Shaw Direct HDPVR 630 Owners Discussion Thread

I can almost guarantee you that Bell will decommission one of the satellites or they will reduce transponders at each location to preserve power. Nimiq 4 will reach its estimated life span next year.

As mentioned previously, Shaw Direct and Bell Satellite clearly don't have any long term plans to maintain operations. Even Anik G1 will reach it's expected lifespan by the end of the 2020s. Nimiq 4 and 6 also will reach it's end of life span in this decade too. No satellites have been ordered to replace any of these birds. That speaks volumes about the future of geosynchronous delivery of television signals.

It's been awhile since DISH Network has launched a satellite. I believe it was 2010. DirecTV has launched satellites as late as 2019.

Actually I was incorrect, I know DISH and Echostar operate as two separate entities. One of these two entities launched satellites in 2015 and 2017. Aside from those, they do have an aging fleet for sure.

I actually don't think a DISH and DirecTV merger will happen with their satellite based services. The separate entity that runs DirecTV (70% AT&T and 30% TPG) also runs AT&T U-Verse and AT&T TV. Since the separate entity spinoff, they mainly market the AT&T TV product and only market DirecTV where broadband is not available. So that kind of tells you right there that over time DirecTV as a Satellite service is going to be phased out.

When you really think about it, Bell has been doing that in Canada for years. I remember seeing all kinds of Bell satellite dishes. They are quickly disappearing on urban areas and even half the ones you do see probably aren't in operation.