pacificrim
My understanding is that the transition away from F1 to G1 will start in April. After that point F1 will be retired and only F2 will be receivable in the southern US and Mexico.
I'd like to know your source of information for your quote above......
The last time I checked out
Shaw Broadcast Services - Bulletins and waded through the spreadsheets on that page, it didn't seem that they have any immediate plans to retire F1R. The pdf file entitled "Final Outcome....etc." showed that there will remain many transponders in use F1R.
What I found, from going through all the spreadsheets on the above-referenced page, is that, for those who cannot receive G1 (1) if you are presently receiving an HD version of a channel, you will continue to receive it after the MPEG-4 transition is complete in 2019, and (2) if there currently exists both a SD version and an HD version of a channel, and you do not currently receive the HD version, you will lose SD channel after the transition is complete and since the HD version is already on G1, you will lose access to that channel altogether. There were a few exceptions to this rule-of-thumb, however. I know.....it's complicated; it took me a few hours and a spreadsheet of my own to track what is supposed to happen and how it affects my package.....
If you have more up-to-date info, though, I'd appreciate seeing it.