Bell TV

This article is about Bell Canada's satellite TV service. For Bell's IPTV service, see Bell Fibe TV. For the Bell Canada subsidiary that operates TV channels such as CTV, see Bell Media.

Bell TV

Type	Subsidiary of Bell Canada
Industry	Satellite television
Predecessor(s)	Bell ExpressVu
Founded	September 10, 1997
Headquarters	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Area served	Canada
Products	Direct broadcast satellite, Pay television, Pay-per-view
Parent	Bell Canada
Website	bell.ca/tv

Bell TV (French: Bell Télé), formerly known as Bell ExpressVu, Dish Network Canada and ExpressVu Dish Network (and now sometimes known as Bell Satellite TV to distinguish the service from Bell's IPTV-based Fibe TV service), is the division of Bell Canada that provides satellite television service across Canada. It launched on September 10, 1997 and as of 2004 it has been providing "Bell TV for Condos", a VDSL service provided to select multidwelling units (condominiums and apartments) in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. Bell TV provides over 500 digital video and 100 HD and audio channels to, as of May 2010, over 1.8 million subscribers. Its major competitors include satellite service Shaw Direct, as well as various cable and communications companies across Canada, such as Rogers Communications, Eastlink, Shaw Communications, Telus and Vidéotron.

Bell TV services are also repackaged and resold by Telus as Telus Satellite TV, in areas where the latter company's IPTV services are unavailable.

History

ExpressVu was conceived in 1994, at the time of American DSS systems launch, as a consortium of Ontario-based Tee-Comm Electronics, Canadian Satellite Communications (Cancom), Vancouver-based Western International Communications (WIC) and Bell Canada (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 provider Echostar Dish Network was chosen to provide the receivers and uplink equipment. The Hughes DirecTV system had already been optioned to Power Broadcasting, in Canada; it has since been withdrawn. Tee-Comm on its own managed to launch the first DBS 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. ExpressVu launched service in September 1997, initially as "Dish Network Canada", followed by "ExpressVu Dish Network", in both cases using the Echostar logo. However, by 2000 Bell took over full ownership of ExpressVu.

Bell Canada rebranded the names of its services as of August 2008. The ExpressVu name and the beavers used in the advertising campaign were retired, along with the "Sympatico" Internet name. ExpressVu became "Bell TV". Plans have been shelved for any additional ExpressVu satellite expenditures assuming pending CRTC and Industry Canada approval for Dish Network to use all 32 transponders on Nimiq 5. As a result of this, SES has announced that they will not be replacing the ill fated AMC-14 now that Dish Network has cut this deal with Telesat & BCE for Nimiq 5 usage.

Satellites

Bell TV broadcasts from four geostationary satellites: Nimiq 1, 2, 3 and 4iR. Nimiq 4iR is temporary and is being replaced by Nimiq 4. All follow an equatorial path, giving coverage to most of Canada. Nimiq is an Inuktitut word for "that which unifies" and was chosen from a nationwide naming contest in 1998. The four satellites are owned and operated by Telesat Canada. Bell's uplink site is located in North York which is in the Toronto area.

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 to Nimiq in 1999, ExpressVu used the already crowded Anik E2.) Nimiq 2, launched on December 29, 2002, also includes 32 K-band transponders. Nimiq 2 provides HDTV, international programming, and all newly released channels. It occupies the 82° W slot. Nimiq 3 went online on August 23, 2004. Originally called DirecTV3, it is an old DirecTV satellite moved to a new orbital slot near Nimiq 1 to offload some of the transmitting work from the original satellite. In February 2006, Nimiq 3 was moved behind Nimiq 2 to support it, while another satellite, Nimiq 4i (formerly DirecTV2), took Nimiq 3's spot behind Nimiq 1. Nimiq 4i was replaced with Nimiq 4iR as it ran out of fuel on April 28, 2007 and was de-orbited. Both Nimiq 3 and Nimiq 4iR feature 16 Ku-band transponders. Nimiq 4 was launched by a Proton rocket which lifted off on September 19, 2008 at 21:48 UTC.

Each satellite typically has 32 divisions of signal, i.e. transponders. A transponder usually has enough bandwidth to broadcast approximately 10 channels. Because HDTV requires more bandwidth, some transponders on Nimiq 2 will typically broadcast only 4-5 channels. LyngSat provides a listing of channels on Nimiq 1 and Nimiq 2 broken down by transponder.

Hardware

Receivers

Bell TV satellite receivers are manufactured for Echostar by Sanmina-SCI in Guadalajara, Mexico. Three different receivers are currently provided All use non-removable internal smartcards, and the two high-definition television (HDTV) receivers feature optional or built-in personal video recorder (PVR) capabilities:

• Digital Receiver (4100) is the latest standard-definition television (SDTV) receiver. It is half the size of all previous basic receivers and provides coaxial cable, composite video and S-Video outputs, as well as an optical output for 5.1 surround sound purposes. It has no built-in PVR capabilities, but timers can be set to record shows when the receiver is connected to an external videocassette recorder (VCR), DVD recorder or other similar device.
• HD Receiver (6131) is a single tuner HDTV receiver which decodes MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 signals. It offers both an HDMI and component video connectors for HDTV purposes. The 6131 does not include an internal hard disk drive, but can receive PVR capabilities when an external hard disk drive is connected to its USB 2.0 port. The drive stores a one hour data buffer, allowing one to rewind and pause a live TV program for that time period.
• HD PVR Plus Receiver (9241) is Bell TV's latest HDTV receiver. The company claims it is "Canada's best HD PVR" in its advertisements, despite having less features than the older 9242 model. Released in 2008, it is mostly identical to the 6131, but features several new additions. The main advantage of the HD PVR Plus is that it features an internal hard disk drive, which can record either 200 hours of SDTV or 30 hours of HDTV. The receiver's dual tuner allows the user to watch and/or record up to two channels at the same time.

Other receivers are now discontinued and no longer sold by Bell. This includes the 5900, a single tuner SDTV PVR with the capacity to record up to 80 hours of programming, although the PVR Plus. Newer receivers exclude an over-the-air programming (OTA) tuner, leaving only older models such as the 6141, 9200 or 9242 with this feature.

The Digital Receiver supports a 480i resolution, while current HD receivers support the 480i, 480p, 1080i, 720p and 1080p resolutions. To allow backward compatibility with older SDTVs, HD receivers are compatible with a composite video or S-Video connexion, while a separate adapter is required for legacy coaxial cable connexions. All three methods only provide a 480i resolution due to technical limitations. The star (*) and PAGE UP buttons of the remote allow the client to change the aspect ratio of their screen, enabling them to manipulate the image with a zoom, partial zoom, stretch, and with the use of gray bars. Grey bars seem to be used on 4:3 images to prevent burn-in.

Remotes

Many types of remotes have been released over the years. Models 1000 and 2700 came out with very basic infrared (IR) remotes that could be used only to control the receivers themselves and would operate on all 16 remote addresses. Replacement remotes then came with universal functions allowing users to control the power and volume of their televisions along with VCRs and sound system receivers; these remotes can only operate on a single address at a time. Models equipped with a UHF antenna can respond to UHF remotes; these remotes use radio frequencies rather than IR signals to control the receivers. UHF signals can reach up to 30 meters, depending on the restrictions of building materials. All UHF-compatible receivers can simultaneously respond to IR signals except for model 4500. For this model, modification directions exist on the Internet to add IR receiving capability, in order for the receiver to respond to programmable universal remotes. Remote #2 of the 3200, 5200, 9200, and the remote for model 6100 are based on "UHF Pro". "UHF Pro" remotes are strictly compatible with the receivers they are provided with and do not function on regular UHF-compatible receivers. Additionally, "UHF Pro" remotes can only communicate with UHF frequencies and cannot control receivers via IR. To prevent interference with other UHF remotes in proximity, clients should change their remote addresses. All secondary remotes for dual tuners may also be converted to remote #1 by flipping the plastic bottom of the remote. This also switches its transmission mode from UHF Pro to regular UHF and IR, similar to how a 5900 remote operates.

Satellite dishes

Bell TV currently provides 20 inch (50 cm) dishes to its customers. Canadians living in the territories and certain parts of British Columbia and northern mainland portion of Newfoundland and Labrador require larger dishes between 60 and 120 cm; these are used to compensate for the weaker satellite signal available to these regions. The 20" dish supports two LNBs. The size of the dish was increased from 18 to 20 inches in late 2001 to accommodate a second LNB to acquire signal from Nimiq 2 (BEV 82) satellite. At the end of the dish's arm, a Y-adapter is found which holds both LNBs. The BEV 91 LNB is in the center of the dish while the BEV 82 LNB is offset to the left. Rotating the dish (i.e., modifying the skew angle) changes the position of the 82 LNB while maintaining position for BEV 91. A switchbox, typically an SW21 or SW44, is used to merge both satellite signals into receivers.

Smartcards

To authorize programming, a portable smartcard is used for older receivers. This includes the 1000, 2700, 2800, 3000, 3100, 3500, 3700, 4000, 4500, 4700, 5100, 5800, 5900 and the 6000. In some cases, Bell TV has switched back to using standard smartcards for the 6100 and 9200 receivers.

In February 2008, Bell TV announced a second smartcard swap involving all its receivers with the exception of the 6141 and 9241 models. This was required due to the massive pirating of ExpressVu signals that occurred with the Nagravision 2 encryption. The latter standard was implemented on May 27, 2005, to end piracy that occured with the first Nagravision system.

Bell TV has upgraded to Nagravision 3 as the new encryption standard, to prevent unauthorized access to pay TV channels. The only means to view Bell TV illegally is through IKS (Internet Key Sharing) devices which include NFusion FTA and the Slinger. Both devices are not hacks but only means of a workaround. Bell TV is currently working towards shutting down these types of devices. No known hacks exist for the Nagravision 3 protocol.

Newer receivers incorporate smartchips instead, which are permanently installed inside the receiver.

Unsupported hardware

In 2009, Bell 6000 receivers' owners received letters in the mail that state they must swap to a 6141 or face losing programming as Bell TV is currently going to be using MPEG-2 with 8PSK. The 6000 does support the use of 8PSK with an add-in module, but Bell TV decided not to send out these as the 6000 is old and most customers will be wanting to upgrade to a 6141 which can have a hard disk drive added to it to be used as a PVR. The guide for programming information is also updated and stores more info in its database than the 6000.

Services

3D television

3D television (3DTV) is available across Canada with Bell TV. The 2010 Masters Tournament on Bell TV was the first national 3D broadcast, making Bell TV the first Canadian satellite television service to broadcast in 3D. Content will be available free of charge to Bell HDTV subscribers although, a 3D HDTV and 3D glasses are required to view 3D programming.

Interactive services

Bell TV customers can view detailed weather information with The Weather Network's interactive services.

Current and many past receiver models support interactive services, branded as iTV, offering information services for weather and sports. When watching The Weather Network, for example, one can select their local city to receive detailed information about that city's weather conditions. For sports such as NFL Sunday Ticket or NHL 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 TV interactive services. Pornography-themed video games were also offered in the past via Bell's sex industry brand, Venus. These services have been discontinued as part of the Today Just Got Better rebranding. Wireless game controllers, sold for use with Game Galaxy and Venus Games, have been cleared out for the price of $4.99 each at Bell-owned The Source.

Pay-per-view

Pay-per-view (PPV) events may be ordered either via a the receiver itself with a remote control and phone line connection, via Bell's website, or via an automated phone system. Regular movies tend to cost less, while adult and sports programming have a higher cost. Channel 299 previously featured classic movies at 99 cents each, but this channel has been pulled off the air in 2011. Bell TV carries movies recently released on DVD along with major sporting events including boxing, World Wrestling Entertainment and Ultimate Fighting Championship. Red Carpet Vu! is a Pay-per-view movie service broadcast in a group of up to ten different channels where a daily featured movie starts every fifteen minutes.

Some customers have the misconception that the optional phone line, when plugged in to the receiver, is used for software downloads and programming changes. In fact, the only information the line receives, if available from and supported by the phone line, consists of caller ID informations displayed in a pop-up notification for the viewer's convenience when a phone call is being received. The phone line simply automates the process of ordering pay-per-view by dialing out the Event ID and other information that would be requested by manually calling the pay-per-view phone system.

Receiver limits

Residential accounts are limited to a maximum of six (6) receivers per account, but each of them can be a dual tuner receiver. Therefore, up to 12 televisions can be served. Account stacking, which consists of having receivers on one account located in different locations, is contrary to the Bell TV Residential and Commercial Agreements. It is certainly not illegal, and in a worst-case scenario, service will be canceled. This practice is detailed in CRTC Public Notice 2006-133 and 2006-134. There is no requirement whatsoever in the Regulations that prohibits a BDU (broadcast distribution undertaking) from providing service at more than one location via a single account. Bell has mostly focused on improving its satellite signal reception in Canada while seeking to prevent snowbirds from accessing this signal. The use of Bell TV services in the United States is not illegal, but it remains a contentious issue.

Support and warranties

Bell TV provides technical support 24/7, however it will only support its products. Any type of picture troubleshooting must be done with a direct connection from the receiver to the television. For new customers, the first receiver is normally installed at no cost to the customer.

All labour for installations is only under warranty for three (3) months. Receivers are under warranty for as long as they are rented. Purchased equipment comes with a default warranty of one year with the option of taking an extended warranty. Only manufacturer's defects will warrant replacement of dish under coverage;— a strict policy is in place regarding "Acts of God" and dish damage, which includes violent weather disabling a dish or mis-aligning it, as well as any physical modifications by the customer (e.g. painting the dish.)

Installation standards

GMC Safari van from the old Bell ExpressVu era before becoming Bell TV.

A Bell TV receiver can only be activated with a minimum of 75% signal. On a clear day in most of the country, a receiver should be able to acquire close to 85% on transponders 11 and 3, two of the strongest transponders from Nimiq 1. Transponder 5 on Nimiq 1 and Transponder 1 on Nimiq 4 provides software downloads. Signal levels on Nimiq 4, at 82°W, vary between 90% and 100%. Receivers should only be activated with the proper signal and the correct software. An initial software download or update takes a maximum of 7 minutes. Some clients may mistakenly point their dish to other satellites, typically Echostar 11 at 110°W. This ends up writing Dish Network software to the receiver which makes it completely useless. Older receivers like the 2700 are said to have the ability to overwrite software simply by pointing back to Nimiq 1 at 91°W. Newly activated receivers generally also come with outdated smartcard revisions (the smartcard software). Leaving the receiver on for 2 hours max and then resetting the power of the receiver generally updates the smartcard software or setting the receiver to transponder 13 and turning the power off will do the same. In 2006, Bell TV took measures to improve the Nagravision 2 security system and are constantly updating revisions. Outdated smartcard revisions will leave the client with black screens upon changing channels.

For an installation with one or two receivers, a direct connection from the receiver to the dish's LNB should be made with a maximum amount of 125 ft of RG-6 coaxial cabling. An LNB has two outputs and each receiver should have its separate connection. Any splitters used will cause signal problems on both receivers. Beyond 125 ft of RG-6 will require a repeater (an in-line digital amplifier). Many installers will unfortunately try to cut corners and use existing coaxial cabling; this cabling is typical RG-59 and experiences significant attenuation. RG-59 is generally made to only handle CATV frequencies (900 MHz and less) instead of frequency range 950-1450 MHz (In most applications and some commercials systems up to 2050 MHz) and don't have proper shielding against interference. The usage of RG-59 cabling will cause significant signal loss on longer distances but can be used in short distances. Signal level can vary between -69dBm and -10dBm without any change in picture quality. (Signal level should not be mixed with IRD strength which can be obtained from receiver menus, which should be between 75% and 100%) but when signal level is lower, rain fade will have greater effect on signal.

Three to four receivers will require the installation of a 2x4 multiplexer (MUX). It takes the two lines from the LNB and provides four outputs. Some MUX models also require a power inserter; this provides additional current to the MUX to power LNB and the MUX itself. A power inserter is typically connected to separate input on a MUX. Clients requiring service on both Nimiq 1 and Nimiq 4 will require an SW44 or an SW21 switch instead of a MUX. Both lines from the Nimiq 1 LNB and both from the Nimiq 4 LNB come into the switch. The switch then merges both signals and provides four outputs; a power inserter is mandatory on all 4x4 switches. The purpose of the MUX is to permanently assign either 13 Volts or 19 volts to a particular LNB. In this way the output side of the MUX will connect to 13vdc polarization of the satellite or the 19vdc polarization. Satellite transponders transmit in both horizontal and vertical polarizations to increase the number of channels per transponder. The receiver switches the DC voltage 13/19 depending on the channel you select. A table of the correspondence between channels and satellite/transponder/polarization is downloaded from satellite and changed at will by the provider.

The installation of more than four receivers is a bit more complicated unless you have a MUX or switch that supports more than four outputs. ExpressVu does not officially provide any MUX or switch to customers with more than four outputs, so typical splitters in the range of 1.5 GHz are required to split the LNB lines; this provides additional inputs into a second MUX or switch. It can somewhat complicate the installation, but is still deemed as official and compliant to ExpressVu's standards. The easier (and cheaper) way to install something like six receivers would be to simply install a second dish which costs only $99 vs. installing a second MUX or switch and having to hassle with complex wiring. Another alternative is to follow the hardware setup used by The Dish Network using the Dish Pro Plus (DPP) series of antenna connectivity hardware available on the Internet. The DPP series allows connection to multiple satellites. You will need to check to see if all your receivers are DPP compatible.

Around Late 2009, Bell TV has begun to use DPP (Dish Pro Plus) Twin LNBF's. These LNBF's are being used to install newer 9242,9241,5200,3200 units which require 2 lines because they are dual tuners. The advantage of Dish Pro Plus is that it only requires a single line to one receiver and close to the receiver we what is known as a "DPP Separator", which band stacks both dual tuners into one line and feeds it to any dual tuner receiver. The only disadvantage to Bell TV is that only 2 Dual Tuner receivers can be used with this LNBF. So any more than 2 and you have to go back to Legacy Installations with the involvement of the SW44 and possible splitters. For example if someone had 4x 9242's I would need 2 SW44's and 2-way splitters to complete the installation. This is because Bell at this current time does NOT support the use of the DPP44 Switch which can be used in conjunction with DPP Twin LNBF only requiring 2 outside lines to be fed inside the home or building instead of the 4 needed to use the SW44. The software in the receiver itself supports the use of the DPP44 but bell with not help if you install the system yourself and run into any issues. Bell "may" in the future do one of three things, either make their own a DPP24 or purchase DPP44 switch's from USA Based Dish-Network or they may even create their own DPP Quad LNBF.

Many multidwelling units (MDU) do not allow the installation of more than one dish for an entire building. As a result, a multiplexer system must be installed. These typically involve the installation of larger if not cascaded MUXs. The problem with this is that if anything happens to the dish, the entire building loses service. In some MDU systems signals are stacked using whole bandwidth from 900 MHz to 2050 MHz. Advantage of this one is that signal can be split to multiple receivers but customer requires a destacker (downconverter) to be able to receive the signal.

Installers are responsible for the activation of all professionally installed receivers. A receiver typically takes a couple of minutes to respond to an activation signal, yet queued satellite signals (hits) can sometimes take up to two hours to process. Additionally, installers are supposed to coach the client on how to use the system.

IPTV

The Bell Fibe TV service is an implementation of IPTV that uses VDSL 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 in ATM form. The network infrastructure can support large amounts of bandwidth (typically 25 Mbps, as of January 2012) and is available in certain cities, including Toronto and Montreal.

Channels

Main article: List of Bell TV channels

Bell TV currently features over 500 channels including all major Canadian & American networks, premium movie services, Vu! pay-per-view service, music radio, sports, international and adult programming. The company provides over 100 High Definition channels, the most in Canada. Bell TV's programming changes constantly. Channels such as Comedy Gold, BBC Kids and CNN International are exclusive to the service.

Show and Extra magazines

Bell TV produced a monthly magazine called Show (the French version is called Extra). Show debuted in September 2007, and replaced Bell TV Magazine, the previous name for the customer publication from ExpressVu.

Show was delivered to over 800,000 Bell TV customers and showcases entertainment from Canada, Hollywood and around the world.

Show Magazine and Extra had been cancelled by Bell TV to save paper in early 2008.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• List of Bell TV channels

External links

• Bell TV Official site
• Official List of Bell TV Channels
• Bell SRDU division
• Bell TV Customer service info
• Bell TV online for Bell subscribers
• Bell TV Remote PVR lets you schedule and manage TV recordings