Some nice things are finally starting to be said about Turner Classic Movies (TCM) HD. While the majority of the material (some say "all") is still being upconverted, since studios are reluctant to spend the money required to produce an HD master for 60-80 year old movies, even upconversion at source rather than destination looks better on an HD TV.
So, I decided it was time to check once again on availability in Western Canada. So far, I've found two sources. Shaw doesn't offer it at all, on either cable or satellite. TELUS only offers it on satellite. And Bell only offers satellite TV in the West, and they have it, too.
"Isn't TELUS just reselling Bell satellite TV?" Yes and No. The "No" part of the answer is important, because it is a money saver. While Bell forces you to buy a $20/month bundle just to get TCM HD, TELUS has two bundles with TCM HD, the cheaper only $5/month.
Of course, since I don't watch anything "live" on TCM now, I now have to figure out how to not just timeshift, but also to keep programs for future viewing several years in the future. Given how hard it is becoming to find a replacement for my obsolete SD recorder with hard drive and DVD burner, I don't hold any hope out of finding an HD equivalent. Which likely means I'll be setting up a computer to do the job. Computer internal Blu-Ray (HD) DVD burners are selling for $90, and 2TB internal hard drives for $75, so it should be affordable.
At this point, all I'm going to do is install the wiring and such required for potential satellite usage into where I'm moving next May (3 miles South of here).