Bell Fibe TV
Encyclopedia
Bell Fibe TV is an IP-based television
service offered by Bell Canada
in Ontario and Quebec. It is bundled with Bell Fibe Internet, and uses the Microsoft Mediaroom
platform.
Bell Fibe TV officially launched on September 13, 2010 and is currently available only in select areas of Toronto
& Montreal
. Service will gradually be expanded to cover all parts of Toronto and Montreal and it is expected that Fibe TV will be available to nearly 5 million households by 2015.
in Toronto 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 "Fibe TV" brand name in June 2010 followed by an official launch later that year in September.
IPTV
Internet Protocol television is a system through which television services are delivered using the Internet protocol suite over a packet-switched network such as the Internet, instead of being delivered through traditional terrestrial, satellite signal, and cable television formats.IPTV services...
service offered by Bell Canada
Bell Canada
Bell Canada is a major Canadian telecommunications company. Including its subsidiaries such as Bell Aliant, Northwestel, Télébec, and NorthernTel, it is the incumbent local exchange carrier for telephone and DSL Internet services in most of Canada east of Manitoba and in the northern territories,...
in Ontario and Quebec. It is bundled with Bell Fibe Internet, and uses the Microsoft Mediaroom
Microsoft Mediaroom
Microsoft Mediaroom is the latest update of the Microsoft TV IPTV Edition platform software, which is the Smart TV platform from Microsoft that is intended for interactive television use to access on-demand, live television programming, and applications via a 10-foot user interface...
platform.
Bell Fibe TV officially launched on September 13, 2010 and is currently available only in select areas of Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
& Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
. Service will gradually be expanded to cover all parts of Toronto and Montreal and it is expected that Fibe TV will be available to nearly 5 million households by 2015.
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 IPTVIPTV
Internet Protocol television is a system through which television services are delivered using the Internet protocol suite over a packet-switched network such as the Internet, instead of being delivered through traditional terrestrial, satellite signal, and cable television formats.IPTV services...
in Toronto 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 "Fibe TV" brand name in June 2010 followed by an official launch later that year in September.
Features
Features of Bell Fibe TV include the following:- Whole Home PVR: all receivers in a household are connected together via a network which allows viewers to record and playback content from any room in the house. A viewer also has the ability to pause a recorded show on one receiver then continue viewing it on another. Fibe TV PVR's can store up to 100 hours of HD (300 hours of standard) content and can stream or record up to 2 HD plus 2 SD channels simultaneously.
- Fibe TV On Demand: a VODVideo on demandVideo on Demand or Audio and Video On Demand are systems which allow users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content on demand...
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 guideElectronic program guideElectronic program guides and interactive program guides provide users of television, radio, and other media applications with continuously updated menus displaying broadcast programming or scheduling information for current and upcoming programming...
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.
- Instant Channel Change. Viewers have virtually no delay when changing channels.
- For every standard definition channel subscribed to, customers receive the HD version (when available) at no extra charge.
Channels
Bell Fibe TV provides over 500 channels including all major Canadian & American networks, popular specialty services, PPV, sports packages, over 85 international services and over 115 high-definition channels. Key services include:- Fibe TV on Demand, includes access to hundreds of movies as well as various subscription on demand services including TMN On DemandThe Movie NetworkThe Movie Network is a Canadian English language Category A premium television service, owned by Astral Media. The service is licensed to operate east of the Ontario-Manitoba border, excluding the territories...
, HBO On DemandHBO CanadaHBO Canada is a Canadian television channel, which airs programming sourced from the HBO subscription service in the United States. HBO Canada is not available as a standalone channel, but as one channel within the TMN and Movie Central multiplexes....
, Treehouse on DemandTreehouse TVTreehouse TV is a Canadian English language cable television specialty channel with programming targeted towards preschoolers that was launched on October 17, 1997. Its name comes from YTV's old children's programming block, The Treehouse...
& YTV on Demand - The Movie NetworkThe Movie NetworkThe Movie Network is a Canadian English language Category A premium television service, owned by Astral Media. The service is licensed to operate east of the Ontario-Manitoba border, excluding the territories...
/ Movie CentralMovie CentralMovie Central is a Canadian English language Category A premium television service. Movie Central is designated to operate west of the Ontario-Manitoba border, including the territories...
/ Super Channel / HBO CanadaHBO CanadaHBO Canada is a Canadian television channel, which airs programming sourced from the HBO subscription service in the United States. HBO Canada is not available as a standalone channel, but as one channel within the TMN and Movie Central multiplexes....
, English-language premium movie services - Super ÉcranSuper ÉcranSuper Écran is a Canadian French language Category A premium television service that broadcasts nationally via satellite or cable subscribers. The network is owned by Astral Media...
, French-language premium movie service - MLB Extra InningsMLB Extra InningsMLB Extra Innings is an Out-of-Market Sports Package distributed in North America by satellite provider DirecTV since 1996 and by most cable providers since 2001. The package allows its subscribers to see up to 80 out-of-market Major League Baseball games a week using local over the air stations...
- NFL Sunday TicketNFL Sunday TicketNFL Sunday Ticket is an Out-of-Market Sports Package that broadcasts National Football League regular season games unavailable on local affiliates. It carries all regional Sunday afternoon games produced by Fox and CBS...
- NCAANational Collegiate Athletic AssociationThe National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
Season Ticket (NCAA Football/Basketball games from ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU/ESPN PPV) - NHL Centre IceNHL Centre IceNHL Centre Ice is a Canadian digital cable subscription Out-of-Market Sports Package. It is offered by three national satellite television service providers, Bell TV, TELUS Optik TV, Telus Satellite TV, and Shaw Direct and many digital cable television providers such as Rogers, Shaw, Cogeco and...
- NASCAR Hot PassNASCAR Hot PassNASCAR Hot Pass is a complementary television package available exclusively on DirecTV in the United States and on various cable & satellite providers in Canada. It debuted at the 2007 Daytona 500, which aired on February 18 of that year. In 2007 and 2008, it was a pay-per-view subscription package...
- Sportsnet World, Soccer, rugby and Gaelic games from Europe
- Vu!, PPV featuring 50 English language channels & 22 French language channels
- AOV TVAOV Adult Movie ChannelAOV Adult Movie Channel or more commonly referred to as AOV TV is a Canadian English language Category B specialty channel. It is a premium adult entertainment television channel consisting of explicit adult feature films, scheduled by genre specifically for each viewing demographic. It is owned...
& Maleflixxx TelevisionMaleflixxx TelevisionMaleflixxx Television is a Canadian English language Category B specialty channel. It is a premium adult entertainment television channel, with programming consisting of gay male pornography. It is also noted as the first 24 hour channel of its kind in the world...
, adult services - Playboy TVPlayboy TVPlayboy TV is a premium monthly subscription television channel. Since its launch in 1982 in partnership with Cablevision which eventually sold their share back to Playboy, Playboy TV has become a leading entertainment channel for adult entertainment...
- Various International channels including Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin & Cantonese), Filipino (Tagalog), German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, South Asian (Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu, Gujarati) and Vietnamese.
- 45 GalaxieGalaxieGalaxie is a Canadian multilingual digital pay television audio service owned by Stingray Digital.-Programming:Galaxie consists of 49 commercial-free music based audio channels, each devoted to a particular genre, distributed through digital television platforms. Each channel consists of a...
digital music stations - 23 Canadian commercial radio stations