Samsung’s Galaxy Tab is shipping in Singapore on November 13, with the Wi-Fi cum 3G version hitting stores before a Wi-Fi-only version that could appear later at a yet unspecified date.

The much-awaited tablet computer, a much-touted rival to Apple’s iPad, will be sold by SingTel as well as by Samsung directly, the companies just unveiled at a launch at Marina Bay Sands. …

Often a tolerant lot, Singaporeans can accept a lot of things – slow broadband speeds, lack of full number portability (until last year) and even not being able to choose their government (in some wards).

But one thing they can’t stand, joked a journalist pal of mine, is to have their weekend football fix taken away. Should that happen, he declared, there’d be a “RIOOOOT!”

That perhaps explains why the Singapore media authorities did a stunning U-turn yesterday, saying that they might just  make SingTel share its fresh-in-the-bag Barclays Premier League rights with StarHub come next year.

Acting Minister for Information, Communication and the Arts Lui Tuck Yew, even went so far as to say the government was considering an universal pay-TV set-top box for Singapore homes, so that people don’t have to get two set-top boxes to watch BPL on SingTel and other popular channels that StarHub carries. …

First, it was on. Then, we’re not so sure.

Without the protagonists even speaking a word about it, the market has been filled with talk of a possible SingTel-StarHub joint bid for the upcoming three seasons of exclusive Barclays Premier League (BPL) content.

Yet, after days of drama, consumers are still no clearer on whether they will 1) have to pay more because of the higher bids predicted 2) buy two set-top boxes to watch different matches should the bids be split. …

Source: The Daily Mirror UK

Is “free football” coming to a pay-TV market distorted by exclusive content deals?

That’s not a National Day joke. It’s one fierce promotional ploy that SingTel is announcing today, just days before the football season kicks off for fans here with the FA Charity Shield this weekend.

Basically, the “red” telco is dangling two months of free access to its football channels which show the Italian Serie A, Uefa Europa League and most importantly, the Uefa Champions League, to tempt you to sign up for a trial of its mio TV service.

This offer is open to both SingTel mio TV and mio Home customers til August 19. Oh wait, StarHub’s pay-TV sports group subscribers can also get on for a free ride – as long as they turn up at a SingTel shop with their identity cards and cable TV bills by the end of September. …

StarHub has done something so stupid with its Barclays Premier League programming that I’m sure all the thousands of football fans in Singapore will join me in wanting to wring these idiots’ necks.

On a weekday night when there is a nearly-full Barclays Premier League schedule – 9 matches in all – StarHub has chosen to screen only two of them tonight.

That’s not the worst. Of the two, one of them is – get this – Stoke City vs Sunderland!

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Finally, there’s one more channel on StarHub – the long-awaited free-to-air HD5 from MediaCorp, which promises “true HD” channels during primetime (the rest are up-converted).

The channel is supposed to have started on July 28 (yesterday) – just in time for the July deadline set by MediaCorp/StarHub and of course, just in time, for both the Olympics and Barclays Premier League in August. The sharp images for HD5 are on Ch 300, next to the existing Ch301 and Ch302 for National Geographic and Discovery.

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