It takes up no more bandwidth. They just use re-mapping to let it show up as another channel number on your receiver. If it took up more transponder space you would never see duplicate channels.
Thanks QCK. I had this wonderful vision that there would huge amounts of HD space available once they turned off the 800's. I almost never watch the SD channels any more and would love to get an HD only package at a reasonable price.
I'd love to have an all HD package as well. Maybe when/if freehdcanada gets up and running we may have a nice option with them or at the very least force Bell TV & Shaw Direct to offer an absolute HD package as well. Once Bell TV gets Nimiq6 up and running Bell TV may offer an all HD package.