Bell ExpressVu is setting its sights on Star Choice and other competitors in the direct-to-home (DTH) satellite television market by offering dealers a cash bounty to persuade subscribers to switch.

The move is part of a major marketing blitz that ExpressVu hopes will net it more than one million subscribers by 2002.

In return for their current set-top boxes, ExpressVu is offering to switch current Star Choice and grey market satellite dish subscribers for free. Those dealers who facilitate the switch will receive a $100 cash bonus, says Michael Neuman, Bell ExpressVu president and CEO.

"By the end of the year, we believe we will be outselling Star Choice nine to one," he says.

Star Choice offers dealers a residual programming fee payment for each new subscriber they sign up. But if the customer switches, they lose that residual. ExpressVu is betting dealers will take the $100 bounty rather than risk having a competing dealer make the offer and deprive them of both the bounty and the residual payments.

The offer comes as ExpressVu links up with the new NIMIQ satellite. ExpressVu now uses the smallest satellite dish on the market, and will soon boast more than 200 channels, as well as pay-per-view service and wireless Internet access.

But all is fair in love and war, and Fredericton, N.B.-based Star Choice is fighting back with a switching offer of its own. ExpressVu subscribers who don't want the hassle of having their dish readjusted to receive the new satellite signals can trade in their old box for a new Star Choice receiver at no cost, says Wendy Herman, Star Choice director of marketing.

"It looks like they are just trying to buy the customers," she says.

Star Choice, which is controlled by cable giant Shaw Communications, is adding another 50 channels to its lineup in the fall. A national branding campaign created by Leo Burnett was launched in May and will run until the end of the year.

Meanwhile, ExpressVu is providing dealers with promotional material and funding co-op advertising in smaller towns and rural areas where the majority of satellite subscribers are still located.

ExpressVu is currently the largest satellite broadcaster, with more than 230,000 subscribers; Star Choice has about 210,000.

The second phase of ExpressVu's campaign will roll out in the fall as the company prepares for the lucrative Christmas season.

Quebec-based Cossette Communication-Marketing is creating print, radio and television advertising as part of one of the largest advertising campaigns the company has ever run. The campaign, which breaks in September or October, is aimed at convincing current premium cable subscribers to switch to satellite.

The fall campaign will be ExpressVu's most aggressive effort to win over current cable subscribers in urban areas. Previously, ExpressVu has concentrated on poorly served or under-served customers in smaller rural areas, Neuman says.

Newsmaker: Michael Neuman

President and CEO, Bell ExpressVu

Background: Michael Neuman was appointed CEO of Bell ExpressVu in February 1996. Since that time, the company has increased its annual revenue from zero to more than $120 million.

Prior to joining ExpressVu, Neuman was CEO of WorldLinx, a Bell Canada subsidiary and general manager of Bell's Mediatel Division. While at WorldLinx, Neuman helped launch Stentor's Beacon Initiative and BCE's MediaLinx Interactive, which eventually spawned Sympatico, Canada's largest Internet provider.

ExpressVu's link with the NIMIQ direct broadcast satellite now gives it the ability to offer more than 200 channels of programming with the smallest satellite dish ever. ExpressVu currently has more than 230,000 subscribers.

On the competition: "I would like to see Star Choice come into the market with a lot of advertising. We think with our offering, anything that gets people into the stores is going to ultimately be very good for us."