National Geographic and Showcase

In December right? Have they set an exact date?

CSR rep didn't have an exact date yesterday, but said it would be after Christmas

It might be because Shaw hasn't even seen a wisper of Showcase yet.
I don't it's even on the air/fibre yet.

The launch date is suppose to be December 19th

I sure hope these channels make it worthwhile to pay for HD extras in the new year. If not, I'm gonna miss Discovery HD.

Showcase HD available December 19, 2006
See and hear the difference of Showcase HD with the following programs:
Andromeda [Weekdays at 6am, noon, 7pm]
CSI [Monday – Thursday 11pm, 2am, 5am – Sunday 1am]
CSI: Miami [Monday – Thursday 12am, 3am – Saturday 10pm, 5am – Sunday 5pm]
G-Spot [Friday 10pm, 4am]
Huff (beginning February 25) [Sunday 10pm, 12am, 3am]
Kenny vs. Spenny [Thursday 9:30pm, Saturday 9pm]
Kink [Friday 9:30pm]
Lovespring International (beginning January 8) [Monday at 10pm, 1am, 4am]
L-Word [Thursday 10pm, 1am, 4am]
Regenesis [Monday at 9pm]
Rent–A–Goalie [Tuesday 9:30pm – Saturday 9:30pm - Sunday 9:30pm, 11:30pm, 2:30am]
Rescue Me [Tuesday 10pm, 1am, 4am]
Slings and Arrows [Sunday 8pm, 4am]
Weeds [Wednesday 10pm, 1am, 4am]

National Geographic goes High Definition December 19, 2006
The unparalleled imagery of National Geographic Channel is about to get even better for viewers with the introduction of High-Definition television (HDTV) service, National Geographic Channel HD.
The HDTV service, the first from Alliance Atlantis Communications, will be available to the public on December 19, 2006.
“The time is right to bring this leading network to the High-Definition screen,” says Norm Bolen, Alliance Atlantis’ Executive Vice-President of Content. “Canadians are quickly embracing the HDTV format and demanding the best quality content to fill it. National Geographic is a brand that built its reputation on the finest quality images anywhere – NGC HD will expand that promise to television.”
National Geographic Channel HD will launch featuring such viewer favourites as Seconds From Disaster, Megastructures, and Dog Whisperer, plus Mysteries of the Tornado and Hollywood Science.

What gets me is the fact that we already have high def content on some of the shows that Showcase is boasting. We can all watch CSI in HD right now! Some of the other shows listed I'm pretty sure are not even filmed in high def. Kink??? So why are we being given more high def channels that simply regurgitate shows in HD that are on other channels? Instead they should be providing us with the WB network to give us at least a full TV schedule of shows in HD. Then they can go ahead and give us fluff channels like that. I want to be able to see all prime time shows in HD and we already have ample channels that show us the same HD content that we can see on a neighboring channel. It's absolutely nuts. Once again, StarChoice comes through with not much thought put into what they are doing.

"StarChoice comes through with not much thought put into what they are doing."

You continue to fail to realize that Star Choice only continues to exist because of the existence of Shaw Broadcast Services (formerly Cancom)

There is NO DTH company in the world that can make a profit with under 1 million subs and 1 satellite let alone 1.5 satellites. When Shaw got complete control of SC, SC was bleeding over $100m/year in negative cash flow. Now it is in postive cash flow helping Shaw finance their telephone expansion.

Decisions on what SBS will uplink are based on the following (most important first)
a) The needs of Shaw Cable headends
b) The requirements of broadcasters who are willing to pay for distribution on SBS
c) The needs of SBS cable customers
d) What SC customers and management want

That's the way it works and it ain't going to change as long as the JRs control the business.

I'm sure management at StarChoice has a lot of pull as to what they are going to plan and do in the future. Otherwise why have separate management teams? You mentioned something about "the needs of customers". It would be interesting to find out just how many customers were questioned as to what they want! I'm a customer and nobody at Shaw or SC ever questioned me. They seem to just throw any old bone at us. Just like me you are entitled to have and make your own opinions. I just find it extremely strange that luxury channels are being offered prior to the basic channels and/or prime time television shows being met.

Added today on schedule

276 National Geographic HD
277 Showcase HD

Yep, I got 'em. *C website says free preview until January 12, 2007.

I know this was already talked about a few months ago, but, here we are, less than a month away from Jan 12, what has been said lately about the ordering status of the HD extras bundle?
Will it be a free standing bundle from all the other "packages" as has been suggested or will I be able to add it to the silver package in place of an existing bundle?

Not sure if this is news, but just noticed these channels in my guide and they are coming in Great!

Steph

Look about 4 posts up

bigoranget,

Thanks for the reply.....I missed the posting, glad you called it to my attention.

Figured someone would have saw these channels B 4 me.

I am happy they are up though:D

Cya
Steph

From *C website:

Showcase HD (ch. 277)**
**Requires subscription to the Prime Time programming bundle. :confused:

That sucks that one has to subscribe to Prime Time. I don't because there's nothing there I watch. :( Of course there might not be much on Showcase that I'd want to watch anyway but it's still disappointing. Not much of a birthday present. :/

Hopefully NG will have good HD programming.

I'm quite surprised that these two channels are not in the HD Extra package. I'm assuming digital favourites customers will continue to receive Showcase HD after the preview as well as prime time customers.

Interesting that there doesn't seem to be any requirement for National Geographic HD.

EDIT: I just noticed that National Geographic and National Geographic HD are now in the essentials package.

So, what I am reading on the website is that National Geographic/HD is in the "free" section. Showcase/HD is "free" if you subscribe to Prime Time and A&E and Discovery/HD are going to be an extra $4.99 after Jan 12. Most, if not all carriers are charging extra for Discovery, but that is a lot for channels of basically repeats.

The CSR I spoke with this morning stated that A&EHD and DiscoveryHD would be a "Pick & Pay" bundle. The 2 channels for $4.99.

What sort of programming is on Showcase-HD?