I guess this is coming a bit late cause i received Starhub's notification of the price hike one-two month ago.

Read: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/281667/1/.html

What the fuck? No Choice... c'mon...

Quote:  

Said Mr Ee: "Most pay-TV operators around the world increase prices periodically, and StarHub has not done so despite a steady rise in costs over the years ... It is impossible to continue absorbing the costs indefinitely, so we have no choice but to implement this rate adjustment at this time."

Just last month, StarHub announced a strong first-quarter showing, with its net profit rising 13.9-per-cent year-on-year, from $61.4 million to $70 million.  "

- channelnewsasia

Frankly, I don't think any petition action will help, but nonetheless, I've did my part in sending in the online petition surrounding this price-hike.

Refer: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/starhub_price_hike/index.html.

 Till Date only 351 petitions (WHAT?!). I guess the typical Singaporeans are pretty resigned to the monopolistic nature of our cable TV.

OK.. Jiehao never believe in useless complains... When you have a problem seek for a solution.

An the solution is.... (drum roll...) INTERNET TV.

i've found a relatively reliable site where we can all get to watch Sports - i.e. soccer, online. http://www.watch-football.tv/.

Though I'll continue my subscription till the day i cannot take it, I'll probably passed this to Eunice's dad to enjoy watching soccer online.

Well, i've tried watching the Tottenham vs Everton match last night and it seems fine. The streaming of the match is ok.. some small hiccups here and there but generally VERY ok.

Cost me 9.99 pound which translates to 30+ dollars Sing. Pretty worth the money considering this is a lifetime membership. If anyone gets fed-up with Starhub, I would certainly think this is a good substitute.  

I've already cancelled my handphone subscription with Starhub as a form of protest... but i guess it won't hurt them much judging from their $70mil profits.

However, STOMP has an interesting letter written to case...

QUOTE: 

http://talkback.stomp.com.sg/forums/showthread.php?t=20164

Dear CASE,

We would like to lodge our strongest protest and dissatisfaction over the recent announcement Starhub cable price hike.

The one-sided and biased contract terms, allowing starhub to unilaterally raise prices is detrimental to the consumers and raises serious ethical questions about the business methods employed by near-monoply entities.

We urge CASE to act strongly against such practices. Asking questions about transpancy of price hike is NOT going to work, as you can definitely recalled during the public transport price hike fiasco!

We, the consumers, are asking that CASE raises and investigate the following issues with starhub and the relevant governmental agencies (ie. Mica, IDA, MDA etc)

1. Consumers be allowed to downgrade or terminate their contract should they not agree with the price hike, WITHOUT incurring any penalties .

2. Consumers with existing contracts be allowed to pay the prevalent prices till the expiry of such contracts. New prices should only apply to new sign-ups and not existing customers.

3. Possible anti-competition practices against starhub:.
a. Dsepite the fact that there are other choices of paid and free-to-air channel, starhub is the only cable TV provider in singapore with the largest numbers of subscribers bonded by contracts. Being able to ralse prices unilaterally points to the monopolistic nature of the market and a possible biased and unfair contract terms that act against the consumers.
b. Cable TV market should be freed up further and made easy for new entrants to provide alternative programme choices ie. via satellite dish, for the consumers. Existing program groups should also be broken down into smaller ones and more pay-per-view programs be introduced.

Looking at the mass media development of other asia countires like HongKong, Japan, Taiwan and Malaysia, there needs to be more competition within a particular industry for the long-term development of the market, and for the ultimate benefit of the consumers at large.

Act fast and firm,
David Yan, on behalf of the CONSUMERS OF SINGAPORE

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