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Telus TV features, prices, questions
I'm confused about the Telus TV options. I'm looking for a straightforward chart of the actual channels available in each package, and prices. https://downloads.ctfassets.net/p9rf8eidq2aw/66p6qVV...
The combos for Optik TV are very flexible, so you can pick and choose what works for you. It does make the decision process a little bit more complicated; there isn't really a 'combo A includes channels X, Y, Z'. It's more like combo A gives your choice of theme packs X, Y, Z and premium options 1, 2, 3.
Yes, that pdf is accurate for the most part (looks like it's from late 2023, but not a ton has changed). Most everything is available a la carte. Premium options vary in price from $13 to $20, depending on what package and premium you choose (Apple TV+ is $13, Netflix Premium is $17 and Crave is $20, for example). Adding 5 additional channels is $20, while individual channels are $5 to $7 each. HBO is included in Crave, which includes the 2 HBO channels, 4 Crave movie channels and the entire Crave, Showtime and HBO On Demand library. Putting your combo together at telus.com/optiktv is the best bet to see what fits for you.
There is a firmware update to the TELUS TV Digital Box coming soon that will resolve the issues between HDR and SDR switching; this issue seems to be more prevalent on OLED TVs. Some users report a better experience on Sony TV, Nvidia Shield and Chromecast with Google TV, all of which run on the Android TV platform. 4K channels are supported on the TELUS TV+ app for Android TV, but not (yet) on Apple TV, mobile or browser.
The TELUS TV+ app for mobile devices, Apple TV, browser and Android TV does have pause live, restart for 30 hours, rewind, fast forward where permitted by content providers, and cloud recordings for 90 days. Fire TV is not yet supported, but is on the roadmap.
The TELUS TV Digital Box and TELUS TV+ app have the ability to set 6 unique user profiles that apply across devices. You can turn on parental PINs to block content by maturity rating and purchase PINs to block rentals and purchases. Each profile has its own recordings, recommendations, favourite channels list, watch list and resume feed.
Optik TV and Pik TV are the individual TV products (Pik TV is no longer for sale) while TELUS TV+ is the app that all customers can use.
Hopefully this clears things up a bit...
KHR
TELUS Team Member
TELUS Team MemberThe usefulness of Restart functionality really depends on your use case. If you forgot to set a recording, you can restart it and watch with ads. It's a nice failsafe. If you don't subscribe to recordings or have Pik TV, you can restart it. I agree that people don't want to watch ads, so they can record, but TELUS doesn't own the rights to any of this content; so we are bound to what Bell, Rogers, Corus et al dictate. This means advertisements. The content margins just aren't there anymore; this is why Netflix has tripled in price, and have introduced ads along with Prime. I can't speak to Bell's capabilties, but since they own the content rights in Canada, they can (perhaps anti-competitively) allow the skipping of ads on their content on their platform. I'd love to know if you can skip ads on Rogers or Corus content on Fibe...but TELUS has to adhere to the content license holders agreements.
Hard drive PVRs are great until they fail or until you want to watch recordings on the go. When recordings are stored in the cloud, you're not subject to hard disk failure, and you have access to recordings on the go.
If the guide data matches 60 minutes, it will record the full show, but if it doesn't start on time, it will not capture the end. As mentioned, manual start/end times are on the roadmap. The (admittedly not ideal) failsafe would be to record subsequent programs if it always runs long.
I can't speak to negotiations between Amazon and TELUS, but each Canadian telco seems to have taken a different approach to app availability. TELUS prioritized Apple TV and Android TV first while it appears Bell prioritized Fire TV.
On tv.bell.ca you can tune to any channel and pause (buffer) for 20 minutes and then start watching and skip any commercials. Sportsnet (Rogers) and HGTV (Corus) channels included.
If you can't do this on Telus with live TV that is a very big regression. People are used to buffering live TV & going to the bathroom, just to skip ads.
I've been trying telus.com/optictv to see what it will cost. Some channels only seem to be in a Theme, but don't seem to be available as a Pick 5 option or Additional Channel. Do you know why?
Example: On telustvplus.com the guide (not logged in) has 725 as BBC Earth.
It is in the above Optic TV PDF in both a Theme pack and as a Pick 5 option / a-la-carte.
It is in a Theme pack on telus.com/optictv but not as a Pick 5 option nor an Additional Channel.
Similar for BBC First.
