convincing its c-band service customers to switch to the ExpressVu service may be a hard sell for Cancom, say satellite dish retailers.

The bottom line is that the 90 channels available free through the big dishes continues to motivate sales, and sales execs are skeptical that many will want to trade in their big dishes for a Canadian service even with Cancom ‘going dark’ with its package in December.

With Cancom pulling out of the big dish business, those with c-band receivers planted in the backyard will be without the eight analog services: bctv, citv Edmonton, chch-tv Hamilton and cftm-tv Montreal, plus American feeds nbc Detroit, abc Detroit, cbs Toledo and pbs Detroit.

Also available through the Oak Orion decoder that allows subscribers to access the Canadian channels are 20 to 25 channels including tsn, CBC Newsworld and cbc affiliates in Toronto and Montreal.

Some of the Canadian services available through the Cancom package have already moved to digital, leaving viewers without services, including chch. The system itself is reportedly sometimes unpredictable in the scheduling and receiving of programs.

Nevertheless, sales executives say many will likely stay tuned at least until next September when tsn and CBC Newsworld, the two most popular services, will cease being accessible through the c-band dishes. Both services are reportedly delaying their exit to smooth the transition.

Plus, with or without the Cancom lineup, subscribers are receiving 90 channels of video and more than 100 of audio free of charge, and that is a large part of what motivates the investment, says Mickey Kay, owner of Kay Radio & Sound, a satellite dish retailer with an office in Canada and in the u.s.

‘With the small dish package, people don’t get the choice that they want in the number of channels. They buy the big dishes for the u.s. services.’

Says Peter Lukas, sales exec for Tedmonds Satellite: ‘As far as ExpressVu goes, there’s nothing for free and the big dish picks up u.s. services they want. In terms of the volume of channels, the big dish is still the best buy on the market.’

According to Gloria Gibbins, vp of Davia Satellite, big dish sales are still strong, despite the onset of digital.

‘We’re installing maybe two a week. Digital may be cheaper but it’s not here yet and people are buying anyway.’

As it stands now, c-band dish owners pay $225.36 per year for the package of Canadian services. To sweeten the pot, Cancom is offering a $125 rebate on the ExpressVu package and six months free programming

ExpressVu will be starting off with a minimum of 40 channels. According to Bob Pickard, a spokesperson for ExpressVu, people don’t necessarily have to choose between having either their big dish or ExpressVu’s service.

‘They can keep the big dish and get the smaller one for a host of Canadian programming, both what they’ve had through Cancom and new services,’ says Pickard. ‘They’re a logical first market for us because they are already satellite customers.’ AV