Is MMDS or Digital Cable Doomed?

watty

Why are you a non-Satellite Multichannel subscriber?

To get lots of Channels?

Or

To get BBC/UTV without a 200ft mast and aerial?

Or recent to get Sky Sports football?

Does 8 Free BBC TV and all BBC Radio Free on Satellite with most likely ALL ITV regions including UTV (but maybe not ITV2) free next year, change your view of DIGITAL Chorus / NTL?


Analog Cable is cheap, gives the main channels and works with different TV. Digital MMDS/Cable/PaySatellite gives LOTS of channels more expensive, but many are rubbish/ repeats?

Poll open for ten days.

Background:
All BBC services and regions to be Free on any Digital Satellite receiver from 10th July. ITV likely to follow next year.

Unlike cable/MMDS, you own a Sky Digibox from day 1 and keep it if you cancel after 1 year, min cost under €250 including install and 1 year sub, or you can buy any Digital Satellite receiver and install yourself, inc PC Cards from £60 to £180. (The £60 can't drive TVs/VHS, the £180 model can). Existing Sky subs can cancel with 1 month notice (if over the 1 year) and get 90+ TV and 60+ Radio FREE, including BBC from 10th July and probabily ITV next year.

Comments...

patrickmooney

OK.....so if you don't believe cable or MMDS is threatened......what do you vote? Seems to be a single sided vote!

Mike 1972

The only way NTL can save themselves is to get their fingers out of their backsides and get Broadband and telephone services rolled out across all their franchise areas NOW

Genghis

I think it might be too early to say anything other than the trend away from NTL and Chorus will continue, and towards Sky.

Analog Cable certainly retains some advantages over Satellite, especially if simultaneous digital is available.

There are whole raft of options available upon which effective competition could exist, all of which will have an impact in the future
- technology (Sky hold advantage),
- interactivity (again Sky - but will it be really important?),
- Multi-channel capability (depends what you want - cable is distinctly better if you want quality and multi-viewing),
- your prefferred understanding of 'choice' (having tons of channels, but most of them crap, or having a few top quality stations and less crap ones)
- the role of additional channels (like 10 movie screens, or the time shifters)
- price (Sky v. expensive),
- appearance (not everyone wants a dish)
- location (satellite only option in some places, satellite forbidden in others - apartments, etc)
- support for 'Irish' company (all are to some extent multinational, but one is distinctly less Irish than the others)
- a desire to see Irish content (Sky show the least of the 3 at the minute, what about the future if Irish digitals, local TV etc)
- customer service, and of course
- customer inertia (stay with what we have always had).

Then you have other factors - the legacy cable / mmds networks might be used in the future to provide a 'freeview' type service - the 20 most popular channels for a v.small subscription, for e.g. And Ireland being Ireland, you can be sure the government won't let either of the existing cablecos curl up and die if they can help it. Don't rule out regulation either, its unlikely, but Sky could 'pull out' of the market if they ever had to pay a 3.5% levy like the cablecos do.

And don't forget; the issue you mention as being most threatening - free BBC and possibly others - is as much or more of a threat to Sky than to the others - mainly because if you have Sky you can unsubscribe and you keep the means by which you can get the free TV - if you are on cable the BBC move is irrelevant unless you want to pay for equipment, installation etc up front.

And the final imponderable - RTE are also under threat - how will they react; their going FTA in a couple of years might well spell doom for all mutichannel providers in Ireland - and possibly the end of Sky in Ireland (being relatively much more expensive in that scenario).

What is more certain is that the 'milk the customer' model is gone - both NTL and Chorus need to be better managed, more efficient and more customer centred if they are to cope and survive. But with so much invested in them, I can't see them slipping away overnight.

So, my answer is 'not just yet, and maybe never'. BTW is there a difference between choices 1 & 3?

watty

Oooops..
I should have had a 5th Choice, "No problems" rather than just "don't care" alternative to doom... Sorry.

1 and 3 are different. 1 is MMDS *ONLY*, 3 is Chorus /NTL generally..

Do we want to scrap the poll and do it again better?

watty

Only analog cable with "clear" channels (an encouragement to some folks to tap into and damage cable) can offer "multichannel" viewing, every other system needs a receiver/decoder per TV or VHS that wants a different channel.

Analog cable or MMDS tends to be poor quality. Nearly impossible to have anywhere near quality of good analog Satellite.

Analog multichannel viewing is less and less esp on MMDS (where it is NOT illegal to watch clear channels without a sub).

The only reason there are any clear analog channels (allowing multichannel viewing) is to compete with Sky.

Any system can of course drive as many TV or VHS as you like with the same channel.

The only advantage of Digital cable over satellite is lack of dish and highspeed two way interactive. A Digital cable service with no high speed interactive and broadband options is a waste.

With Cable of MMDs if you cancel sub you have nothing.
Digibox gives up to 90 TV and 60 radio with NO sub at all. Non-Digibox with one 80cm dish it is possible to have 600+TV and 500+ radio.

If you haven't had Sky, the subsidy means that FTA, including a years sub and cancelling to have only free stuff can be less than €250. Less than 2 years of cheapest analog only cable and much cheaper than Digital MMDS or Digital Cable.

LFCFan

Originally posted by cableguy
ntl spent bucket loads upgrading a few small areas to a two way network.
Not that long out of all that chapter 11 crap.
No funds to roll out broadband/telephony.
p.s. if you hold your breath waiting, you will die.

NTL have come up with a cheaper way of rolling out their broadband service and have started in Lucan. Hopefully it will be successful and they will roll out quickly everywhere else.

watty

From The Irish Independent Business (Jan 2003):

NTL and Chorus losing out to 'more efficient' Sky

NEARLY 50pc of Irish subscribers to cable/MMDS TV services provided by NTL Ireland and Chorus have complained about these facilities, according to a poll commissioned by the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg).

The poll by MRBI, contained in ComReg's fourth quarter report ended December 2002, also showed that 25pc of these subscribers were dissatisfied with the efficiency and general level of customer service, compared with one in ten satellite users to the BSkyB service.

NTL Ireland would not comment on the report. ComReg said there was no breakdown available for the individual companies.

Chorus said it was surprised with the findings, and added that it has met the customer service criteria set out by ComReg and exceeded targets.

ComReg pointed out that many satellite customers are new additions while cable providers have been in place for much longer.

The survey also showed that outages or breakdowns in the service were the most common complaints, followed by picture and sound quality issues.

The latest figures show that the cable operators are also losing out to BSkyB in the market.

The UK company has increased subscribers to 272,000, a 7pc increase on the same quarter in 2001.

Meanwhile, the number of cable/MMDS subscribers is now 552,000, a decrease of 1.5pc on the same quarter in the previous year.

Both NTL Ireland and Chorus are currently for sale.

Both companies are saddled with debt and are coming under increased pressure from BSkyB in the Irish market.

Any guesses what a December 2003 survey will show?