Update: Shaw LTSS For Free TV 2019-05-13
With Shaw LTSS being in the news recently, my LTSS related posts have been seeing a lot of traffic. Frankly, I have not had Shaw for a long time now, and only really had it for a short time in 2013. I don't think the programming on LTSS was very impressive and I believe Shaw only made the agreement to run the LTSS program so that they could advertise at "free" customers about all the great packages they could be buying.
If you are far enough away from a city that you can't get any digital OTA channels and can't get decent enough Internet access to just download your media, then you are far enough out that maybe you should stop caring about what's on TV and go outside. :-)
Update: Shaw LTSS For Free TV 2017-09-28
I have seen a few hits on this page lately and it made me want to pull the post to the new site as well as add some comments about why I think Shaw LTSS sucks. You DO get free television by siging up with Shaw's LTSS program, but there are some drawbacks:
- I don't think you can actually still apply to the LTSS program.
- Shaw will use your contact information to market at you.
- A lot of the content is repeated on even the few channels they supply.
- Television is not that great anyways.
Seriously, it is not worth the ride to get a few free channels just to have Shaw pushing pay packages at you, because they know you want TV bad enough to jump through their LTSS-related hoops. You won't get much more than news that may not really apply to you, and Littlest Hobo really doesn't hold up well to the passage of a few decades. Just don't do it.
Update: Shaw LTSS For Free TV 2015-04-27
Here's a comment I added to this post back on the old Wordpress site:
Now, looking back, I can see why Shaw does this. The service is subsidized by the government so their costs are minimal... but it provides them with a great way to collect contact information for people who are interested in television. Fucking spammers.
Shaw LTSS For Free TV 2013-06-27
Okay, so it isn't a ton of channels, but it is free. A few people I know might be interested in this, so rather than type it out or explain it multiple times I figured I would type it out once here and send people the link. In short, if you have not had cable or satellite at your house in the last 90 days then you probably qualify for Shaw's LTSS (Local Television Satellite Solution) program. Even Shaw's web site does not have a lot of information about the LTSS program but it does exist. Here's what I would provide as instructions to minimize waiting and screwups based on my experience:
- Call Shaw at 1-888-554-7827 and speak with a person
- Tell them you want to apply for their LTSS program
- They will email you a form
- Sign and date the form, and fax it back to them
- Wait a couple of days and then call them back to confirm they got the fax
- Once they get the fax they will confirm your lack of cable/satellite service
- If you qualify, they send you a receiver via Purolator
- When the receiver arrives call them to book an installation appointment
Now when my installer arrived I asked if he could use the mounting pole from my previous Bell ExpressVu (BEV) dish and he said yes. If you have an area of your house with a generally clear south-west view then you should be good (assuming you are geographically near me). I don't know what satellite(s) I am connected to [folks in the satellite biz call them "birds"] but it/they is/are not far from the BEV crap I was using some years ago.
I also had setup a television and the receiver before he arrived so that all he had to do was get signal to the receiver and activate it over the phone with Shaw. Now when he left, he had left it on channel 320 and said to leave it for at least forty five minutes and then I should be good to go. I left it longer than forty five minutes and when I tried to use it, the poor thing was fucked. I had to call Shaw in the morning and have some nice lady reset my service, which took about fifteen minutes.
Now the list of channels I saw on the application form and the list I actually got are slightly different but at this price who cares eh? I got ten channels in total consisting of mostly CBC, Global, Omni, CTV, TVO, and CITY. How ya like them apples?
Additional Note: Some folks have seemed to indicate that the deal is only for five years, after which you may cancel the service or start paying for a package (which would run you $30/month at their current rates). Five years is a long time in the tech biz and anything could happen between now and then... in the meantime, just take the free channels.
The best image turned up when searching for "shaw ltss".