A big Canadian retailer explained to me exactly why the 2 nations wanted to keep to sat signals from

miguelaqui

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Oct 14, 2004
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I always thought the what I has heard about the grey marker, especially those who had Canadian TV in the US, was not true.

Well, a big Canadian retailer explained it to me very clearly. He said, first of all, it is very hard to prosecute someone for stealing foreign channels. His example was that a Canadian provider was upset that Dish Network so so easy to steal. He explained that, although it is technically illegal, it is very hard to prosecute for that because they are not stealing from a CRTC approved company. He said that if someone is caught stealing Bell, then serious action can be taken with the loopholes. I can verify that I saw several Bell dishes pointed at Dish and a lot of 4 lnb dishes that seemed to be for Bell and Dish. I ONLY SAW 5 SHAW DISHES, which supports my theory that most of the ones who have Shaw, take it South!

So, the simple solution is just to try to isolate the two signals and go after the pirates. I understand this because I would not want a felony just for stealing TV, not worth it.

I personally think that it is sad that it is so easy to steal Dish. I have been a Dish customer for over 10 years and it makes me mad to see someone with a cheap "Free to Air" receiver that gets all the channels. I know that some say that it is Dish's fault because nobody steals Directv or Shaw, but hackers will go after the easiest target. I always thought that if Dish were to switch to MPEG4 completely , they could get rid of it all at once. If I were a major stockholder in any communication company, cable or satellite, I would be furious because when one company is easily hacked, people from other providers will drop their services and just steal them from the easily hacked one.
 
Do you really mean stealing the signal, or just subscribing "illegally" to Dish?

PS The US Govt doesn't care a rats butt if you watch Shaw, Bell or Martian soap operas.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys
 
But then again the person who is paying the sub to a sat service (say Canadian) is not stealing the signal, but paying for it, and if the person provided a Canadian address, the sub is legal on paper (actually without a cndn address no sub would be sold by the sat provider).
Grey thing if the equipment actually receives the signal outside of the Canadian border. ;)
 
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this is kinda funny in a way. most of the Canadians are close to the border so no way to stop dish from coming in.
if they limit Canadian signal(as they have) it just hurts their market in selling to snow birds or others.
 
this is kinda funny in a way. most of the Canadians are close to the border so no way to stop dish from coming in.

Supposedly, I haven't tried, Montreal can get Dish no problem, but there is a huge drop off between Montreal and Quebec City, never tried myself. Still, I think just about anywhere in the bottom half of Canada could make an eastern/western arc combo and get all the channels with exception to local markets. I did not see any dishes pointed at Dish in Quebec City.

I also did not this point clear .. from what this guy said, it is difficult to prosecute someone in the US for stealing Bell, so, if Bell is not here, there is no signal to steal. He said that Echostar was actually the ones who wanted the footprint to be reduced, that it actually had nothing to do with making the signal in Canada better, it just was a good coincidence. I asked him if that were true, then why can almost all the USA get Dish Mexico, he said he had no idea. I would assume that not many hackers would watch TV dubbed in Spanish.

Again, just hearsay, but he seemed to know what he was talking about.
 
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I was talking about people who STEAL USING FTA RECEIVERS with modified software.

We have no sympathy for them. My understanding is that the number of successful pirates has significantly declined over the last few years.
 
We have no sympathy for them. My understanding is that the number of successful pirates has significantly declined over the last few years.

Search it, and it actually seems to be on the rise to the point that E* has sued a few suppliers of FTA equipment. Yes, suing the suppliers instead of fixing the problem. It is my understanding that DTV fixed the problem and Shaw has never been hacked...but maybe just because nobody really cares about Shaw.
 
Undecided if this is a useful or useless thread. Anywho, here's my useless facts.

90% of the Canadian Population live within 100km of the US Border. Previous poster mentioned Dish's signal drops in Quebec city.. (dont understand this one as Quebec city is near the Maine and NH border).

The CRTC has been proven time after time that it serves the interests of the political party in power and that of the Bell, Rogers, Shaw and Videotron ie- posts are appointed by the government and the CRTC looks out for Bell/Rogers/Shaws interests... ie- they dont like competition.

With the Radio Broadcast Act and Canadian Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms... no one... NO ONE will ever E V E R be charged with stealing Dish, Directv, Primestar whatever...as the goverment does not want nor need the headache of challenges and appeals only to look like a dumbass in the end.

The reason why those who manifacture/produce signal theft equipemen are charged when caught is because Dish and BXV essentially uses the same hardware/signal/coding.. ie- the police arent busting people on behalf of DISH but for BXV

Cheers, K
 
Being Canadian and sub to Dish, if I'm breaking the "law" so be it. Then I'm a law breaker.

I pay for my service for dish, probably way more then someone in the US paying for the same package(have the largest package available the everything package).

I can't comment on other Canadians subbing to either Dish or Direct but for myself, the reason I sub to Dish plan and simple FAR FAR SUPERIOR PROGRAMING!!!

The worst US channel available on Dish is far far better then the best Canadian Channel.

Sports channel better then Canadian Sports Channels

SY FY better then Space

The US specialty channels IE MTV better then the Canadian version

Cartoon Network better than Teletoon.

Movie Networks better then the Canadian Movie Networks.

And though it cost me about $1,000 to get Hopper & Joey it well worth it.

I'LL NEVER GIVE UP DISH I RATHER DIE FIRST.

They'll have drag it from dead cold hands before I give it up and you can take that to the bank.

Am I obsessed with US programing and DISH? You be the judge.
 
Being Canadian and sub to Dish, if I'm breaking the "law" so be it. Then I'm a law breaker.

I pay for my service for dish, probably way more then someone in the US paying for the same package(have the largest package available the everything package).

I can't comment on other Canadians subbing to either Dish or Direct but for myself, the reason I sub to Dish plan and simple FAR FAR SUPERIOR PROGRAMING!!!

The worst US channel available on Dish is far far better then the best Canadian Channel.

Sports channel better then Canadian Sports Channels

SY FY better then Space

The US specialty channels IE MTV better then the Canadian version

Cartoon Network better than Teletoon.

Movie Networks better then the Canadian Movie Networks.

And though it cost me about $1,000 to get Hopper & Joey it well worth it.

I'LL NEVER GIVE UP DISH I RATHER DIE FIRST.

They'll have drag it from dead cold hands before I give it up and you can take that to the bank.

Am I obsessed with US programing and DISH? You be the judge.

Ironically, I am a U.S. resident who subscribes to Shaw Direct (I originally had BEV, until they changed their footprint).

There are 3 main reasons why I prefer Shaw to Dish/DirecTv:

1. Time-shift U.S. Networks, the ability to get East Coast and West Coast feeds
2. The price for NFL Sunday Ticket and NHL Centre Ice are cheaper for Shaw. (Also, not dealing with local blackout on these packages). I just wish Shaw Direct had MLB Extra Innings.
3. I prefer Space over SyFy.

Although, I also have a Dish sub.

But to each their own.
 
"...The worst US channel available on Dish is far far better then the best Canadian Channel...."

Au Contraire! Red Green came from Canada! And there are others.
 
90% of the Canadian Population live within 100km of the US Border. Previous poster mentioned Dish's signal drops in Quebec city.. (dont understand this one as Quebec city is near the Maine and NH border).

T
I once saw with my own eyes, when DTV first started spot beaming, a receiver that 50 miles way from the stop of the DMA that barely got signal on a standard dish, and received a completely different DMA when taken 200 miles away. The guide said one channel, but they were different channels, meaning they were using the same frequency. So, yes, sat companies can make a huge drop in a short distance.

By the way, since someone mentioned why one company was better than the other. I would have never considered getting Canadian TV if it had not been so much of a pain to get networks in HD back in 2004. I could easily see that Bell had a much better picture than Dish. Also, back then, the Canadian dollar was low, so it was actually a lot cheaper and Bell had no DVR (PVR) fee. Now, I have gotten accustomed to the better picture and practicing my French skills.
 
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And though it cost me about $1,000 to get Hopper & Joey it well worth it.

Somebody ripped this guy off!

No

its not like I can go to the US and buy one. Its not that simple.I had to buy it from the place I bought my Dish from here in Ottawa. Thats what he charged me, not much I can do about it if I wanted one. Also this way I have only one receive with 3 TVs hooked up, this way I have less chance of getting it shut down by Dish as other wise I would need 3 receivers which Dish might call to see the Location ID like Bell does.
 
They still ripped you off. I got mine from Amazon for $330. But that was without a Joey. You can always get someone in the US get it and ship it. When you order Dish stuff, retailers do not have to link it to an account before shipping/ selling it. If they say they do then they are trying to upgrade you through Dish and get money for the install.
 

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