ExpressVu, Divicom/EchoStar customer........................
news.digitalbroadcasting.com
INDUSTRY NEWS 06/30/1999
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Bell ExpressVu Brings 18-Inch Dish to Canada
Bell ExpressVu, (Toronto) Canada's largest direct-to-home satellite television company, will begin offering the country's first 18-in satellite dish starting July 1. Other new services include an expanded 200 channel line up starting this fall along with DirecPC, the first Canadian Internet service via satellite starting in November.
The company is also targeting subscribers of Star Choice, Gray Market and C-Band customers in Canada with a free offer to switch to Bell ExpressVu, in exchange for their current set - top box.
The 18-in dishes -- which were introduced by DirecTV (El Segundo, CA) in the U.S. in 1994 and are only available in the states and selected parts of Europe and Japan -- are largely responsible for the explosive success of DBS and DTH in the U.S. DirecTV currently has about five million subscribers using the 18-in dishes, (the company acquired PrimeStar in April, which uses slightly larger satellite dishes), while EchoStar (Littleton, CO) has almost 2.4 million subscribers using the 18-in dishes. Almost 11.5 million consumers subscribe to satellite television in the U.S, according to SkyReport.
BellExpress Vu has 26 transponders reaching all parts of Canada on NIMIQ, Canada's only satellite dedicated to offering Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS). The bird was launched by Telesat Canada in May.
Launched in September 1997, Bell ExpressVu currently has 230,000 subscribers, making it the sixth largest broadcast distributor in Canada, and is adding 10,000 to 20,000 new customers every month. By 2002, the company expects to reach over one million subscribers.
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