Firstly, I couldn’t talk much, arrived late, and was tucked to one quiet corner. Then again, I has always been under the radar, haven’t I? Anyway, I only joined the dessert portion of the Ping.sg Indian Food gathering today. However, instead of having dessert at Plaza Singapura as planned, it was at Dome at Park Mall.

I got to meet a few people at the gathering… including Brokenshadz and Champagne. It was quite a casual gathering and when I was just about to take photos… I realised that I forgot to put batteries inside my camera! How dumb can I get?

And oh, Priss thought I was just playing around when I started writing all my replies on the whiteboard. Apparently, she didn’t realise that I was mute. Hehe… no worries, I’ll be ok. =) Soon. Rinaz joined my club because she apparently had a sore throat as well - something that she caught on Monday or Tuesday. Well, at least she can still talk… still not too bad. =)

I order a Strawberry Smoothie - which turned out to be a Strawberry Milkshake! Oh man… don’t those people know the difference between a milkshake and a smoothie??? Moreover, I’m lactose intolerant… let’s see how many times I have to make my way to the toilet soon. =( Priss’ tea didn’t come eventually. So much for service. Thankfully, Claudia’s Yebber wasn’t there else they’d get really bad rating.

Amidst all the chatting (which I wasn’t really part of), Daphne got a call relating to something about her credit card. I didn’t know what happened after that but the next thing I knew was that Daphne said she had something on and left.

Hmm… very awkward leh… Did I miss something?

I seriously await the day that we have one operator getting the telecast rights for each of the leagues/cups that’s being shown on TV. Imagine. Every home may end up having a server rack in the living room. In fact, if this idea kicks off, there’s even a new market or industry for it! Special furniture for TV set up boxes!

Ok, enough of nonsense.

When the word competition came up here, I thought it didn’t quite fit into the scenario. Yes, there’s competition amongst the pay-TV powerhouses to fight for telecast rights. However, the reason why these competitions do not result in more savings for consumers is because they are actually showing different games! This seems like a competition-followed-by-complementary situation where it’s competition to see who gets what piece of the pie, while at the end of the day, after they have gotten their piece of the pie, they have their own pricing. There’s no overlap in telecast rights which results in 2 or more companies trying to get football fans to subscribe to them for the same match!

Quoting the papers (and MDA):

MDA’s stand is that the free market approach is the right one, and competition is the way to go.

Its media policy director Ling Pek Ling told The Sunday Times that ‘competition has helped widen the choice for viewers’, and pointed out how StarHub introduced the Eurosports channel after competition came in.

This is called competition? I see…

Football fans will have to pay more to get their weekly fix of quality matches on TV, but that’s the reality they will have to live with.

The Media Development Authority (MDA) has said it will not intervene even though fans have to dig deeper into their pockets for pay-TV subscriptions to matches such as the English Premier League (EPL) and Champions League.

This comes as pay-TV powerhouse StarHub and SingTel’s fledgling mio TV battle it out for football telecast rights.

MDA’s stand is that the free market approach is the right one, and competition is the way to go.

Its media policy director Ling Pek Ling told The Sunday Times that ‘competition has helped widen the choice for viewers’, and pointed out how StarHub introduced the Eurosports channel after competition came in.

She added: ‘The authority encourages and facilitates competition, but the players should be sensitive in their pricing.’

She cited Hong Kong as an example of how competition had played itself out in a positive way.

i-Cable was the dominant player there before 2003 with 656,000 subscribers. But instead of seeing its customer base shrink when rival now TV debuted that year, both firms witnessed substantial growth.

Both players ended up sharing the market with 882,000 subscribers each today.

In any case, she said, viewers are not entirely powerless and cannot be underestimated.

‘Consumers do call the shots and they can opt not to buy the pay-TV packages.’

MDA’s remarks come amid complaints from fans following the announcement by SingTel on March 20 that it had won the rights to screen Champions League and Uefa Cup matches on mio TV from next year.

Good news for the ambitious new pay-TV player, but bad news for football fans.

SingTel’s victory means that from next year, in addition to subscribing to StarHub’s $49 plan for EPL - which includes the Sports Group ($25) and the compulsory three Basic Groups ($24) - fans will have to pay more if they want to catch Champions League football as well.

Currently, those who sign up for mio TV must spend a minimum of $16.05 a month, as well as make a one-time payment of $53.50 for installation and $64.20 for a compatible telephone modem to hook up.

Without disclosing figures, a SingTel spokesman said it will price its European coverage ‘fairly, considering that fans have to pay for other football content as well’.

SingTel’s announcement follows news last October that StarHub was raising its Sports Group charges for EPL matches from $15 to $25 a month. So, from next year, fans will have to pay at least $65.05 in monthly subscriptions if they want to catch both EPL and Champions League matches.

Indeed, the StarHub-SingTel rivalry means Singapore fans will have to cough up more than those in other Asian countries to get their football fix.

‘It never ends,’ lamented businessman Zac Leong, 48, an Arsenal fan. ‘We consumers have suffered long enough and it’s getting out of hand. Isn’t competition supposed to push prices down?’

Another bugbear for fans: the need for a separate mio TV telephone modem in addition to the StarHub set-top box, a move that teacher and Manchester United fan Subash Pillay, 31, believes is ‘too inconvenient’.

Project manager Chan Chong Hong, 35, another Man U supporter, wondered: ‘What if M2B (the smallest pay-TV operator here) wins rights to the FA Cup? Will we need three set-top boxes?”

Senior analyst Marc Einstein from research firm Frost and Sullivan said: ‘It’s all about content when you are pushing the bundled services. And it’s fair to say consumers are bearing the cost of this competition.’

Liverpool fanVivek Govind, 31, said he will sign up for mio TVbecause ‘the temptation of football is just too great, even though I don’t care about the other channels on mio TV’.

But Mr Leong is not buying it, saying: ‘I can afford mio TV but I will not get it as a matter of principle. It is unfair to get another subscription plan just for Champions League games.’

Additional reporting by Alfred Siew

meng@sph.com.sg

Article obtained from straitstimes.com on 6th April 2008

Come Monday, all drivers who casually drives through roads as if they own it will have to face a new reality - that they don’t really own the roads. LTA has decided to show them who’s daddy by erecting more ERP gantries along 5 roads that used to be crowded; and these start working this coming Monday. While most seem to be resigned to it, the silver lining is that it’d only last for about an hour, and as one delighted driver puts it - he drives out 15 minutes before the gantry starts.

Well, I guess he forgot that now everyone who drives past that gantry will start 30 minutes or more before it starts and traffic may just start crawling before the gantry starts operating. This is a good reason for LTA to extend the hours, isn’t it?

How about those whose business may be affected by the gantries? Well, I guess the general feel is that it’s just too bad for them. Meanwhile, for all drivers out there, this is dedicated to you. =)

It will be a Monday with an extra helping of blues tomorrow when five new Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) gantries get up and running.

Residents and shopkeepers in Geylang Bahru, Kallang Bahru, Upper Boon Keng Road, Upper Bukit Timah Road and Toa Payoh Lorong 6 are griping about having to live with a gantry on their doorstep. The five gantries will be turned on for either half an hour or an hour each morning - from 8am to 8.30am or 9am.

But most plan to pay the price - $1 in the mornings - for now.

Most of the 250 residents and shopkeepers The Sunday Times spoke to in the five residential areas say they will take a wait-and-see approach.

Only one-fifth plan to change their routine, like leaving home at a different time, finding an alternative route or switching to public transport.

But a check by The Sunday Times reveals only one ‘escape’ route in Bukit Timah which requires a lengthy detour. Property agency ERA Realty, which is located in Toa Payoh Lorong 5, has found a way to cope with the ERP: by letting employees report for work 15 minutes later, at 9.15am.

‘It’s a win-win situation,’ said its president, Mr Jack Chua, 48. ‘If you’re good to the staff, they will be good to the company. Besides, 15 minutes will not make a big difference to productivity.’

But those who need to get to work at the usual time say they are left with little choice.

‘Giving up the car is not an option. Upper Bukit Timah is quite secluded and there aren’t many public transport options,’ said Ms Angela Chng, 26, a public relations executive who lives in Hume Avenue and works in Tanjong Pagar.

Some, like Mr Erh Kah Heng, 30, are unwilling to break an old habit.

‘I’ve been driving for five to six years. It’s hard to go back to taking the bus or MRT,’ said the manager who lives in Bukit Timah and works in Orchard.

ERP, introduced in 1998, aims to control congestion by charging drivers for the use of busy roads and getting them to use public transport.

Despite the chorus of complaints, most concede that the rates and duration of the ERP in the five new areas aren’t too hard to swallow.

‘I was worried at first but after I found out that it was only for half an hour in the morning, I felt more relieved,’ said Mr Chua Soon Tin, 39, a salesman and resident of Upper Boon Keng Road. He escapes paying ERP charges because he drives to work in Woodlands at 7.45am every day.

The announcement of the new ERP gantries was made in January. The Land Transport Authority had initially planned to charge for a longer time - from 7.30am to 9.30am - but changed its mind after reviewing traffic conditions on the affected roads and ‘assessed that charging is needed for a shorter time’, said a spokesman.

Still, that is no consolation for provision shop owner Tay Wee Teck, 50, in Geylang Bahru.

‘With so many gantries in the same area, it feels like a cage. My business is affected because many people don’t want to come here any more if they have to pay just to get here,’ he said.

He plans to start his day later, opening his shop at 9am instead of 8am.

Three of the five gantries - in Geylang Bahru, Kallang Bahru and Upper Boon Keng Road - are in close proximity to one another and serve as an outer cordon around the city.

Hawkers at a wet market in Toa Payoh Lorong 8 - which will now fall within the road-pricing zone - feel that the ERP will spell reduced business.

The wet market’s busiest period is between 8am and 10am. With the new ERP kicking in between 8am and 9am, customers from neighbouring estates will not shop there any more, they said.

‘People will stop coming if they have to pay when they enter this area, especially now with prices of essential goods going up,’ said Mr Chan Ah Leh, 60, owner of a dried goods store at the market.

He, like his fellow hawkers, are adopting a wait-and-see attitude before making any changes to their businesses.

But not all are feeling gloomy about the new gantries.

Some residents welcome the new additions, saying they will ease the choked streets in their neighbourhood.

Said Toa Payoh resident K.A.W. Haja, 55, a manager: ‘I’m happy because Toa Payoh will now be clear.’

Additional reporting by Chen Meiyue, Aw Cheng Wei and Alex Liam

dawntan@sph.com.sg

Article obtained from straitstimes.com on 6th April 2008 -