How about All-Digital SHAW?

[thenewdc]

Does anyone know when SHAW will offer an all-digital lineup. It seems they are well behind all the other major players, and some of the smaller ones too.
Rogers, Videotron, Cogeco, Mountain, Source, and ACI all offer complete digital lineups to their customers. So whats holding up SHAW, are they too cheap to upgrade or what.

[vjose78]

As far as I know Shaw is way behind upgrading and don't seem to give a rats ass about their customers anyway. Apparently there was supposed to be an all digital line-up in Vancouver soon but i'm not sure if they got it yet or not.

[jvillain]

are they too cheap to upgrade or what.

In a word, Yes

[Sith]

No digital lineup here in Vancouver and I have a feeling it won't be here for quite some time. It seems that they don't mind continually jacking up the prices without really adding any value that customers actually want ie additional timeshifts, expanded HD lineup, and last but not least an all digital lineup.

I still hope it happens soon but am not going to be getting my hopes up anymore as an all digital lineup as far as I remember was supposed to come in like October.

Shaw's turtle like progress is so annoying especially when you read about Rogers current offerings to their customer base.

[vjose78]

We should start a petition to get Shaw to wake up! I really wish Ted Rogers would buy out Shaw and give us everything we're missing, from all the digital nets to the time-shifts, to the HD and HD time-shifts, and all the ethnic and adult channels as well. Jim Shaw sucks!!!!! Ted Rogers Rules!!!!!

[os]

Shaw is a large corporation and their number one concern is to make as much profit as possible. As they have a virtual monopoly on cable TV in the areas that they serve, they can focus on that goal. So, as a Shaw suporter told me in another thread, STOP complaining.

[JohnnyCanuck]

We had Rogers here for years ... they were even worse than Shaw. I was a Rogers customer for 10 years ... have never experienced a worse company for customer service. They even make government look customer sensitive.

os, if you're referring to me and my comments in another thread, I am hardly a Shaw supporter ... just a realist. My comment to you was more along the lines of stop repeating the same complaint over and over ... there's plenty about Shaw to complain about so think of something new every once in a while.

[Sith]

I don't remember Rogers being really worst than Shaw. I would say they are pretty equal in that regard. Mind you though in the majority of all the years with them I was just a analogue customer(many years). Only near their switchover time did I try their digital cable package for an extended period of time. I remember they called it their Vip package and you used to get 10% off your internet as a result of being a vip. The inability to buy the eqpt ie dct was not as user friendly as Shaw and as cost effective but other than that as far as I can remember it was equal when it came to actual customer service. Now with Shaw's price increases it's almost close to what it would be if you didn't own ur cable modem and dct. Not quite there yet but Im sure it will be soon enough.

If Rogers was still our provider here then there would be no comparison in regards to their service offerings ie hd, timeshifts, all digital lineup.

I wish we had the choice and both operated here so the customer could decide. At this point if we did have the choice Im pretty sure I would choose the one who would give me the most choice and value. As most people would.

[Nanuuk]

A couple of years ago Shaw wasn't making any money. Now they are. As much as we complain they are obviously satisfying their shareholders and most likely the majority of their customers. I think they'll go all digital over time (when a majority of customers own a STB) or when the technology (as in cheaper more functional STBs) allow most subs to buy one or when Telus/Sask Tel/MTS start eating their lunch.

[JohnnyCanuck]

Sith,

Remember the Rogers negative billing option stuff? Remember how they were so arrogant about it that the BC Government actually passed consumer legislation outlawing the practice? You are right on the services offered ... it is more extensive than Shaw, especially when it comes to HD. OTOH, it is also more epxensive than Shaw.

[Sith]

Hi Johnny, your definitely right on that one. I remember it and everyone was choked for sure.

I definitely don't hate Shaw but I would like for us as Shaw customers to have comparable offerings to our counterparts out east.

I'm sure more price increases are on the way as well so their profitability will increase even more on an annual basis. I just wish they would give us things like an all digital lineup and more timeshifts so we get more value for our money. I think the word that was used by Shaw was future "modest" increases to rates from one of their financial releases. I think it was a pdf file off their website that I saw this on.

I wouldn't get as annoyed with price increases if things like those were added.

[Hairball]

I wish Shaw would rethink its analog strategy. Analog is a big bandwidth hog. Free up 10 to 15 analog channels by moving them to digital, and you could easily duplicate the remaining 50 or 60 analogs in digital as well as have space available for more HD.

[HiDefBob]

I spoke to a technician at Shaw in November ... he said that Shaw was in the process of upgrading their system in the Greater Vancouver area. I think he said that it would be completed early in the new year.

The upgrade will give them the bandwidth to broadcast all channels above 50 digitally and to add 3 more HDTV channels. He said that Shaw was very serious about wanting to compete with the satellite providers.

Patience ... it is coming soon!

[vjose78]

There's no way Shaw or any other provider is going to move 10-15 analog channels to digital cable. I could see maybe 4-5, but not as many as you suggest. What 10-15 channels do you suggest they move to digital?

[Nanuuk]

Shaw readies to join all-digital pack

In the near future, look for Shaw Cable to join the Canadian all-digital squad. It is now planning its first step to all-digital, with an eye toward rollout at the end of this year, according to its president, Peter Bissonnette.

“We’re still wrestling with whether we will have all-digital or all-digital duplication, and so there are spectrum questions with respect to which approach you take,” he says. “Do you build up to 860 (Megahertz), which is expensive? Or do you harvest back some of the analog channels? We’re actually in the process of coming to some decisions on which approach we want to take.”

Choosing a box is also an issue. Shaw uses a Motorola conditional access system, so it is eyeing the DCT-700.

“The other thing we have to address is do we physically fix that to the residence and we own it, or do we do what we do now which is to sell them and our customers buy whatever boxes they need for their outlets,” Bissonnette says.

One reason Canadian MSOs may be farther along on the all-digital adoption curve has to do with the fact that along with satellite competition, Canadian telephone companies have been aggressively launching their own digital subscriber line-based all-digital TV products, Bissonnette notes.

“We’ve been competing with Manitoba Telephone Company for the last two years, and, of course, all-digital is one of their differentiators,” he says. –KB


For the entire article on all of Canada's cableco's going all digital, goto
http://www.cedmagazine.com/ced/2004/1104/11c.htm. Its an interesting read.