Gee, you mean that Bell is greedy and Eastlink is cheap? How mindbogglingly astonishing....

Stuck over $$$ with Discovery. They want to charge a bigger amount that Eastlink wants to pay and apply it to a wider subscriber base. Didn't ask about A&E.

This has been going on for a while. Before Discovery it was TSN. I hope they don't give in and raise prices for Discovery.

This has been going on for a while. Before Discovery it was TSN. I hope they don't give in and raise prices for Discovery.

Problem is the suppliers want to charge based on number of total cable customers they have vs. just subscribers to the HD channel. Thus it would raise everyone's price or be prohibitively expensive. If you think about their situation and bargaining power (being quite small compared to Bell and Rogers) it's not surprising that they have these types of negotiations that linger.

Presumably, the supplier will eventually decide that some revenue is better than no revenue and create an environment for a fair deal.

Batman... where are you getting your information? You should verify with your source the accuracy of this info before you post here. Your previous post is completly inaccurate.

Batman's info has usually been good before. If you have better information, please tell us the info instead of merely saying that he is wrong. He may be wrong, but if he is, tell us something right please.

Well, for starters, no HD channel provider would charge a cable company based on their entire subscriber base for a specialty HD channel, it just doesn't happen that way. Yes, Discovery is one of the most expensive channels but the rates EastLink would pay will only apply to HD subscribers, not all basic cable customers.


Discovery will not move their rates. Starchoice is a 'relatively' small sattelite company, they put Discovery with A&E in an extra pay package to offset the costs (although it's free until January). Hard to say what EastLink will do. I suspect that they will add these services as soon as they can.

Lots of "older" movies should look great in HD.

Batman... where are you getting your information? You should verify with your source the accuracy of this info before you post here. Your previous post is completly inaccurate.
Batman and Joker; will those two ever get along? ;)

On a more positive note, I hear that HUSTLER TV is coming soon to Eastlink. Which means we might see it within the decade...

Word I'm hearing now from my contact is Treehouse OnDemand is the next priority. Also working on MPix OnDemand.

Still trying to work on pricing with DiscoveryHD. Hoping to do NHL Centre Ice in HD next year, but you know how they are....

Expectation is they will make more $$ on OnDemand programming than more HD programming, so OnDemand appears to be the priority over HD content.

Eastlink has been promising new HD channels for a LONG time and I'm still getting audio dropouts from their crappy HD feed a year later. Last time I called, they said it must be my cable box and said I should get it replaced, so it looks like they still have no clue. (FYI- Audio dropouts on the same channel at the same time on both my box and my roommates box leads me to believe it's the feed, not the box.)

Just looked at expressvu satelite again- they have alot more HD channels and their pricing for the HD PVR box is finally in line with Eastlinks. Anyone have any experience with expressvu (Good or bad)? I think I'm going to switch next week.

I cant belive they said it was your cable box. They must know they have audio dropouts on the HD channels, its not like it happens once a day, its friggin constant happens at least 2-3 times in an hour.

As I would love to see them get more HD channels, I think they really need to see about fixing their audio dropouts. Cause paying $5 a month is not worth it when customers can switch to Bell pay $10 a month and get more HD channels.

Does anyone know where they get their HD channels through, like is it a supplier like starchoice/cancom? I use to be with starchoice they had some audio dropouts as well, but it was rare compared to eastlink. I would love to go with satelite but I cant with my situation.

yeah - I'm finally thinking of switching too. I tried to remain hopeful they were committed to more HD but I'm just getting tired of waiting, and the whole ondemand stuff is pretty irrelevent to me. The thing about Bell that gets me is the 2 year subscription, I can only imagine my frustration if Eastlink had locked me into that kind of committment with the way I'm feeling right now.

...and yes, I believe I read someone mention that they receive their feeds from cancom.

Just looked at expressvu satelite again- they have alot more HD channels and their pricing for the HD PVR box is finally in line with Eastlinks. Anyone have any experience with expressvu (Good or bad)? I think I'm going to switch next week.

Wait till after the Superbowl. You don't want to watch those Canadian commercials over and over and over.:rolleyes:

Anyone have any experience with expressvu (Good or bad)? I think I'm going to switch next week

I will be dropping Expressvu and going with SC when my contract is up.

You have to love simsubs; CSRs who, if they know what to do, can't speak english and programming cost increases during your contract to really enjoy Bell.

Welcome to the Maritimes. Eastlink is slow, slooow, sloooow to get on board with HD. That's why I added BEV to my house. Now I have nearly 40 HD channels. ;)

Paul

Eastlink is just brutal. Their HD sucks with all the audio dropouts and lack of content. They are cheap. They won't pay for content and thus the consumer is left in the dark. How do they think they are going to compete in the marketplace if they are not at least offering the same channels as the competition?

Everything about Expressvu is superior to Eastlink. I have both services and I am dropping Easlink at the end of the month. Eastlinks NHL Center Ice package is great but they are too lazy to put in blackout information in their guide. Bell does this and it is invaluable when setting up the PVR/DVR. On Eastlink you end up recording the wrong channel because the game is blacked out. On Expressvu it is clearly stated in the guide which channel a game is blacked out on in your area.

Eastlinks HD offerings are minimal at best. They take forever to add new channels and I believe they are practically out of bandwidth. How long did we wait to get TSN HD on Eastlink? Eastlink's NHL Center Ice has ZERO HD content. It makes me feel like we are way behind the curve in the Maritimes. It's just sad.

Neithier company has good tech. support. So that is a wash.

Does everyone have problem with the sound loss with Eastlink's HD channels? I recorded the last eposide of CSI and it was skipping out every minute, making it unwatchable.

I was thinking of switching to bell too, but I'd rather not if there's a solution.

Thanks

Eastlink is just brutal. Their HD sucks with all the audio dropouts and lack of content. They are cheap. They won't pay for content and thus the consumer is left in the dark. How do they think they are going to compete in the marketplace if they are not at least offering the same channels as the competition?

Everything about Expressvu is superior to Eastlink. I have both services and I am dropping Easlink at the end of the month. Eastlinks NHL Center Ice package is great but they are too lazy to put in blackout information in their guide. Bell does this and it is invaluable when setting up the PVR/DVR. On Eastlink you end up recording the wrong channel because the game is blacked out. On Expressvu it is clearly stated in the guide which channel a game is blacked out on in your area.

Eastlinks HD offerings are minimal at best. They take forever to add new channels and I believe they are practically out of bandwidth. How long did we wait to get TSN HD on Eastlink? Eastlink's NHL Center Ice has ZERO HD content. It makes me feel like we are way behind the curve in the Maritimes. It's just sad.

Neithier company has good tech. support. So that is a wash.

While you state a ton of truths above, the statement that "Everything about Expressvu is superior to Eastlink" is false. One word, Simsubs! I can't stand these and will hold on to Eastlink as long as they do not simsub in HD. The day they start, it will be hello Satellite TV.;)

Does everyone have problem with the sound loss with Eastlink's HD channels? I recorded the last eposide of CSI and it was skipping out every minute, making it unwatchable.

I was thinking of switching to bell too, but I'd rather not if there's a solution.

Thanks

There were many problems in Sept. & Oct of 2006 and then it seemed to stop. Over the past few days I've noticed a lot of A&V drops on ABCHD. I have CSI recorded. Thursday's Grey's Antomy was horrible so I imagine the same drop outs will be there for the CSI episode.

Canadude, Centre Ice will have HD content next year. Yes, they are running out of bandwidth and, as I understand it, are trying to reclaim some by moving some of their existing analog channels to digitial. More HD is coming, but some of it's been expensive to negotiate and they believe their is more value in offering additional VOD, which has been their priority.

At the end of the day, rightly or wrongly, they don't believe there is a large contingent of subscribers looking to migrate to BEV due to solely to HD, so HD isn't their priority. I think they feel their bundles keep their subscribers, not HD content and that there is more money to be made in additional VOD services.

And remember, their real $$$$ is made in local telephone.