Download April 2007 Programme Guide

To download the April 2007 Dialog TV Programme Guide please click on the link below.

Download April 2007 Dialog TV Programme Guide

Most of the subscribers who have registered with Dialog TV Subscribers Unite would have already received the guide by email. Those who have not registered can download it from the link given above.

It is great that the guide has been sent before the beginning of the month, however we are not certain whether the guide has been posted. If it has been posted then it should arrive by the first week of April or else it might take longer than the March guide due to the long holidays.

Only the same channels available last month are included in this guide and hopefully Dialog TV will be able to add all their channels to this guide in the coming months.

Remove Sony SAB and bring back VH1

Now that it is clearly seen that Sony SAB/MAX telecasts the same match whereas MAX broadcasts the English commentary and SAB broadcasts the Hindi commentary even when two matches are taking place on one day during the Super 8 stage of the ICC World Cup, there is no point in keeping SAB and it is best if Dialog TV brings back VH1 back to their lineup. SAB served its purpose during the Group stage when they showed two different matches on SAB and MAX with English commentary on a particular day except when India was playing.

We are unable to confirm whether Sony PIX is broadcasting the other match in English in the event two matches are taking place on the same day during the Super 8 stage. Anyone who has access to Sony PIX channel hopefully will confirm.

We were under the impression that SAB will show the other match so since this is not the case it is now up to Dialog TV to remove the channel and reintroduce VH1 once again. If Dialog TV is to continue broadcasting Sony SAB we suggest that they do so once the third transponder is activated. However we do not see the need for Sony SAB on Dialog TV unless they are planning to introduce Dialog TV to the Indian market or to Indians living in other countries in this region.

The Bill explained........

We have seen several comments regarding the Dialog TV bill and we have been able to get hold of a bill and hopefully you will find this explanation helpful. It should be noted that there are several billing cycles. We suggest that you call their hotline 077-7679679 (rather difficult to get through and we hope this will be rectified by Dialog TV) or call (011) 4606000 and speak to the billing department and check on your billing cycle and on what day your bill is generated. Some have had their bills generated on March 12th and some others at a later date and we believe that the due date varies according to this billing cycle.

This time round Dialog TV has sent the bill from January to March (some have been charged for the whole of March and some till the middle of March according to the respective billing cycles). We believe that sending a bill for three months is not fair since it was not the subscribers fault that the bill was not sent by Dialog TV. However we hear that several subscribers have been told that even if payment is not received by the due date, disconnection will not take place but it is better if the subscriber places a call to Dialog TV on any of the above two numbers and inform them of the delay in payment so that a note will be made on the system.

The Bill..........

**** Your Monthly Rental is the total of Rental + Network Charges

Rental – Value Plus package from jan 1 2007 To : jan 9 2007 = XXX.XX
Network charges - Value Plus from jan 1 2007 To : jan 9 2007 = XXX.XX

The above has appeared for those who have carried out a package transfer, if you transferred your package on Jan 10th or any other day then you will be charged for the old package for the number of days you used the old package and the package is charged for as Rental and Network Charges.

Rental - Super Package From Jan 10 To : Mar 15 2007 = XXXX.XX
Network Charges From Jan 10 To : Mar 15 2007 = XXXX.XX

Total Amount = XXXX.XX

For those who have done the package transfer the new package is billed for the number of days that you used the new package from the date of transfer as given above. If you have not done a package transfer then it should indicate time period as "Jan 1 To : Mar 15 2007" (i.e, they have been charged for the whole month of January, February and half of March) some have been charged for 27 days in March and that will indicate as "Jan 1 To : Mar 27 2007".

According to Dialog TV from next month the bills will be received on a monthly basis, the time period for the bill will be March 16th to April 15th or March 28th to April 27th depending on your billing cycle. Always remember that your monthly rental is a total of Rental plus Network Charges and in the bill the rental appears broken down into the two components.

We hope that we were able to reduce the confusion regarding the bill. Please note that the above information was not provided by Dialog TV to us directly instead we arrived at the above conclusion after we got information provided by Dialog TV subscribers who have been able to get their bills explained to them by Dialog TV executives.

We have tried our best to accurately explain how the billing works and we apologize for any errors in this post. We suggest that you call Dialog TV and get them to explain how your bill was arrived at, please do not email them because we are getting information that they are not replying to emails.

If Dialog TV management wants to send us an accurate explanation of how their bills are structured we would be happy to post it on this blog.

We also hope that the programme guides for the month of April are ready and have been posted to the subscribers since if there is a delay like this month at Dialog TV then next months guide might get delayed furthered due to the long holidays in April.

Rumors of High Definition Television (HDTV) plans

Unconfirmed reports, a better term would be rumors are surfacing that Dialog TV is planning to launch HDTV channels on their platform. If so, then they will become the first platform to do so in this region. This will be yet another first for Dialog Telekom in this region adding to their portfolio of firsts. It is a well known fact that the IS-12 the satellite that is used by them to carry out transmissions has the ability to transmit in HDTV.

There is no doubt that HDTV packages will be more expensive that the regular packages but then as time goes it will undergo a price reduction. It is also worth mentioning here that even LBN has listed HDTV as a future service in their on their digital platform.

On other fronts it seems that Dialog TV is progressing with the World Cup now with less interruptions that when the broadcast started although we feel that their is room for improvement.

"Channel Eye" taken off air during cricket

As of last friday we are told that Dialog TV has been taking Channel Eye off air on its network during the times the cricket match is being telecast.

This may be a result of the fact that SLRC rights does not cover satellite transmission or may be due to some other reason such as to avoid a conflict of rights that are held by Dialog TV and Channel Eye.

Much improved broadcast of World Cup

According to reports the broadcast of the matches by Dialog TV yesterday was very much better than those of Day One of the World Cup. This hopefully means that things are finally becoming stable. It should also be noted that EPG has been activated for SET Max and Sab for the benefit of the viewers.

Some viewers have reported of a few black outs on the Sab channel but not many seem to have caught that one since the match on Sab was between Kenya & Canada and it seems that only a few have watched that one but overall it seems to have been less freezing, black outs and interruptions yesterday.

We hope that the improvements will continue as the days progress and we will be having a close eye on the broadcast quality.

Shaky start to World Cup

Dialog TV subscribers are expressing frustration due to some problems in transmission experienced during the live broadcast of the ICC World Cup matches yesterday.

There has been a signal loss for almost one hour for some customers due to the heavy rain that was experienced yesterday. This is frankly something that cannot be eradicated completely but something that Dialog TV should try their best to minimize. Some subscribers have even complained of interruption even without rain and this maybe due to rain at a distance or around the uplinking area. We expect Dialog TV to try their best to minimize this problem.

Their have been some jerky images experienced and some may be due to signal interference due to the weather or of course the famous problem that existed on SET for a few months now but not complained about much due to the fact that hardly anyone watches the channel. We understand that this has reduced but in this case reduction is not enough, it has to be eradicated totally. If the jerking continues any excuse is unacceptable.

We expect a much better professional quality of service and innovations from Dialog TV in par with Dialog GSM. This is not impossible to achieve and maybe Dialog is lacking experience in pay television operations resulting in the slow progress. We hope that this is sorted out soon.

More was expected from Dialog TV and at the moment it is quite disappointing but on a more positive note we hear that they are working hard to solve these problems.

On the subject of the 5 second delay, we are told that it is something that is experienced by most satellite television operators. Dialog TV has to down link the signal then process it by adding the encryption and things required for broadcasting and then up link it again and in turn down link it to the decoders, whereas SLRC has to only down link and then transmit it without any processing. As mentioned by a blogger usually what we see on television is a bit delayed to the actual event on the ground due to the propagation delay during up linking and down linking. If there is a way for Dialog to reduce the delay it would be fantastic but if they cannot then there is no point wasting time on it. But they can solve the delay between the picture and the sound and hopefully they are working on that.

Subscribers receiving schedules

Subscribers of Dialog TV are reportedly receiving their schedules for the month of March 2007. Over the past few days several subscribers are said to be receiving the schedules. Although not all the Dialog TV channels are available in the booklet, we are happy to note that this is at least a start and we hope that more channels are included in the schedule for the month of April.

Since this is the first schedule the subscribers are not complaining about the delay but we stress that from April arrangements should be made for subscribers to receive the schedule by the beginning of the month and not later than that.

We are made to understand that the schedule says that payments can be made at all the locations that accept Dialog GSM bill payments. This is great since subscribers need not travel to the Bambalapitya office to make the payments and is indeed very convenient for the subscribers.

Mr. Nushad's Comments

A report in a certain newspaper after an interview with Mr. Nushad Perera, General Manager Sales and Marketing of Dialog Telekom contained the following statement made by him, “More than half of our growth is due to the World Cup, because the normal terrestrial channels only telecast five balls per over at most, due to advertisements or crawlers appearing on the television screen, but Dialog TV has a direct feed from the ground without any such advertisements except when the teams stop for tea or lunch and our customers are aware of this,”.

From our point of view it seems that he implies that there are no commercials in between overs and also no crawlers on the screen during matches(Our apologies to Mr. Nushad if we have misinterpreted his statement). Dedicated sports channels such as ESPN and Star Sports too carry out advertising in between overs but they do it carefully and without interrupting the action that is being played out on the ground. So like we said earlier we are not sure of what he meant but it is our opinion that SET Max will carry out advertising in between overs and will have a few crawlers but it will be certainly very much less than what will be on local fta television, but it will be great if there are no advertisement breaks or no crawlers but it is highly likely that they will be there and 99% of the time we expect six balls per over.

The 99% is due to the fact that there will be human error in the operation and also Sony in this region is not a full time sports broadcaster and we are not sure whether their less sports oriented station operators can achieve 6 balls per over for a 50 over match without a single mistake. However we are sure that they will strive hard to achieve this goal. Anyone who watched the ICC Nations Trophy on Sony Max via Dish TV or Tata SKY will be able to confirm whether they were able to broadcast all six balls of a over for the whole match and achieving a 100% interruption less broadcast. Was it a case of no advertisements in between overs and no interrupting crawlers on screen? Your comments on this will be very helpful? Maybe they do this only for World Cup matches and we will all find out tomorrow when the first match finally gets underway.

Our apologies once again to Mr. Nushad if we have misinterpreted his comments on the newspaper and it would be a real treat for Dialog TV subscribers if there are no advertisements in between overs and they are restricted to only the tea and lunch breaks.

VH1 removal is only temporary

Angry voices are being raised over the removal of VH1 and according to information being received by us it is said to be a temporary measure in order to facilitate the transmission of World Cup Cricket matches. VH1 will return at the close of the World Cup or maybe even after the Group Stages are over since after the group stages all matches will be on Sony Max and the same match will be on Sony SAB with Hindi Commentary. So they should bring VH1 back after the Group stages are over or if they still want to have it on air (there is no need to have it on air unless it is a contractual reason or a technical one), then they should bring it back after the World Cup is over.

On why VH1 was chosen to be replaced baffles many but there are a few reasons why it may have been done and this is only speculation and in no way do we say that this is the correct reason.

1) It maybe that VH1 is the only channel with provision in it's contract to be taken off air for specific period of time.

2) The quality of VH1 channel is good so the bandwith allocated to the channel maybe higher than those allocated to the other Hindi channels, so to enable an interruption free transmission it may have been a technical decision to replace it.

3) Replacing English entertainment channels, news and Educational channels would have caused a greater outcry, if cartoon channels had been replaced then parents would have had a hard time and in turn Dialog Tv would have had a hard time, most people who express views here are not fans of hindi content but it is understood that generally Sri Lankans are hooked on to Hindi content. So maybe the problems from Dialog's point of view may have been greater if they removed a Hindi channel. Not a lot of Hindi content lovers are blogging here since there is plenty of Hindi entertainment on local fta channels but we know that many Hindi content lovers have bought Dialog Tv too since they provide some 24 hour Hindi channels.

4) Lack of satellite reception equipment resulting in the equipment used to receive VH1 being reset to receive SET Max and Sab. It is understood that Dialog TV is experiencing a delay in equipment causing the delay in the introduction of new channels using transponder 3.

5) It could also be one of the worst decisions made by Dialog TV without considering it's subscribers.

The above reasons are purely speculative and only Dialog TV can give us the actual reason for replacing and if there is a way of replacing some other Hindi channel with VH1 temporarily until the World Cup is over then it would be great as long as it will not mess up Sony Max and Sab channels which are being fine tuned for subscribers to watch the World Cup in high quality Video and Audio.

If trying to reintroduce VH1 into another channel will cause problems to the present transmission then it is better to wait till the World Cup is over and then reintroduce VH1. Whatever the reason it is better for Dialog TV to communicate to their subscribers the reasons for removing VH1.

Rs 500/= Package subscribers get opportunity to watch World Cup on SET

Dialog TV have activated SET Max and SET SAB. The Dialog TV Promo Channel and VH1 have been replaced with SET Max and SET SAB and the present SET channel will remain and will not be replaced as published earlier.

In addition Rs 500/= package customers will get the opportunity to watch the ICC World Cup 2007 by paying an additional Rs 200/= to their subscription in order to activate SET Max and SAB for the duration of the World Cup.

We feel that VH1 should not have been replaced since it is the only English Music Channel available instead a channel such as Zee Music, MTV, Animax or maybe even a local channel position should have been used instead. We hope Dialog TV will take the necessary steps and introduce SET SAB on to an existing Hindi language channel. Replacing VH1 may upset some subscribers because this is a widely watched channel.

SET Max to replace SET Channel from today (9th March)

According to Dialog TV Subscribers Unite the SET Max channel will be replacing the SET Channel from today.

We like to thank DTV_SU for this information and we hope that Dialog TV will be able to sort out any transmission problems related to SET Max within the next two days. If the opening ceremony of the ICC World Cup is being shown on SET Max then we believe that it will be shown very early in the morning on Monday 12th March due to the time difference. We hope someone can update this blog on the starting times of all matches as well as the opening ceremony.

We also hope Dialog TV will make arrangements for its Rs 500/= package subscribers to view the broadcast and will educate them of this arrangement before the opening ceremony so that no one will miss any part of the action.

Update :

• Opening Ceremony of World Cup on Monday 12th March @ 4:30AM

• To download the Sony Max full broadcast schedule of ICC World Cup 2007 click on Sony Max - ICC World Cup 2007 Broadcast Schedule

Download Dialog TV March 2007 Programme Guide

The March 2007 programme guide of Dialog TV has now been hosted at the following address

http://www.sharebigfile.com/file/104859/dtv-proof-02-pdf.html

This PDF file has been emailed to everyone who has registered with Dialog TV Subscribers Unite and for those of you who have not done so, can get the schedule from the above link. Please note that not all the channel schedules are on this file but we hope that Dialog TV will make sure that the other channel schedules are also added in the upcoming months enabling the viewers to identify all the programmes being telecast on the channels available on Dialog TV. Till then for some channels we will have to rely on the Internet to keep track of our favorite programmes. Dialog TV should update their web site with this schedule soon since at the point of making this post the website still contains the previous month schedule. We hope that a printed guide will be sent to customers on time in the upcoming months.

In other news, EPG on Dialog TV is available for AXN, Nat Geo, History Channel, Pogo, Zee TV, HBO, HBO Signature, Cinemax, ESPN & Star Sports. The current EPG is actually being tested and so there is the tendency for the EPG to be taken off line or sometimes the EPG may give wrong information. We believe that once this testing is completed the EPG will be available with out any errors. In addition we hope that a full seven day EPG will be available like the one provided by Tata SKY. This can be expected once the testing of the current EPG is completed and the software has been upgraded, however this may take some time.

If more channels have got EPG's and we have not included them in the list given above we request our fellow bloggers to update this blog with the channel names.

SET Max is said to become active this weekend but we are not sure whether the channel will be replace an existing channel on Dialog TV such as SET or whether it will be allocated the Channel No. 1 position. It is highly likely that this channel will be on air only for the duration of the live matches and also the highlights.

Schedule & EPG Problems

Today is the 7th of March 2007 and Dialog TV have not yet updated their programme schedule on their website. Even the EPG that is running on the screen is supposed to be giving out wrong information at times. Specially wrong programme Genres as well as overlapping programme times.

Some bloggers have even communicated to us and have said that when they call Dialog TV they are told that the schedule for this month will posted towards the middle of this month since this is the first time that they are doing a printed schedule and thereafter the schedule will be sent to the subscribers by the beginning of the month. Has anyone else got a similar response from Dialog TV?

According to information gathered by the interview with Mr. Ramesh the EPG should be fully activated by the middle of this month and hopefully it happens as he has said.

In addition we hope that all arrangements are in progress and will be completed before the commencement of the ICC World Cup 2007 in order to watch the matches without any picture freezing, etc. We expect Dialog to make a provision for subscribers of their 500 package to watch the World Cup hopefully without any extra charges or at least by charging a nominal fee.

ICC World Cup 2007 Schedule

The schedule - Group matches
March 13: West Indies vs. Pakistan (MAX)
March 14: Australia vs. Scotland (MAX)	Kenya vs. Canada (SAB)
March 15: Sri Lanka vs. Bermuda (MAX)	Zimbabwe vs. Ireland (SAB)
March 16: England vs. New Zealand (MAX)	South Africa vs. Netherlands (SAB)
March 17: India vs. Bangladesh (MAX & SAB)	Pakistan vs. Ireland (PIX)
March 18: Australia vs. The Netherlands (MAX)	England vs. Canada (SAB)
March 19: India vs. Bermuda (MAX and SAB)	West Indies vs. Zimbabwe (PIX)
March 20: New Zealand vs. Kenya (MAX)	South Africa vs. Scotland (SAB)
March 21: Sri Lanka vs. Bangladesh (MAX)	Zimbabwe vs. Pakistan (SAB)
March 22: New Zealand vs. Canada (MAX)	Scotland vs. The Netherlands (SAB)
March 23: India vs. Sri Lanka (MAX and SAB)	West Indies vs. Ireland (PIX)
March 24: Australia vs. South Africa (MAX)	England vs. Kenya (SAB)
March 25: Bermuda vs. Bangladesh (MAX)
Second stage Super Eight series (expected pairings all matches on MAX and SAB): March 27 to April 21
March 27: West Indies vs. Australia	April 10: West Indies vs. S Africa
March 28: South Africa vs. Sri Lanka	April 11: England vs. India
March 29: West Indies vs. New Zealand	April 12: Sri Lanka vs. New Zealand
March 30: Pakistan vs. England	April 13: Australia vs. Pakistan
March 31: Australia vs. India	April 14: S Africa vs. New Zealand
April 1: West Indies vs. Sri Lanka	April 15: India vs. Pakistan
April 2: India vs. New Zealand	April 16: Australia vs. Sri Lanka
April 3: Pakistan vs. South Africa	April 17: South Africa vs. England
April 4: England vs. Sri Lanka	April 18: Pakistan vs. Sri Lanka
April 7: India vs. South Africa	April 19: West Indies vs. India
April 8: Australia vs. England	April 20: Australia vs. New Zealand
April 9: Pakistan vs. New Zealand	April 21: West Indies vs. England
Semifinals (on MAX and SAB): April 24 & 25	Final (on MAX and SAB): April 28

Max will be carrying the English Commentary whereas SAB will be carrying the Hindi Commentary for the same match. However on days a different match is shown on Max, SAB and PIX we are unable to confirm whether Dialog TV will carry feeds of all the matches.

The matches are expected to commence at 7pm or 8pm Sri Lanka time. We welcome updates from our bloggers regarding the match commencement time as well as the scenario on a day that different matches are telecast over the Sony Channels.

Interview with Mr. Ramesh Anthony, Sales Manager Dialog TV

Recently we interviewed Mr. Ramesh Anthony who is the Sales Manager of Dialog TV by email. The interview was facilitated by Dialog TV Subscribers Unite and Mr. Ramesh answered the questions on behalf of the management team of Dialog TV.

Admin : Dialog TV has secured exclusive rights for the ICC World Cup via SET Max. According to reports DD Sports have also secured rights for the event. Does this mean that other operators will be able to show it legally using DD Sports or do the exclusive rights prevent other operators in Sri Lanka from showing it?
Ramesh : Set max has the DTH and pay TV rights for world cup.Rupavahini has the terrestrial rights from Nimbus .Set max world cup exclusivity, is with Dialog TV.DD can only air in the Indian territory. Set max is closely looking at errant distributors. To rebroadcast, you need to get proper authority from the channel provider. You cannot plug in programs as and when you like. Dialog is strictly ethical in their business approach. We believe in providing quality content to our subscribers.

Admin : When will the EPG be activated on all channels giving detailed information of programmes at least for one week in advance? In January the current EPG was available in more channels than in this month (February). Why is there no consistency in the EPG?
Ramesh : This will be addressed soon. EPG will get activated fully from mid march. Even you will be able to see the local channel guide.

Admin : During rain there are interruptions to service although this has reduced to a great extent. Will steps be taken to reduce rain interruptions further? We know that it is not possible to eradicate it totally.
Ramesh : Yes, if you take 365 days as 100% air time. Only 1 day per year will get disrupted for rain which is marginal. Man made things have its limitations.

Admin : Studying comments on the blog there seem to be some billing problems. These billing problems are not new. Even previously before the shutdown there have been some problems in bills to certain customers. Are steps being taken to rectify the matter?
Ramesh : Yes.

Admin : Illegal DTH connections being brought from India and are being sold and we believe that they are making use of the market interest being generated by the Dialog TV promotional campaign. These connections are not only illegal but is dangerous for the consumer who is going to invest in them since they can face disconnection anytime. Will Dialog TV take any steps to educate the public on this and is any action being planned to stop these illegal connections being brought and sold in Sri Lanka?
Ramesh : Ethicality is the name of the game. Good practice harness good behavior. We will be the only DTH provider who carries national channels on our platfoam.Also when we add more value in terms of functionality and content these small timers will perish.

Admin : Will Dialog TV have a website which provides full control of their connections like ones provided by Dialog GSM and will WAP access be provided to this website?
Ramesh : We will add in more and more functionality.

Admin : Will interactive channels be added to Dialog TV like those provided by Dish Tv and Tata SKY and when is Dialog TV expected to launch channels belonging to the Star TV package and Ten Sports?
Ramesh : We are in dialog with most of the content providers. As mentioned before we will add value and delight customers but resent giving promises. Dialog will go where technology permits but with human touch.

Admin : There have been instances in which Dialog TV subscribers have requested for religious channels such as God TV. These requests we believe were happening even before the shutdown. Some subscribers are of the view that they should not be allowed but some others are requesting for them saying that those who do not want to view them can request Dialog to scramble the channel or even better unscramble the channel only to those who request for it. What is Dialog TV's point of view on the subject of religious channels?
Ramesh : Willing to consider your viewpoint.

Admin : What can we expect from Dialog TV in the future?
Ramesh : The Future .Today

According to Mr. Ramesh the ICC World Cup will be broadcast on the pay television platform only on Dialog TV in Sri Lanka. In addition the EPG will be fully functional by the middle of this month and not only for the international channels but also for the local channels which is undoubtedly good news for Dialog TV subscribers. It is also understood that Dialog is in talks with content providers and even though a time frame has not been mentioned regarding the launch of channels belonging to the Star package or Ten Sports, they have nevertheless promised to "add value and delight customers".

We like to thank Mr. Ramesh Anthony who represented the management team of Dialog TV for taking time to answer our questions and would also like to thank Dialog TV Subscribers Unite for facilitating this interview.