The Dish Network User's Resource

Free Public Interest Channel Package

These channels are available free of charge on request to all Dish Network customers on request regardless of subscription level. 
However you must be a subscriber/customer in good standing.

Below is a synopsis of the FCC rules on Public Interest Channels and DBS:

Originally posted by Bryan27 on DBSTalk.com These are the rules regarding PI carriage in layman's terms:

1. 4-7% of the channel capacity must be reserved for PI channels (The key here is “reserved”, other channels may use the reserved space until a PI channel becomes available).
2. If the percentage of reserved space results in a fraction the number of PI channels are rounded up (IE: if 4% is 2.35 channels the provider needs to carry 3 channels. Basically there is 1 PI channel for every 25 channels).
3. The percentage is determined by the average of the channels offered in the previous year with channel counts taken once per quarter (IE: the number of PI channels in 2003 are based on 2002 channel counts).
4. PI channels must not be charged more than the wholesale charge for carrying the channel.
5. Only 1 channel from an entity may be carried as PI unless all PI channels in the country have been given an opportunity to be carried (this will never occur as there are more PI channels than space).
6. PI channels may not be edited by the provider nor may the provider have any interest in the channel (IE: the provider can't own all or a part of the channel).
7. PI channels are to be treated like all other channels in the line-up and are to be given the same treatment (IE: channels are to be given the same amount of bandwidth as other channels).
8. A variety of channels with a variety of viewpoints must be carried (IE: you have to carry more than just religious PI channels).
9. The PI channels must be offered to every subscriber free regardless of package (E* interprets subscribers as those with AT-50 or higher, anyone with less isn't a subscriber, but a customer. D* makes their PI channels available to everyone regardless of programming level).
10. To qualify as a PI channel the channel must be non-commercial and owned by a non-profit or government entity.