Bell at Interstellar Rodeo with a taste of tech to come after it marries MTS

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If you decide you need a break from the actual reality of Interstellar Rodeo's music, wine and food, MTS and Bell have a virtual-reality alternative they'd like you to try. If the entertainment onstage starts to feel a bit too live-and-in-person for your tastes, Bell and MTS will gladly show you something cool on TV. And if the laid-back pace of Interstellar's all-day lineup seems too slow, MTS and Bell will gladly kick your Rodeo experience online and into hyperspeed.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/08/2016 (3703 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If you decide you need a break from the actual reality of Interstellar Rodeo’s music, wine and food, MTS and Bell have a virtual-reality alternative they’d like you to try. If the entertainment onstage starts to feel a bit too live-and-in-person for your tastes, Bell and MTS will gladly show you something cool on TV. And if the laid-back pace of Interstellar’s all-day lineup seems too slow, MTS and Bell will gladly kick your Rodeo experience online and into hyperspeed.

The Manitoba telecommunications company and the national media conglomerate that’s about to acquire it are setting up shop at The Forks this weekend, in the form of an innovative tech-display installation called the Bell MTS Box, to offer Interstellar Rodeo-goers a glimpse of the enhanced television, Internet and virtual-reality technology that will be available to Manitobans once the Bell-MTS deal closes.

The Bell MTS Box, which is a surplus shipping container that has been transformed into a high-tech demo space, will be located right beside the ScotiaBank Stage throughout Interstellar Rodeo weekend. Among the soon-to-be-launched broadband-entertainment options on display is Bell’s Fibe TV service, which — once a fibre-optic upgrade of local cable-TV infrastructure is complete (a process that Bell officials say took about two years in similarly sized Quebec City) — will allow subscribers to custom-build a wireless home-entertainment system that will allow easy, interconnected access to TV and streaming-service content on multiple devices.

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
Free Press writer Brad Oswald checks out Bell's virtual-reality station on display at the Shaw stage for the weekend.
PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Free Press writer Brad Oswald checks out Bell's virtual-reality station on display at the Shaw stage for the weekend.

Working off of a single hard-wired home hub, the Bell service will give customers access to programming guides and more than 450 live and on-demand channels on devices ranging in size from large-scale television sets to computers, tablets, smartphones and even Apple watches. In addition, the Fibe TV service will offer greater viewing flexibility by allowing subscribers to “throw” in-progress programs from one device to another, and to re-start and watch TV shows up to 30 hours after their live broadcast began.

“It’s filled with features that you won’t find anywhere else,” said Nicolas Poitras, Bell Canada’s vice-president of residential services and small business. “And most importantly, it’s a completely flexible (TV) watching experience.”

Also on display at the Bell MTS Box will be the Gigabit Fibe high-speed Internet service and an immersive virtual-reality experience featuring 360-degree video of characters from Cirque du Soleil’s O show in Las Vegas.

The large blue-and-white kiosk will be outfitted with phone-charging stations and will provide smartphone cleaning and de-bugging throughout the weekend. Poitras added that in keeping with Bell’s logo design and colour, blue lemonade will also be served.

The Bell-MTS acquisition deal was approved by MTS shareholders in June, and is expected to be finalized, with the completion of court and regulatory approvals and the blessing of the Competition Bureau, by the end of this year or early in 2017.

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
Bell vice president Nicolas Poitras sells the new FIBE TV on display at the Shaw stage for the weekend.
PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Bell vice president Nicolas Poitras sells the new FIBE TV on display at the Shaw stage for the weekend.

brad.oswald@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @BradOswald

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