Satellite TV (Anchorage, Fairbanks: sales, crime, taxi)

[Classic Satch]

OK, it looks like the wife and I will be moving up to the Anchorage area within the next 6-8 weeks. Hell, it's more than "looks like," it's just a matter of finalizing dates.

I was born and raised in western Pennsylvania, just outside of Pittsburgh. To say that I am a Steelers' fan would be a colossal understatement. To that point, it looks like I'm going to have to go with DirecTV so that I can get the NFL Sunday Ticket.

That being said, how is satellite TV reception and coverage up there? I don't relish the thought of having to drive to a sports bar in the dead of winter, especially when it is illegal for a native Pennsylvanian to watch a Steelers game without a beer in his/her hand.

[Xa'at]

Well, according to this map I found:

The prospects may be poor. Everyone I know in Alaska has cable... and a lot of them don't have tv at all!
GCI is the big name in cable up here, I'd scour their website to see if maybe you could get your games through them. Otherwise, it may be off to the sports bar for you... and that's if you can convince them to turn it from the Seahawks!


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Whoops, I may have lied. Check this out:
DIRECTV - Alaska and Hawaii

[Classic Satch]

Originally Posted by Xa'at

Well, according to this map I found:

The prospects may be poor. Everyone I know in Alaska has cable... and a lot of them don't have tv at all!
GCI is the big name in cable up here, I'd scour their website to see if maybe you could get your games through them. Otherwise, it may be off to the sports bar for you... and that's if you can convince them to turn it from the Seahawks!


...
...
Whoops, I may have lied. Check this out:
DIRECTV - Alaska and Hawaii

ROFL! I wasn't joking Xa'at about Pittsburgh loyalties. It's ingrained in our blood. Do a Google search of top NFL quarterbacks from western PA and you'll see what I mean.

I've seen several ads from DirecTV regarding their AK coverage and I'm hoping that they're not full of poo. I know about GCI considering that I work for Comcast here in San Jose. God I wish I could make the money up there that I make here but it's simply not feasible or correlative. Thank goodness that the wife deals drugs professionally.

[Xa'at]

I went to Pittsburgh a few years ago. I'm sure it's a very nice place, but I'm a total snob. I like my air clean, my mountains huge, my salmon fresh, and my ground not paved!
One of the taxicab drivers was telling me about these mountains that were just east of the city, or something. I was like, "ok, sure, we can call those mountains!"
In any case, I stuck out like a sore thumb. Couldn't wait to get home.

[Classic Satch]

Originally Posted by Xa'at

I went to Pittsburgh a few years ago. I'm sure it's a very nice place, but I'm a total snob. I like my air clean, my mountains huge, my salmon fresh, and my ground not paved!
One of the taxicab drivers was telling me about these mountains that were just east of the city, or something. I was like, "ok, sure, we can call those mountains!"
In any case, I stuck out like a sore thumb. Couldn't wait to get home.

Actually, Pittsburgh is an incredibly clean city. The old stereotypes went out the window over 30 years ago when the steel industry imploded. I spent 17 of my 38 years living right in the heart of Pittsburgh.

And no, any true Burgher sure as hell wouldn't call the hills surrounding the city "mountains." He must have been fresh off the boat from Punjab.

This is after the Super Bowl 2006.


I'm somewhere in this mess. It was about 20 degrees and the snow was coming down. The cops closed off 2 miles of the most popular bar strip in Pittsburgh, where my girl/friend lived, and we all went into the streets to celebrate our victory. There were no cars burned, no fights, no violence. Just plenty of exuberant drunkenness. That's why I'm a Burgher and will remain so until they nail my pine box shut.

[Xa'at]

It is, of course, possible that we have differing ideas of "clean".
I have found most metropolises that I have visited are really quite disgusting. Seattle is mostly nice with a few grungy areas, and Portland is positively sparkling. I think Nashville ("The air's just different here!") was probably the worst, but Pittsburgh was not exactly pine scented either.
There were some beautiful churches in the downtown area, though. A couple of restaurants that were impressive as well.

[Classic Satch]

Originally Posted by Xa'at

It is, of course, possible that we have differing ideas of "clean".
I have found most metropolises that I have visited are really quite disgusting. Seattle is mostly nice with a few grungy areas, and Portland is positively sparkling. I think Nashville ("The air's just different here!") was probably the worst, but Pittsburgh was not exactly pine scented either.
There were some beautiful churches in the downtown area, though. A couple of restaurants that were impressive as well.

Eh, making a short visit and living there for a couple of decades will tend to change some opinions.

However, my wife and I can't wait to get up there. Obviously, we are used to cold weather and that isn't going to bother us in the slightest. Plus, given my wife's income, the tax situation is going to benefit us greatly. That's the primary reason I HATE California. The state income tax rate for us would have been 9.25% and the sales tax is 8.25%. The math is simple and I relish the thought of not having to worry about "registering" my firearms, which I absolutely refuse to do so here in CA. Nancy Pelosi, go to hell.

[Dusty Rhodes]

Originally Posted by Xa'at

Well, according to this map I found:

The prospects may be poor. Everyone I know in Alaska has cable... and a lot of them don't have tv at all!
GCI is the big name in cable up here, I'd scour their website to see if maybe you could get your games through them. Otherwise, it may be off to the sports bar for you... and that's if you can convince them to turn it from the Seahawks!


...
...
Whoops, I may have lied. Check this out:
DIRECTV - Alaska and Hawaii

Hummmmmmm- Lied?, Hummmmmmm, I might suspect you guilty of several differing things, like, operating a sense of humor without a license, or being both intelligent and literate, or, occasional fits of compassion for another human being, or several other specie of animals, perhaps even the near felonious " smiling in public" but...Lying? Lying entails intent! and often ulterior motive. Perhaps the crime here is merely misdemeanor "being mistaken in public" I've been guilty of the same infraction slightly more than several thousand times myself.

[Barkingowl]

Originally Posted by Xa'at

I went to Pittsburgh a few years ago. I'm sure it's a very nice place, but I'm a total snob. I like my air clean, my mountains huge, my salmon fresh, and my ground not paved!
One of the taxicab drivers was telling me about these mountains that were just east of the city, or something. I was like, "ok, sure, we can call those mountains!"
In any case, I stuck out like a sore thumb. Couldn't wait to get home.

I lived in Evans City for a year, then moved to West Deer Township. All of the properties that we looked at in Pittsburgh were either dirty, ugly or too expensive. The area around Pitt was pretty clean but I really tried to avoid the rest of the city.

[icarian]

Hmmm, yes you do get satellite tv in Alaska. Further south is most likely better because of satellites being in geosynchronous orbit over the lower 48. However, ALOT of people both inside and outside of Fairbanks (pretty far north) use either Dish or DirectTV. Works pretty darn good when I used it (without going into the +/-s of local channels, prices, etc). Most interesting thing about it (to me) is where the receiver dishes point...actually TOWARDS the ground. Works, but I haven't figured that one out.