Vu!
| Vu! | |
|---|---|
Vu! logo
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| Launched | October 1999 |
| Owned by | Bell Canada |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV) |
| Country | Canada |
| Broadcast area | National |
| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario |
| Website | Vu! |
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Availability
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| Satellite | |
| Bell TV | Check local listings |
| IPTV | |
| Bell Fibe TV | Check local listings |
Vu!, also operating as Bell TV On Demand,[1] is a Canadian English and French language pay-per-view and Video on Demand provider that launched in October 1999 and is owned by Bell TV. Vu! is the largest PPV service provider in Canada and is available on Telus Satellite TV, Bell TV, Bell Fibe TV, and Bell Aliant FibreOP. It is a unique service in that it not only offers pay-per-view content but also features pay-per-day, pay-per-month and pay-per-year on select programming.
Programming on Vu! includes movies, concerts, live boxing, Ultimate Fighting Championship, WWE and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, World Series of Poker and other special events. In addition, Vu! airs select programming from AXS TV. Vu! also offers various sports packages including NHL Centre Ice, NFL Sunday Ticket, NASCAR In Car, NCAA basketball, HPItv horse racing, and cricket.
In an effort to compete with the Video on demand services offered by cable companies, Vu! has launched Red Carpet Vu!. This service features 8 channels with new releases and hit movies playing all day, with a movie starting every 15 minutes.
In 2013, Bell Canada's media arm Bell Media acquired control of a competing pay-per-view service, Viewers Choice, which currently primarily serves cable companies, as part of its purchase of Astral Media. In July 2014, industry website Cartt.ca reported that Viewers Choice would be shutting down on September 30, 2014.[2][3] Vu! was not directly affected by this decision, except that it also began to serve Bell Aliant customers in place of Viewers Choice after the latter's shutdown.[4]
Venus
Venus is Bell TV's adult pornography pay-per-view service, operated separately from Vu! (but under the same licence) with more expensive prices. Bell receivers can access two channels, one in English and one in French, for information on how to block all pornographic channels, including Venus. There are currently 15 Venus pay-per-view channels:
- 11 English language PPV channels
- 3 French language PPV channels
- 1 PPV channel featuring gay pornography
