In what appeared to be an attrition-warfare among local TV companies, more Singaporeans are expected to take their eyes off local channels.
While Mediacorp had been a dominant local content creator, Mediacorp had been operating on massive losses like SPH in media business, only to be on life support with tonnes of COVID-related ads from local agencies.
At the expense of Mediacorp, the Free-to-Air channels (FTA) had benefited Starhub who included them in their last gen Fibre-TV set top boxes. Frustrated with this situation, the new management is now banking on generation income stream through pay-advertising on their streaming services, MEwatch.
Starhub PayTV Subscribers are now reporting that the new generation TV+ boxes are not user-friendly and Seniors are better off with a simple IMDA-issued Digital TV box + antenna. Starhub is also aiming to do away with the higher-cost Fibre-TV set top boxes (eventually) and convert itself into a streaming contents provider with their laggy TV+ boxes.
Behind the scene, Mediacorp may have imposed some streaming restrictions by disabling FTA channels on Starhub's TV+ boxes unless home user opted for Starhub's proprietary Nokia or Linksys routers which are likely to be programmed to pay tributes to Mediacorp. In short, recontracting Starhub users have to discard their powerful routers such as ASUS, alternative Mesh systems from other brands, just to enjoy Mediacorp's FTA channels on Starhub's streaming TV boxes. Otherwise, they will have turn to digital TV or MeWatch Apps which are senior-unfriendly.
With streaming competitors like Netflix, Vuu, or Disney+, young locals are moving away from local contents or seniors giving up on Starhub. With these self-inflicted wounds, StarhubTV business is now facing the biggest decline in PayTV subscription since founding.
While Mediacorp had been a dominant local content creator, Mediacorp had been operating on massive losses like SPH in media business, only to be on life support with tonnes of COVID-related ads from local agencies.
At the expense of Mediacorp, the Free-to-Air channels (FTA) had benefited Starhub who included them in their last gen Fibre-TV set top boxes. Frustrated with this situation, the new management is now banking on generation income stream through pay-advertising on their streaming services, MEwatch.
Starhub PayTV Subscribers are now reporting that the new generation TV+ boxes are not user-friendly and Seniors are better off with a simple IMDA-issued Digital TV box + antenna. Starhub is also aiming to do away with the higher-cost Fibre-TV set top boxes (eventually) and convert itself into a streaming contents provider with their laggy TV+ boxes.
Behind the scene, Mediacorp may have imposed some streaming restrictions by disabling FTA channels on Starhub's TV+ boxes unless home user opted for Starhub's proprietary Nokia or Linksys routers which are likely to be programmed to pay tributes to Mediacorp. In short, recontracting Starhub users have to discard their powerful routers such as ASUS, alternative Mesh systems from other brands, just to enjoy Mediacorp's FTA channels on Starhub's streaming TV boxes. Otherwise, they will have turn to digital TV or MeWatch Apps which are senior-unfriendly.
With streaming competitors like Netflix, Vuu, or Disney+, young locals are moving away from local contents or seniors giving up on Starhub. With these self-inflicted wounds, StarhubTV business is now facing the biggest decline in PayTV subscription since founding.
