| Telus TV logo | |
| Company type | ServiceofTelus |
|---|---|
| Industry | IPTV and Satellite TV |
| Founded | 2006 |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec |
| Products | IPTV and Satellite TV |
| Parent | TELUS |
| Website | www.telus.com/tv |
TELUS TV, is a product of Telus that provides IPTV and Satellite service across the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. Telus launched its IPTV based service (now called Optik TV) in November 2005 to Telus customers in select communities of Alberta but is now available in several communities throughout British Columbia and Alberta. Telus Satellite TV service was launched in 2009 and is available to all Telus customers in British Columbia and Alberta. Optik TV provides customers access to over 400 digital channels including more than 100 in HD, while Telus Satellite TV offers over 500 digital channels which include over 100 in HD. As of May 2010, over 300,000 Telus customers subscribe to Telus TV. Telus TV's major competitors include satellite services Shaw Direct as well as various cable and communications companies across British Columbia and Alberta, such as Shaw, Novus and Eastlink.
Optik TV is the 3rd generation of Telus' IPTV based TV service. The current generation is based on the Microsoft Mediaroom middleware platform, as distinct from the previous two generations based respectively on iMagic and Minerva middleware platforms. As of August 2010 customers with Optik TV can use any Xbox 360 with a hard drive as a secondary set top box for Optik TV, Telus is the first company to offer the use of an Xbox 360 as a set top box. Video, Interactive Programming Guide and Applications are delivered via IPTV from the head-end to the consumer's High-Definition PVR or High Definition set-top box. Broadcast channels are distributed via IP multicast, allowing a single stream (channel) to be sent to any number of recipients. The system is also designed for individual unicasts for video on demand, central time shifting, start-over services and other programs desired by only one home at that particular time. The set-top box does not have a conventional tuner, but is an IP multicast client which requests the stream desired. In the IP multicast model, only the streams the customer uses are sent. The customer's connection need not have the capacity to carry all available channels simultaneously.
Unlike Optik TV Telus does not operate the Telus Satellite TV service. Telus Satellite TV is owned and operated by Bell Canada and is repackaged with Telus branding on the interactive programming guide, satellite receivers, and satellite dish. This arrangement was made in order to offer customers the option to bundle TV service with phone and internet service outside of the regions served by Optik TV. The arrangement was also likely seen as beneficial by Bell Canada as Bell only offers home phone and internet service in Central and Eastern Canada but are now able to offer their TV service at a more competitive bundled rate in Western Canada.
