Get Ready For 100's of New HD Channels! Shaw Direct's New Satellite Has Launched!

[TOM_T]

​Interesting? I'm not sure what's going to happen with Pick & pay or what channels will be dropped next.

But if I where Bell I would do this at least for the music channels:

Much Music
M3
Much More Retro(rebrand VH 2)
Much Loud(rebrand as VH1)
Much Vibe(rebrand as VH1)
Juicebox(rebrand as VH1)
MTV
MTV2

I'd combine the 3 Music Video Channels(Loud,Vibe & Juicebox) into one and just combine the videos playing certain videos genre per day like Much Music did when it first started back in 1984.

[bigoranget]

But unlike Bell, Shaw Direct cares about their customers and they allow their customers to access a local CTV HD station in every single market they offer Global HD. CTV has an unfair HD carriage advantage because Shaw Direct is playing fair to serve their customers.

This is BS; the only reason they have an even amount of locals is to serve rural cable systems. It has nothing to do with Shaw Direct "caring" about their customers. Shaw Broadcast calls all the shots with channel carriage. Also, even a year later CTV 2 HD is still absent from Shaw Direct. Also Shaw Direct still lacks carriage of either CJOH or CBOT in Ottawa. The nation's capital has no local HD carriage on Shaw Direct.

Quality over Quantity. Almost all of the channels Bell added were already available in HD on Shaw Direct, and channels like FX were never even available on Bell in standard definition.

If you don't include the locals, many of the specialty channels are still not available in HD on Shaw Direct. Also most of those locals were added only a few months after Shaw Direct, it's not like there were added last week. Plus still to this day they don't carry BNN HD, CTV News HD, CBC News HD, RDI HD, E! HD, Investigation Discovery HD, Discovery Science HD, Animal Planet HD, HLN HD, WPIX HD, WSBK HD, KTLA HD, MFun! HD, MSNBC HD, Cottage Life HD, Documentary HD, Travel + Escape HD, MusiquePlus HD, TV5 HD, Yoopa HD, Cinepop HD, Evasion HD, Ici Explora HD, Canal D/Investigation HD, Prise 2 HD, Ici ARTV HD, GSN HD, CP24 HD, MLB Extra Innings, NCAA Sports, NBA TV Canada HD, PBS West HD.

There is a huge difference between not being able to watch a news channel in HD on Shaw Direct and not being able to watch a channel like BC1 at all on Bell.

Where do I begin with this? First, BC1 serves BC only, so this really only effects BC customers. How many Bell customers are there in BC? I'm betting it's not many. BC isn't their core market. What about customers that live in the 9 other provinces and territories? Like it or not CBC News Network is the must watched news channel in Canada and it should be carried in HD on Shaw/Shaw Direct. Same thing goes for RDI HD. RDI is far more superior to LCN yet they don't carry it either.

The whole point of my update is to clearly show that Bell still finds ways to add channels yet for the most part Shaw Direct has been stagnant since last fall. They have only added the TSN feeds and TVA Sports 2 this year. The difference between you and I is that I will admit that it is wrong for Bell to not carry more Global stations in HD. You will find any way to justify why Shaw/Shaw Direct doesn't do something like carry CBC News Network in HD (Again a channel that every other BDU carries).

[bigoranget]

I'd combine the 3 Music Video Channels(Loud,Vibe & Juicebox) into one and just combine the videos playing certain videos genre per day like Much Music did when it first started back in 1984.

I think Bell Media should just shutter MuchVibe, MuchLoud, MuchRetro and Juicebox. Music video channels served their purpose but they are no longer relevant today. You can watch most videos on line through sites like YouTube and Vevo. Also Stingray Music has a VOD service that feature lots of music videos. T

[InMontreal]

I'd combine the 3 Music Video Channels(Loud,Vibe & Juicebox) into one and just combine the videos playing certain videos genre per day like Much Music did when it first started back in 1984.

Not gonna work. Retro, Juicebox, Loud and Vibe targets specific music tastes, are commercial-free and gets small amounts of subscription revenues (not a money-maker), acquisition rights are low anyways, but most of all, they're Cat B licences with limited distribution. Their usefulness is questionnable and can be sold to another company or shut down.

The MTV2 licence is a Cat A (meaning every BDUs must have it) sitting duck, it was the original Craig version of MTV, That is where a VH1 licence can happen.

As for bpm:tv being removed from Bell satellite, it's a bummer, as it's operated by an independent, Stornoway. They had another wave of job cuts back in june, social media interactivity is at a minimum since then, new fall season started without any fanfare... they essentially killed the channel. When I cut cable, it was the only channel I really missed.

[TVViewer]

[QUOTE=bigoranget;67288]

This is BS; the only reason they have an even amount of locals is to serve rural cable systems. It has nothing to do with Shaw Direct "caring" about their customers. Shaw Broadcast calls all the shots with channel carriage.

Shaw Broadcast doesn't force Shaw Direct to offer any CTV HD stations to Shaw Direct customers. Shaw Broadcast makes these channels available to Shaw Direct but Shaw Direct chooses to offer these channels to their customers.

My point is, if they wanted, Shaw Direct could refuse to offer CTV HD stations to their customers until Bell starts offering the Global HD stations. Shaw Direct doesn't do this because they care about their customers. Unlike Bell, which is denying their customers access to Global HD to give CTV HD an unfair advantage, Shaw Direct is putting their customers first and offering CTV HD stations even though they are the biggest competitor to Global.

Also, even a year later CTV 2 HD is still absent from Shaw Direct. Also Shaw Direct still lacks carriage of either CJOH or CBOT in Ottawa. The nation's capital has no local HD carriage on Shaw Direct.

Until very recently, CTV Ottawa wasn't even producing local news in HD. CTV2 stations still don't produce local news in HD. When you don't produce local news in HD, operate in the same time zone as other stations airing the same programming in HD, and don't have any non-duplicate HD content available on your station you deserve have a low priority for HD carriage for a national satellite provider. If they don't have room to carry all stations, these certainly shouldn't be the ones that get carried. Bell was not even carrying CTV Ottawa in standard definition until they decided to buy CTV.

If you don't include the locals, many of the specialty channels are still not available in HD on Shaw Direct. Also most of those locals were added only a few months after Shaw Direct, it's not like there were added last week. Plus still to this day they don't carry BNN HD, CTV News HD, CBC News HD, RDI HD, E! HD, Investigation Discovery HD, Discovery Science HD, Animal Planet HD, HLN HD, WPIX HD, WSBK HD, KTLA HD, MFun! HD, MSNBC HD, Cottage Life HD, Documentary HD, Travel + Escape HD, MusiquePlus HD, TV5 HD, Yoopa HD, Cinepop HD, Evasion HD, Ici Explora HD, Canal D/Investigation HD, Prise 2 HD, Ici ARTV HD, GSN HD, CP24 HD, MLB Extra Innings, NCAA Sports, NBA TV Canada HD, PBS West HD.

Most of those channels are not popular enough to justify HD carriage. Animal Planet and Investigation Discovery do well for digital channels so they should probably be carried, but Bell is missing some top ranked digital channels as well. H2 is not available in HD on Bell, Nat Geo Wild is not available on Bell entirely. Both are available in HD on Shaw Direct. CBC News Network is the highest rated specialty channel Shaw Direct is missing in HD, and I never said this is a channel they shouldn't carry in HD, but Shaw Direct is carrying a lot of HD news Bell is not in addition to a BC news channel Bell is not carrying at all.

Where do I begin with this? First, BC1 serves BC only, so this really only effects BC customers. How many Bell customers are there in BC? I'm betting it's not many. BC isn't their core market. What about customers that live in the 9 other provinces and territories? Like it or not CBC News Network is the must watched news channel in Canada and it should be carried in HD on Shaw/Shaw Direct.

My point is, at least Shaw Direct carries the channel. Most of the key channels Bell is missing in HD are also missing in standard definition as well. HD is a better viewing experience than SD, but SD is better than not getting the channel that all, and this is what Bell customers have had to suffer through.

I don't know how many subscribers Bell has in each province, I doubt there is any major city that's a "core market" for Bell, they are a national provider and probably more popular in rural communities where satellite is the only option, but I don't see why they would have a smaller number in British Columbia vs other provinces. British Columbia is still a huge market. Vancouver is the second biggest English city in Canada. BC1 is a channel Bell doesn't have to carry and it's a channel that does a better job at serving viewers in Canada's second largest English market than Bell's CTV News Channel. It's not just a competitor to CTV News Channel, it's a superior competitor.

As for people who live in other provinces, if they care about getting their news from CBC News Network in HD, they are also going to care about getting their local news in HD, and you are less likely to get your local news in HD with Bell than Shaw Direct.

Same thing goes for RDI HD. RDI is far more superior to LCN yet they don't carry it either.

Is this a "core market" for Shaw Direct? I doubt Shaw Direct has many customers who only speak French.

[TOM_T]

CTV2 Ottawa lost its Noon,Evening,late night & Weekend News years ago because Bell Media cut it. They only do their morning show which is very popular here in Ottawa.

[bigoranget]

Most of those channels are not popular enough to justify HD carriage.

Why is Shaw the sole authority on what channel is good enough to be carried. I somewhat get why Shaw Direct wouldn't have as much as Shaw Cable. Bell Fibe has more than Bell TV (H2 HD carried on Bell Fibe as an example). But why is Shaw Cable's HD line-up so pathetic? What is it specifically about Shaw Cable that they are unable to carry the same channels that get carried by all the other major providers (Rogers, Telus, Cogeco, Eastlink and even Videotron.

[bigoranget]

Another year not a hole lot has changed for either company.

Shaw Direct has added beIN Sports HD, CTV News Channel HD, E! HD, WWE Network HD, CBC News Network HD, Ici RDI HD, Ici ARTV HD, Ici Explora HD, TV5 HD, Disney Channel HD, Disney XD HD, TVA Sporsts 3 HD (Seasonal)

Bell has added Disney Channel HD, Disney XD HD, Disney Junior HD, WWE Network HD, TVA Sports 3 HD (Seasonal), Global Montreal HD

Seems dumb for Bell TV to finally add Global Montreal HD but not Global Winnipeg HD and Global Halifax HD. Shaw Direct still needs at least one CTV-2 HD affiliate. CTV and CBC Ottawa in HD would be a good addition too.

I find it very strange that Shaw Direct's HD specialty channel line-up is still way better than Shaw Cables yet Bell has taken the opposite approach were Bell Fibe is much better than Bell Satellite.

[TVViewer]

Seems dumb for Bell TV to finally add Global Montreal HD but not Global Winnipeg HD and Global Halifax HD.

I agree here. While I do think Global Montreal HD should be added since they do carry channels like CBC and Citytv Montreal HD, it shouldn't have been added before channels like Global Halifax, Global Winnipeg, Global Edmonton, BC1, Global Regina, and Global Saskatoon. Global Montreal operates in the exact same time zone as Global Toronto with an identical network programming schedule, and the audience share of Global News in Montreal is far lower than that of Global News in the markets listed above. I still don't see how Bell customers put up with this. Global Halifax is a key channel for timeshifting and yet it's still not available in HD, If you live in the Maritimes not only can you not watch the Morning News or Evening News in HD but you can't even watch the U.S. programming Global exclusively broadcasts at 8:00PM AT in HD. The only way for Bell customers in the Maritimes to see the U.S. programming Global broadcasts at 8:00PM local time in HD is to stay up to 11:00PM local time to watch it on the U.S. networks or Global Toronto HD. I just can't see how anyone in the Maritimes would be okay with getting such terrible service from their provider.

[bigoranget]

Shaw Broadcast/Shaw Direct just announced a complete transition to MPEG-4 by the fall of 2019 with phase 1 of 3 beginning next year. Most channels currently available in HD will be carried in MPEG-4 HD only. This means customers with MPEG-2 receivers will need to upgrade by next spring to avoid impact on the availability of channels.

More info can be found here.
http://www.shawbroadcast.com/Content/English/mpeg4.htm

It will be interesting to see what Bell does. Perhaps they to will convert to all MPEG-4 and in most cases MPEG-4 HD only.

[TOM_T]

Bell has two choices? Either get back sat 72 or convert all their SD channels to MPEG 4 HD/SD as their HD channels are already MPEG 4. Dish did it for their eastern arc sats.

[bigoranget]

My guess is Bell is going to do what Shaw is planning to do and convert all signals to MPEG-4. Shaw Direct/Shaw Broadcast is only going to carry one feed of the channel so if it's in HD, the signal will be HD only. The only SD feeds that will remain are ones that are not carried in HD. Given that this is a three year plan, I'm sure some modifications will occur since I'm sure channels will be removed or added between now and next spring.

Going through the schedule, it looks like HD customers will be affected first with many becoming MPEG-4 stations during the first phase. SD only customers will start being affected in the second phase.

The other thing I noticed is it looks like Shaw will be giving up some transponders on Anik F1R and F2. Shaw Direct/Broadcast currently occupies 30 transponders on Anik F1R. After the transition it will be down to 25. For Anik F2 they will go from 22 to 6. Some space will also clear up on Anik G1 with the removal of some duplicate SD services and the migration of Vancouver HD signals over to Anik F1R.