There may be a slowdown in the sales of satellite dishes in the Terrace area, that is if CityWest can move quick enough to offer Digital Cable to its current subscriber base.
CityWest is upgrading its cable lines there with plans to start adding new services for the long suffering television addicts of the Northwest. It’s a 2 million dollar investment that CityWest is making in the Terrace area over the next few years, part of their plans to offer more cable services to those areas they inherited when they purchased the assets of Monarch Cable in October of 2005.
The plans include offering Digital service in Prince Rupert as well sometime in the future (though no definite timeline has been released as of yet). It will be of interest to see what impact that the capital investment will have in slowing down the proliferation of satellite dishes across the Northwest.
Even more interesting will be the reaction of Rupertites (who after all owned and funded CityTel, which became CityWest) watching Terrace receive more choices on the television than them, even if it were for a short period of time.
Monarch Cable never seemed to get past the 60 channel level of service while it ran the businesses, that at a time when Star Choice and Bell Express Vu were offering channel options in the hundreds as well as High Definition television, the latest toy for those that like to watch television.
That puts CityWest behind the digital curve, with lots of ground to make up in a short period of time. The satellite providers continue to offer new channels and services including all inclusive hockey, football and movie packages, including pay per view options that cable subscribers have never even heard about. All of which are a definite must for many dedicated television viewer. Whether CityWest can offer all of that and more to keep current subscribers and lure back old ones remains to be seen.
The latest investment and programming plans were covered in the August 30th edition of the Northern View.
CITYWEST MAKES A MAJOR INVESTMENT
By Shaun Thomas
The Northern View
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Page 9
CityWest is taking the first steps in offering Digital Cable as part of its service to the Northwest with the announcement of major upgrades to the cable plant in Terrace.
The project, which will last four to five months, involves the addition of 35 kilometers of fibre-optic cable as well as upgrading the equipment from the fibre cable to the customer’s homes.
“This upgrade is a significant investment for CityWest, but it’s just the start,” said CityWest manager Rob Brown.
“It starts with upgrading our cable lines, then we’ll be investing more as we start to add new services. This is a big day for CityWest.”
And while this round of upgrades is scheduled for Terrace, CityWest’s Sales and Marketing Manager Chad Cunningham said residents in Prince Rupert can expect a similar announcement for upgrades in Prince Rupert sometime in the future.
The upgrades are part of a $2 million investment the company is making in Terrace over the next several years. New services are expected to be announced as a result of the upgrade later this year.
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