Saifulbahri’s Blogs

Since SingTel won its bid to screen the English Premier League last week, the big question is what kind of packaging and pricing strategy it’s going to present.

Soccer fans, like me are anxious to know how much we would have to fork out to get our weekend fix of football action.

SingTel was quick to say that prices will be competitive and it will not charge more than what fans are already paying for StarHub’s services.

If – and it’s a very big if – this is true then maybe it could pacify the ire of many football fans who already are forced to defect to another pay TV subscriber.

Or should they decide to remain loyal to StarHub, get another set-top box from SingTel.

Having said that, even if StarHub managed to hold on to the EPL rights, there’s no guarantee it won’t raise prices again.

The last time StarHub won the prized EPL rights in 2007, the subscription for its sports package jumped by $10.

I’m paying $54.57 for the compulsory basic tier and sports channels from StarHub, so can I expect not to pay more next year when SingTel takes over?

I wouldn’t be too hopeful.

SingTel has remained tight lipped on the amount that they have paid to secure the bid, and industry observers believe it was well above the $250 million StarHub paid to get the rights in 2007.

It will be interesting to see how SingTel is able to recoup the investment if it doesn’t pass costs to consumers.

At the same time, the telco has assured soccer fans that they can expect a novel experience when watching football on its platforms.

They will be able to enjoy a multimedia concept, with the option of watching a match from various angles and chatting with friends simultaneously online.

This is all very nice, but do we really need these experiences? Why should we pay for something we don’t need?

We just want to watch a good football game, minus the frills.

I hope SingTel will take this opportunity with their new found assets to explore the many ways to give customers different choices.

I have long wished for the possibility of watching matches on pay per view.

This is considering that I’m just a basic user and don’t consume a lot of pay TV time.

I watch an average of five matches a month, and it’s mostly to watch my favourite team Liverpool playing.

So, my subscription is really under-utilised as I seldom have time to watch the other channels.

Pay per view allows customers to pay for only what they want to watch.

Programmes can be ordered instantly using the remote control, and the charge is automatically added to the customer’s bill.

This flexibility of such an a-la-carte service has been demanded by subscribers but StarHub is reluctant to introduce it for its football channels.

Mio TV already has this on some of its channels, and it’s again uncertain whether SingTel will consider such not so lucrative permutations.

All these remain to be seen.

I’ve so far resisted and refused to subscribe to mio TV when SingTel earlier landed the exclusive deal to show Uefa Champions League matches here until 2012.

It seems all that will change as I expect to slowly succumb to the changing conditions.

The score now is SingTel 2 StarHub 0.

StarHub could hit back by clinching the World Cup rights in 2010.

Fans who are thinking of returning the StarHub set-top boxes might want to hang on to it a little longer.

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