Q. My family just bought a RV and we plan to travel around the country three or four times a year. We plan to put a DIRECTV dish for RVs on our vehicle, but my question is: Does DIRECTV offer local channels for RVs? We will want to keep up with our local news and programming from channels like CBS and NBC when we travel. — Carrie, Phoenix.
Carrie, congrats on your purchase. As you probably know, DIRECTV, via such partners as Winegard, offers dishes, receivers and programming packages specifically designed for RV owners so you can watch television while on the road.
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However, I have some bad news for you: DIRECTV does not offer your local channels with the RV package. The local channels are ‘spot-beamed’ from DIRECTV satellites in the sky, which basically means that your RV dish would need to be stationary to receive the signals. And since you will be on the road, your dish will not be in the same location.
But that said, there may be a way for you to get the programming from the broadcast networks, such as NBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox. DIRECTV offers what’s called Distant Network Services, which is a fancy way of describing the feeds of the New York and Los Angeles-based network affiliates.
The cost for each DNS channel is $2.50 a month. So if you got the four major broadcast networks from NY or LA, you would pay $10 a month.
To be eligible for either the NY and LA local channels, you must prove you can not receive your market’s local channels, which should be relatively easy if you are subscribing for a RV.
To learn more about RV programming, and DNS channels, click here or call Winegard at 877-782-5829.
Happy Traveling!
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— Phillip Swann
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