7 DIRECT-TO-HOME satellite TV provider Ex- pressVu Inc, is promising service to Terrace-area customers by this summer. And Thorbhill-based Pro Tech Electronics has - been named as the ExpressVu dealer in Terrace. ExpressVu, the first Canadian firm authorized to provide direct-to-home satellite TV service, says its Jong-promised small dish programming can finally go ahead this summer because it has acquired suffi- cient Anik E2 satellite space to carry its program- ming. ' The company went on a PR blitz last week, promising 16 Canadian TV channels, 12 U.S. chan- nels, five movie networks, seven pay-per-view channels, and 30 digital music channels on its ser- vice by summer. can expect to pay about $25 to $30 a month after an initial $1,000 investment for the pizza-sized dish and other hardware. Lacroix expects an enforcement crackdown on unauthorized provision of American direct-to-home satellite service in Canada once Canadian services like ExpressVu are up and running. That’s lead some existing small digital satellite dish owners to wonder if decoding technology will become unavailable, leaving them with expensive Grey market signal can't be kept A LOCAL retailer of unauthorized American satel- lite TV services predicts the Canadian government won’l be able to stop the so-called “grey market’. Universal Home Entertainment’s Robin Austin says any crackdown on the service would be highly unpopular with the more than 300,000 Canadians who have bought U.S.-originating satellite service, like the DirectTV package he sells. Those services aren’t authorized by the CRTC _and there’s talk of efforts to stop them now that au- - birdbaths. Many Canadians have bought into the un- authorized American services — referred to as the “grey market’? — because no high- tech Canadian ‘service was available. The digital satellite signals aimed at the U.S, could also be picked up in much of Canada. As the number of viewers buying into the grey market grew, some analysts speculated it would become impossible for a Canadian service to get off the ground. “It’s all going to be legal. | can sleep at night. And it will be a great _ thing for the Canadian public.” Pro. Tech owner Gilles Lacroix says subscribers -' Lacroix says same existing grey market hardware can be switched over to receive ExpressVu, but other types, particularly RCA, cannot. He said there’s talk that there may be a buy-back program for owners of those dishes. Lacroix says he secured the ExpressVu agency here because he waited for a Canadian service rath- er than climb onto the grey market band wagon and start selling unauthorized American DTH service. thorized Canadian services like ExpressVu are nearing start-up. ‘What are they going to do? Send police out to shutdown stores? How will they cope with the hundreds of thousands of people who have bought these systems?”’ And even if Draconian measures are taken, he says, owners of the American systems could con- tinue to subscribe via U.S. postal addresses. “How do you block a signal? Where do you puta The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, January 15, 1997 - A9 BUSINESS REVIEW Lagit Canadian satellite TV promised ‘We just didn’! want to get involved with this product,” be said, ‘‘A lot of other people did — unfortunately for them.” “T want to walk in the street and look people in the cye and not have to tell them we’ve made them a bad deal.”’ He's lost money for two or three years because of that decision, but now expects things will turn around, ‘It's all going to be legal. ] can sleep at night. And it will be a greal thing for the Canadian pub- lic.”” That's because there will be more Canadian chan- nels available on satellite TV services. Lacroix also holds out hope the service will mean Canadian programmers will finally gel a share of the satellite TV market, putting necded dollars back into crealion of Canadian programs. Lacroix is also agent for StarChoice, another au- thorized Canadian direct-to-home satellite service, He speculated the ExpressVu announcement last week was driven by the fact StarChoice has begun to ship hardware. “We have demo units on their way from Toronto right now,’ be said. ‘We hope to have an open house shortly to show that there is a Canadian sys- tem available,” out, seller says wall up?”’ Austin asks, “Tf they were going ta do something they should have done it about two years ago when there was only about 100,000 of these systems in the coun- try,’” he added, Even when there’s a Canadian alternative, he doubis il will take much of the market away from the American services. “TH bet you that people will vote with their wal- lets and continue to buy American systems.”’ GET READY KIT AUTHORIZED Canadian direct-to- home satel- lite TV service is to be available by summer, and Pro Tech Electronics’ Gilles Lacroix will be a dealer of the service here in Terrace. Out & About House sales nudge up REAL ESTATE figures for the month of November continued to reflect higher sales and prices from a year before. The Northwest Real Estate Board reported sales of $5.7 million that month, down slightly from the excep- tional $7.25 million in sales recorded in October, but up 24 per cent from the $4.6 million worth of property , soid in November, 1995. Prices in November aver- aged $149,231 for a single- family residential home — up nine per cent from $136,395 a year earlier. Janvary tends to be the best month to buy a home, says Century 21 president Don Lawby. ‘There is usually very good value available,”’ he said. ‘‘Sellers who have had their properties on the market since fall and who had hoped to seli by the end - of the year tend to be more receptive to reasonable of- fers, and those who list in January expecting to sell in spring are often willing to accep! a slightly lower offer for a quicker sale,’” $25.8 million built in ’96 CONSTRUCTION _ stats for 1996 topped out at $25,818,500 — more than $1 million over the previous record of $24,784,019 in 1995, Seventy-four building permits for single-family homes accounted for $190 million worth of the year’s total, Multi-family residential was the second strongest category, recording $4.57 million worth of construc- tion, and adding 88 new rental units. That was a change from 95 when new commercial re a mere utomobile Journalists Never Steer You Wrong. TIBURON. _ Best New Sports Coupe Of The Year. Automobile Joumalists Association of Canada ac After exhaustive test drives, in- depth: technical evaluations and tons of tire kickings, the Automobile Journalists of Canada chose the New 1997 Hyundai Tiburon 2+2 Coupe as “Best New Sports Coupe.” Tiburon means “Shark” in Spanish, which may explain how it ripped through the competition, . ; leaving the new BMW 23, Acura 3, 0 CL, Chrysler Sebring, Pontiac Grand’ Prix and Saturn SC2 Coupe i in its wake. ' But the most amazing thing about the new Tiburon is it starts at only $17,785.* ~ "Welcome to The New Hyundai Tiburon, an unbeatable sports coupe at an amazing price. THE NEW HYUNDAI eh DRIVING IS BELIEVING *1997 Tiburon MSRP from $17,785 including freight and P.D.S.. License and taxes extra. See dealer for details. HYLINDAI . development was stronger than multi-family. New Commercial devel- opment rang in $3.6 million more construction in 1996 — without the Westfair Foods’ Real Canadian Wholesale Club develop- ment, which was delayed Thornhill Hyundai 8040 Hwy. 16B Terrace 635-7288 until °97, ”