12/28   My dad wants those Chinese satellite TV dish thingy (where you get
        5-10 Mandarin stations). Where can I find more info on it and how
        much does it cost? ok thx.
        \_ does this help?  http://csua.org/u/aio (dishnetwork.com)
           note some packages are mainland, some are taiwan
           my parents got something from Monterey Park here in SoCal - don't
           know if it's another provider or whatever, but it was ~ $20-30 /
           month, free install I think.
           \_ Directv provides a superior set of programs. http://csua.org/u/aip
              \_ I don't get it.  The Chinese/Taiwanese programming seems
                 the same or not as not as good.  Are you talking about
                 the general subscription?
                 \_ yeah, they suck.  That is why I am in TW and all I watch
                    is Discovery/National Geographic/Animal Planet channel.
        \_ You want the Dish network's Great Wall package. 17 channels of
           Chinese stations from mainland. The TW stations are crap for
           teenagers with no taste. I don't think DirecTV offers it.
        \_ my dad hates all mainland Chinese.  He always wishes he were born
           a Japanese samurai.  How do I know which channels are Taiwanese
           truth telling channel and which ones are Beijing subversive commie
           channels? -op
           \_ my DPP parents have the ETTV subscription.
           \_ Haha, a brainwashed TWnese. Dish have a package deal from
              HK/TW too. It's the 'other' Chinese package. BTW, there are
              so many lies spread by those Taiwanese channels I stopped
              watching them.
        \_ do you mean FTA free-to-air satellite programming?
           I set this up for my folks -- no one seems to know about it
           unless they're trying to receive free ethnic programming.
           What a lot of companies do is charge for setup of a dish
           (it's a little bigger in size than a directv dish)
           and ask for monthly payments but the signal is essentially free,
           unencrypted, so you could set it up yourself for about $200-$300 parts.
           \_ WOW COOL, where can I get more info? thx
              \_ Check http://www.lyngsat.com/freetv/United-States.html
                 for list of free channels for US.  Some of the channels
                 require the 1-meter/3-feet sized dish to receive.