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Bell Fibe TV

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This article is about Bell Fibe TV services offered in major urban centres of Ontario and Quebec by Bell Canada. For Internet, see Bell Internet. For the communications company, see Bell Canada. For Fibe services offered by Bell Aliant in Atlantic Canada, see Fibe.
Bell Fibe TV
Company typeSubsidiary of Bell Canada
IndustryTelecommunications
PredecessorBell Entertainment Service
FoundedSeptember 13, 2010
Headquarters
Montreal, Quebec
,
Canada
Area served
Ontario
Quebec
ProductsIPTV
ParentBCE
WebsiteBell Fibe TV

Bell Fibe TV is an IP-based television service offered by Bell Canada in Ontario and Quebec. It is bundled with a FTTN or FTTH Bell Internet service, and uses the Ericsson Mediaroom platform. Bell Fibe TV officially launched on September 13, 2010. It is also available in Atlantic Canada, where Fibe TV is re-packaged, being offered by Bell Aliant with similar services and integrated with Bell Fibe TV.[1]

History

Bell began researching for a new television solution in 2004 in order to penetrate into urban markets where building owners restricted the installation of satellite dishes. The launch of Bell ExpressVu for Condos (VDSL service) proved to be ineffective since that service did not allow for customers to benefit from HD programming and PVR options. In 2006, after much research was done, Bell started testing a new technology called IPTV in Toronto, Quebec City and Montreal with Bell employees using the ADSL platform. In October 2007, Bell finally launched a pilot project of IPTV branded as Bell Entertainment Service in select areas and buildings of Toronto. Most of the features that are now available with Fibe TV were offered with Bell Entertainment Service. Some key traits of Bell Entertainment Service were internet and TV charges being billed as one service, "White Glove" customer service and media sharing. After finalizing testing for the new IPTV service in the following years, Bell finally rolled out a contained launch in Toronto and Montreal under the "Bell Fibe TV" brand name in June 2010 followed by an official launch later that year in September.

On July 19, 2016 Bell Canada stated that its FibreOP TV service available in Atlantic Canada would be integrating with Bell Fibe TV in Ontario and Québec.[1]

On September 6, 2016, Bell announced a change to their Fibe TV service. Beginning in 2017, the company says Fibe TV customers will no longer be required to also sign up for Fibe Internet service in order to access their Fibe TV service.“As we align our next-generation IPTV technologies, we’re bringing exclusive Fibe features to Atlantic Canada and new options for Fibe TV customers in Ontario and Québec,” said Wade Oosterman, Bell Group President and Chief Brand Officer.[2]

Availability

Bell Fibe TV is currently available in select areas of Ontario and Quebec. It is also available in Atlantic Canada, where Fibe TV is re-packaged, being offered by Bell Aliant with similar services and integrated with Bell Fibe TV. FibreOP has been rebranded as Fibe.[1] There is constant ongoing expansion in provinces. Those noted being offered by Bell in Ontario and Quebec include:

Ontario Quebec
Almonte1 Gatineau
Amherstburg Montreal
Carleton Place1 Quebec City
Guelph Sherbrooke
Kingston Alma
Kitchener Chicoutimi
Ottawa Jonquiere
Toronto La Baie
Mississauga Roberval
Niagara St-Felicien
Waterloo Riviere-du-Loup
Windsor Thetford-Mines
Greater Sudbury Victoriaville

1Fibe TV in Almonte and Carleton Place is only available in areas that are served by FTTH.

Hardware

Bell Fibe TV receivers are manufactured by Arris formerly Motorola. The three models that are currently being offered to subscribers are the whole home PVR (VIP 2262), wired HD Receiver (VIP 2202) and wireless HD Receiver (VIP 2502). The HD Receiver can only view programming and does not contain a hard drive, however it is able to record and access recorded programs through the networked whole home PVR.

The PVR includes an internal 500GB and 1TB hard disk drive for recording programs. The PVR and wired HD receivers can be connected to the network through either a coaxial cable or Category 5 cable and the wireless HD receiver connects using 5 GHz 802.11n.[3]

Features

Features of Bell Fibe TV include the following:

  • Whole Home PVR: a brand name also used by many of Bell's competitors. It describes a system where all receivers in a household are connected together via a local network. This allows viewers to record, pause and playback content from any room in the house. Fibe TV PVR's can store up to 150 hours of HD (300 hours of standard) content.
  • Fibe TV On Demand: a VOD service with over 1000 titles, including movies & TV series
  • Ability to search for programs by title, cast members, or a simple keyword search. The electronic program guide has 14 days worth of listings and allows viewers to customize the display to show their favourite channels.
  • Picture in picture browsing and channel surfing: viewers can watch one channel and browse other channels or channel listings.
  • Changing channels happens with virtually no delay compared to satellite service.
  • For every standard definition channel subscribed to, customers receive the HD version (when available) at no extra charge in Ontario. Since the programming options are different in Québec, HD channels are included in "The Basic" package but need to be selected separately for any "A La Carte" option.
  • TV based apps such as Facebook, Twitter and The Weather Network

Channels

Bell Fibe TV provides up to 500 channels (fewer in Atlantic Canada, about half the number available in Ontario) including all major Canadian and US networks, popular specialty services, PPV, sports packages, over 85 international services and over 115 high-definition channels.[4] Key services include:

Internet service

Bell Fibe TV requires a Bell Internet subscription. The speed listed for the Internet connection remains unused for the television service.

With the 25 Mbit/s dedicated bandwidth, it is possible to watch or record up to four channels simultaneously but only up to three in HD. So to view four channels one of them must be in SD.

References

  1. ^ a b c "FibreOP is transforming into Fibe"
  2. ^ "Fibe TV Customers Will No Longer Need Fibe Internet to Access TV Services in 2017"
  3. ^ "Bell Fibe TV User Guide" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-10-02.
  4. ^ "Fibe TV Interactive Channel List". Bell. Retrieved 2014-11-16.
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