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CRTC requires Bell TV and Shaw Direct to carry more local television

18K views 69 replies 43 participants last post by  mr.eous 
#1 ·
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2011/2011-295.htm

CRTC requires Bell TV and Shaw Direct to carry more local television
stations

OTTAWA-GATINEAU, May 4, 2011 - The Canadian Radio-television and
Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) today updated its satellite
distribution policy to require Bell TV and Shaw Direct to carry all local
television stations supported by the Local Programming Improvement Fund.

"Canadians in all markets should have access to their local television
stations, regardless of how they receive their programming," said Konrad
von Finckenstein, Q.C., Chairman of the CRTC. "The carriage of additional
local stations will put satellite distributors on the same footing as
cable companies and provide their subscribers with more choice in local
news and information."
 
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#27 ·
Spot beam coverage would be useful, but the satellites have to be designed with that capability in mind, which to my knowledge the Anik and Nimiq satellites were not. Basically spot beams come from special antennas that reuse the same frequencies over rand over.
 
#28 ·
Bell and Shaw should just ignore the directive. That gets them through most of 2012. Find a way to get to the Supreme court would take another couple of years. Konrad will be retired by then...Or just talk to Tony Clement...he'll fix it.

In all seriousness, this requires Bell and Shaw to find a political or legal solution, not to change compression algorithms or loft any new /better satellites.
 
#29 ·
"I think the CRTC wasn't paying attention the past couple of days. There is no way the Conservative Gov't will allow this ruling to stand. This is a lose - lose proposition for both the business end of the spectrum (no friend of mine!) and those who will ultimately pay... the consumer. "

I don't think the Conservatives give a damn. Back to the topic at hand, I agree, they should remove similar channels such as A Ottawa that aren't part of LPIF to make room.
 
#30 ·
Here's my two cents

Using MPEG4 compression and 8PSK modulation, as many as 30 SD channels can fit on one transponder. Chances are some existing channels will move to this method as well.

I really don't think this CRTC decision is all that controversial. Also keep in mind Bell already agreed to carry the 43 additional locals by August 31, 2012 through it's tangible benefits package when they purchased CTVGlobalMedia. Part of that package included migrating services to MPEG-4 to accommodate the addition of these locals

For Shaw Direct, when they launch their new satellite, all 16 transponders will be MPEG-4. They will likely convert all the existing F1R and F2 HD channels to MPEG-4/8PSK as well. So there should be more then enough capacity to add these locals.

IMO Shaw and Bell should have planned for increased capacity and/or MPEG-4 migration all long time ago. They have both dragged their feet for long enough, so I do not have much sympathy for either BDU.

Conclusion: I really don't think this CRTC decision is anything to lose sleep over. I also have serious doubts that the industry leader will get involved and I also doubt Bell or Shaw will appeal the decision either.
 
#32 ·
One issue that I see is (at least according to the article on this site) adding these channels will cause an increase to subscribers. This to me says that they'll most likely up the rates of their base packages, which will make competing with local cable co's difficult for both companies. And as much as I know everyone's going to say "well they shouldn't raise rates because they're making huge profits blah blah blah...." you know that it will happen.
 
#33 ·
It will be something to lose sleep over if I'm forced to buy a replacement satellite receiver. And chances are the new receiver won't be able to interface with my EHD (External Hard Drive) so I'll lose all my movies.
And chances are it won't have an ASTC tuner in it like my 6141 does.
Damn CRTC!
I hope this gets overturned.
 
#34 ·
Well it will definately be the last nail in the coffin for satellite for me...satellite service is a joke in canada...the crtc..looking out for business not the people...dont need to see 30 cbc channels all showing the same shyte...oh yeah dont forget the 40 ctv....never mind the bafoons at bell....I could go on and on....
 
#36 ·
Again folks, this is a mandate to add small market locals in SD only. In MPEG-4/8PSK format, you could probably fit all of these additions on 2-3 transponders easily.

I don't know what Shaw's upgrade options are but I'm pretty sure Bell customers will be upgraded for free. The tangible benefits package included a large amount of money to help customers upgrade to MPEG-4.
 
#37 ·
In Bell's case, this was all finalized almost 2 months ago as part of the CRTC's approval of the CTV purchase as others have said. Here are some quotes from the CRTC decision that I also referred to in the Bell Satellite forum.

35. As part of its 7 February 2011 tangible benefits package, BCE proposed to provide satellite carriage for an additional 43 local television services. This initiative would be made possible by replacing all of BCE’s installed high definition (HD) MPEG-2 set-top boxes with MPEG-4 capable boxes within a 12-15 month timeframe. BCE submitted that this would free sufficient capacity to allow for increased carriage of local over-the-air (OTA) stations.
Consequently, the Commission accepts BCE’s proposal to allocate $60 million of its total benefits package toward this initiative and directs BCE’s DTH service to carry at least 43 additional television services that meet the following criteria in standard definition by 31 August 2012 and to make these services available as part of the basic package in the appropriate local markets:
 
#39 ·
So what you are saying then Dr. Dave is it's a done deal.
Yes, this is a done deal.

I don't think anyone should buy into the hysteria that rates will double over this change. People will continue to see the 2-3 price increase annually. These increases would have happened regardless whether or not they had to make room for these locals. The only difference now is the likes of Bell and Shaw Direct can make an excuse for the next few round of increases.
 
#43 ·
The whole point was to make sure that satellite viewers could see their local channels, just like cable subs. Technically, Bell could just make them available to a specific market, but there wouldn't be any advantage to do that. What they may do is carry the eastern small market locals on the eastern satellite and likewise with the western ones. In the future they could use spot beams for locals and still comply with the CRTC rules.
 
#41 ·
Bell TV was already planning on adding most of these channels. This directive was aimed squarely at Shaw Direct. Shaw has been slow to add Canadian HD channels, resulting in lost simsub revenue for Canadian broadcasters. Much of that has been due to lack of capacity but at least Shaw customers haven't had to endure the disruptions that Bell's bad simsubs and defective compression schemes caused over the past 3 years.
 
#42 ·
In MPEG-4/8PSK format, you could probably fit all of these additions on 2-3 transponders easily.
2 or 3 transponders that could be used for channels customers want and/or for: better quality signals, more services, more 1080p and so on.

Let the market decide, not the government.


I don't know what Shaw's upgrade options are but I'm pretty sure Bell customers will be upgraded for free.
Really? Those receivers costs hundreds of dollars each. Nothing is free in this world. Those millions in "free" receivers will be paid for by Bell customers. It appears Shaw customers will have to buy those receivers themselves.
 
#45 ·
It's old news. Bell hasn't been adding mpeg4 because they only wanted to add HD channels. They've known for a number of years now that they needed mpeg4 to add those locals CRTC told them to carry during a hearing 1-2 years ago.

When mpeg4 comes it will open them up to adding new programming quite a bit. Until then this thread should just be locked lol
 
#46 ·
Spots on the way, but using them for this would be a waste of bandwidth -- use spotbeams in Canada for broadband.

Really? Those receivers costs hundreds of dollars each. Nothing is free in this world.
Right. Nor do MPEG2 receivers last forever in this world. They will be upgraded through natural attrition and new subscription, and they will be subsidized by Bell so that they can use the extra bandwidth gained by MPEG4 to sell you more HD channels. The SD locals here are a sideshow, as is the over-reaction over this decision.
 
#47 ·
Bell will only be converting HD Channels to MPEG4, not SD.

By my reckoning, they will need about 4 transponders to fit the 43 extra channels onto.

I wonder if they could add these 43 Channels in SD MPEG4 and make people who want them buy new SD MPEG4 receivers, or make them but an HD MPEG4 Receiver.

Did the CRTC say they had to be available with EXISTING Receivers.?
 
#48 ·
@pinza: Would Bell be able to do this?

1. Move all SD channels including any of the 40+ new locals to one satellite? Is there enough room on one satellite?
2. At the same time move all HD channels to MPEG4 on the other other?

They could then make it clear that anyone who wants HD has to get an MPEG4 capable receiver but those who just want SD could stay as is.
 
#49 ·
Right now 91 is 100% SD and 4 or 5 transponders of 82 are also SD,(total of 36/37 TP's) no I do not think there is room on 1 bird, unless they compress the hell out of them and drop a few PPV etc. I think at the current compression they will need 40 TP's, for existing and new SD Channels.

When they have swapped out all the 9200 & 6100 models and they switch HD to MPEG4, that should free up about 4 or 5 TP's. They will then need 4 of these for the new SD Channels, leaving 1 free TP for new HD content.

This is of course just a guess.
 
#50 ·
Poor Bell

@pinza: As I feared it doesn't look to me that Bell has much spare capacity unless they add another satellite. Without it they might get away with a couple more new HD channels but which ones? It is quite clear that the current subs. all have different ideas about what to add.
 
#51 ·
I have to say that all of this is sure depressing, and we might as well give up any hope of seeing channels like History HD or Movietime HD for the forseeable future.

My contract with Bell expires next January, and I am quite sure I will be looking at other options then.
 
#54 ·
Bell may drop the PPV channels in favour of their VOD scheme. That downloads the movies on unused TPs in off peak hours and stores them on a reserved section of the hard drive. It also reduces hard drive capacity but that will be compensated for by the improved compression provided by MPEG4. Bell has pulled rabbit out their bag of parlour tricks every time they appeared to be running out of capacity. There are probably one or two waiting in the wings now.
 
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