I sent a complaint to the CRTC before stumbling across this thread. Here's a copy/paste of their response. I boldfaced the one particular sentence. Anyway, the CRTC showed enough due diligence to at least follow up on it, which is appreciated. Maybe Shaw will get the hint.
Having said all that, something interesting happend to me regarding this whole affair. A few days back, my set-top box was obviously updated--most settings returned to their defaults (time display, screensaver, etc.), which ticked me off. Anyway, immediately therafter I couldn't record from MovieCentral, hence this whole discovery process. In frustration, I eventually yanked the plug from my DCT6200 and did a cold reset. Now...I haven't had another incident of a blocked recording since, and it's been 3 days. Could the STB have been fubar'ed and randomly generating flags, or is it more nefarious than that...perhaps an update component Shaw didn't intend to release/enable, and immediately "fixed"...
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Thank you for taking the time to contact the CRTC.
Your concerns - while much appreciated - do not appear to raise any regulatory issues which the CRTC might further pursue on your behalf.
We do not now, nor have we ever, regulated the technology by which a consumer receives television signals. As a consequence, a TV service provider, such as Shaw Cable, may insist that its subscribers use particular equipment in order to access Shaw services. This is a legitimate requirement which does not involve the CRTC in any manner.
That being said, we did make an inquiry of Shaw, due to many similar complaints. Shaw indicates that it does not alter any of "the flags" present in the programming it distributes. Quoting from the Shaw response: "Any copy protection flag that is in the content has been placed there by the rights holders, or by the programming service in accordance with their contractual arrangements with the rights holders."
I'm sorry we are not able to assist you in this regard.
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