(source: StarHub)

StarHub is using Singapore’s fibre network to deliver its pay-TV services to offices, restaurants and pubs from March 18, as it seeks to cut down on current terrestrial broadcasts to such business customers. …

(credit: Ronnie Macdonald, Creative Commons)

Being a referee is never easy.

In the latest wrangle between SingTel and StarHub for English Premier League TV rights, the Media Development Authority (MDA) has found itself exactly in that tight spot.

But unlike a match where at least one set of fans will be pleased, a bad call by the officials here will have serious impact beyond just football rights. It will drastically drag back Singapore’s pay-TV industry, just as it is showing signs of opening up. …

If you don’t want the bundled mio TV or StarHub cable when you sign up for fibre broadband in Singapore, there’s a new online TV offering from upstart challenger Viewqwest this week – the popular PPTV online TV service from China.

Folks who sign up for Viewqwest’s Freedom VPN plan will get “VIP access” to the PPTV service, which streams thousands of popular Asian drama serials and some Hollywood movies. …

If there’s one good thing about pay-TV competition in Singapore, it’s that both SingTel and StarHub show almost all channels for free during holidays, like this New Year weekend. …

(credit: Markus Unger, Creative Commons)

Up in the middle of the night to watch a Champions League match, some SingTel subscribers must have been rubbing their eyes in disbelief when they found themselves cut off from the live broadcasts this season.

They will have to pay S$10 more a month, the pay-TV operator later clarified, because the cost of sports programming has risen and it could no longer bundle the Champions League matches with the Barclays Premier League shows for free.

Considering how football broadcast rights have cost more everywhere, that could hardly be surprising.

What’s worrying, though, is that SingTel may be starting to feel the pinch of paying millions of dollars in its previous costly bid three years ago – and transfering that cost to viewers. 
…

Live football matches in the Barclays Premier League will continue to be shown on SingTel’s mio TV in the next three seasons, after the current exclusive broadcaster said this evening that it had won the TV rights for Singapore again.

Whether StarHub viewers will get to watch the matches on their cable set-top boxes, however, is a big question mark now, despite earlier efforts by the government regulator to force pay-TV operators to share their exclusive content with rivals. …

If you are signing up or renewing a broadband, mobile or pay-TV service these days, the questions you face can sometimes be rather daunting, given big changes – mostly positive – that have shaken up the telecom market in the past few years.

Who has the best broadband deals in Singapore? Who has the best bundled “triple play” deals with all three services packaged nicely and billed in a single envelop? And, of course, how do I switch all my plans over to one operator?

Answer these questions well and you could be on the way to substantial savings by buying wisely and also enjoy the convenience of having fewer bills from so many operators.

About four years ago, I’d have told you, if you watch live football, the choice was simple: go for StarHub, because it had the fastest (cable modem) broadband, per-second billing for its mobile services and of course, the crown jewel – English Premier League (EPL) on its cable TV channels.

But things have changed so much in the past few years that consumers are sometimes spoilt, perhaps even confused with choice.

Fibre broadband has truly given users better deals – S$39 a month for an unheard of 100Mbps, for starters. The upcoming three seasons of the EPL could well be shown on both SingTel and StarHub, and possibly even M1, thanks to Singapore’s new pay-TV rules. And let’s not forget number portability, which lets you keep your mobile number while switching telcos.

With so many changes in the past few years and more upcoming, what should you be aware of when you next sign up for those two-year contracts? Here’s a little guide, gleaned from my own experience buying these services. …

If Parallel’s founder Serguei Beloussov gets his way, the technology landscape in 2022 will be dominated by mobile and social technologies, big data and the cloud.

People would interact through social networks in new ways, with 80 percent of Internet transactions taking place on ubiquitous smartphones. Mobile operators such as China Mobile may also drop per minute billing for voice calls, in favour of mobile data plans. …

As technology users welcome 2012 everywhere, it’s clear the year that had just passed was filled with no little controversy and memorable incidents.

From Steve Jobs’ death to the delay of the much-awaited iPhone 5, from the rise of Android devices to Nokia’s return with its Windows Phone devices, and finally, with the potent mix of mobile devices and social media that  helped ignite protests in the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street, but also encouraged the thuggery of the London riots, 2011 was a big year in technology.

The next 12 months look to be just as interesting, as existing technologies mature and grow, while other new trends emerge. Here are five things to look out for in 2012: …