Dish Network: My channels are disappearing!

Strange thing going on with my Dish Network setup… hopefully someone has some insight / sympathy.

About two weeks ago my fiancee and I were ordering a PPV movie (Thir13en Ghosts) when the channel stopped working. We could see the movie in the background so we ordered it and then out of nowhere it died on us. Now that channel has altogether disappeared from our program list.

Even worse, some additional channels have disappeared. We have the HBO package, and we are missing two of the channels (including HBO Comedy, the home of George Carlin). They don’t show up in the program guide. If we try and put in 307 (HBO Comedy), it goes to 305 instead. Argh!

We’ve tried to power down the receivers and turn them back on, no help. We’ve tried to Check Switch to recalibrate, no help. I was even out on the step ladder trying to get a better signal (ours hovers at around 75 on a cloudy day).

Also, possibly related, how do you get the damn thing to stay on the transponder you want? If I switch transponders, I can’t make the changes ‘stick’ (the only option is to Cancel the menu, there is no OK or Save or anything like that).

Any help/pointers/links to decent tech docs would be greatly appreciated!

Have you tried calling Dish Network?

Have you been able to order any other PPV programs or does the line test fail? We were unable to order any PPV for a long time, until one day Joel checked the phone box outside and saw a wire was broken. He taped it up and not only did we get our PPV back, we got the Starz free preview and some channels we didn’t even know we had. Which is weird, because we were able to get the HBO free preview last Christmas, but we weren’t able to get PPV back then, either. Oh well. If fiddling with the dish didn’t help, then check your lines and connections. If nothing appears broken or loose, then call 1-800-333-Dish.

[sub]Mr. Sheepshead, would you email me please? Have a question for you…[/sub]