DirecTV service with HBO is included in the HOA fees for every condo at Brooks Tower. Local channels and/or HD DirecTV service can be purchased for an additional charge.

HD service was made available for the first time at Brooks Tower in 2006 though the wiring was damaged in the July 2006 riser fire and was not repaired for quite some time.

This topic is to share any news or discuss issues with the DirecTV service at Brooks Tower.

Comments …

Sep 24, 2006     John

Does anyone know when the HD service will be back up and running in the building? (I assume its still out and that we’re running the regular DirecTV signal still)

Oct 2, 2006     Premduth

Hi John,

You might want to check with DirecTV. I only had one day of downtime and HD was up and running.

Oct 12, 2006     Ryan

Hello folks,

One of the residents stopped me in the hall and informed me of a post on this site about the Satellite system.

Regarding HD Service at Brooks, the fire destroyed the satellite equipment in the electrical rooms on floors 7 through 15. This also caused the recently installed HD system to crash below floors 28 or 27, therefore there is no HD service avaiable below those floors. After the fire, Colorado Broadband/Qwest were able to re-establish temporary basic (non HD) satellite service to all floors, however the repairs for the HD system were going to have to be put off until Electrical, Phone, and High Speed Data systems throughout the building were repaired. The fire damaged the system in a way that it will most likely require a partial if not complete rebuild of the Satellite system. Services will stay up for the most part while this is happening. This will involve new cable, amplification units, special types of splitters, and the such. I am not certain when the repairs and rebuild will start, but it should be fairly soon. (I am always the last one to know when things like this will happen)

The fire also damaged the “Off Air” antenna system which allows many of the residents to receive some of the local denver stations such as channels 2, 4, 7, 9, 20, 31. This system will also most likely be rebuilt, but until that happens, those who do not receive the local channels through Direc TV will only get static. There were some issues before the fire with getting all the local channels to come in, this is due to the fact that the antenna can only be pointed in one direction and that several of the TV stations have their towers at different points in the Denver Metro Area. All the local channels come in clear through Direc TV. (HD Locals are not yet available and may not be until sometime next year)

If any resident expierences problems with their Direc TV service at Brooks, they should contact Qwest, NOT Direc TV at 1-877-288-2888 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              1-877-288-2888      end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Jun 7, 2007     Cindy Smith

Is anyone getting tired of how often Direct TV seems to be down in this building. I think (but not sure) that about $80 of our homeowners fees are for direct TV. I am only here part-time and it seems that the cable is down at least 2 or 3 times a month. We should be getting a refund of down time.

Aug 16, 2007     KMS

Ok, I am very confused — I ordered an upgrade from Direct TV for an HD DVR — I have to pay 200.00 for it and an extra 7 dollars a month — they come to install it and leave — then I learn that I cant get any of the local channels in HD — I notice on the guide that West or East coast feeds are available — so I call back the next day — oh wait they say … you CAN get local channels in HD but they have to come back out to do something and it will be an additional 7 dollars a month plus a 44 dollar “install” fee! — What is going on? — The only reason I ordered the upgrade in the first place was to watch network TV in HD — This is crazy — any suggestions?

Sep 13, 2007     Bryan

Interesting… I have the HD Box as well, but this is the first I’ve heard about getting the local channels in HD. However, I don’t think I’m interested in paying another $7/mo. for it. Just having the HD service, we’re already paying $7 for the standard 9 HD channels.

On a related note, after the fire last year that burned up the HD wires in the riser, they switched my HD box back to the regular signal. Since we don’t get any valuable or timely communication about what’s going on with the DirecTV service, I have had no ideas whether HD service was back up.

So on Sunday night, apparently DirecTV pushed out a software update that broke my service (according to Qwest that is). When they came out yesterday (yes, that’s right… no Monday Night Football or any TV for 3 days), they said the HD service is working and switched me back over to it. I don’t even want to think about how long its been back up and we just didn’t get any indication.

By the way, I called the 877 number listed above, pressed #3 for repair and got the DSL repair group who said they have to transfer me. We all know how iritating the “I need to transfer you” bit is, so here is the number they gave me for Qwest DirecTV repair: 800-654-2180 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              800-654-2180      end_of_the_skype_highlighting (#3 for Repair).

One a positive note, I was flipping back and forth between the Mets game on ESPN HD and the Rockies Game on Fox Sports Net last night and the difference is AMAZING. Incredible. Now we just need to see more HD channels!