Another year goes by, and we still have the same old problem. TVB are apparently unable to provide an English language commentary for the Rugby Sevens on Jade HD. You can choose TVB Pearl, but with a fuzzy picture, or HD with no English.
What really puzzles me about this is that the picture quality on the digital version of TVB Pearl is more than adequate for US dramas, so if they have an HD feed why can’t they at least manage to have good quality standard definition for the rugby?
Posted at 09:14 PM in Sports, Television | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Watching BBC Lifestyle last night produced a bizarre juxtaposition.
First there was Extreme Makeover - Home Edition in which a few hundred contractors appear as if by magic to build a brand new house in less than 7 days, and there are nice touches such as a brand new truck being dropped in by helicopter. Subtle it is not. Oh, and American it is.
Then, immediately after that they had Grand Designs, in which an unassuming (but totally mad) bloke was rebuilding a 14th Century Castle in Skipton, Yorkshire. In Britain.
You know that the new house in EMHE will be finished within the week and the family will love it, but there is far less certainty on Grand Designs. In this one they started with nothing more than some crumbling walls - and it was no surprise when one of them collapsed completely – and it took more than two years to complete.
In EMHE there is no discussion of the budget, and every room has its own big-screen TV. Contractors take part in return for loving close-ups of their company names. In Grand Designs, contractors have to be paid, and you know that the budget is a big issue. Francis Shaw, the mad castle owner, solemnly tells us that if the expenditure on the castle renovation goes over £600,000 he will have to sell and walk away. It does, but he doesn't.
If you want to see how it turned out, the castle has it own website, and there might even be the chance for Ruth Watson to do a follow-up show.
I might add that neither of these shows was made by or for the BBC, but at least Grand Designs (which was made for Channel 4) does seem at home on a BBC channel, whereas Extreme Makeover - Home Edition has far too many people running around and shouting.
Posted at 09:53 PM in Television | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Three years ago, PCCW’s Now TV put in a knockout bid and won the Hong Kong rights to the English Premier League without Cable TV being able to make a counter-bid. This time round, Cable TV were more prepared, and PCCW dropped out of the auction, saying that they declined to pay over the odds - because they would have to pass on the costs to their customers.
This is, of course, true, as I pointed out some time back, but PCCW didn’t seem so concerned three years ago when they they paid close to US$200m, and then charged customers an extra HK$150 per month for their EPL coverage. Without it, they have to reduce prices again, but the new price is HK$148 per month for Now Sports, ESPN, Star Sports and Eurosport, significantly more than the old price for Star/ESPN. Certainly they do have more than just the EPL - Spanish football being the latest addition – and they have an introductory offer of HK$98 and no-one actually pays the full price they advertise. In a rare concession, they even say that customers who have existing contracts will get some form of credit.
Maybe it’s all been worthwhile for PCCW because it has undoubtedly gained them subscribers, many of whom will keep the boxes and at least some of the channels (in theory you can subscribe to one single channel, but of course they have better deals if you take more).
We don’'t yet know what type of service Cable TV will offer. There was a lot of uninformed speculation (some of it here) about what would be available from PCCW, and it turned out to be about as good as one could have wished (every single games live, some in HD, and some available on-demand), but more expensive.
Cable TV are hinting at price increases, but nothing has been announced. Last time round the EPL coverage was included in their basic package, but since then they have started offering different combinations of channels and it seems highly likely that there will be a premium cable sports package (based around the EPL and the Champions League). They do do now have an HD service, but I don’t think they have any video-on-demand facility (if they did, it would have to be provided through the converter box).
Posted at 09:35 AM in Football, Television | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Yesterday's SCMP had an explanation for the absence of Spanish football from Hong Kong TV screens. The reason, apparently, is that La Liga want more money for the rights than either PCCW (Now TV) or Cable TV are willing to pay.
The reality is that subscribers wouldn't pay much to watch the Spanish or Italian or German leagues. It's the English Premier League and the Champions League that are the big draws, and the pay tv companies are willing to pay for those rights. Now TV has done well from the EPL, and the Champions League coverage finally gives Cable TV some credibility after they lost the EPL rights, but the other leagues don't really matter.
They also report that Now TV are finally going to offer an HD version of HBO, and (hurrah) they aren't going to charge any extra for it. This follows their decision to stop charging a premium for Now Sports HD, but (as far as I know) they they are still charging extra for National Geographic HD and Discovery HD - and for the HD version of the History Channel, I suppose, if anyone pays for that oddity. I don't understand why they don't simply make a one-off charge for HD to include all the channels. Too simple, I suppose.
Posted at 05:34 PM in Football, Television | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Someone added a comment to my post about Cable TV's HD service asking where Spanish football is available this season (on TV in Hong Kong, that is). The answer seems to be that it isn't, which seems odd given the amount of money Barcelona and Real Madrid have spent.
So what is available? Based on my brief research:
Goal TV also has selected programs from various club channels (including Barcelona, so there's some Spanish football for you).
Updates and corrections are very welcome.
Posted at 08:40 PM in Football, Television | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
It's hard to believe it now, but there was a time when PCCW's Now TV service looked as if it was going to be a genuinely innovative competitor to Cable TV. Now they are the market leader and Cable TV have apparently given up, so they seem to have lost interest in innovation.
OK, so at first glance it looks impressive. Yes, they have High Definition (HD) and on-demand, neither of which Cable TV can offer. Now TV even has HD on-demand. And yet...
Their on-demand service is decidedly patchy. The strongest area is soccer, and, yes, it was excellent to have every single game from Euro 2008 available to watch whenever you wanted. This season they have also had every Champions League game (from the group stages onwards) on demand. No complaints there, but Cable TV have the rights to the Champions League from next season (and the World Cup in 2010), so we are not going to see much more of this.
The EPL on-demand service is much less impressive. Yes, there are a few games available each week, but it's a random selection rather than all of them, and they are only available until the next round of matches.
HBO has a small selection of films available on-demand, but this is a limited selection from their schedule of mediocre and ancient movies and TV shows (not totally their fault - HBO Asia is subject to standards of taste and decency across the region, and they are a long way from those of premium cable in the US). However, they could use the on-demand service to offer shows in Hong Kong that they can't broadcast elsewhere. But they don't.
Now TV also has a weird service that provides top US drama shows on-demand in HD. Sounds perfect until you discover these are old series that were on TVB Pearl about 2-3 years ago and on the US networks a year or two before that. When they can offer the current series before TVB then I might be interested.
Perhaps the most interesting service that they provide is the facility to record shows (on their servers) so that you can watch again in the next 7 days. However, this only covers EPL games and the output from the News and Business channels. So they have the technology for the service I want (and would pay for) - the facility to record any programme from any channel - but they don't offer it (presumably they will say this is for copyright reasons). Neither do they offer the service that Cable TV provide of letting you program your decoder box to show a particular programme so that you record it. Nor do they have a SKy+ type box.
High Definition is also a bit of a joke. Now Sports HD has a few EPL games and there are some from Italian Serie A, but so far that's it - and I am not convinced that this is true HD.
What else is in HD? Well, there's National Geographic and Discovery HD, and Voom (whatever that is). Oh, and the History Channel has a HD version, because that 30 year old footage looks so much sharper in high definition. They also seem to be broadcasting Sunday Taipan in HD on Now Hong Kong (channel 100).
So what's missing?
Well, what about BBC HD? They have such a channel in the UK and Australia, showing drama and documentaries (and sport in the UK). It would certainly be a big improvement on the existing "BBC 5", but that may be part of the problem. BBC Lifestyle and BBC Knowledge have an awful lot of old stuff that wasn't made by the BBC or even broadcast on any of the main BBC channels in the UK, whereas a lot of the BBC shows that might be on BBC HD have been sold to other broadcasters (Michael Palin's New Europe was recently on TVB Pearl, which also shows Hotel Babylon). Meanwhile BBC Knowledge was showing the first series of The Apprentice (again) when UK viewers were watching the fifth series.
A lot of US shows are made in HD, but Star World, AXN and the rest are not in HD. Actually, I'd settle for the higher picture quality you get on the digital TV version of TVB Pearl, which is much clearer than anything on Star World. How difficult could that be?
Movies in HD? Wouldn't that make sense? Again, there's no sign of that happening.
I'm sure there are many complex reasons why PCCW can't offer viewers what they want, but the harsh reality is that it's now very easy to download any TV show or movie you want, and that's what they have to compete with. Star World were showing American Idol within a few hours of the US network, and that's a step in the right direction but an isolated example.
Posted at 09:39 PM in Television | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Everyone must know that the English Premier League is on Now TV. What about other European football? Of course there's a lot on other Now channels and on Cable TV, but there is also some in strange places.
The Championship (the English 2nd Division) is shown on TVB Pay Vision, but they don't have a sports channel so the games go out on channel 898 (TVB PayVison Info - normally used for programme information) and tonight you can watch Burnley vs Reading in the play-offs. The two language options are Cantonese and silence.
Or tonight on one of the free-to-air ATV digital channels you can watch Rangers vs Celtic from the Scottish Premier League. Earlier this season another 'Old Firm' clash was on ATV Home, but it was a dull 0-0 draw, so tonight they are showing a 42 year old James Bond film instead.
This season, TVB has been showing the Coppa Italia (Italian Cup) on Jade, with a few games on Pearl (for matches that are in peak times in HK), and the final is on Wednesday night (Thursday morning here). The final is Lazio vs Sampdoria, which might help to explain why it's on free-to-air TV - no-one takes the Coppa Italia very seriously.
Posted at 03:47 PM in Football, Television | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
Now TV is getting a good kicking in the SCMP from readers who are not at all happy that Australia TV is becoming a subscription channel (after previously being free). PCCW weasels (for it is them) issued a statement saying that this was done after consultation with Australia TV, but it appears to be the type of consultation where one party tells the other what they are going to do, listens politely to objections - and then carries on regardless.
It has been pointed out that the channel is "free" on Cable TV, but what that really means is that you have to subscribe to the Cable TV service to get a selection of channels, whereas PCCW charge for individual channels, with no minimum.
PCCW is apparently charging HK$12 per month for doing nothing (well, OK, they need a satellite dish and they use their marvellous high-speed network to send it to your Now decoder box). Well, why not? Viewers who don't have Cable TV are probably unlikely to switch just to avoid paying a few dollars a month, and it's hard to imagine that anyone at PCCW cares about upsetting their customers.
Posted at 11:26 PM in Hong Kong business, Life in Hong Kong, Television | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Last year I pointed out that TVB were not providing an English language commentary for the Rugby Sevens on Jade HD, even though there is an dual language option.
Well, it was exactly the same again this year - if you wanted English commentary you had to watch Pearl with its grainy pictures. Well done, those people.
Well, what did we expect when the government gave away the digital spectrum to TVB and ATV?
Last week ATV announced that they are going to ditch most of the new digital channels they launched last year (His TV, Her TV and Plus TV). Yes, these are the channels that went off air from 8-10 pm each evening (when the HD channel was broadcasting).
Although they did have some English language programs (quite a few documentaries on Plus TV and football and tennis on His TV), the SCMP doesn't bother with listings for any of the digital-only channels and ATV doesn't have English information on its website either, so you are unlikely to know anything about these channels.
ATV's new service will include a channel from Taiwan, the CCTV channel they already have, and (if I've understood it correctly) the HD channel is going to be on air 24 hours a day, but with only a few hours of HD and the rest of time devoted to their news channel.
Sounds enthralling.
Posted at 08:40 AM in Television | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
I see that Now TV have a new service that offers US dramas "on demand". For HK$50 a month. That sounds OK.
So what do we have on offer?
Ah, yes, Desperate Housewives. Series 1. That must have been on TVB Pearl about 3 years ago.
Grey's Anatomy. Series 1. Also a few years old.
They have an HD option (for an extra HK$10 per month), but was the first series of Desperate Housewives made in HD? Actually, I don't care, and anyway Jade HD does broadcast a few American dramas in HD if that's what you really want.
So, thanks but no thanks, and come back when you have new shows that haven't already been on terrestrial TV three years ago.
Posted at 09:55 PM in Television | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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