Shaw Direct G.P. is a

direct broadcast satellite Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location.ITU Radio Regulations, Section IV. Radio Stations and Systems ...

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

distributor in Canada and a subsidiary of the telecommunications company

Rogers Communications Rogers Communications Inc. is a Canadian communications and media company operating primarily in the fields of wireless communications, cable television, telephony and Internet, with significant additional telecommunications and mass media ass ...

. As of 2010, Shaw Direct had over 900,000 subscribers. It broadcasts on K_u band from two

communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a Transponder (satellite communications), transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a Rad ...

s: Anik G1 at 107.3°W, and Anik F2 at 111.1°W. Anik F1R, which had been in service for 15 years, reached its end of life in the latter part of 2020, when the services on this satellite were migrated between the remaining two. These satellites are owned by

Telesat Canada Telesat, formerly Telesat Canada, is a Canadian satellite communications company founded on May 2, 1969. The company is headquartered in Ottawa. History Founding and privatization (1969-2005) Telesat began in 1969 as Telesat Canada, a Canad ...

and otherwise are used primarily to distribute programming to various Canadian cable TV companies. The company was formerly known as Star Choice until April 15, 2009. A full list of channels carried by these two satellites is available from satellite-related sites such as Lyngsat. The newer of the two satellites, Anik G1, was launched on April 15, 2013, and then later reached orbit on May 29, 2013. Shaw Direct was founded in Lincoln, New Brunswick, but is now based in

Calgary, Alberta Calgary () is a major city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a Metropolitan area, metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the List of ...

. Its broadcast centre is in

Mississauga, Ontario Mississauga is a Canadian city in the province of Ontario. Situated on the north-western shore of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, it borders Toronto (Etobicoke) to the east, Brampton to the north, Milton to the northwest, ...

, and has

call centres A call centre (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling) or call center (American English, American spelling; American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, see spelling differences) is a managed capability th ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

and

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Technical information

The system requires an elliptical antenna of at least 45x60cm in size with a special LNB pair built as one unit to accommodate the narrow 3.8° spacing between satellites; the receiver uses the

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois. It was founded by brothers Paul and Joseph Galvin in 1928 and had been named Motorola since 1947. Many of Motorola's products had been ...

-proprietary Digicipher II system which has so far been virtually free of the problems with

pirate decryption Pirate decryption is the decryption, or decoding, of pay TV or pay radio signals without permission from the original broadcaster. The term "pirate" is used in the sense of copyright infringement. The MPAA and other groups which lobby in favour ...

that have plagued other providers such as rival

Bell Satellite TV Bell Satellite TV (; formerly known as Bell ExpressVu, Dish Network Canada and ExpressVu Dish Network and not to be confused with Bell's IPTV Bell Fibe TV, Fibe TV service) is the division of BCE Inc. that provides satellite television service a ...

. The standard 18" DBS antennas used by other providers are not compatible with this system as the signals differ in both frequency and polarization. Shaw Direct is relayed via FSS satellites, Anik G1 and F2.

Services and pricing

Shaw Direct currently features over 500 channels including all major Canadian and American networks, popular specialty services, PPV, sports packages and over 350 HD channels. Key services include: * Multiple feeds from various affiliate stations of U.S. networks, including

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

and

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

; these feeds come from

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

(Fox excluded since 2009), Rochester (Fox only),

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south ...

(PBS only since 2019), and Buffalo (PBS only since 2009). * Crave and Super Channel (English-language premium movie services) *

Super Écran Super Écran (French: ''Super Screen'') is a Canadian French-language premium television network owned by Bell Media. It airs a mix of commercial-free films and television series. Films are primarily sourced from the United States and Canada, wh ...

(French-language premium movie service) *

Pay Per View Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program ...

movies and events in standard and high definition from

Shaw PPV Shaw PPV was a Canadian English and French language pay-per-view service owned by Shaw Pay-Per-View Limited, a division of Shaw Communications. Shaw PPV was carried by Shaw Direct, Shaw Cable, and some other providers, mainly (but not exclusivel ...

NBA League Pass NBA League Pass is the National Basketball Association's direct-to-consumer subscription-based product that provides live and on-demand NBA games. It is available to those in the United States and also as an international package for all other co ...

NFL Sunday Ticket NFL Sunday Ticket is an out-of-market sports package that broadcasts National Football League (NFL) season (sport), regular season games unavailable on local Network affiliate, affiliates. It carries all the regional Sunday afternoon games produ ...

NHL Centre Ice NHL Centre Ice is a Canadian digital cable subscription out-of-market sports package controlled and distributed by Rogers Communications through Rogers Cable as of 2014. It is offered by three national satellite television service providers, B ...

Sportsnet World Sportsnet World is a Canadian English language discretionary digital cable and satellite specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media, a subsidiary of Rogers Communications operating as a national sports channel complementing the Sportsnet g ...

(premium sports service airing soccer and rugby) *

Exxxtasy TV Exxxtasy TV is a Canadian English language exempt Category B specialty channel. It is a pay television adult entertainment television channel consisting of explicit adult material, primarily pornographic films, aimed at male audiences. The chann ...

Penthouse TV Penthouse TV is an American premium adult entertainment television channel consisting of explicit adult material, primarily hardcore pornographic films and mainstream interviews. The channel's name is licensed from the men's magazine '' Penthous ...

Playboy TV Playboy TV (originally The Playboy Channel) is a pay television channel based in the United States. History The adult-oriented, commercial-free premium channel Bravo! launched in the summer of 1979. Bravo! aired two PG or R-rated B movies t ...

and

Red Hot TV Red Hot TV can refer to: * Red Hot TV (Canada) Red Hot TV is a Canadian English language Category B specialty channel that broadcasts adult entertainment material, primarily consisting of pornographic films, with a focus on couples-oriented prog ...

(adult channels) * 42 commercial-free digital music channels provided by

Stingray Music Stingray Music is a Canada-based international multi-platform audio service that broadcasts continuous streaming music and other forms of audio on multiple channel feeds. The service is owned by Stingray Digital. It was originally founded in 1 ...

* 49 Canadian commercial radio stations Monthly packages range from $30 for the basic service, up to $107.99 for specialty and movie channels. Individual premium and specialty channels can also be purchased. The receivers range from $99 for a basic system to $399 for a high-definition

personal video recorder A digital video recorder (DVR), also referred to as a personal video recorder (PVR) particularly in Canadian English, Canadian and British English, is an electronic device that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, S ...

. In addition, Shaw Direct provides specialty services * 2nd Home: Allows for programming at a secondary location * Seasonal Break: Allows you to temporarily suspend programming anywhere from 14 days and up to 180 days, with an automatic reconnect date * Refer-A-Friend: When referring new customers to the service, you are eligible to receive up to a month of free programming Starting in 2011, Shaw Direct offered a free satellite dish, receiver, installation and a handful of SD channels to Canadians who lost their over-the-air (OTA) access to television as a result of Canada's digital television transition. The offer was part of Shaw's little known Local Television Satellite Solution (LTSS) program approved by the CRTC as part of Shaw's purchase of Canwest Global in 2010. The period to apply to the program ended August 31, 2014, three months earlier than the original extended application deadline of November 30, 2014. On April 12, 2019, the CRTC opened a public call for comments regarding Shaw Direct's licence renewal request that included its plan to end the LTSS as of August 31, 2019. According to Shaw Direct, more than 31,500 Canadian households subscribed to the no-fee LTSS. While Shaw Direct did end up offering the LTSS beyond August 31, 2019, according to Shaw Direct customer service all remaining LTSS subscribers had been disconnected as of December 20, 2019.

References

External links

Shaw Direct
{{North American DTV Cable and DBS companies of Canada Direct broadcast satellite services Television channels and stations established in 1996 Companies based in Calgary Shaw Communications

Technical information

Services and pricing

See also

References

External links