Major changes coming to cable TV subscriptions

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Major changes coming to cable TV subscriptions

Postby kal » Thu Mar 19, 2015 8:48 am

A report on CBC Radio News this morning says that the CRTC announcement this afternoon will include a "basic cable subscription capped at $25 (a month)".

The cable giants have been none too happy at the prospect of having to offer a la carte channel picking. It seems likely they won't be happy about this order. Exactly what constitutes "basic cable" should be made clear later today.

It seems safe to say that the cable companies are all spooked by cord cutters as the streaming TV ecosystem picks up steam. Sony's entry into that space yesterday and the rumored Apple entry perhaps during the summer will only help to accelerate such cord cutting.
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Re: Major changes coming to cable TV subscriptions

Postby skyvalleyradio » Thu Mar 19, 2015 11:31 am

yeah now watch our already overpriced Interent rates go WAY UP because the cable operators also happen to be the ISPs. Shaw, Telus, Bell & Rogers all know pissed off viewers are cutting the cable & viewing more content online, so they will find a way to ensure there outrageous profits continue to increase at the expense of consumers. It's about time the taxpayer-supported CRTC actually did something for consumers & Canadians should have the expectation that the feds will prevent predictable price gouging for ISP service as a result. I just love the way these a-holes justify price increases: the necessity for consumers to pay for infrastructure upgrading. Whatever happened to the years when a company re-invested it's profit into asset/service improvements?? BTW, I've already hand-built & sold 4 UHF TV antennas to local residents disconnecting from Shaw & have earned enough to buy a small band-saw for cutting aluminum :groovy:
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Re: Major changes coming to cable TV subscriptions

Postby kal » Thu Mar 19, 2015 3:58 pm

Some reports this afternoon have the mandatory offering of a basic cable package coming into effect March 2016, others December 2016. Either way this is quite unprecedented. I can foresee a mandatory basic Internet package appearing one of these days. I would not be surprised to see the cable companies mount a court challenge over mandatory offerings.

I'm interested in the antenna mentioned above. A couple of years back I tried a $10 indoor antenna and was surprised to pull in six channels, all with, of course, a gorgeous, uncompressed signal. I see one house in my neighborhood with a double antenna, one aimed south, one to the west. The house is pretty much at the high point on the hill where I live. I thinking that the south aimed panel is to pull in the PBS feed from Anacortes, but I suppose it could be for a Victoria channel.

Basically these antennae consist of four or five "butterfly" elements and a wire mesh reflector a few centimetres behind the main elements. I'm not sure how this is all wired up at the antenna. Would the two panels be combined into one splitter hooked up in reverse?
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Re: Major changes coming to cable TV subscriptions

Postby skyvalleyradio » Fri Mar 20, 2015 12:04 pm

kal -

I'm interested in the antenna mentioned above. A couple of years back I tried a $10 indoor antenna and was surprised to pull in six channels, all with, of course, a gorgeous, uncompressed signal. I see one house in my neighborhood with a double antenna, one aimed south, one to the west. The house is pretty much at the high point on the hill where I live. I thinking that the south aimed panel is to pull in the PBS feed from Anacortes, but I suppose it could be for a Victoria channel.

In all honesty, I really haven't researched this nor do I even own an HD TV, so when I hook up my own high-gain UHF TV antenna, all I get is incompatible garbage. I also haven't paid much attention to the new start-up outdoor antenna manufacturers, so really don't know what's on the market. In the small community I live in, I was approached by a few people wanting to cut off Shaw Cable (only operator here) but still wanted to receive local stations for news & a few other programs. It's encouraging that you got 6 channels with an indoor antenna & might be worth the investment. Have you thought of approaching this neighbour for a friendly chat?? If that's a scary thought, how about putting a 'sticky' on the front door with some contact info & noting your interest in the antenna??

Basically these antennae consist of four or five "butterfly" elements and a wire mesh reflector a few centimetres behind the main elements. I'm not sure how this is all wired up at the antenna. Would the two panels be combined into one splitter hooked up in reverse?

Ah yes...the "bowtie" antenna: The 'butterfly' elements are connected together in parallel by a a pair of thin-wire elements that are probably hard to see without binoculars. This is called the "phasing harness" & it's purpose is to act as a 'combiner' increasing the "gain" required for weaker signals, plus giving the antenna a tight directional lobe. At one end of the phasing harness will be the 2 connection points for a 'matching transformer' to connect to the co-axial cable downfeed to your TV. The antennas I've constructed are "log-periodic" design which uses straight elements, and a phasing harness to connect the 3 "dipoles" together. The antennas I'm constructing probably have better "deep-fringe" reception characteristics (higher "gain") than a "bowtie" . I have a huge "boneyard" of aluminum, antenna scraps, recycled antennas & parts to build a few antennas. However, i'm quickly running out of the specialized material & parts I need to construct dipoles & phasing harnesses. I'm not interested in trying to pursue this as a hobby business due to my increasing problems with severe arthritis affecting my hands, but will continue to build a few of these for some pocket money. Feel free to run any specs on antennas you find & I'll do my best to guide you along. Also for consideration is how you plan to mount this - the higher the better. Also, you will need some quality RG-6 co-axial cable routed into your home. You may wish to 'test-drive' a new outdoor antenna on a temporary wooden pole running the co-ax feed through a window or door BEFORE making major installation decisions

For reception here, the homebrew antennas seem to pull in the 2 Victoria signals, the Vancouver signals on Mt Seymour, KVOS-TV & it's sub-channels; also co-sited KBCB-TV which now has a PBS feed on one of it's sub-channels. It's this addition that has local residents interested in switching to antennas as supplements to online TV viewing. There's no reception here of any Seattle signals, in spite of the fact the old 4,5,7,9,11 & sometimes 13 were receivable with an outdoor antenna. HD signals behave much differently.
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Re: Major changes coming to cable TV subscriptions

Postby jon » Fri Mar 20, 2015 12:20 pm

For comparison purposes, OTA may not be practical in all markets. The West Coast's mountains make all the difference.

It is not a topic of discussion -- which is a point in itself -- but I'm not aware of anyone here in Edmonton that gets their television off air. I haven't check lately, but, last I heard, local stations were not even bothering to locate their TV transmitters on the major towers. Instead, they were sticking a stick on the roof of their studios.

Most stations also moved to higher frequencies, most notably CBXT-TV from Channel 5 to where UHF Channel 42 used to be. And those that remain on VHF, are bunched together on adjacent channels that may cause interference issues. Also, they seem not to have increased power to compensate for the higher frequency. CBXT, for example, is listed as 131KW.
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Re: Major changes coming to cable TV subscriptions

Postby skyvalleyradio » Fri Mar 20, 2015 3:18 pm

good points, jon - your post would suggest that Edmonton TV broadcasters are only making a token effort to provide usable OTA HD signals & the flatter terrain can add to the reception problem. I can't imagine the TV broadcasters wanting to encourage FREE reception via antennas when they can gouge us all more via our cable & ISP bills. We have a very unhealthy situation where the same Telecomm monopolies own the OTA stations, cable companies, ISP providers & program-content producers of cable specialty channels throughout Canada. We're at their collective mercy when we want to communicate, be entertained or informed via any & all media. OTA TV has expired it's "best before" date. Even the CRTC has suggested the end of OTA TV signals in the near future. Online content viewing is what consumers are wanting & demanding. Whatever possible good intentions the CRTC may have had to benefit consumers will surely backfire as the Telecomm corpse will "shuffle the deck" and continue to siphon huge sums of money from Canadians for their overpriced services. Some tech analysts are already suggesting we will face even higher ISP rates, subscription costs to view 'on-demand' content on TV network websites & static or reduced bandwidth caps should cable TV revenue drop off. Time will tell...
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Re: Major changes coming to cable TV subscriptions

Postby xwdcatvb » Fri Mar 20, 2015 8:51 pm

jon wrote:For comparison purposes, OTA may not be practical in all markets. The West Coast's mountains make all the difference.


Not to forget those other 'mountains' which were (weren't they?) the reason for cable TV in the first place... apartments... y'know... community antenna television/CATV.

I doubt many cliff dwellers (or even house owners on the south slope of the Kingsway ridge) in Metro Vancouver would be able to receive satisfactory OTA DT signals from Mount Seymour... certainly not myself beside Central Park in Burnaby... where I have two steel/concrete monoliths perfectly lined up to the north... when viewed from the only transmitter-facing window... and strata corporation by-laws which prohibit an antenna of any sort, even if my balcony faced in that direction.

An acquaintance near Fraser and 33rd in Vancouver with a north-facing balcony is fortunate enough to have line-of-sight to the NNE, but grumbles about no PBS now that the cord has been cut.
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Re: Major changes coming to cable TV subscriptions

Postby xwdcatvb » Fri Mar 20, 2015 8:57 pm

skyvalleyradio wrote:good points, jon - your post would suggest that Edmonton TV broadcasters are only making a token effort to provide usable OTA HD signals & the flatter terrain can add to the reception problem. I can't imagine the TV broadcasters wanting to encourage FREE reception via antennas when they can gouge us all more via our cable & ISP bills


Such as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/aSociete Radio-Canada by any chance?
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Re: Major changes coming to cable TV subscriptions

Postby Mike Cleaver » Sat Mar 21, 2015 2:50 am

HD TV antennas, indoor and outdoor are widely available south of the border.
Costco carries them as do other outlets such as Frys.
There are also a ton available from internet suppliers.
I made an antenna several years ago out of coathangers.
It worked well with the then existing Vancouver HD outlets.
I bought an antenna from Costco 3 years ago that sits on our balcony. It has a clear shot at the Mt. Seymour transmitters and we get all of the local HD signals in much better quality than what's available on Shaw Cable, which we have retained as basic to get certain out of market signals such as AMC and TCM.
The other advantage to having an antenna for the "locals" is that you don't suffer from cable service outages or interference plus there's no monthly bill.
If you're in a high rise or house and can "see" the Mt. Seymour sites from your window, a stick on panel antenna is all that's necessary.
The antennas go from basic and inexpensive to complex (with amplification) and multiple elements for those farther out.
Again, line of sight is important (your antenna must be able to see the transmitting antenna) or you must be able to arrange a "pool shot" where you pick up the signals that bounce off a nearby solid surface.
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Re: Major changes coming to cable TV subscriptions

Postby Neumann Sennheiser » Sat Mar 21, 2015 8:18 am

The FCC has this neat map that indicates the availability and strength of over-the-air HD signals in any given zip in the US.
I know this is virtually useless to Canadian neighborhoods as all will be too faint to receive but, for around here, it's pretty accurate in determining whether or not an HD antenna is a worthwhile investment or not.
Enter any US zip code in the search.
Mine, 98365, is pathetic with FOX being the only signal with any significant strength so an HD antenna isn't a good option for me. Frustratingly, just a few miles north towards Port Townsend, everything opens up.

http://transition.fcc.gov/mb/engineering/dtvmaps/

Does the CRTC have a similar map of signal strengths?
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Re: Major changes coming to cable TV subscriptions

Postby bigbry » Sat Mar 21, 2015 10:24 am

Just an "out of the box" crazy thought.

HEY CANADA JUST A RANT... The Government’s CRTC has stated that we can now cherry pick and play the cable and satellite channels we want to watch. This sounds good but it would be better if the Government went even further. Let's add this program to Politics. As it stands now, we pick one and we have to take the whole “bundle” for 4 years. With the new program each politician would have to show some pretty fantastic programming to stay on the job. Sure the face of Government would always be changing but they really would be working for the people. The CRTC has said there will be some job losses in cable. In the expanded program there would be job losses, but really, they’re just politicians folks. Anyway, that’s my quick sarcastic thought, for a laugh.

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Re: Major changes coming to cable TV subscriptions

Postby Mike Cleaver » Sat Mar 21, 2015 12:38 pm

Haven't checked it lately but there was an internet site called tvfool.com or something similar.
It works for Canadian and US stations.
It allows you to see what stations you can receive at your address with an antenna.
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