Why not to drop channels, World Cup & SET Max

The February 21st announcement of Dialog TV becoming the exclusive broadcaster of the World Cup cricket was followed a few days later by DD Sports being given permission to broadcast the tournament. Therefore whether the tournament will remain to be exclusive to Dialog TV or not is yet to be seen.

Please read "Will the Dialog TV broadcast of the ICC World Cup really be exclusive" for more on this subject.

We are also getting information that SET Max will be a permanent addition to the Dialog TV lineup and will continue to be available along with the present Sony Channel.

There are certain requests being made by some subscribers asking Dialog TV to remove channels such as Animax and introduce another channel and then reintroduce Animax once the next transponder is available. We would like to stress that channels such as those should not be dropped since there is a chance that a few subscribers will be watching the channels. None of the channels at present should be dropped and they should continue to be on the platform since it will be a very unpleasant experience if channels are introduced and then taken off air and then replaced.

The new channels should be introduced along with the next transponder. For a event such as the World Cup "Dialog TV" can activate SET Max on channel number one which is presently running promotions only and should avoid switching SET with SET Max since there will be subscribers who will prefer to watch the serials on SET instead of World Cup Cricket.

ICC Cricket World Cup on Dialog TV

Dialog TV Sri Lanka's trend setting pay television broadcaster has secured exclusive rights via SET Max to broadcast the World Cup for pay television subscribers in Sri Lanka. SET Max holds the exclusive rights for the World Cup in this region.

So therefore Dialog TV subscribers will be able to watch the world cup on DVD Quality Picture and in full stereo.

According to this information it means that none of the other pay television companies in Sri Lanka will be able to carry the SET Max channel which will be broadcasting the World Cup.

In addition Dialog TV Subscribers Unite has confirmed that the Dialog TV technical team has given priority to the problem of picture freezing on channels such as AXN and SET and will be solving the problem before the commencement of the World Cup.

Dialog TV will be adding new processing equipment in the next few months to improve the quality of the picture that is being broadcast.

Rain Interruptions

Interesting comments are being made about rain interruptions that occur on Dialog TV because there was an interruption on Sunday 18th Feb 2007. Rain interruptions is common among DTH operators all over the world. Usually a study on the expected signal loss time as a result of natural events that could take place during a year is carried out and an acceptable time period for signal loss is determined. We are not aware whether such a study has taken place in Sri Lanka and if not then we hope that a study is carried out.

The most interruptions occur during heavy rain. Earlier there were interruptions in the signal for light rain and now Dialog TV should be commended for improving their systems and the signal loss occurs only during heavy rains. Heavy rains at the receivers end results in a loss of signal for the receiver but then as the rain ceases the signal is restored but some may see that the signal does not return when the rain ceases too and this is due to heavy rains near the uplinking station.

However a method of restoring the signal should be adopted such as by increasing the transmitter power if possible. To avoid any interruptions to the uplinking station will something like moving the station to a dry zone or moving it up to a higher elevation work? At the moment if Dialog goes to undertake moving the station then it will again result in an interruption of services as well as a very high cost to move all the equipment. So maybe they should look at an alternative solution to reduce the frequency of interruptions due to rain because totally eradicating the rain interruptions will be an impossible task. They should look at reducing the time in which the signal is interrupted during rain. Signal loss due to rain is one of the biggest drawbacks of KU Band based satellite systems and should be handled properly to minimize its effects.

It is indeed very annoying to loose the signal during a movie or during a tense moment in a cricket match so we hope that a solution is found to this problem or at least to reduce the duration of the problem.

Rupavahini and Channel Eye back on Dialog TV?

We are getting information that Rupavahini and Channel Eye are back on Dialog TV. We are unable to confirm this however it is likely since today is the 25th anniversary of Rupavahini. We expect that one of our fellow bloggers will verify this piece of information.

In addition we are getting reports that the third transponder that Dialog TV was to secure this month has been delayed due to a delay in bringing down the equipment and it may take until April/May to more channels on the air. It seems that along with the new transponder the Star Channels, Ten Sports, Disney Channel will be on air and if negotiations are successful it is likely that the controversial Neo Sports channels will also be on air. However we are certain that the Cricket World Cup tournament will be broadcast on Dialog TV via SET Max but it seems that when calls are placed to Dialog TV hotline the call centre is not aware of the Cricket World Cup broadcasts.

Due to a technical glitch last night the Dialog TV broadcast of Swarnavahini has been interrupted and being replaced by Shakthi TV which was corrected about half an hour later. According to information that we are getting it seems that MTV/MBC is not coming aboard the Dialog TV platform and the spoil sports have refused to carrying out advertisements on Dialog TV.

Finally of all we would like to request our fellow bloggers to stick to the focus of this blog and that is to have discussions about Dialog TV. Anyone is allowed to place a request for channels on this blog and it will be looked into by Dialog TV Subscribers Unite and then forwarded to Dialog TV management. There is no need to intimidate anyone because of religion or anything else and have arguments on religion because this is not the blog for such a topic. We should learn to respect others religious beliefs and requests. So lets stop arguing about religion here please. Anyone who wants to request for God TV or any other channel for that matter is welcome to do so and anyone who opposes it is welcome to do so but lets just request and oppose giving our reasons and not go beyond that by running down others religious beliefs.

UPDATE : It has been confirmed that Rupavahini and Channel Eye are available on Dialog TV.

The 250,000

In yesterdays Sunday Times and in a few other newspapers there is an article saying that Dialog TV is targeting 250,000 subscribers by the end of this year. The most interesting point mentioned in this article is the fact that Dialog hopes to increase the channels offered to 50 and also introduce new entry point pricing strategy as well as new package pricing structures.

Dialog is planning to make Dialog TV a household name and get local consumers used to the 'Pay TV' concept which we believe is necessary since not many are aware of the pay television concept.

Over the last weekend several local channels have been running advertisements of Dialog TV and several have appeared in the print media too. In addition outdoor advertising is being carried out too.

It has been confirmed that "SET Max" will be made available on Dialog TV and all subscribers are assured of watching the ICC World Cup live with minimum interruptions. In view of the world cup we can expect several promotional offers from Dialog TV.

We also believe that a fully functional EPG will be available soon. At the moment existing subscribers seem to have the EPG only for HBO, VH1 and Nick. It was also reported that new subscribers have the 7 day EPG. We would like any new customer of Dialog TV to post a comment on a description of the EPG that is available and on what channels the EPG is available.

We are also receiving complaints that picture freezing is occurring in some channels such as AXN, SET India. Hopefully this is sorted out soon.

Refer Link : The Sunday Times : Dialog Sat TV to target 250,000 customers by December

A New Beginning

It is Feb 12th 2007 and in this new day we are happy to inform you that this blog has now being launched.

We hope that you have updated all your feeds and links to this new URL. This is the very first post and we welcome you this brand new blog which is for the customers of DTH service provider "Dialog TV" and also for prospective customers to learn about existing customer opinions.

Subscribers of "Dialog TV" and you can freely expresses your views regarding their service and what you would like to see on Dialog TV, in addition prospective customers can direct queries to the existing ones. When you are freely expressing your views please avoid using foul language. Please make comments in English since it can be understood by everyone who is browsing, the targeted readership of this blog is not only Sri Lankans since when Dialog TV starts to sell their connections to the other countries in the region we are sure that the subscribers in those regions will also start to take an active participation in this forum.

We will be updating you on the latest information regarding Dialog TV and giving you sneak peaks on any new features/channels that are coming out on this DTH pay television provider. We will also be highlighting service related issues and will be either congratulating them or criticizing them.

This blog is in not owned or operated by Dialog Telekom or Telekom Malaysia for that matter and we are completely independant. We have several other blogs for which you can find the links under "Group Blogs" section.

You can email us on tvradiosrilanka@yahoo.com or you can contact Dialog TV Subscribers Unite on dialogtv@yahoo.com

The Dialog TV website is available at http://www.dialog.lk/en/tv/

The hotline for contacting Dialog TV is 077 7679679 for local callers and international callers will have to use +94777679679 and all the other details can be found at the above web site.

Well like Dialog TV says "Wake up to next generation satellite TV".

We say "Wake up to next generation satellite TV subscriber blogging"