YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — Yokota’s Internet, phone and television provider will modify its channel lineup this week, adding, removing and shuffling channels in its tier-two and tier-three packages.
According to an Army and Air Force Exchange Service news release, Allied Telesis will add nine new channels including the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, BBC America, The Learning Channel (TLC) and the Military Channel to its existing lineup. Three of the new channels will be added to tier two and six will be added to tier three.
Allied provides its services under contract with AAFES.
“We are pleased to offer new channels our customers asked us for, and we will continue to work toward adding even more programming options for our subscribers,” Larry Salgado, the Yokota AAFES general manager, said in the release.
Four existing channels — the Big 10 Network, the Lifetime Movie Network, A&E and the Biography Channel — have also been moved down from tier three to tier two.
Less popular channels, including Eternal World Television, 3ABN, the Fox Soccer Channel and three Fox College Sports channels, will be removed from Allied’s lineup.
“We listened to our customers who complained that there were too many religious and sports channels,” said Lorenzo Li Bassi, Allied’s support director.
The transition to the new channel lineup will begin Nov. 1, said Bruse Green, Allied’s general manager, adding that the channel numbers will be adjusted to accommodate the new offerings.
He said “minimal service interruptions” are anticipated during the week-long transition.
Allied’s 120-day promotion, which has given base residents free access to tier-two and tier-three channels, will end on Nov. 30. After that, only customers who have signed up for Allied’s Internet Protocol TV service will be able to receive the channels, Green said.
The channel lineup for Allied’s tier-four “Super Channels” service has not yet been announced. In the meantime, customers signed for the tier-four service will be billed only for tier three, Bruse said.
Allied’s tier-two and tier-three IPTV services cost $37.95 and $41.95 per month, respectively.
The lineups ...
Below are the new lineups for Allied Telesis’ tiers two and three. They go into effect starting Nov. 1
Tier one’s basic free channels — American Forces Network programming, The Pentagon Channel, the commander’s and local access and Japanese channels — will remain unchanged. The lineup for tier four has yet to be announced.
Tier Two ($37.95)27 FX28 Big 10 Network29 Animal Planet30 Travel Channel31 Discovery Channel32 Fox News Channel33 Lifetime34 Lifetime Movie Network35 Discovery Kids36 Arts & Entertainment37 Biography Channel
Tier Three ($41.95)38 BBC America39 TLC (The Learning Channel)40 Fox Reality41 Fox Movie Channel42 National Geographic43 History Channel44 Fuel TV45 Discovery Home46 Science Channel47 The Military Channel48 Fit TV49 Trinity Broadcasting Network
