StarHub, mioTV Unveil Sports Promotions

SINGAPORE: With Barclays Premier League action moving from cable operator StarHub to IPTV service mioTV in 2010, both platforms have announced new sports promotions in a bid to lure—and retain—subscribers.

StarHub lost the English Premier League rights to mioTV in the bidding war that took place this summer, as well as carriage of the ESPN Star Sports (ESS) channels, which are also moving to SingTel’s IPTV service. StarHub is planning a new 24-hour sports channel that will be available for free to its entire cable TV base from January 2010. From July 2010, meanwhile, the platform will deliver Eurosportnews, which is presently offered as part of StarHub’s Sports Group, as a basic service to all subscribers. Ong Bee Lian, StarHub’s VP of home solutions, commented: “With the addition of the two sports channels to our complimentary lineup, StarHub TV customers can enjoy as many as 26 channels at entry level. This works out to less than a dollar per month for each channel."

Meanwhile, the cable platform is dropping the price of its Sports Group package by more than 50 percent in July, ahead of the new EPL season. From July 2010, the Sports Group will comprise Football Channel, SuperSports, SuperSports Plus, Sports HD, Goal TV 1, Goal TV 2, Golf Channel, Eurosport, La Liga On Demand and WWE On Demand. There will be delayed telecasts of selected Barclays Premier League and Champions League matches. "Our commitment to bring quality content to Singapore at affordable prices remains steadfast," Ong continued. "In that regard, we will continue to acquire content responsibly with a view to try to hold down retail prices, both in the short term as well as long term. Therefore, the pricing for our sports content will be reduced to align with the reduction of content costs when BPL and ESS channels move over to a competitor’s network. We are confident that sports fans in Singapore will welcome our new Sports Group pricing, which will give quality sports content at great value to them."

SingTel’s mioTV is already looking to entice EPL fans with new Early Bird specials. For a limited period, customers who sign up for either the Barclays Premier League 2010/11 season or Barclays Premier League 2010/11 with ESPN Star Sports Channels on a 12-month subscription basis will receive the Football Frenzy Pack (worth S$15.90 per month) for free till July 31. This includes UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League matches, live and on demand, over TV, mobile phone and online, as well as the Italian Serie A matches. The promotional offer also includes a 30-day preview of all mio TV programs (excluding movies and video-on-demand content), free installation, a high-definition set-top box and an ADSL2+ modem. Customers who sign up for the sports pack will also gain access to ESPN Star Sports channels—ESPN, STAR Sports and ESPNEWS as and when they become available.

“We are excited about welcoming our new customers to mio TV and are very pleased to extend this offer to them,” said Mr Tim Carmichael, VP of pay TV. “There is no reason to wait—this gives fans the opportunity to experience mio TV without having to pay a cent until the new season!”

The Barclays Premier League 2010/11 season is priced at S$24.61 per month and the Barclays Premier League 2010/11 with ESPN Star Sports Channels costs S$26.75 per month, but customers will not be billed for their sports content until August 2010.