Yellowknife (May 14/03) - Three hundred channel digital cable TV will be available in Yellowknife by this fall.

Northwestel Cable (Cable TV) signed a deal with Bell ExpressVu last week to mount the new service and will begin trials within two or three weeks.

Cable TV's Mike Dittrich said the firm will begin offering the digital cable packages Sept. 1.

The service will be offered free on a trial basis to the company's existing cable subscribers in the School Draw area by the end of May.

"School Draw will be a technical trial run for us and good way to get customer input on the new service," said Dittrich.

"In September we will begin rolling the service out on a neighbourhood by neighbourhood basis through the city as we proceed with the necessary network upgrades."

The service should be available to the entire city by the end of the year.

No alteration is necessary to existing residential cable, he said.

"The upgrades are strictly network-related, at our end. We don't have to change the cable in people's homes or apartments at all."

The service does not require subscribers to install a satellite dish. "This is just like Bell ExpressVu's satellite dish service, but without the dish," said Dittrich.

"We bring in the Bell ExpressVu signal on our dish, then distribute it to subscribers on their existing cable."

Prices will begin at $13.99 for the basic 'local' channel package. Specialty theme packs -- movies, sports, news, networks, variety, music, learning, etc. -- up to 10 channels each and will cost about $7 each.

Subscribers can order from 50 pay-per-view channels, or order specialty channels including French and German programming.

The set-top box required is $200 to purchase, or $10 per month to rent. Each additional box is $15 per month.

As with satellite dish service, a set-up box is required for each TV in the household.

Set-up boxes currently being used for a satellite dish service will not work for digital cable TV, Dittrich cautioned.

"The technology is very different."

The new service will not alter the company's existing cable service or high-speed internet, he stressed.

"Customers can have high speed internet, a 75-channel regular cable package, or a 300 channel digital cable package -- or they can have all three," said Dittrich.

"If you want a multi-package digital signal in the living room, regular cable in the bedrooms, and high speed Internet in your home office, you have that option."

The company currently has about 5,000 cable customers in Yellowknife.