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| Formerly | Bell ExpressVu |
|---|---|
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Satellite television |
| Founded | January 1, 1997; 29 years ago (1997-01-01) |
| Headquarters | |
Area served | Canada |
| Products | Direct broadcast satellite Pay television Pay-per-view |
| Parent | BCE Inc. |
| Website | bell.ca/tv |
Bell Satellite TV (French:Bell Télé; formerly known asBell ExpressVu,Dish Network Canada andExpressVu Dish Network and not to be confused with Bell'sIPTVFibe TV service) is the division ofBCE Inc. that providessatellite television service acrossCanada. It launched on September 10, 1997. As of April 2017, Bell Satellite TV provides over 700 channels (including over 430SDTV, 200HDTV and 80 audio channels) to over 1 million subscribers. Its major competitors include satellite serviceShaw Direct, as well as various cable and communications companies across Canada.
Bell Satellite TV for Condos (French:Bell Télé pour copropriétés) launched asBell ExpressVu for Condos in 2004. It was aVDSL service for select multidwelling units (condominiums and apartments) inMontreal,Ottawa andToronto. It later evolved into anIPTV service. Since 2010, this service operates asBell Fibe TV and is delivered overFTTN orFTTH technology. By the end of the decade, Fibe TV became Bell's main television service offering, with over 75% more subscribers compared to satellite TV.
Bell Satellite TV services were also repackaged and resold byTelus asTelus Satellite TV, in areas where the latter company's Optik IPTV services are unavailable.
ExpressVu was conceived in 1994, at the time of AmericanDSS systems launch, as a consortium of Ontario-based Tee-Comm Electronics, Canadian Satellite Communications (Cancom), Vancouver-basedWestern International Communications (WIC) and Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE), with a projected startup date of late 1995. High technology development costs and delays placed Tee-Comm in a severe financial position, prompting the remaining partners to pull out in 1996. Instead, U.S. satellite-TV providerEchostarDish Network was chosen to provide the receivers and uplink equipment. TheHughesDirecTV system had already been optioned toPower Broadcasting, in Canada; it has since been withdrawn. Tee-Comm on its own managed to launch the firstDBS service in Canada,AlphaStar, in early 1997; however, in a matter of months the company went bankrupt and the service was discontinued, leaving thousands of consumers with useless receivers (although with some reconfiguration, could be used to receive unencryptedFTA channels). ExpressVu launched service in September 1997, initially as "Dish Network Canada", followed by "ExpressVu Dish Network", in both cases using the Echostar logo.
Bell took over full ownership of ExpressVu by 2000.
The ExpressVu name was retired in August 2008 along with theToday Just Got Better advertising campaign. Bell's television services as a whole are now simply called Bell TV. When disambiguation is required, the satellite service is called Bell Satellite TV.
Plans have been shelved for any additional ExpressVu satellite expenditures assuming pendingCRTC andIndustry Canada approval forDish Network to use all 32transponders onNimiq 5. As a result of this, SES has announced that they will not be replacing the ill-fatedAMC-14 now that Dish Network has cut this deal withTelesat & BCE forNimiq 5 usage.
In 2009,Telus reached a deal to resell a re-packaged version of the Bell Satellite TV service in parts of Alberta and British Columbia known asTelus Satellite TV. The agreement was designed to allow Telus the ability to "instantly" offer aquadruple play of services in markets where it has not yet deployed itsIPTV services, while also allowing Bell to increase its television market share in Western Canada. The Telus-branded service co-exists with the Bell-branded version of Bell Satellite TV, which is still offered in the markets that Telus Satellite TV is offered.[1] As of March 31, 2018 Telus Satellite TV is no longer available to new customers.[2] Current subscribers can update their channels by calling 310-MYTV (6968).https://www.telus.com/en/tv/satellite
In 2012, Bell changed satellite plans in Ontario. They are now sold in packages called "Good", "Better" and "Best" similarly to its competitorRogers Cable in that region. Channels in the "Best" tier can still be purchased in theme packages, and existing customers with older plans aregrandfathered. This also does not affect other regions such asQuebec, where there are different types of plans. Along with these changes, Bell discontinued sales and rentals of its finalstandard-definition television (SDTV) receiver, the 4100 model. Customers who still have an older SDTV with an AV input (or peripheral modulator) can use an HD receiver, but the quality will be limited to480i due to technical limitations.
Bell Satellite TV broadcasts from twogeostationary satellites:Nimiq 4 and 6.Nimiq 4 was launched on September 19, 2008,[3] andNimiq 6 was launched on May 17, 2012.[4] Both satellites follow an equatorial path, giving coverage to most of Canada.Nimiq is anInuktitut word for "that which unifies" and was chosen from a nationwide naming contest in 1998. The two satellites are owned and operated byTelesat Canada. Bell's uplink site is located inNorth York, Toronto, Ontario.
Nimiq 4, located at 82° W primarily serves Bell'shigh-definition television content.Nimiq 6, located at 91.1°W primarily serves Bell'sstandard-definition television and radio content. Each satellite has 32Ku-bandtransponders. A transponder usually has enough bandwidth to broadcast approximately 10 channels. Because HDTV requires more bandwidth, some transponders typically broadcast only 4-5 channels. LyngSat provides a listing of channels onNimiq 4 andNimiq 6 broken down by transponder.
Nimiq 1 was launched on May 20, 1999 and contains 32 Ku-band transponders. at 91°W. (From the time of service launch in 1997 to the switch toNimiq in 1999, ExpressVu used the already crowdedAnik E2.)Nimiq 2, launched on December 29, 2002, also includes 32 K-band transponders.Nimiq 2 providesHDTV, international programming, and all newly released channels. It occupies the 82° W slot.Nimiq 3 went online on August 23, 2004. Originally calledDirecTV3, it is an oldDirecTV satellite moved to a new orbital slot nearNimiq 1 to offload some of the transmitting work from the original satellite. In February 2006,Nimiq 3 was moved behindNimiq 2 to support it, while another satellite,Nimiq 4i (formerlyDirecTV2), tookNimiq 3's spot behindNimiq 1.Nimiq 4i wasreplaced withNimiq 4iR as it ran out of fuel on April 28, 2007 and was de-orbited. BothNimiq 3 andNimiq 4iR feature 16 Ku-band transponders.Nimiq 4 was launched by aProton rocket which lifted off on September 19, 2008 at 21:48 UTC.[5]
One to four receivers are typically connected to a single satellite dish, with additional receivers unsupported by Bell. Bell has mostly focused on improving its satellite signal reception in Canada while seeking to preventsnowbirds from accessing this signal. The use of Bell Satellite TV services in the United States is not illegal, but it remains a controversial issue.
Current and many past receiver models support interactive services, branded as iTV, offering information services for weather and sports. When watchingThe Weather Network, for example, one can select their local city to receive detailed information about that city's weather conditions.[6] For sports such asNFL Sunday Ticket orNHL Centre Ice, iTV allows fans to simultaneously keep track of multiple games. This means that when the watcher is concentrating on one single game, they will be notified if the score changes for other games.
Basic video games, lottery results and horoscopes were previously available as Bell Satellite TV interactive services, along with adult-only games, before being discontinued in 2008.
Pay-per-view (PPV) events may be ordered either via the receiver itself with a remote control and phone line connection, via Bell's website, or via an automated phone system. The telephone line is solely used forcaller ID and ordering purposes, and is not used for firmware and programme guide updates.
Bell also offersIPTV andmobile television services where available.
TheBell Fibe TV service is an implementation ofIPTV that usesVDSL to deliver television service via telephone lines. Early versions of this service was originally deployed as "Bell ExpressVu for Condos" to get around restrictions regarding the mounting of satellite dishes. The original service was trialled using "NextLevel Communications" (now part of Motorola) set-top boxes that receive television broadcasts over VDSL inATM form. The network infrastructure can support large amounts of bandwidth (typically 25 Mbit/s, as of January 2012) and is available in certain cities, including Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City.
Since October 18, 2010,Bell Mobility allowssmartphones andtablet computers on either itsHSPA+ orLTE network to access Mobile TV.Virgin Mobile Canada customers can also access Mobile TV. Similar systems by Bell in the past used the phased-outCDMA network. Unlimited access viaWi-Fi was previously available, but has since been discontinued. The service is billed per hour, and customers do not pay any additional fees.
Bell Satellite TV currently features over 500 channels including all major Canadian networks and several American TV stations (ABC,CBS,Fox,NBC andPBSaffiliates), premium movie services,Vu! pay-per-view service, popular radio stations, sports, international and adult programming.
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