Canadians Beware

[Irlpguy]

On May 31/2013 Shaw direct put into service their brand new HD Satellite. I received the new LNB today and installed it on my Wineguard Dish and called and had my two receivers updated to the new LNB.

Upon completion of this update, I was passed on to another department where I was informed that as of June 30/2013 Shaw Direct will provide "NO" coverage below the 49th parallel. Not just on the new HD satellite but also on the two older satellites as well. They will be reconfiguring the satellite's transmit antenna's so that the footprint will "NOT" cover the US anymore.

On top of this they now want all the information on my 5th wheel and want me to sign up for and pay extra for an additional home. The cost is 50% of your regular monthly billing and can be put on Vacation leave when you are not using it. I refused to give them the VIN number of my RV or any other information.

Now shouldn't all us Canadians get the feeling of great joy when we are being told we won't now get our local programming and most importantly Hockey Games while vacationing in the US of A, and also will have to pay extra if you take your trailer to the Canadian countryside for a weeks holiday and want to have the TV along...

I don't know about the rest of you Canucks but when I am getting the "shaft" (because I don't want to be banned here) I like some kissing to go along with it. I just don't feel a lot of love here.

Only in Canada EH! For further information contact Shaw Direct.

[mlh]

We had a large dish years ago and could get Canadian TV. I will never forget the Royal Canadian Air Farce, The Fifth Estate, Newfoundland local news, National news and menu more. It was great TV. I always thought it was a great way to learn about Canada. Almost every Canadian knows who the president of the US is but how people in the US know who the Canadian Prime Minister is? I think Canada makes a big mistake by not Broadcasting to the US. We need to know their point of view. I think that is good for both of us.
Lynwood

[Sierra 117]

Shaw is going to leave a lot of money on the table when Canadian snowbirds switch to Dish or Comcast. For the record Ed, when did you ever feel any love from those bloodsucking Canadian service providers. Without federal protection they would go the way of Do-Do bird.

[Irlpguy]

Sierra 117 I am not sure what Shaw thinks. They claim the American TV conglomerates are the ones saying they cannot send the signal into the US because it affects their advertisers and ultimately sales. I don't believe much of what the are telling any of us these days.

I don't watch a great deal of television, there are certain programs that I do watch fairly regularly and I am very upset I won't get those now and for all intents and purposes the dish is now redundant.

It is hard to believe that this has taken place with the launch of their new satellite and yet they claim there is no connection...right...
Oh well all the bitching in the world won't change anything I just want to make other Canadians aware in case they were thinking of buying a dish for their RV.

[hookman]

Ed I was told last that the new satellite would not be available but the other 2 would be still available.

[rgrpmr]

Folks,
When I talked to Shaw Direct earlier this week they said it was a license issue and they weren't going to renew their license.
And to think I almost switched to Shaw Direct this week.
Rob

[gkidsdlite]

Typical Corporate move, they only want rules when it benefits them!!! Simple answer, do something else and don't watch tv, I'm sure there is plenty to do and see out there in this big old country!

[CORattler]

If you are physically able, get out from in front of the goon box and do something a bit more active. I'm not knocking what you enjoy, it's just that there are so many things to do when you are out in the RV. Reading is a great way to pass the time as are board games or even mods.
BTW, I dislike satellite providers in general (if you can't tell).

[hookman]

Ed I have emailed Shaw and asked them about this. When I get their answer and it is true I will get in touch with the Canadian Snowbird Assoc. and see if they can put pressure on them.
CORattler my hobbies such as Rock hounding and Metal Detecting are done in the daylight hours so it relaxing to watch a bit of TV in the evening.

[richfaa]

Not a good thing and I am sure they have the technology to block the foot print. We use directv and can receive a signal as long as we can see the satellite and we have been a long way up into Canada with it.

[Irlpguy]

Hookman you might as well prepare your email to the Snowbird Assn because at the end of June this will be happening. This most certainly has to do with licensing however the chap I talked to said they were never licensed to transmit into the US. Perhaps that was the case since Shaw purchased Star Choice some years ago. It is about the money nothing else.

COrattler, I do lots of things and rarely watch television when home or away from home, however I do like to watch my local hockey teams games during the season. I have no interest in basketball, soccer, or football all of which fills the American sports channels. On the other hand my wife has programs she has watched for years and her enjoyment will be taken away.

I would never have changed to Satellite at my home, nor bought a dish for my RV if I had known this was coming down the pike.

[Irlpguy]

Rich it is interesting that you mention your reception into Canada, one of the questions I asked this fellow at Shaw was "are the American Satellite providers restricted on their footprint into Canada", of course he did not know the answer to that question. We will receive the signal south of the border to some degree since they cannot draw a line along the 49th and prevent there being an overlap.

My understanding is they are able to re-align the satellite or it's antenna's to change the footprint and this will be done on the two older satellites, with the new HD satellite already positioned that way.

One of the biggest problems we encounter these days is the huge conglomerates that control information through their ownership of TV stations, newspapers and in the case of Shaw the Satellite system and all of the above. They have to pay for this new Sat, and are going to increase our fees in any way they can.

In reporting this to the MOC I sincerely hope the information given to me will turn out to be incorrect, in this case I would love to be found to have been misinformed.

[richfaa]

In our experience when asked the question Directv does not give a straight answer on " can we receive directv in Canada." Of course Shaw or other Canadian providers do not want you to purchase directv. The truth is that as long as you can "see" the satellite you can receive a signal. The provider of course can restrict the spot beam as we see on the local channels. This is the first I have heard of restricting it to a country but I am sure the technology to do that exist. The proof is of course that we have been several hundreds of miles up into Canada and we have to use the lat and long on Dishpointer.com to get the proper angles but it worked just fine as long as we can see the birds. We have Canadian friends who purchased directv using their snowbird address.I also know they have a bank account in the city of their snowbird address so My guess is that is how they pay the bill. No one would know they were from Canada. It is also my guess that since the population of Canada is far less than the States that the sat companies do not have the customer base that directv and Dish have south of the border and will find ways to ....pay for the new sat.

[Irlpguy]

Pretty hard to get straight answers from anyone these days. Many in Northern Canada receive satellite TV from the same satellite who's footprint extended well into the southern US as well. Anik F1 and Anik F2 are the Canadian satellites used by Shaw up until the launch of the new one, and will continue to be used. I do not know who owns the new satellite but it likely is not Shaw. Bandwidth on a Satellite is very expensive, I know this because a good number of years ago I was a founding member of the IPARN (Inter-Provincial Amateur Radio Network), which used a small amount of bandwidth on one of the Satellites to connect Ham radio stations across Canada. Had that space not been donated we would never have been able to afford the time.

Subscribers to Bell Satellite Systems were subjected to this same fate some years back and many switched to Shaw because of that, I guess what comes around goes around for us poor subscribers.

[CORattler]

As I said, absolutely no disrespect to you or your DW.
My son is a BIG hockey fan so I understand.
It's frustrating to have something you enjoy yanked out from underneath you.
Hope you find a good solution. All the best!!

quote:Originally posted by Irlpguy

Hookman you might as well prepare your email to the Snowbird Assn because at the end of June this will be happening. This most certainly has to do with licensing however the chap I talked to said they were never licensed to transmit into the US. Perhaps that was the case since Shaw purchased Star Choice some years ago. It is about the money nothing else.

COrattler, I do lots of things and rarely watch television when home or away from home, however I do like to watch my local hockey teams games during the season. I have no interest in basketball, soccer, or football all of which fills the American sports channels. On the other hand my wife has programs she has watched for years and her enjoyment will be taken away.

I would never have changed to Satellite at my home, nor bought a dish for my RV if I had known this was coming down the pike.

[moutard2]

In my many years of RVing, I've come across thousands of canuck snowbirds who depend on Shaw Direct to keep in touch what's happening in their homeland. They've collectively spent millions of dollars on dishes, receivers, motor mounts and installation to get their local canadian channels while travelling south of the 49th. Taking that away in this age of globalized communications is next to criminal. How does this differ from being able to receive radio broadcasts across the border either directly or on the internet? Let's hope this rumor stays just that and common sense prevails! I strongly suspect that it's the FCC in concert with the CRTC screwing us this time because a sane businessman wouldn't consider this for one minute IMHO.

[hookman]

I talked to Shaw today and was told it was the US agency that is in charge of the satellites has told Shaw it can't send its programing into States.

[Irlpguy]

Basically the same thing they told me Don, however I find it odd that this has all come about at the same time as they are getting the new satellite off the ground or more specifically on the air.
It's all about money, the US networks want to be paid for any rebroadcast of their material into the potential US market. Also Shaw want you to pay extra if you have a satellite dish at your cottage or travel vehicle.

Did they confirm the end of June as the date of the changes.

[hookman]

I didn't ask him that. He said the US providers of Satellite were complaining and I doubt that they will provide us with TV as we don't have a US address.

[Irlpguy]

You have me confused now Don. What does having a US address have to do with receiving signals from a Canadian Satellite TV provider. If the footprint does not extend to the southern US then it would not matter if we owned a half dozen houses there we would not be able to receive the programming.

In fact many Canadians do have US addresses, my sister and brother in law do and they had been receiving their Canadian programming through Shaw for several years in their 5th wheel, they now own a park model in Yuma and last year bought a dish, HDPVR and a new television for the sole purpose of getting their local news, weather and "hockey games".

I would be very interested in any response the Canadian Snowbird Assn might get from Shaw if they are willing to address the issue.

I was just interrupted in typing this by a phone call from one of the local Satellite installers, his information is that the two old satellites 107 and 111 will still be able to be viewed in the US, the new one won't. Hard to know what is truth and what is not. Updates obviously to follow.