Bell ExpressVu, Canada's largest direct-to-home (DTH) satellite service, will begin transmissions from the new NIMIQ high-power satellite on Canada Day. The move to NIMIQ from the Anik E2 medium-power satellite allows ExpressVu customers throughout Canada to use 18-inch dishes, rather than the 24- to 36-inch dishes required to receive transmissions from medium-powered satellites.

      ExpressVu will be taking 26 of the 32 transponders on NIMIQ, with an option to obtain the remaining six, allowing it to increase its programming lineup to 200 video channels. It has just added seven new channels, including BBC World and Court TV, which had not been available in Canada until now. With the move to the new satellite, ExpressVu is also launching its own pay-per-view service, with 30 channels of movies, children's programming and sporting events.

      Pay-per-view channels, and other selected programming, will be made available in something ExpressVu calls "Super Definition TV." These programs will be shown in standard-definition, for reception on standard NTSC sets, but with "DVD-quality" pictures and sound. ExpressVu would not say what bit rate it would use for Super Definition channels. One thing that will differentiate them from regular fare is that they will never have been squeezed into composite form: chrominance and luminance streams will be separate right from the program originator.

      ExpressVu will probably include some U.S. HDTV programming (downconverted to standard definition) in its Super Definition offerings. Native HDTV signals received at ExpressVu's collection centre in Boston will be sent over fibre to its broadcast centre in Toronto. Programs like ABC's Monday Night Football and NBC's Tonight Show with Jay Leno, could thus be shown in studio-quality NTSC, said Terry Snazel, vice-president technology for ExpressVu. Some programming will be delivered with 5.1-channel Dolby Digital surround sound. Current receivers will need an adapter to process the DD stream (ExpressVu uses MPEG audio for almost all channels); the adapter has coaxial and optical outputs to pass the DD stream onto a surround-sound processor.

      At a press conference announcing the move to the new satellite, ExpressVu Michael Neumann said he expected a U.S. trend to be repeated here. DTH services that use low- or medium-powered satellites are failing or being "cannibalized" by services with high-powered satellites. Neumann clearly signaled that he hopes to have his main competitor, Star Choice Communications, for lunch. ExpressVu will give a free receiver system to current Star Choice customers in exchange for their set-top boxes, along with one month of programming. The offer is also open to owners of C-band and U.S. grey-market systems.

      "This offer clearly demonstrates our confidence in the new technology and our belief that high-power DBS is the only way to go when it comes to satellite television," Neumann said. The ability to use small dishes makes it more feasible to market the service to urban dwellers. But customers in outlying regions will benefit too. Users in eastern, western and northern regions, which had to use 30- or 36-inch dishes to get programming from Anik E2, will be able to use 18-inch dishes now. Larger dishes are more prone to wind deflection, Neumann noted.

      Star Choice doesn't appear willing to be anyone's lunch. Next year, Star Choice will move from Anik E2 to a new medium-power satellite, Anik F1. Because Anik F1 will occupy the same orbital slot as Anik E2, users won't have to have their dishes re-pointed, as they will with ExpressVu. ExpressVu plans to re-point the dishes of all its current customers between now and November 1. "ExpressVu customers who want to avoid the hassle of repointing their dishes can trade in their systems for a free Star Choice system," said Star Choice Vice-President Bruce Barr in a prepared statement.

      This fall, Star Choice will add 50 more video channels, including time-shifted U.S. and Canadian networks. The move to Anik F1 will enable Star Choice to add more channels, the company says. Also this fall, Star Choice will become the first Canadian broadcast distributor to offer true high-definition (HDTV) content. The company also plans to introduce a new elliptical dish that can see two satellites at once. "This is the direction the industry is taking in the U.S. and we'll be ready for the 400-channel universe," said Star Choice President Richard Stursberg.