This might get confusing…I’ll try to attribute here as best as I can.
Initially, dwc stated “If you live where I live the neighborhood association doesn’t allow satellite dishes to be mounted to the rooftops.”
This threw up a red flag for me because the statement isn’t 100% true. Belrix aptly pointed that out by saying, “*According to Dish Network, they can’t forbid it by law. *”
However, neither statement is totally true. There are some very common cases where a dish simply isn’t allowed…more than one may think.
First of all, dwc never stated whether or not he owned his house. People who rent or lease have absolutely no protection whatsoever under this law. Cable television operates under the same stipulations…if one rents, the Cable company needs permission before they can drill. In fact, many apartment buildings have exclusive contracts with the cable company that strictly does not allow for any drilling whatsoever for community antenna television purposes except what is provided by the building.
Now these facts may not seem important…but let us consider that in my town, about two thirds of the residents rent (rather than own). Furthermore, every single multiple dwelling unit that has been built since 1996 has an exclusive contract with the cable TV company (those contracts are usually seven year contracts…the cable company wires the building for free in return for exclusive rights to the tennants, then turns over the ownership of that wiring after 7 years). Anyone who has a dish who is living in a building that is less than seven years old that is serviced by the local cable company is breaking a law that would be very severe if anyone ever enforced it.
People who own are another slightly different story. However, there are certain situations with them as well where the dish needs to come down. First of all, people who live in large condo units that are all part of the same building have to be weary of the building’s structure. Most condo associations will not allow dishes simply because it alters the outside surface of the building lowering the value of the building as a whole (not to mention the inexplicable hole that needs to be drilled).
There are also somewhat rare instances where people who own houses have been forced to take their dish down. One has to do with height limitations. Another has to do with the “neighborhood eyesore quality”. I can even give an example of this. A friend of mine lived in a fairly well-to-do housing development with one of those covenants that everyone has to sign. Drafted prior to 1996, it did initially have a clause forbidding dishes. However, that clause was still revoked.
About three years ago my buddy decided to put up a dish. Unfortunately, due to large trees in his backyard (which borers a golf course), there is no place on his house which can pick up a clear signal. We ended up finding a spot in the corner of his lawn where the dish did pick up a good signal.
And it did for about six months until his neighbor complained about the eyesore that was sitting about six inches outside of the property easement between the two houses. It was not all that unattractive either. It was mounted on a brown wooden stake that gradually changed to gray up the side. Over the back was one of those plant hanger hook thingies. On the front was the dish. However, the dish happened to point directly at the only window…a large bay window…in the neighbor’s sun room. I guess the guy got tired of the thing pointing directly at him every morning when he went downstairs to read the paper. He was able to force a court order to have my friend move (not remove) the dish because of his agreement with the “community covenant”.
Now, the dish is sitting on the peak of his roof affixed to a 5 foot mast (the tallest allowable by the FAA without lights). It comes in like crap because it can’t quite make it over the peak of the giant poplar trees in his back yard. Plus, the pole wobbles ever-so-slightly in the wind (and it gets windy here) which also affects the reception ever-so-slightly. His agreement essentially forbade his use of the dish because of other agreements he had made(and, no…the poplar trees are not coming down…and neither is the giant oak tree in my back yard which happens to be the only reason I don’t have a dish).
