Locally generated spot beam replacement

1. A method, comprising

receiving, from a satellite via a satellite antenna at a user's premises, a spot beam signal that includes information identifying one or more expected local channels;

receiving, from a satellite via the satellite antenna, at least one other orbital signal with program content for one or more other channels;

analyzing the spot beam signal to identify the one or more expected local channels;

receiving, via an over-the-air antenna at the user's premises, at least one over-the-air television signal;

analyzing the at least one over-the-air television signal to determine one or more local channels that are available in the at least one over-the-air television signal;

extracting the one or more available local channels from the at least one over-the-air television signal;

converting the at least one extracted channel into a replacement spot beam signal that is a satellite-compatible signal;

combining the replacement spot beam signal with the at least one other orbital signal; and

providing the combined signal to a content receiver.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein converting the at least one extracted channel into the replacement spot beam signal includes:

transcoding the at least one extracted channel into a video signal compatible with the content receiver;

modulating the transcoded signal based on one or more modulation parameters of the spot beam signal; and

up-converting the modulated signal to a transponder frequency of the spot beam signal.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein converting the at least one extracted channel into the replacement spot beam signal includes:

determining a transponder frequency of the spot beam signal and one or more spot beam modulation parameters; and

employing the transponder frequency and the one or more spot beam modulation parameters to convert the at least one extracted channel into the satellite-compatible signal.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein converting the at least one extracted channel into the replacement spot beam signal includes:

determining a transponder frequency of the spot beam signal and one or more spot beam modulation parameters based on the spot beam signal;

transcoding the at least one extracted channel into a video signal compatible with the content receiver;

modulating the transcoded signal based on the one or more modulation parameters of the spot beam signal; and

up-converting the modulated signal to the transponder frequency of the spot beam signal.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, at a content distributor that is remote from the user's premises, the at least one over-the-air television signal that includes the one or more available local channels;

transcoding, by the content distributor, the one or more available local channels into a video signal compatible with the content receiver;

generating, by the content distributor, transcoding metadata that defines how the content distributor transcoded the one or more available local channels;

generating, by the content distributor, the spot beam signal to include the transcoding metadata but not the one or more transcoded available local channels; and

wherein converting the at least one extracted channel into the replacement spot beam signal includes:

extracting, by spot-beam-replacement circuitry at the user's premises, the transcoding metadata from the spot beam signal; and

transcoding, by the spot-beam-replacement circuitry, the at least one extracted channel based on the transcoding metadata.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein providing the combined signal to the content receiver includes:

providing the combined signal to each of a plurality of content receivers.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein providing the combined signal to the content receiver includes:

receiving, from a first content receiver, a request for a first channel from the one or more other channels or the one or more available local channels;

providing, to the first content receiver, a first satellite signal from the combined signal that is associated with the first channel;

receiving, from a second content receiver, a request for a second channel from the one or more other channels or the one or more available local channels; and

providing, to the second content receiver, a second satellite signal from the combined signal that is associated with the second channel.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

ignoring program content for the one or more expected local channels included in the spot beam signal.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the spot beam signal does not include program content for the one or more expected local channels.

10. A computing device, comprising

a memory that stores computer instructions; and

a processor that executes the computer instructions to:

obtain, from a spot beam signal received via a satellite antenna at a

location associated with a plurality of content receivers, information identifying local channels without obtaining program content for the local channels via the spot beam signal;

determine a transponder frequency of the spot beam signal and one or more spot beam modulation parameters;

receive, via an over-the-air antenna at the location associated with the plurality of content receivers, at least one over-the-air television signal;

extract at least one channel from the at least one over-the-air television signal;

transcode the at least one extracted channel into a video signal compatible with the plurality of content receivers;

modulate the transcoded signal based on the one or more spot beam modulation parameters;

up-convert the modulated signal to the transponder frequency of the spot beam signal; and

output the up-converted signal to be combined with at least one other orbital signal for transmission to the plurality of content receivers.

11. The computing device of claim 10 , wherein the processor executes further computer instructions to:

analyze the spot beam signal to identify the local channels expected to be in the at least one over-the-air television signal;

analyze the at least one over-the-air television signal to determine one or more local channels that are available in the at least one over-the-air television signal; and

select the at least one channel to be extracted from the at least one over-the-air television signal from the one or more local channels that are available in the at least one over-the-air television signal based on the information in the spot beam signal identifying the local channels.

12. The computing device of claim 10 , wherein the processor executes further computer instructions to:

select the at least one channel from a plurality of local channels that are available in the at least one over-the-air television signal based on the information in the spot beam signal identifying the local channels.

13. The computing device of claim 10 , wherein the processor executes further computer instructions to:

receive, via the satellite antenna, the at least one other orbital signal; and

combine the up-converted signal with the at least one other orbital signal for transmission to the plurality of content receivers.

14. A system, comprising:

a satellite antenna that receives satellite television signals including a spot beam signal and at least one other orbital signal;

an over-the-air antenna that receives over-the-air television signals; and

spot-beam-replacement circuitry that receives the spot beam signal and the over-the-air television signals and performs actions, the actions including:

determining at least one spot beam characteristic associated with the spot beam signal; and

converting, based on the at least one spot beam characteristic, the over-the-air television signals into a replacement spot beam that is a satellite-compliant signal; and

outputting the replacement spot beam signal to be combined with the at least one other orbital signal.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the spot-beam-replacement circuitry performs further actions, including:

determining a transponder frequency of the spot beam signal and one or more spot beam modulation parameters of the spot beam signal; and

converting the over-the-air television signals into the replacement spot beam by transcoding the over-the-air television signals into a video signal compatible with at least one content receiver, modulating the transcoded signal based on the one or more spot beam modulation parameters, and up-converting the modulated signal to the transponder frequency of the spot beam signal.

16. The system of claim 14 , wherein the spot-beam-replacement circuitry performs further actions, including:

analyzing the spot beam signal to determine the at least one spot beam characteristic.

17. The system of claim 14 , wherein the spot-beam-replacement circuitry receives the at least one other orbital signal and performs further actions, including:

combining the replacement spot beam with the at least one other orbital signal; and

outputting the combined signal to the at least one content receiver.

18. The system of claim 14 , wherein the spot-beam-replacement circuitry performs further actions, including:

analyzing the spot beam signal to identify at least one expected local channel in the over-the-air television signals;

extracting at least one channel from the over-the-air television signals based on the at least one identified expected local channel; and

converting the at least one extracted channel into the replacement spot beam.

19. The system of claim 14 , further comprising:

channel-switching-network circuitry that combines the replacement spot beam with the at least one other orbital signal for distribution to at least one content receiver.

20. The system of claim 14 , wherein the channel-switching-network circuitry performs further actions, including:

receiving, from a first content receiver of the at least one content receiver, a first request for a first channel in the over-the-air television signals;

in response to receipt of the first request from the first content receiver, providing the replacement spot beam signal to the first content receiver;

receiving, from a second content receiver of the at least one content receiver, a second request for a second channel in the at least one other orbital signal; and

in response to receipt of the second request from the second content receiver, providing a satellite signal from the at least one other orbital signal that is associated with the second channel to the second content receiver.