Shaw Cable TV Dominance

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Shaw Cable TV Dominance

Postby jon » Tue Aug 20, 2013 1:54 pm

Rather than getting off topic on another thread, I thought this comment worth responding to:
Coolcat wrote:As for Telus TV, as much as Telus seems to have done a good marketing job with their TV service most people have Shaw. Shaw has probably lost more subscribers to the internet than Telus across BC.

I have long believed that Shaw's huge hold on cable television market share is a result of the large number of subscribers who can view and record most of the TV they want without the use of a cable box of one type or another.

That may change. My brother- and sister-in-law just lost all channels above 13 on their analogue coax feed from Shaw. As did everyone else on Shaw in their part of town (Edmonton).
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Re: Shaw Cable TV Dominance

Postby radiofan » Tue Aug 20, 2013 2:05 pm

jon wrote:
That may change. My brother- and sister-in-law just lost all channels above 13 on their analogue coax feed from Shaw. As did everyone else on Shaw in their part of town (Edmonton).


Glad to see Edmonton is catching up ... Vancouver has been this way for some time now.

I'm glad I made the switch to Telus for TV, internet and phone.
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Re: Shaw Cable TV Dominance

Postby jon » Tue Aug 20, 2013 2:10 pm

Interesting. I hadn't heard anything from anyone about Shaw cutting additional channels since one brother replaced the other as head honcho a few years back, and immediately cut a bunch of analogue channels in the nose bleed section of the dial. Great stuff like the picture of the test equipment showing the wave pattern for one of their other channels. That move was well documented with lots of advance notice.

On the other hand, at least here in Edmonton, the latest channel cuts came out of left field with about a month's notice.
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Re: Shaw Cable TV Dominance

Postby kal » Tue Aug 20, 2013 2:18 pm

I can't speak to the cutoff above 13. I know that locally (lower mainland) there has been a cutoff above 27 I believe. And even if you have a digital box (we have several) you may have troubles with certain feeds. We have one box that is ca. 5 y old. It will not pull in mpeg-4 encoded channels. This first hit me when BC-1 landed. It's a no-go with that box (if you want the HD BC-1). You get the audio but no video. Since that happened I've run into at least half a dozen channels that have the same issue. It's very annoying. I've tried every trick in the book to get Shaw to replace that box. Needless to say it won't happen. Suggesting a move to Telus Optik just elicits a laugh from the Shaw rep. I had two earlier issue boxes as well that were retired. I took one over to a relative who was facing the analogue cutoff. I plugged it in and all worked perfectly. I then phoned to have the box registered properly to the relative and it was promptly disabled. I tested this with another box and the same thing ensued. The reps deny disabling these older boxes but I'm not so sure.

As for the move to cutting the cord ... I've yet to run into anyone who has done that and stayed the course. I've thought about it ... I have a Boxee Box and all sorts of other ways of getting at TV content but the bottom line is that you have trouble getting high-quality HD live news feeds. I don't care about sports but I'd imagine that would be a concern for many.
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Re: Shaw Cable TV Dominance

Postby jon » Tue Aug 20, 2013 4:20 pm

kal wrote:As for the move to cutting the cord ... I've yet to run into anyone who has done that and stayed the course. I've thought about it ... I have a Boxee Box and all sorts of other ways of getting at TV content but the bottom line is that you have trouble getting high-quality HD live news feeds. I don't care about sports but I'd imagine that would be a concern for many.

A friend of mine is, like me, a big fan of '50s and '60s television series, though our tastes don't match. For police dramas, he likes Mod Squad and I like Highway Patrol.

Although we both have Shaw cable TV, we rarely, if ever, watch it. I stick to DVDs and he sticks to Netflix Canada. With a newly-acquired Blu-ray player, I'll also occasionally watch YouTube videos. For example, when local legend (as a TV Weatherman) John Berry a couple of months ago, I watched his old YouTube videos off CFRN-TV.

In terms of cable boxes, my friend and I have had lots of luck with Shaw exchanging old boxes and remotes for new, with no money changing hands, be they defective or just so obsolete they won't work anymore. From the stories I hear, it is as if Shaw Alberta and Shaw B.C. are two different companies, especially in the former Rogers territory.
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Re: Shaw Cable TV Dominance

Postby Mike Cleaver » Tue Aug 20, 2013 7:16 pm

If I could get TCM and AMC and a couple of news and documentary channels, I'd ditch the rest in a heartbeat.
Whatever else I want I can get on demand on the net.
So called local TV news is nothing but fluff and corporate and government handouts with no investigative journalism anymore, along with news stolen from Google, the American Networks and YouTube along with pleas to viewers to send in their videos instead of the station sending out reporters and camera people which they no longer have.
BC1 is an embarrassing joke with no talent newbies and mistakes galore, both technical and talent based.
And Shaw will not replace your digital boxes with a newer model which will handle the increasing number of channels transmitted in mp4.
They want you to keep on paying as they switch technologies.
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Re: Shaw Cable TV Dominance

Postby Coolcat » Tue Aug 20, 2013 11:27 pm

What needs to happen is for channels to have their own app for smart tvs. If the NHL or just the Canucks had their own app all someone would need is a smart TV or Boxee and they could bypass the cable company. MLB has it.

I can see the future where someone can subscribe to different apps ala carte like CNN, HBO, TSN etc etc. It might be the best of both worlds for everyone. The programmers reach the viewer without going through the cableco middle man and the viewer only subscribes to the app they want at a reduced price or even for free if the channel is advertising supported.
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