NHL Centre Ice on Digital Cable (any chance)? - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

FlamesAddiction · 01-10-2007, 07:10 PM

Has anyone heard anything about western digital cable providers getting Centre Ice in the near future? I know that out east, some providers have CI available, so I was hoping it would be just a matter of time to get it out here.

The reason I ask, is that I want to get HDTV (I have the TV already, but need the service). Bell's lazy contractor here in PG won't hook up the ExpressVu satellite and service for me (I had it where I lived last year), so SHAW is my only choice now for cable and HD. However, there is a chance that I will be moving in the future and may be able to get Bell again, in which case it would be a waste to dish $450 for a HD receiver. The only way I will do it, is if I plan to keep the SHAW service for a longer period of time - and the only way I'll do that, is if I can get CI next year.

Sorry, that was probably longer winded than it had to be. So what are my chances? Does anyone know the business well enough to take an educated guess?

Thanks.

ken0042 · 01-10-2007, 07:34 PM

When I went to Shaw Phone, I made a comment to them that if they only had CI, I might be booking a full install. The CSR sounded quite knowledgeable, and said he was going to forward my request. (He indicated he had selfish motives, because he wanted it too.) But he also told me not to hold my breath.

Part of the problem here in the west is the shortage of population. We all know Ontario and Quebec are each as big population wise as BC and Alberta combined.

Did you call Bell to order? I would think they would send somebody out to or have somebody in a town the size of PG.

FlamesAddiction · 01-10-2007, 07:44 PM

Thanks for the info. Maybe I'll call too. Maybe we can have a phone jihad.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ken0042

Did you call Bell to order? I would think they would send somebody out to or have somebody in a town the size of PG.

I actually had Bell when I lived in Chilliwack and had full intentions of keeping it in PG. However, the contractor Bell uses refused to hook it up and flat out told me that it would be too much work to find a place to put the satellite in order to get a clear line of site. That is apparently the only contractor that Bell uses in PG. I had an independent TV guy come out and look (Bell's previous contractor), and he said that it wouldn't be a problem. I would have had to pay for the whole thing out of pocket though, and I wasn't willing to do that at the time. (Bell would have paid for most of it if their own guys did it).

After talking to people here in PG, this is a common issue with Bell here.

(Just as a side-note, Bell agreed to cancel the contract, but they were still charging my credit card. I am still waiting to get the money back from them. They keep saying I'll get it, but it has been 8 weeks and nothing. Every time I call, they don't seem to know anything and I have to re-tell the whole story to them. It's really annoying).

InSutterWeTrust · 01-10-2007, 08:19 PM

I just moved from Calgary to Nova Scotia here and the small cable company out here called eastlink has Centre Ice. I cant belive a small company that services only Nova Scotia can get it, but the pathetic company of shaw that services all of western canada wont get it.
I dont think it has anything to do with population, its just a matter of who wants to spend money.
Shaw will only spend money on what will guarantee them money back, they dont wanna take the risk of losing money on Centre Ice.
But if they probably would have played their cards right from the begining they would be making money now.

I_H8_Crawford · 01-10-2007, 08:24 PM

FlamesAddiction - can you PM your details - I know someone higher up with Bell and deals with all of their installation contractors; maybe I can help you out.

Got Miikka? · 01-10-2007, 08:25 PM

I find it ironic that here in Calgary something like NFL Sunday Ticket would have an audience - with no NFL franchise cities within any reasonable distance in any direction - and yet a product like CI, which caters to that pastime which is supposedly our bread and butter, would be somehow a less viable option. But I don't get to look at all the data, so what the hell do I know.

Rathji · 01-10-2007, 09:15 PM

My wife works at Shaw and I asked her about this recently, and her response was something like this (serious paraphrasing): The bandwidth that is required to stream that many items to so many households is huge. One of the reasons that Sunday Ticket is here and Center Ice is not, is that the viewership for the NFL is smaller so it isn't as much of a drain on the system. CI would cause the Cemetary Hill Shaw (the place that all the satelite feed for southern Alberta is routed through to crash like Craig MacTavish through a crosswalk.

This isn't the only reason, but I can't remember what the others were, except to say that once the bandwitdh issues (caused by Shaw phone, and new HD programming etc ) are dealt with, they will again be more seriously considering dealing with the other obstacles in the way.

fanforever1986 · 01-10-2007, 10:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rathji

My wife works at Shaw and I asked her about this recently, and her response was something like this (serious paraphrasing): The bandwidth that is required to stream that many items to so many households is huge. One of the reasons that Sunday Ticket is here and Center Ice is not, is that the viewership for the NFL is smaller so it isn't as much of a drain on the system. CI would cause the Cemetary Hill Shaw (the place that all the satelite feed for southern Alberta is routed through to crash like Craig MacTavish through a crosswalk.

This isn't the only reason, but I can't remember what the others were, except to say that once the bandwitdh issues (caused by Shaw phone, and new HD programming etc ) are dealt with, they will again be more seriously considering dealing with the other obstacles in the way.

that's true. Bandwidth is shaw's major issue. What's troubling from my point of view is that they don't seem to understand that as time goes on, upgrading costs will go up, as they are a growing business. Jim Shaw knows his company cannot exist on the changing landscape, my moneys on that he'll sell it to Rogers within the next 3 years. (aka when HDTV is basically the commonplace among TV viewers)

DementedReality · 01-11-2007, 01:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fanforever1986

... Jim Shaw knows his company cannot exist on the changing landscape, my moneys on that he'll sell it to Rogers within the next 3 years. (aka when HDTV is basically the commonplace among TV viewers)

this seems like a reasonable guess.

my questions and a little off topic is, does this make Shaw a good buy for investors?

i know nothing about how to determine the answer, but I am curious to what people think. Maybe a potential merger has no bearing on stock prices?

ken0042 · 01-11-2007, 07:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rathji

My wife works at Shaw and I asked her about this recently, and her response was something like this (serious paraphrasing): The bandwidth that is required to stream that many items to so many households is huge. One of the reasons that Sunday Ticket is here and Center Ice is not, is that the viewership for the NFL is smaller so it isn't as much of a drain on the system.

Bandwidth is indeed an issue for Shaw; but it doesn't have anything to do with how many people watch it. It has everything to do with how many channel spaces it takes up. So if 50% of Shaw customers signed up, they would be better off than if only 5% signed up; because they would be using the same bandwidth, but getting that much more money for it.

The reason Shaw can offer NFL-ST is really quite simple. When they are showing football; it is Sunday afternoon. To accomidate the extra channels they take away several of their Pay Per View channels; which are not being used as much during that time of day. With NHL-CI, the games are on during the evening during prime time, so to offer CI would mean fewer PPVs could be offered.

Rathji · 01-11-2007, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DementedReality

this seems like a reasonable guess.

my questions and a little off topic is, does this make Shaw a good buy for investors?

i know nothing about how to determine the answer, but I am curious to what people think. Maybe a potential merger has no bearing on stock prices?

No idea if this answers your question, since we are waiting to sell options, I have been somewhat aware of the price of stock.

They went up from 38.xx early week to 41.30 sometime this morning and dropped down again to 40.70 but still gaining every time I look at it.