry Rice. I don't know when it changed programming, but now it's MeTV, and broadcasts old classic shows.

Anyhoo... Hick hollered in that he coudn't watch MASH.

"It goes to that channel, and looks like it's going to play, but then I get a message that I'm outside the area for this channel. It says if I haven't moved my receiver, I need to call DISH."

"Well. You can call them. I can look up the number after I get your supper ready."

"It gives me the number."

"Well. You can call."

"It might come back."

"I can look up if it's part of a dispute, like when DISH dropped CBS for a month and we missed Survivor. It IS the beginning of June. So maybe they're working out a deal. We should get it. It's part of the Local Channel package that we pay for to get the St. Louis stations."

"It worked yesterday. And that was June 1st. So maybe it will come back."

Yes. That's how we like to solve problems around here. Ignore them, and see if they fix themselves. I didn't think any more about it. Until Wednesday morning at 5:15 a.m. when I put the TV on Channel 2 to see the local weather. I GOT THE SAME MESSAGE! It wasn't just Channel 24, but ALL the St. Louis stations that we pay extra to receive.

I called the number on the screen. A recording told me that all DISH representatives were busy, and the wait time would be 8 minutes. That I could stay on the line, or press "1" and they would hold my place in line, and call me for my turn. Do you think I trusted that? Not-Heaven, no! I stayed on the line. Every now and then, a message would tell me that I could find the red reset button on my receiver, and push it. Or hold the power button. Nope. Not fiddling with that. All the other channels still worked.

After 10 minutes, a sweet Asian-accented woman asked what my problem was. I only had to ask her to repeat something twice. Not because her English was so good, but because I was straining every part of my ear and brain to decipher her words. She said she was working on it. Then that DISH crews were doing maintenance on a satellite, and my problem should resolve when the maintenance was completed. There was nothing she could do, nor anything I could do. Just wait. I thanked her and hung up.

Do I believe this scenario? I want to. But I'm not sure. What kind of satellite are they working on? An orbiting satellite? Did a crew fly up there to hammer at it? Or a big round satellite dish? Were they hosing it down and making it sparkle? Is it a satellite that only sends out St. Louis TV station signals?

I suppose we'll give it a week. If not fixed, Hick can call back.