Jun 05, 2013
Lots of good stuff today & bad Shaw Direct stuff
An arm of the Government finally got it right. A man has been charged $856,000.00 for setting a camp fire on his own property that caused a forest fire. Of course he is appealing the decision but I sure hope he has to pay something. Details and photo here.
Lots of news out of Mazatlan recently….
~the Centro area is being prettied up and restored to days of old. Read about it here. I can hardly wait to get back to check out all the colors and ambiance.
~also the second phase of fixing up the tourist area has begun. We sure loved what they had accomplished last year and it can only get better. If you want the facts click here.
It certainly looks like Mazatlan is going full out to put itself on the tourist map. As for our Tres Amigos, our RV Park on Stone Island, I have heard that there are still one or two ocean side sites still available.
Still on the subject of Mazatlan, would you like to win a case of wine like I did last winter? You just have to guess what day the rainy season starts and the hour. Contest information here and all you have to do is send an email to the address in line 5 with your guess. Umm you do have to be in Mazatlan to collect the wine. But even folks like Linda and Russell who will only be there next May can enter or Roger and Chris or Croft and Norma who will only be there a short time can still enter and win. Hey I won, so you can also.
Along with the good news comes some bad news. Friend and fellow blogger Larry broke the news on his blog post June 4th. You may want to sit down with a beverage at your side as you read this. You can read my comments at the end of his blog. Yes I really did stay on the phone for 4.5 hours to confirm this sad news. It is very true that we will no longer be able to get Shaw Direct Satellite in either the USA or in Canada. However it may not entirely be lost, I have a spark of an idea but need to research it first. Stayed tuned.
...aren't they cute. We have hundreds of these quail running around here right now.
…so my idea did not work out. Too bad. Instead I have contacted a few companies and individuals in Mazatlan. The news is a mixed bag. People there with the Shaw system are still receiving their normal TV. Paul at MazSatellite who installs the Shaw Direct system claims that my information is incorrect and it is all systems go as far is he is concerned. I don’t think he got the official news yet. What are people like him going to do? Go out of business?
What to do but call Shaw here in Canada yet again. This time I went to the technical department and the fellow knew all about it and yes it is all true as of May 29, 2013. Shaw no long officially broadcasts south of the Canadian border. So I asked him why people in Mexico were still receiving regular Shaw broadcasting? He was very very hesitant and said it was technically possible. I then asked him that if we have the same equipment and the same dish as we did last year, if we should be able to receive what we did last year. Again he hesitated and reluctantly said yes but that officially if we had an issue with the receiver or the dish that Shaw could not help us at all. As of last Wednesday the FCC has ruled that Shaw is not a registered provider in the USA. I asked him if Shaw would likely pay to broadcast south of the border and he said it was unlikely and that things were changing daily and that this was all so new that it was very confusing. He also mentioned that Shaw is getting hundreds of calls about this in that past few days.
He would not make a further comment or suggestion. So my interpretation of our conversation this morning is that if you have a Shaw receiver and dish you should be able to receive that same reception as before. That is the programming from the first two satellites but you will not get anything from the new satellite.
Fellow RVers from Canada who stay at Tres Amigos on the Isla will be setting up their Shaw system there in August. That will give us a better idea of what might be happening. Right now they are in the USA and I believe that they do have TV.
To be or not to be south of the border? That is the question.
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I believe that is just for the fequencies on their new satellite. It is not affecting the other two satellite’s frequencies. The USA Government is blocking the new frequencies because those frequencies are used by the US Government.
At least, that is our understanding and we are still receiving signal.
Paul/MazSatellite
Paul…I like you attitude and the fact you are receiving the signal.
Croft…..I know Norma won’t be happy about it.
Jannose…we don’t have that choice in Mexico.
Al…Love your positive attitude. Thanks so much.
Janet….the world is changing so much in the past few years, hard to keep up.
Linda…I hope you win the case of wine.
Cheryl….you could always meet us and follow us…..or many others who come later.
Jean…gracias…that is until they started pulling off the siding.
George…yes and we have friends in Mexico receiving the feed so unless they scramble the signal we should all be good.
Debra…Ouch!!! But it looks like it just might be alright.
Well, this is not good news but just about what I expected after StarChoice ceased to be. Please keep us informed! Thanks for the news, bad as it is.
Our friends used to use Bell and as of last year Bell is not allowed in the US either. So I guess it makes sense that they want to get rid of Shaw as well. We just use local cable when we are in AZ. It is cheaper than Shaw anyway.
I don’t think that there is anything new in terms of what’s happening at Shaw. Yes, the third sat is “ranged” to only broadcast to Canada but the original 2 sats are still broadcasting as they were. They won’t “fall out of the sky” for a number of years yet, probably after all of us boomers will have stopped RVing.
You may lose a couple of channels to the new sat but you can find all the Canadian programming on the two original sats.
Don’t worry!
You are right, a beverage is needed! Lots of places where Internet too expensive or just too slow or plain unavailable. We all expect too much from our wired world!!! Technology, a wonderful thing, when it works!
I’d love to spend the winter in Mazatlan. My only hesitation is “getting there.” I wouldn’t feel safe driving on my own without another rig as I’m single. Maybe I’ll enter the wine contest and HAVE to go to pick it up! 😉
Well that is not good news about Shaw, we have needed their support a couple of times.
Your home and yard is looking lovely, all your hard work has paid off.
We have needed Shaw support so assume that we will still be able to get the two older satellites as before. They just cannot admit that that will happen,
Have friends in Souther California that are still receiving full Star Choice reception.
That will be a huge bummer. Sure hope they can work something out. John thinks it will take a couple of years to switch people over to the new satellite. So we may be okay for awhile. Wouldn’t you know it, we just bought a new PVR and larger satellite dish.
Always good to hear positive changes are happening in Mazatlan!
Signed up for the contest – If I win, you can pick it up and enjoy it when you get there.
A quick report from the state of Nayarit in Mexico….all systems go with our Shaw TV. We have not noticed any change in our programming or reception. Fingers crossed!