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Fibe TV available on Apple TV 4

27K views 61 replies 17 participants last post by  Dr.Dave 
#1 · (Edited)
Bell Fibe TV the first Canadian television service available on Apple TV

Fibe TV is now available on Apple TV, enabling consumers to experience Canada's best television service alongside their music, photos, games and favourite apps on Apple TV 4th Generation.

With the Fibe TV app on Apple TV, you can watch up to 450 channels live or on demand – the most of any provider – and see the top trending shows at any time. By the end of the year, you'll also be able to watch Fibe TV recordings as well as pause and rewind live TV on Apple TV.

You can experience Fibe TV on Apple TV first hand with live demonstrations at Bell stores across Québec and Ontario. Apple TV 4th generation 32 GB is now available at Bell stores in both provinces for $199, and you can also purchase through 310-BELL and online at Bell.ca/AppleTV.

Discover the free Fibe TV app on the App Store for Apple TV or download on iPhone and iPad at AppStore.com/FibeTV. The app will download automatically on Apple TV for users with Automatic Downloads enabled.

Additional info:
To enjoy Fibe TV on Apple TV, you also need:
  • A Fibe TV subscription (includes Whole Home PVR for 1st TV)
  • The Fibe TV app downloaded to your Apple TV
  • Internet speeds of at least 15 Mbps
  • Unlimited Internet usage
  • An HDMI cable (not included)
As streaming of any type of content through Apple TV counts towards your Internet usage, you’ll need to add unlimited usage for $15/month if you don’t already have the feature.

See also: How to set up and use the Fibe TV app on Apple TV
EDIT: Useful if you already have an Apple TV.
 
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#2 · (Edited)
Options to connect your additional TVs

| Wireless receiver | Apple TV (4th generation)
Picture quality | HD (guaranteed) | HD (streaming quality based on Internet speeds)
Available channels | All | Over 500
Browse the guide | By using the arrows buttons on the Slim remote | By swiping the Siri Remote’s Touch Surface
Change channels | With the up and down buttons, by keying the numbers,|With the up and down arrows on the menu overlay,
| or by browsing the guide| or by browsing the guide
Search for shows by name. | By typing letters using the arrows on your remote | By dictating what you want to watch
Restart shows | YES | NO
Pause live TV | YES | Coming soon
Manage recordings | YES | YES
Watch recordings | YES | Coming soon
Rent movies on Fibe TV | YES | NO
 
#3 ·
Great news Dr Dave, it's a start... what about ROKU, a competitor VMEDIA is now available on a ROKU channel. I own a few ROKUs, which is a far better product, they even have a 4K model. I hate Apple TV for its limited choice of channels. Do you know when Bell will have FibeTV and CraveTV available on Roku?
 
#4 ·
@control I don't have any info other than what is in the press release or Bell's web site.

Based on my superficial understanding of Apple TV 4 apps, this looks like a minor upgrade to the iOS app that they developed for the iPhone/iPad and uses the same content licences.

Considering the comparison chart they published and that they are selling the new Apple TV, it looks like they are positioning it as the alternative to a traditional STB.

I don't know if Roku has the secure protocols in place to tap into the Fibe PVR like they will be doing with Apple TV (required by the copyright holders.)
 
#6 ·
So Bell Aliant FibreOP is now called Fibe TV here in Atlantic Canada..I have a Apple TV 4. Is this available? If not then it's incredibly bad. Even the 4 K receivers at the Source I've seen have the Bell logo on them now. If their plan was to merge the two IPTVs then service should be equal on the TV front



UPDATE: You need to enter your My Bell Credentials....using your Bell Aliant Creditials will not work. They should have the Fibe TV app working for Fibe TV here...oh my....

After getting off the phone with Bell Aliant as well they confirmed that the Bell Fibe TV app will not work with Fibe TV here....so confusing for advertising. Wondering when Bell Aliant will become Just Bell. At this point Services no longer seem equal.
 
#9 ·
If you click on the Apple TV link in post 1 you can find the following at the bottom of the page:
Offer details

Live channels and on demand can only be viewed if included in your Fibe TV subscription and may vary if viewed over Wi-Fi at home vs. outside your home...
My guess is the content licences for "on the go" are the same as the Fibe TV Mobile App. Click "View all channels" where it says: "Watch up to 450 live and on demand channels at home and up to 170 on the go."
 
#10 ·
Is this a way to get around the max amount of feeds through regular set top boxes? If used within home wifi, will it count against your download or waived?

Rumours are out that the 5th generation Apple TV is coming out in time for Xmas or early next year... so buyer beware. Also, presumably the 5th generation will be 4K compatible but it's hard to get details online to confirms this, does anybody have confirmation on 4K compatibility... I'll stick to my roku in hopes that Bell will create an app later on... this is possible since Time Warner Cable is available on Roku in US market.
 
#11 ·
Is this a way to get around the max amount of feeds through regular set top boxes?
It looks like it, since the Apple TV Fibe app is purely internet streaming. It uses your internet bandwidth and not the portion allocated to Fibe TV. Someone would have to test it to be sure.

If used within home wifi, will it count against your download or waived?
To repeat what I said in post 1, here's the exact quote from the Bell web site:
As streaming of any type of content through Apple TV counts towards your Internet usage, you’ll need to add unlimited usage for $15/mo. if you don’t already have the feature.
It doesn't matter if you use an Ethernet cable or Wi-Fi for the Apple TV.

Bell isn't allowed to waive the usage, since the CRTC would consider that as Bell giving themselves preferential treatment compared to Netflix and the soon-to-be defunct shomi.
 
#14 ·
I wonder if this is how Bell plans to deliver FibeTV without the bundled Internet service next winter as was mentioned in another thread? I was hoping to get the dedicated wired service (without Internet) rather than piggy back on my Internet connection. I like the redundancy of a separate cable for each service.

-Mike
 
#18 ·
That's what I'm looking for but the Apple TV offering does open the door for FibeTV to be delivered over any Internet connection.
That would violate their broadcast licence. They would have to set up a totally new service under the Digital Media Exemption Order and would have to arrange new licences. VMedia just lost a court case when they tried to provide an open internet TV service (different from IPTV) using Roku.

See: http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/12-...-iptv-provider-discussions-8.html#post2831241
 
#17 · (Edited)
So if you have Teksavvy cable Internet and Bell Fibe running on that line, who you are going to call when tv is down.
No thanks I will stay with both services with Bell, especially that I pay less for the Internet than what third party offer.
Then again it is not clear if Bell will allow any internet or that Bell Fibe customers will be able to get any internet but Fibe tv will still remain on bell fiber network.
One thing for sure, I really like Apple TV option. It works really good and more features are coming soon.

Few weeks ago I had tried Vmedia on Roku when they had one week free trial. What a difference with that service
channels pixelating or completely disappearing for a while. It was good reminder never to consider that company again.
 
#19 ·
Offer details on Bell's page used to say:
Live channels and on demand can only be viewed if included in your Fibe TV subscription and may vary if viewed over Wi-Fi at home vs. outside your home.
It looks like they are cracking down on account splitting. It now says:
Live channels and on demand can only be viewed if included in your Fibe TV subscription. Viewing with Apple TV only available within your home.
This could be an issue for those people that use their own router for internet and have a separate network from their Fibe TV receivers.

They also updated the number of channels on Apple TV from 450 to over 500.
 
#22 ·
I have two ATV4 hooked up to 2 Sony TVs and haven't had a problem. The ATV4 are running over Wi-Fi.

I have a wired remote receiver for second TV so cant compare to your wireless unit.

I am using Google's Hub for my Wi fi network as the bell router didn't provide very good Wi Fi,

I don't use the ATV4 for watching TV very much as we seldom watch live TV only recorded programs.

Once Bell (coming soon) gets the ability to watch recorded programming, I will probably use the ATV4 exclusively for watching TV.

I am not sure what they mean be coming soon. To me coming soon means at most several weeks, NOT months.
 
#23 ·
Once Bell (coming soon) gets the ability to watch recorded programming, I will probably use the ATV4 exclusively for watching TV.

I am not sure what they mean be coming soon. To me coming soon means at most several weeks, NOT months.
I've been told it could be as soon as this month. Hopefully it works well. If so, I will return my third receiver, which costs $7 per month and which is connected to a little used TV, and then will put my Apple TV there.

If I had known the ability to watch recorded programming from the PVR was coming so soon after I got Fibe TV (last month), I wouldn't have bothered getting that third receiver. Installation for Fibe TV was $200, and during my negotiations with them for my trio package deal (Fibe FTTH Gigabit internet + Fibe TV + Home Phone Lite) they said they could give me a credit for $200 for 1 or 2 receivers, but only would give me a credit for $150 for 3 receivers. So essentially I paid $50 for installation of that third receiver.

The stupid part is Bell charges exactly $0 for installation of an Apple TV whether you buy it from them or not, but charges $50 for their own TV receiver.

BTW, TV quality looked fine on the Apple TV, but it was on a 43" TV from 12 feet away, so even if it were lower quality it'd be hard to notice. My main issue is that just after first launch there was a pause of about 5 seconds, making me think it locked up. Does everyone notice pauses with the Fibe TV app?
 
#25 ·
if you are using Apple TV, it uses the internet and it counts as part of your internet usage. That is why the say you should add unlimited usage to your download cap.

This makes me think the number of devices for TV doesn't count, but your download speed could be a problem if you are streaming a lot at the same time.

I have Fibe 25 and can stream 2 MLB games from MLB.TV on 2 TVs at the same time. If try to do much more you can get a lot of buffering.
 
#26 ·
The bandwidth and usage are not issues for me. I have unlimited Gigabit Fibe. I get 932 Mbps :) on the home network side, but the modem actually gets 1.29 Gbps.

According to the installer technician, the account for my Gigabit service is provisioned for 1.4 Gbps. I'm not sure why it's provisioned so high, since Gigabit Ethernet usually maxes out around 940 Mbps anyway, or 932 in my case.

It seems unlimited plans are much more common from Bell these days than they were a couple of years ago. In my neighbourhood they were pushing unlimited for everything 50 Mbps and up: 50/10, 50/50, 150/50, 300/100, and 1000/100 (which is what I have).
 
#27 ·
According to the installer technician, the account for my Gigabit service is provisioned for 1.4 Gbps. I'm not sure why it's provisioned so high, since Gigabit Ethernet usually maxes out around 940 Mbps anyway, or 932 in my case.
The wired ports are gigabit ports, but if you use more than 1 port, the combined traffic for all devices can exceed 1 gigabit.
 
#28 · (Edited by Moderator)
Using Apple TV 4 in place of a Bell wireless unit

Bell has made an App available for the Apple TV so you can use it to stream Fibe TV to your TV.

It appears to work ok but not all subscribed channels are available. You cannot use it to stream recorded programs.

Since the App became available, streaming of recorded content function says coming soon. It has been several months and it is still not available. To me coming soon means a couple of weeks at the most.

So the question is, is the delay a technical issue or do they need to get approval from content owners to proceed.

I noticed that Rogers Sports Net is one of channels unavailable for streaming.

I already had an Apple TV so it's not that big a deal for me.

Wonder how people who bought an Apple TV in place of renting a wireless unit from Bell feel about this situation?
 
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