Time for an update on experiences with the BlueCurve TV platform from Shaw Communications.
In most of B.C. there are two main providers of internet and TV services – Telus Communications, and Shaw Communications. Until relatively recently, one was thought of as the phone company, the other as the cable company.
Changes in technology have blurred that distinction and the two now compete in multiple ways. For instance, in my home we have a Telus landline, I have a Telus Mobility cell phone account, my wife has cell phone service with Shaw subsidiary Freedom Mobile, and we have internet and TV service from Shaw.
In a previous column I described my unhappiness with ever-increasing rates for internet service, and how the combined TV and internet service price was creeping back up to the $150 level, after we had managed to get it to just below a hundred dollars by switching to $25 basic or limited TV.
When the time came to renew a two-year contract for TV and internet last October, I spent a couple of weeks investigating the options and calling up Shaw’s retention department. At the last moment I was offered a deal that worked, almost the same as I was paying already, but for double the internet download speed, and the new BlueCurve internet-based TV service.
It was not the internet speed that was important to me. I was already at the 300 Mbps level, and you really don’t notice much, if any, difference at the nominal change to 600 Mbps. It was the TV service that really appealed to me, with a much larger channel base than the $25 TV service offered.
As soon as BlueCurve was up and running I noticed several things. The picture quality was excellent, even on the few non-HD channels we have – much better than we had previously. Channel changes were much smoother and faster than they were with the straight coaxial cable and cable box. And with cloud-based PVR capability, there was no need for a separate recorder.
What I liked most, and indeed the biggest change, was the voice-operated remote for TV content. No longer was it 33 for America’s favourite cable news channel, or 11 for B.C.’s news hour channel, it was the microphone button on the remote and the spoken words “CNN” or “Global B.C.”
After six months with voice-based channel switching and program selection, I don’t think I could go back. So second-nature has this become that I now know only a few of the channels by their new BlueCurve numbers. Global B.C. happens to be the first channel, 101, so I know it by heart, but nowadays channel changes are made by just speaking, and softly at that, “BBC World,” “MeTV,” or “Shopping Channel.”
That’s not to say there aren’t some minor issues with voice-activated channel switching. Our remote doesn’t understand my request for BC1, but it does understand my wife’s request. It took some experimenting to figure out how to switch to the Italian channel RAI TV. For a while we used channel number but then found that pronouncing the three letters of the acronym separately did the trick.
B.C. Catholic reader Edward T. recently switched to Shaw’s BlueCurve from a Telus package. He cited a better price and, interestingly, his concern over links between Telus and Huawei, the company at the centre of the Meng Wanzhou extradition case. In particular, this reader stated he was concerned about the potential use of Huawei technology in emerging 5G network rollouts.
He was also impressed that a Shaw technician came over and installed all the BlueCurve equipment and ensured his family knew how to operate various features. He described it as a seamless switchover which included porting of the home landline. The voice feature, he says, has become commonplace and now includes integration with Netflix and YouTube.
Reader Helen Shay, an early adopter of BlueCurve (then known as BlueSky), also likes the voice control, which she describes as working most of the time, although some channels like BC1 need multiple attempts. For this one she now just punches in the channel number, or she uses the LAST feature, which features multiple channels. She says she also uses the FREE TO ME feature to find movies or documentaries, although new ones don’t come along very often she notes. “I just watched the Jane Goodall documentary two weeks ago but I see they’ve already taken it off.” A lot of the movies are Hallmark productions, which she says have only one commercial break per screening.
As for me, one thing I do miss from the previous TV setup is the ability to surf through the channels. Oh, you can do it alright, aimlessly hitting the up-channel button, but you’ll be met with additional on-demand or pay channels. There is no way to lock these out from the channel lineup, something that was possible in the past.
In summary though, the BlueCurve experience has been excellent: much better internet coverage across the house, no dropouts in the far corners, and no need for a separate router. The combination BlueCurve modem and router does a great job serving three TVs and numerous other connected devices. The TV service has been fine too, although I should point out that on the rare occasion when there is an internet outage, the TV will not function. That of course is different from the experience with true cable TV, but it is inevitable as we move toward a world in which every device becomes internet-based.
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