Hgtv Hd?

[bigoranget]

Rumors have surfaced on various forums that Bell will be adding History HD, Movietime HD and HGTV HD sometime in October. As most know History HD and Movietime HD have been available for quite sometime but HGTV HD has not launched yet. Can anyone confirm if Canwest is indeed planning to launch HGTV HD this fall?

[TVViewer]

Sorry I didn't notice this thread until now, but yes HGTV HD will be launching this fall

[cslusarc]

Sorry I didn't notice this thread until now, but yes HGTV HD will be launching this fall

I can't wait for HGTV HD to launch. It is one of my most anticipated HDTV channels. As far as I am concerned CanWest can do a "flash cut" when they launch the HD feed and discontinue the SD feed.

[ottawasnowdog]

I can't wait for HGTV HD to launch. It is one of my most anticipated HDTV channels. As far as I am concerned CanWest can do a "flash cut" when they launch the HD feed and discontinue the SD feed.

That would make no sense by getting rid of the sd feed they would lose tons of subscribers.

[Tripster]

That would make no sense by getting rid of the sd feed they would lose tons of subscribers.

Or the BDUs just down convert the HD feed to SD. Eventually all STBs are going to be HD capable anyway, BellTV and TelusTV have already gone that route, their receivers are HD capable and down convert to SD sets when needed.

[CDN Viewer]

About damn time, now where the hell is Food Network HD?! Food Network Canada will be celebrating their 10th anniversary this year, this would be a good time to launch an HD feed of the channel?! Looks like the people at Canwest are asleep at the switch, when the heck does Shaw take over?!

[bigoranget]

Why does everyone think that Shaw will suddenly make things so much better at Canwest? Shaw owns Corus and they have yet to launch ANY channel in HD. I'm pretty sure they are the largest broadcaster in the country without an HD channel.

Also Shaw and Shaw Direct have the weakest HD lineups of all the major providers.

[musimax]

Why does everyone think that Shaw will suddenly make things so much better at Canwest? Shaw owns Corus and they have yet to launch ANY channel in HD. I'm pretty sure they are the largest broadcaster in the country without an HD channel.

Also Shaw and Shaw Direct have the weakest HD lineups of all the major providers.

Exactly, why would anyone think Shaw would be better than anyone else? I hope they will be, but somehow I doubt it. They are just another big conglomerate looking to squeeze as much money out of it as possible with giving as little as they can into it.

Btw though, Corus does have some HD channels: Movie Central HD, Encore Avenue HD, and HBO Canada West HD.

[CDN Viewer]

Why does everyone think that Shaw will suddenly make things so much better at Canwest? Shaw owns Corus and they have yet to launch ANY channel in HD. I'm pretty sure they are the largest broadcaster in the country without an HD channel.

I here ya, its just wishful thinking on my part hoping that a change of ownership will bring about a change in strategy but most likely it will be more of the same at Canwest under Shaw ownership.

Regarding Corus, I have heard that they plan on launching W Network HD & YTV HD this fall. I would put some of the blame on the providers who keep saying they don't have room for all these HD channels.

Also, Canwest has launched more HD channels then CTVgm- Showcase HD, Movietime HD, History Television HD and now HGTV HD. CTVgm has only launched their sports channels and Discovery World HD.

Shaw Direct have less HD channels because they don't compress the heck out of them like Bell does, which is they only reason they have more. It all depends on whether you want quantity or quality?! Also, not very many specialties are available in HD so what is there for them to add- locals that are basically all the same except for the news or French specialties which are not of interest to many in the west, which is Shaw & Shaw Direct's main focus like Quebec is Bell's main focus.

[Tripster]

I think Shaw is ramping up for more HD on their lineup since they recently did a major renumbering of their HD suite. They do seem to have the major channels available and aren't bothering with French because their market really doesn't call for it, they'd be better off adding some Mandarin language HD channel because that is a much larger market in the west than Francophone.

That being said, I'm still wondering if they'll ever bother fixing the audio and picture dropouts on HDNet which have existed since I signed up with them. Kind of annoying during the Sunday concerts. Actually dropouts occur on a lot of their HD channels but are by far the worst on HDNet.

And as mentioned, Corus has HD on the Movie Central suite and Encore Avenue HD. I won't credit them for HBO Canada since it is basically Astral running that channel and HBO Canada West is just a time delayed stream of the eastern feed. That being said, why the heck is Dexter airing on the HD channel without DD5.1?? I thought they'd managed to get most of their HD material with 5.1 included, but no, Dexter is airing without it on Movie Central. One of the biggest shows on the channel and we get the audio neutered!

Anyway, Corus' move into their new HQ should help speed up their HD transition, I mean hopefully they built out the new control rooms to be fully digital and HD ready and didn't just transfer their ancient equipment over from the old digs. And how far along is Shaw fibre backbone now? Didn't they plan to basically run that from Winnipeg to Vancouver?

[bigoranget]

I don't count Movie Central HD or Encore Avenue HD as they are not regular specialty channels; those are premium channels. Movie Central and Encore Avenue not withstanding; Corus has no HD specialty channels.

[bigoranget]

I think Shaw is ramping up for more HD on their lineup since they recently did a major renumbering of their HD suite. They do seem to have the major channels available and aren't bothering with French because their market really doesn't call for it, they'd be better off adding some Mandarin language HD channel because that is a much larger market in the west than Francophone.

I wouldn't read to much into that. Shaw seems to re-align channels almost every year. They just do that to give the illusion of big changes and to dangle the carrots a little longer.

[numba1killa]

Has a launch date been dropped for HGTV HD , and does anyone know if Shaw , Bell , Rogers and Telus will have these ?

[InMontreal]

Sorry I didn't notice this thread until now, but yes HGTV HD will be launching this fall

Guess it's safe to say that HGTV HD has been postponed to winter 2011 due to the merger?

[InMontreal]

Guess it's safe to say that HGTV HD has been postponed to winter 2011 due to the merger?

TVViewer? Got an answer for us?

[HT Gearhead]

Well it's almost 2011 and still no History or Movietime or Encore or Speed HD on Bell. But hey at least we have Zeste HD, whoopteedoo.
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MASTURBATION SOLO

[bigoranget]

I'm sure people in Quebec are quite pleased with their HD lineup. The BDU's and broadcasters in the rest of Canada are out to lunch when it comes to HD.

[InMontreal]

I'm sure people in Quebec are quite pleased with their HD lineup. The BDU's and broadcasters in the rest of Canada are out to lunch when it comes to HD.

Hmmm, no, I'm not pleased with the current HD offer because Videotron's english HD offer is quite poor.

Maybe you meant french-canadians based in Quebec province are quite pleased with their HD lineup, then it's true.

But HGTV HD will probably have more chances to be picked up early for carriage as it's apparently a popular specialty channel.

[InMontreal]

Latest rumour, HGTV HD to launch February 17, 2011 on Bell TV.
Waiting for a confirmation or press release...

[bigoranget]

The channel will also be available on Shaw and Shaw Direct shortly as well. Not sure if it will be February 17th or earlier or later.