Steve, just wondering if through your grapevines you've heard any news about the end of analog cable at Videotron?

So far nothing. Last I checked 75% of Videotron's TV subscribers were on digital cable, which means another quarter still has to move over. I haven't heard anything suggesting an end date for analog cable service in Montreal.

I wonder why Videotron doesn't supply Clear QAM, US cable does that for basic cable (required by law).

The fact that it's required by law is a good indication that cable companies don't have much incentive to do this on their own. Some Canadian cable companies are looking at clear QAM as a way to replace analog cable service, so that people don't have to shell out for the full price of a digital set-top box. But otherwise there's not much reason to use it.

Honestly, its a question of price vs usage. Do we get our moneys worth?

We come home from work and then eat and take kids to soccer or judo or swimming.
The wife unit goes to the gym 3x a week so the few hours we have after work are usually taken up.
Oh yeah, homework too takes time!!
Free TV channels is what we watch on cable simply because we want to see what is happening here.
Kids with their free time during the week adn weekend are on the PS3 or on the Internet if theyre at home.
TeleToon is THE big channel with them and the only one wed miss.
We have the RDS, TSN, Sportsnet package and honestly it sucks.
Poker, dog shows, hotdog eating contests and a few events here and there and for a shift worker the habit of showing NOTHING from midnight to 13h00 but looped 30mins sports news is worse than useless.
We have a euro (has asia too) satellite dish and watch soccer, basketball, volleyball, handball, waterpolo, tennis, judo, pingpong and many other sports but rarely do.

When we look at our list of stations from 2 to 38 (loved it when they took out YTV and other stations and still charge the same), we have a few categories:

-Free stations that you can get for FREE so thats a quarter of them right there. I dont consider paying for something that is free to be any kind of deal. btw, the image is simply stunning on our TV that has no cable.

-Then you throw in the useless stations that no one has ever watched. Yeah because we cant enoughf of ethnic 14 or whatever it is now showing reruns. Those adds on channel 2. What the hell is on ch 10 and 12?
-stations that we watch but whose sitcoms can be seen on CTV or GLobal, online or often we just buy whole series on DVD and watch at our convenience. Those are the ABC, FOX,etc..

-specialty channels. TV5. Ok but never watch it. Vrak? non. Meteomedia? I have an apps on my phone or the computers are always on. Canal D? Nah. RDI? Ok but have online source for news.
The rehash of series from 23 to 26 is meaningless and while Pravda-CNN is fun to see how brainwashing works is no worse than Fox news.
LCI news for dummies? Cmon lets get serious. Musique+? Do they still show videos or just reality TV? Art TV? Ok but rarely see anything. Canal Vie? No.

Oh yeah, I missed THE channel kids and adults like: Discovery.

Two stations that we would miss then. Not enough reason.
Also not enough time.

So were just really waiting for a reason to cancel really because when you look at what we 'have' and then what we actually care about and watch, we could very well live without cable.

My eldest watches Goal TV at his cousin's but HATES having to wait for a show to be on. He is of the generation where if he wants to see something, its now. Out of his many Youtube subscriptions, he watches sports, tech, games, videos when HE wants. Having to plan to see a show from 14h00 to 14h30 is not something that pleases him.
His entertainment along with his friends is consumed when they want and where they want.
He says he doenst care if we get rid of cable as long as we get the 'superduper' highspeed internet to compensate.

So it truly is the beginning of the end of Videotron for us.

Yesterday a Videotron technician came into our backyard and replaced the cable from the "telephone post" to the house. This was not a scheduled service call (Videotron did NOT inform us).

Getting to the point: After the new cable was installed we noticed we now only have 29 channels (2-9, 11-26, 54-58) when we used to have over 60.

After spending over an hour on the phone with Videotron Customer Service the outcome was:

1) "You were never supposed to get all those 60 basic channels, only the 29 you have now. You had been getting them for free for the past five years"
This sounds like an outright LIE to me.

2) The analog service is no longer available. You can either continue to pay 30$/month for the low-quality 29 channels or switch to a Digital Box.
Digital Box (free + free installation), but Must now pay $52.94 (basic cable $20.21 + "custom package 20" $26.26 + tx) for 40 channels.

So essentially we now have to pay an extra $23/month for 20 fewer channels.

Breakdown:

Spring 2007 ($23.28/mnth) to Fall 2012 ($29.28)
$312$/yr average for 60+ channels

Fall 2012 - onward
$635/year: 40 channels

MORE THAT TWICE THE PRICE FOR 2/3 the channels!!!

If we wanted 60 channels again it would cost $59.85/mnth (basic cable $20.21 + "custom package 30" $32.32 + tx). or $718/year.

*** And this isn't even for HD, just basic digital cable.

Not very good business practice, and total disrespect to the client for
1) forcing us into this situation, and
2) never advising us (neither by phone, email or written letter)
3) having customer service blatantly LIE to us

I feel I have no choice but to take my business to Bell. I know I'm just one customer, but with my triple package I pay over $1700 / year.

Perhaps if more of us left Videotron, they would be re-think how they treated their customers.

Thanks for reading, and please post your stories as well.

They had a sizable footprint, all of NDG and pockets around that area with downtown as well. All that infrastructure and rights of way went to waste, they should have sold them but from Bell's prospective they found it easy to eliminate a competitor than compete with them.

Don't worry, Videotron is rolling out software updates to the Illico boxes that pretties-up the interface

Only for boxes that support it. None of the Scientific Atlanta boxes (which most people have) do. It means you would have to replace your box.

As Vermont PBS is one of the most interesting channels available IMO (cable or otherwise), not being available in HD is a major problem.

I suppose. But demand for a second PBS station in HD is outmatched by demand for more HD specialty channels.

Actually, WCFE and WETK are both in the Telemax package, but only WCFE is available in HD.

As Vermont PBS is one of the most interesting channels available IMO (cable or otherwise), not being available in HD is a major problem.

Subchannels of the U.S. networks aren't authorized for distribution in Canada.

And that speaks volumes for someone, like myself, who advocates free-to-air TV over cable.

There's still compression for digital over-the-air channels. The PBS stations, for example, heavily compress their HD signals in order to fit multiple SD subchannels. The difference in bitrate between over-the-air HD and compressed HD via Videotron is, in most cases, very small.

http://blog.fagstein.com/2012/04/06/crtc-bell-cable-dispute/

Read Alex H's comment on this subject...

"If you put BellTV on your screen with, say, CBC montreal hockey game, and then switch directly to the OTA signal, you would see that the OTA is SIGNIFICANTLY brighter, many times sharper, and easily detected by anyone. The compression rates are insane - and similar on Shaw direct as well.

Videotron is somewhat less compressed, but they still do compression tricks to save bandwidth. That means that your videotron signal isn't anywhere near as good as the OTA signal."

Though there are several digital free-to-air antenna channels not available. You do not get Vermont PBS, or WCFE's sub channels for that matter (World, Create, MHz -- all interesting stuff).

Actually, WCFE and WETK are both in the Telemax package, but only WCFE is available in HD. Subchannels of the U.S. networks aren't authorized for distribution in Canada.

Yes, I am happy with free over the air channels. Especially the FREE part. :) Far higher quality picture and sound as there is no compression

There's still compression for digital over-the-air channels. The PBS stations, for example, heavily compress their HD signals in order to fit multiple SD subchannels. The difference in bitrate between over-the-air HD and compressed HD via Videotron is, in most cases, very small.

Telemax costs $30. Added to the base service ($23 if not using other Videotron services), it's $53 a month, or $61 including taxes.

You're correct, it's $61.82/month with all taxes. However you ALSO have to purchase a digital receiver (SD receivers are not available for rental) which is $99 and a one time installation fee of $59.95. With taxes that is additional $182.75 just to become a digital TV subscriber!

Interestingly analog Telemax was $45/month with all taxes. Not only is set up expensive, the monthly rate is higher!

Regular Telemax will give you those channels. You can also get an à la carte package that allows you to choose what channels you want.

On second look, you're right. Though there are several digital free-to-air antenna channels not available. You do not get Vermont PBS, or WCFE's sub channels for that matter (World, Create, MHz -- all interesting stuff).

It also includes local radio stations, APTN, CBC News Network, The Weather Network and TV5. But sure, the basic service doesn't have any of the fun channels.

But if you're happy just getting what you can over the air, all the power to you.

I don't know about you, but local radio, the Aboriginal channel and weather network are about on entertainment par with the house of commons CPAC channel.

Yes, I am happy with free over the air channels. Especially the FREE part. :) Far higher quality picture and sound as there is no compression, sub channels, channels not available through Videotron (Vermont PBS, This! movie channel, etc) oh, and did I mention free?

Sure I miss some of the specialty channels, but I get good supplement with the Internet connection built-in to my Sony TV set. With a click of the remote I have free services like Crackle (lots of FREE spooling movies and TV shows) and Radio stations from around the world.

Personally I think someone with an old fashioned TV set is far better off using a digital converter box and antenna if they're on a budget. And these days, with the economy the way it is, most of us are.

They no longer sell analog cable, or cable Internet. In fact they are no longer "VDN", they are simply Bell Canada. The woman I spoke with said if I'm interested in subscribing to Fibe or Bell Internet, they just pass the order along to Bell Canada. Bell invoice and same Bell prices.

There are a handful of legacy VDN analog cable and Internet customers still receiving service, but they're being phased out as we speak. It should be gone as early as next month.

Bottomline is VDN and its technologies will soon no longer exist, in any form. They will fade away much like LOOK.
Analog cable is not available anywhere in Montreal now... (and if you still have it as a legacy customer, its days are numbered. Quite numbered).

Yes. This is a decision by Videotron. It doesn't affect other television distributors.

Scratch that. It appears VDN was bought out by Bell, who has recently ceased any of the analog cable services they offered. As a matter of fact, I think VDN as an entity doesn't exist anymore.

Doesn't VDN in Montreal still offer analog cable?

Yes. This is a decision by Videotron. It doesn't affect other television distributors.

Let me see if I understand this, if I were forced to switch to DIGITAL cable to preserve what I get with either classic Telemax (or even my free antenna set up), it would cost me approximately $75/month after tax?!

Telemax costs $30. Added to the base service ($23 if not using other Videotron services), it's $53 a month, or $61 including taxes.

I looked at the various packages, in order to have something that includes all my free-to-air antenna channels (CBC, CTV, Global, Metro14 + CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX and PBS) I would have to subscribe to Telemax+.

Regular Telemax will give you those channels. You can also get an à la carte package that allows you to choose what channels you want.

Of course you could stick to "Basic service" for $30/month, but it only includes the four local English channels--how worthless is that? What a rip off, glad I have my antenna to get all my channels free.

It also includes local radio stations, APTN, CBC News Network, The Weather Network and TV5. But sure, the basic service doesn't have any of the fun channels.

But if you're happy just getting what you can over the air, all the power to you.

I looked at the various packages, in order to have something that includes all my free-to-air antenna channels (CBC, CTV, Global, Metro14 + CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX and PBS) I would have to subscribe to Telemax+.

Of course you could stick to "Basic service" for $30/month, but it only includes the four local English channels--how worthless is that? What a rip off, glad I have my antenna to get all my channels free.

Still, I can't help but think phasing out analog cable at this point in time is a bit premature...at least for some people. For one thing it's just so much simpler to install and use. Attach one wire to the back of your TV, hit auto-scan, you're done. Changing channels is just pressing up/down on the remote, ditto for sound adjustment. So much less to go wrong. Then there is the speed at changing channels....*lightening* fast, no, instantaneous really; no waiting several seconds. And recording shows with a VCR while being able to watch another channel. Or connecting up MULTIPLE televisions sets your home or apartment with just a splitter at no extra cost.

Oh well, moot point since it's disappearing shortly. As for myself, I'm happy without cable of any kind these days. :)