HD Content by Service Provider

[caldigital]

Moderators, feel free to move this post to a general comparsion forum.

I am sersiously in the debate about switching to Bell for more HD content. As part of that process I decided to plot out an updated comparison of Channel offerings, as well as unique hours of content.

The unique hours of content does not include PBS or MC/TMN as they are 24 hrs and repeat content often, but are available on all providers. (I know Bell's MC is not 24 hrs but I believe it does show each movie at least once.) The numbers were taken off each feeds website schedule for the week of Jul 3-Jul 9. As well, Canadian HD channels that do repeat American content (ie CSI) do not get credit for the content.

This comparison does not take into account the genre of the content being shown. Thus if you want more CFL football, obviously the TSN HD and CBC HD on certain providers is important.

PDF via http://members.shaw.ca/hdcomparison/...Comparison.pdf

[Satellite Expert]

Very good work. As you can visually see, Shaw will be hauled in front of the CRTC once again - this time for failure to distribute Canadian HD services.

[Digital79]

Wow nice work! I'm surprised how well Shaw does.

I think that MC HD needs to be considered, as Shaw offers it 24/7 and ExpressVu only plays 1 or 2 movies at most per day at random times. MC HD 24/7 is a big plus for Shaw customers.

So if the 'HD score' is 84 - 64 per your findings, I'd have to award Shaw with at least 10 for providing MC HD around the clock. The fact too that Shaw HD boxes have firewire active is another big plus to many.


Simsubbed CND HD is of no value, WGN and Discovery little value as well for most viewers. Discovery HD was a joke with there medicore content of 1 hour per day or so, usually in the middle of the night, unless that has changed.

If Shaw adds TSN and CBC I'd think they be right up there with Bell.

[samurray]

Good job Caldigital! I think there's quite a bit of value to be had from what you've done. I don't know where you were thinking of taking this but it strikes me that the HD community could benefit from measuring all unique HD programming over a sample period (you chose 1 wk) and then sampling at particular intervals (perhaps quarterly?). This would allow us to see trends in the amount (not the quality) of unique HD programming available.

Some have speculated about how/if HD will catch on or if video will go the way of audio with portability and low-res taking hold and hi-res formats like SACD & DVD-A falling by the wayside. This would allow us to measure the HD content trends as they unfold.

Anybody else interested in this?

[caldigital]

Originally Posted by samurray

I don't know where you were thinking of taking this but it strikes me that the HD community could benefit from measuring all unique HD programming over a sample period (you chose 1 wk) and then sampling at particular intervals (perhaps quarterly?).

I plan to keep updated the values of unique content each week adding to the totals to give a better summary over a longer period. Obviously NBC got a big hit this week for NASCAR while Fox would have gotten it for last week. And the weeks that NASCAR is on TNT in HD, TSN will get credit for it.

As well come fall, CBS and Fox will get credit for Football (and I may have to break out the East/West feeds at that point as they show different games and the providers with both feeds get more hours of unique content.)

[57]

Very interesting information. This may be useful for many, but for others, it may not have much meaning. For example, many programmes are simply no interest, so whether there are 100 hours or 250 hours makes little difference - although it is nice because it "forces" others to get in on the act.

What would make a difference would be the programmes I watch - that's mostly PBS and TMN, which are in your chart, but not part of the "hours per week", due to the variability and the number of repeats.

I've moved the thread and retitled it. Hope you don't mind.

[JohnnyCanuck]

Awesome work ... over what time frame? Is it a specific week? For example, Fox may be 3.5 hours this week, but during the meat of the viewing year it is significantly higher (24/House/Idol are 3 hours/week in of themselves). The same is true of the ABC number.

[caldigital]

Originally Posted by JohnnyCanuck

Awesome work ... over what time frame? Is it a specific week? For example, Fox may be 3.5 hours this week, but during the meat of the viewing year it is significantly higher (24/House/Idol are 3 hours/week in of themselves). The same is true of the ABC number.

Yep. I agree, I mentioned a couple posts up I will be updating totals over the next while and the period will grow.

[otown47]

Great work Caldigital....it would be interesting to compare your Canadian weekly numbers to a satellite or cable service in the US. If you took a conservative estimate based on the daily listing from TitanTV, I bet it would be over 1000 hours. Perhaps one of our US members or a grey market user could comment.

[caldigital]

Originally Posted by 57

Very interesting information. This may be useful for some, but for others, it doesn't have much meaning. For example, many programmes are simply no interest to me, so whether there are 100 hours or 250 hours makes little difference - although it is nice because it "forces" others to get in on the act.

What would make a difference for me would be the programmes I watch. For me, that's mostly PBS and TMN, which are in your chart, but not part of the "hours per week", due to the variability and the number of repeats.

I've moved the thread and retitled it. Hope you don't mind.

No worries on moving it. I agree 100% about the content. PBS/MC/TMN are just to hard to calculate on a week to week basis and all the providers have the PBS feed and all but 2 have a dedicated Movie network (Access does not and Bell's is not 24 hours), so I removed them from the equation and applied a factor to their final ratings. The footnotes mention my adjustments.

I want more CFL HD, so the fact Shaw got a 64 and Bell got an 84 still doesn't mean much in stopping me from switching. This was just one way of presenting the data.

[james99]

FYI, Cogeco has Discovery HD.

[caldigital]

Originally Posted by james99

FYI, Cogeco has Discovery HD.

I have update my PDF (including updated East/West feeds). I have sent the new PDF to my Shaw site but they must have a replicated server farm and it will take a few minutes to propogate.

[Neild]

Your information on Access Communications is wrong.

You have them with CTV, Global, Discovery, MC, TSN and CBC.

They do not have CTV, Global, or Discovery. And although they MC, TSN, and CBC were launched many subscribers are not getting them yet due to signal or bandwidth limitations. It would probably be most appropriate to say they are in beta form.

It's unclear also how you arrived a score 58 then. Did you include TSN but not include Sportsnet?

Also, I think the scoring should reflect a difference between providers that do provide time shifting and those that don't.

Since we're all weighing in, I would say there should be a way of showing also the difference between the 2 versions of MC.

[caldigital]

Originally Posted by Neild

Your information on Access Communications is wrong.
You have them with CTV, Global, Discovery, MC, TSN and CBC.

I originally did not list them with MC as they don't list it in the main HDTV area of the channel listing but up with the Movie Channels.

Originally Posted by Neild

They do not have CTV, Global, or Discovery. And although they MC, TSN, and CBC were launched many subscribers are not getting them yet due to signal or bandwidth limitations. It would probably be most appropriate to say they are in beta form.

Obviously I don't have Access Cable in Calgary so can't cofirm lineups directly. I have to use the providers website. In this case, I used the Regina lineup (the major centre as I can't list all centres) found at: http://www.accesscomm.ca/access?&PAGEID=64 That lists them having CTV, Global and Discovery coming soon so are included.

Originally Posted by Neild

It's unclear also how you arrived a score 58 then. Did you include TSN but not include Sportsnet?

NBC 26.5 + CBS 12 + ABC 7 + Fox 3.5 + TSN 9 + Sportsnet 15 + CTV 0.5 + Global 0 + Discovery 4.5 - No MC 20 (as per Movie footnote indicated) = 58. Once again, originally I did not list them with MC as its in a different place in the lineup listing. Will be changed to 78.

Originally Posted by Neild

Also, I think the scoring should reflect a difference between providers that do provide time shifting and those that don't.

Timeshifting does not provide 'Unique' HD content at this point. In the fall with different NFL broadcasts on East/West, possibly.

Originally Posted by Neild

Since we're all weighing in, I would say there should be a way of showing also the difference between the 2 versions of MC.

Again, I am going after Unique content. And from my informationt he light MC does show all movies, just not repeating all the time.

[mike2060]

Well they screwed up with Eastlink. They say they have CityTV HD instead of Sportsnet HD.