Anik G1 footprints (1 Viewer)
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Perhaps it is too soon to speculate, but what will we lose? All of the SD channels currently on 107?
It is quite amazing how they can focus those beams the way that they do.
It certainly is going to result in a lot of cancellations to Shaw Direct's service. I think that the grey-market for Shaw likely accounts for a good percentage of their subscribers.
I would be curious to know if it is possible for them to adjust the beam after the satellite is launched. Could they re-focus the beam so that it reaches the entire continent after it is launched?
It certainly is going to result in a lot of cancellations to Shaw Direct's service. I think that the grey-market for Shaw likely accounts for a good percentage of their subscribers.
I would be curious to know if it is possible for them to adjust the beam after the satellite is launched. Could they re-focus the beam so that it reaches the entire continent after it is launched?
I just looked at that foot print map closer... Am I reading it right? Are they only planning on using C-Band on that bird for South America?
From what I have read and from what posters have said in previous threads, they will use this satellite for additional ("new") channels, and that whatever is currently available in the US via Anik F1R and Anik F2 will continue to be available in the US for the forseeable future, at least. All this is "unofficial", however.
While this is probably true, keep in mind that, legally, Shaw is not supposed to provide service outside Canada. Perhaps they are under pressure from the "other" Canadian provider and from the CRTC to squelch the grey market, and this is their first step in doing so...(?)
I think the real question is not "could they?", but "would they?"
When I first got into the grey market world, I was advised by my equipment provider to think of it from the point of view of a "temporary investment in entertainment". I don't look forward to the day when I lose their service altogether. So I'm trying to take Iceberg's approach......enjoy it while you can.......
.....easy for him to say in Minnesota, however; I'm just a bit further south than he is.....
one other thing to consider is that Shaw Boradcast services will still be using the same sats/beams, so my guess is that only a handful of current stations will migrate to the new satellite, and it will have more of the LPIF stations and new HD channels
Shaw will still be using the 51 Ku band transponders that they own on F1R/F2. No doubt the 14 new locals being placed in MPEG4 on tr1 F1R later this month will eventually be transferred to G1.
I know for a fact that their "Southern customers" figure prominently in their business plan. What business do you know that would willingly alienate thousands of good paying customers?
Ummmmm.....one who would put up a new satellite and aim it in such a way as to intentionally exclude thousands of good paying customers.....?.....
. Though there is some spillover of coverage into the northern states, the majority of Canadian Snowbirds do not come to the US to spend their winters in Minnesota..........
)).....the area where they congregate for the winter is the area where Anik G1 will have no coverage. And it is they who are interested in getting the local stations from wherever they live in Canada.Don't misunderstand; I'm not trying to be contentious. I sincerely hope your are right that we are part of their business plan and that they continue to allow us good paying customers to receive their signal!! This launching of G1, and what we know about it thus far, does not seem to be a step in that direction, however.
@stecle: do you happen to know what percentage of their customers are based (either temporarily or permanentl) south of 49?
Shaw Direct is not a service designed or licenced for subscribers outside Canada either temporarily or permanently.
The only reason that it ever became a Ku band service was due to the technical failures suffered by Anik's E1 & E2 which resulted in Cancom and StarChoice sharing transponders. At that time, all ku band satellites in North America had transponders that covered 1 country only. The Ku band footprints of E1/E2 were exactly the same as G1 Extended Ku band footprint will be.
With the introduction of higher powered Ku band satellites, Mexico and Canada came to an agreement about 13 years ago to realign their C/Ku slots to minimize interference from adjacent satellites. Canada ended up with 107.3, 111.1 + 118.3 slots.
When Telesat wanted to put a high powered C/Ku satellite at 118.3, they fully expected Shaw (by then fully owning both Star Choice & Cancom) to purchase some or all of the Ku capacity. However Shaw - then being led by that now thankfully departed drunk Jim Shaw - had zero interest in investing in satellite. They were hoping to sell both SC + Cancom and invest the proceeds in fibre. Hence the ku bandwidth was sold to Charlie Ergan.
Jump ahead a couple of years and since Shaw did not receive a suitable offer, they had to do something or face losing the bulk of their Star Choice customers. There was no remaining Ku capacity in the 103 to 118 arc. Telesat holds Reverse DBS licences for 107.3 and 111.1; but that technology is not mature and is not backwards compatible with existing Ku band hardware. That's when Telesat & Shaw came up with the idea of using what is called in North America "Extended Ku band" but what is part of the ku band in most of the rest of the world. Reliable hardware already existed and they could make it compatible with the existing services. The fly in ointment is that this band is not "satellite only" under the ITU agreement in North America. That's when Industry Canada gave them an exemption to operate in this band to 2028.
Over time Shaw will take all MPEG2 receivers out of service and eliminate all standard definition services. This will give them a capacity of over 500 HD channels in MPEG4 DVB-S2 of which 380 will be viewable all over N.A. from F1R/F2.
Anik F2 is scheduled for replacement in the early 2020's. Telesat has already stated that they wlll never buy a satellite this big again due to power supply issues. So the plan is to replace F2 with 2 satellites - 1 with C Band + spotbeam Ka for internet plus a second for Ku/Reverse DBS. If SD is still in business then, this would give them 64 continental transponders capable of delivering 670 HD channels
The only reason that it ever became a Ku band service was due to the technical failures suffered by Anik's E1 & E2 which resulted in Cancom and StarChoice sharing transponders. At that time, all ku band satellites in North America had transponders that covered 1 country only. The Ku band footprints of E1/E2 were exactly the same as G1 Extended Ku band footprint will be.
With the introduction of higher powered Ku band satellites, Mexico and Canada came to an agreement about 13 years ago to realign their C/Ku slots to minimize interference from adjacent satellites. Canada ended up with 107.3, 111.1 + 118.3 slots.
When Telesat wanted to put a high powered C/Ku satellite at 118.3, they fully expected Shaw (by then fully owning both Star Choice & Cancom) to purchase some or all of the Ku capacity. However Shaw - then being led by that now thankfully departed drunk Jim Shaw - had zero interest in investing in satellite. They were hoping to sell both SC + Cancom and invest the proceeds in fibre. Hence the ku bandwidth was sold to Charlie Ergan.
Jump ahead a couple of years and since Shaw did not receive a suitable offer, they had to do something or face losing the bulk of their Star Choice customers. There was no remaining Ku capacity in the 103 to 118 arc. Telesat holds Reverse DBS licences for 107.3 and 111.1; but that technology is not mature and is not backwards compatible with existing Ku band hardware. That's when Telesat & Shaw came up with the idea of using what is called in North America "Extended Ku band" but what is part of the ku band in most of the rest of the world. Reliable hardware already existed and they could make it compatible with the existing services. The fly in ointment is that this band is not "satellite only" under the ITU agreement in North America. That's when Industry Canada gave them an exemption to operate in this band to 2028.
Over time Shaw will take all MPEG2 receivers out of service and eliminate all standard definition services. This will give them a capacity of over 500 HD channels in MPEG4 DVB-S2 of which 380 will be viewable all over N.A. from F1R/F2.
Anik F2 is scheduled for replacement in the early 2020's. Telesat has already stated that they wlll never buy a satellite this big again due to power supply issues. So the plan is to replace F2 with 2 satellites - 1 with C Band + spotbeam Ka for internet plus a second for Ku/Reverse DBS. If SD is still in business then, this would give them 64 continental transponders capable of delivering 670 HD channels
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Very informative!! Thank you for this information.
So, as I try to digest it all, you feel that at least some channels will continue to be available throughout the US for the forseeable future.....am I reading you correctly?
A lot of people are forgetting Shaw Direct is desgined for Canadian subscribersjust like Dish & Direct are for US subscribers.Now wether subs in the US sub to SD and subs in canada sub to either Dish or DTV thats a different story.
I'm not sure exactly what Anik G1 is going to be used for but the Anik sats aren't just used for TV. I'm not sure which Shaw company provides the service but they also do sat tracking for Transport trucks. Now grant you I'm not sure which trucking Firms use this service or how far south the sat signal reach for this part of sat signals, that I don't know. The sats are also used for other things too.
I'm not sure exactly what Anik G1 is going to be used for but the Anik sats aren't just used for TV. I'm not sure which Shaw company provides the service but they also do sat tracking for Transport trucks. Now grant you I'm not sure which trucking Firms use this service or how far south the sat signal reach for this part of sat signals, that I don't know. The sats are also used for other things too.
I'm not forgetting it......that's reason I have expressed my concerns in this thread.....
I realize TV is all about who gets paid to do what. But the fact remains that the Canadian providers (both cable and satellite) offer almost everything that is available in the way of American TV. What does Direc/Dish offer that is Canadian? The answer is....nothing. In fact, when the Direc/Dish salesman shows up at my door (at my southern residence), the fastest way to de-fuse their pitch and get rid of them is to ask what they offer in the way of Canadian content....
.At my summer residence in eastern Quebec, Cogeco Cable offers all the major US networks (from Burlington, VT which is 300 miles away as the crow flies) plus CNN, Fox News and a host of other American content. Try to convince an American Cable provider to furnish Canadian content and you get a "WTF?!" (unless they happen to be within OTA distance from said Canadian provider).
From the consumer's standpoint (in contract to the broadcaster's or the CRTC/FCC viewpoint) there is an imbalance here. It's pretty much a one-way-street. And it is that imbalance that forces the American consumer who desires to receive some Canadian content to seek a grey-market solution.
Perhaps. But if you ask alot of Canadians at least the ones I talked to they want the "FULL SLATE" of US channels the real versions and not Canadianished versions of the US ones.
FX Canada which set to launch on NOV 1 on Rogers Cable even though there some programs that will be on other Canadian nets, FX Canada won't be exactly like FX US. Though this doesn't effect me as I have Dish in Canada if I had to keep one service eith Dish or my canadian one, the Canadian one would be gone so fast, I'll NEVER GIVE UP DISH. US Channels & programing all the way.
FX Canada which set to launch on NOV 1 on Rogers Cable even though there some programs that will be on other Canadian nets, FX Canada won't be exactly like FX US. Though this doesn't effect me as I have Dish in Canada if I had to keep one service eith Dish or my canadian one, the Canadian one would be gone so fast, I'll NEVER GIVE UP DISH. US Channels & programing all the way.
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