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CABLE BATTLE HOTS UP AS STARHUB OFFERS KTV
HOME entertainment is the new battlefield for telcos. In a historic first here, Singaporeans can access tens of thousands of karaoke music videos in the comfort of their homes.
Instead of paying KTV- lounge fees of up to $40 per person for a three- to four-hour slot, karaoke fans will be able to pay a flat fee of $10.70 a month for unlimited access to karaoke videos through a StarHub service called KaraOK! from next Monday.
Industry observers say that this could pose a challenge to SingTel's mio TV pay-TV platform, launched in 2007, as the competition hots up in the home-entertainment arena.
With StarHub losing the rights to broadcast Barclays Premier League football from this year, its karaoke service could be a means to win back market share in home entertainment from competitors, said Mr Kenneth Liew, a senior market analyst with market-research firm IDC Asia-Pacific.
Last year, SingTel won the broadcast rights from StarHub, which had held the rights for years.
Mr Liew said: "It's good to see the telcos getting creative to come up with different services to provide more content to customers."
Mr Foong King Yew, a research director with research firm Gartner, said that "competition is about offering new services regularly".
Japan and Taiwan already have paid home-karaoke services. mio TV does not have a karaoke service but, like StarHub, offers on-demand movies and TV shows. While M1 has home-broadband services, it does not have pay-TV and other home-entertainment offerings.
HOME entertainment is the new battlefield for telcos. In a historic first here, Singaporeans can access tens of thousands of karaoke music videos in the comfort of their homes.
Instead of paying KTV- lounge fees of up to $40 per person for a three- to four-hour slot, karaoke fans will be able to pay a flat fee of $10.70 a month for unlimited access to karaoke videos through a StarHub service called KaraOK! from next Monday.
Industry observers say that this could pose a challenge to SingTel's mio TV pay-TV platform, launched in 2007, as the competition hots up in the home-entertainment arena.
With StarHub losing the rights to broadcast Barclays Premier League football from this year, its karaoke service could be a means to win back market share in home entertainment from competitors, said Mr Kenneth Liew, a senior market analyst with market-research firm IDC Asia-Pacific.
Last year, SingTel won the broadcast rights from StarHub, which had held the rights for years.
Mr Liew said: "It's good to see the telcos getting creative to come up with different services to provide more content to customers."
Mr Foong King Yew, a research director with research firm Gartner, said that "competition is about offering new services regularly".
Japan and Taiwan already have paid home-karaoke services. mio TV does not have a karaoke service but, like StarHub, offers on-demand movies and TV shows. While M1 has home-broadband services, it does not have pay-TV and other home-entertainment offerings.
