SINGAPORE: SingTel rolls out 33-channel pay-TV service

The Straits Times
Saturday, July 21, 2007

By Alfred Siew

SingTel yesterday launched its anticipated pay-TV service with 33 channels, bringing an end to StarHub's 12-year stronghold on the market.

The mio TV service, available from today, could change viewing habits because it is Singapore's first large-scale rollout of TV content over a broadband network.

mio TV offers interactive features like video-on-demand, which means viewers can use a remote controller to "rent" and watch a movie on the home TV set without even leaving the couch.

In future, they will also be able to use their mobile phones to remotely programme the set-top box at home to record a show.

These features will be prized by viewers who increasingly prefer to watch TV on their own time, instead of following a broadcaster's schedule.

SingTel's chief executive officer for Singapore, Mr Allen Lew, said of the opening up of choices for viewers: "Until now, Singapore viewers have had to make do with only one pay-TV operator and accept what has been forced down on them."

SingTel's channels, which include Hollywood blockbusters, BBC infotainment shows and Cantonese drama serials, will be available "a la carte": Instead of subscribing to a basic package of 23 channels, as with StarHub, viewers can pick the channels they want from SingTel's menu.

They will, however, have to sign up for at least $15 worth of programmes.

About 85 per cent of homes here will be able to subscribe to mio TV, with the remainder left out for the moment because their phone systems have to be upgraded first.

Those who do sign up will be given a free modem and set-top box linked to a TV set. Subscribers do not have to be SingTel broadband customers.

SingTel's much-anticipated foray into pay-TV will intensify its rivalry with StarHub. The two telcos already compete for customers in the mobile-phone, fixed-line and broadband markets.

Late last year, SingTel lost its bid to broadcast English Premier League matches here. StarHub was said to have paid about $250 million for exclusive broadcast rights.

The "red camp," as SingTel is known, appears to have put that setback behind it, and is looking to bank on programmes that StarHub does not have.

One of the channels will screen movies the same day they appear on DVDs. This is a world-first in terms of snagging the latest Hollywood offerings.

Cantonese movie fans will also be able to catch shows the same day they are screened in cinemas.

Mr Lew predicted that some families may subscribe to both pay-TV operators -- to StarHub for live sports and to SingTel's mio TV for on-demand movies, for example.

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Second Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, predicted that watching TV would become more interactive.

Speaking at the launch of mio TV, he described Internet protocol TV (IPTV) technology as "an even bigger revolution" than the leap from black-and-white to colour TV.

Analysts say the heat will now be on StarHub.

Mr Soh Siow Meng, who is with research firm Current Analysis, said StarHub's offering of more than 100 channels was still more attractive than SingTel's, but added that SingTel was 'definitely a stronger challenger' than any StarHub has ever had.

Yesterday, StarHub tried a counter-punch by unveiling a package of broadband and pay-TV services that it claimed was cheaper than SingTel's by about $20.

IT executive Sim Sock Ling, 39, said SingTel's pricing was "a little confusing" and that overall, StarHub's content still looked more compelling.

But data consultant and StarHub subscriber James Teng, 38, who has yet to take up any of StarHub's movie channels, said he might go for SingTel's movies if there were interesting offerings.