Friday, September 28, 2007

Local Channel "Citi Hitz" to launch soon

Dialog TV are planning to launch a local channel called "Citi Hitz" on their platform. According to unconfirmed sources this channel will be showcasing Sri Lankan television drama's and movies.

Information about this channel is sketchy but we hope that more information will arrive in due course. The channel is supposed to commence testing on October 2nd 2007 and launch on October 10th 2007. According to unconfirmed sources it seems that due to space constraints on the transponders this channel will replace Animax. However Animax is set to return back on Dialog TV once the fourth transponder is activated. If this is correct then we believe that this will be a very bad move by Dialog TV since this will reduce the number of English language channels by one. They should remove an existing Hindi channel and replace it with "Citi Hitz" and then the Hindi channel can be reintroduced once the fourth transponder is ready. We hope that Dialog TV will not make any attempts to remove Animax. We said previously that Dialog TV could replace Animax temporarily only if they are contemplating introducing another English Language channel such as Disney, ect under the condition that it is returned when the fourth transponder is ready. If "Citi Hitz" replaces Animax then we believe that the subscribers should call and ask Dialog to reintroduce Animax by removing some run of the mill Hindi channel.

It seems that there has been some severe pixelation on Nat Geo last night and we hope that this does not happen again. Some subscribers are complaining of loss of commentary on Ten Sports ever since it returned after it was taken off air due to some technical issue. We hope that the technical team sorts this matter out immediately. The EPG on Animal Planet needs to be corrected.

Please keep us updated on the latest on Dialog TV as the days progress.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Of Bugs and Upcoming Channels

Yesterday (Sunday 23rd Sep 07) seemed to be quite an eventful day for Dialog TV subscribers since there were some hitches at Dialog TV broadcasting center. We are not sure what the cause of the problem but we believe the problem started with the disappearance of Ten Sports very early in the morning and then the sudden loss of Star Movies thereafter. In the afternoon there have been several interruptions with a major proportion of channels getting stuck for a few hour. Subscribers who contacted customer care have been given conflicting answers with some being told that there is a problem with their broadcast and some have been told that the engineering department is upgrading the system. Confusion at customer care as usual.

As per the reports received last it seems that Ten Sports is still off air. We hope that whatever the problem with Ten Sports, it should be corrected as soon as possible and put back on air. A down time of over 24 hours for a channel is totally unacceptable. If the channel continues to be off air for some more time then Dialog should take steps to reduce the monthly rental for the month so that the loss of Ten Sports for the said time period will be reflected on the bill.

In other news Dialog TV have introduced the "Islam Channel" as a replacement for SET SAB from last friday onwards. Those who want to view this channel will have to call their customer care hotline and request for activation. In some unconfirmed reports it seems that Dialog TV will be launching their very own Local Home Box Office Channel called "City Hits" by 10th October. We are not sure whether this will be starting on the existing transponders or whether the fourth transponder will be active by then. They seems to be also planning on adding "Set PIX", "Channel V" and a few Tamil Channels too. We hope that "Channel V International" is introduced and not "Channel V India".

Dialog TV indicated about a month back that they were raising subscription rates for subscribers who join after October 1st 2007. Advertisements were carried out on certain media such as Sun FM regarding this but now for some time there has been no advertisement regarding this price hike. It makes us wonder whether Dialog have dropped the idea of increasing rates since it will have an adverse effect on their sales.

We welcome all of you to continue sharing your opinions on the topics discussed in this blog and please keep us updated on the latest on Dialog TV as the days progress.


Friday, September 21, 2007

Rumors of 4th Transponder

Rumors of the pending activation of transponder 4 is being received by us. It seems that the 4th transponder is now ready, however we are not able to confirm any of this information. If the fourth transponder is made available it would mean a further increase in the channels available on Dialog TV.

It seems that the replacement for SET SAB which was said to be a Islamic channel is not on air still however according to the latest information it is supposed to become operational by this evening, lets just hope that it does instead of being postponed again. We believe that the name of the channel is QTV (Quran Television) but it could also be the channel called "Islam channel", whatever it is we will know exactly what channel it is after it is launched however it is likely to be QTV. We are sure that Dialog will be able to attract Muslim subscribers with the introduction of this channel.

We are also receiving reports that the channel "Animax" has been taken off air until further notice. We hope that Dialog is not planning to replace this channel with another since they can use one of their rarely viewed Hindi channels to in order to carry out a replacement. We know that Animax does not always carry quality programming but there is even lower quality programming in some of the Hindi channels on Dialog TV unless of course Animax is temporarily replaced with a channel such as "Disney" and is returned once the fourth transponder is activated. But then again a Hindi channel that does not carry good quality programming (eg: Zee TV/Zee Cinema) can always be used to introduce another English/Tamil Channel. We hope the management of Dialog TV seriously considers what has been said here.

Please keep us updated on the latest on Dialog TV as the days progress.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Islamic channel QTV to replace Sony SAB

According to unconfirmed reports the Islamic Channel QTV (Quran Television) is expected to replace Sony SAB temporarily from today.

QTV will become the third religious channel on Dialog TV after "The Buddhist" (Buddhist Channel) and "God TV" (Christian Channel). As for the other two religious channels we believe that anyone who wants to watch this channel will have to call and get it activated.

In other news, SET India has won the broadcast rights for cricket played in New Zealand. For more on this please read the article titled "Sony bags rights for New Zealand Cricket" in the TV & Radio Sri Lanka Forum.

Please keep us updated on the latest on Dialog TV as the days progress.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

New Channel being tested in place of SET SAB

According to reports being received it seems that Dialog TV are well on their way to replace the SET SAB channel with another. From yesterday the name SET SAB has been changed to "Test" in the channel list and has been scrambled to all subscribers.

The scrambling indicates that a new channel is already on air and is being tested and it would be available to subscribers once it has been unscrambled.

We are unable to obtain any information as to what the new channel will be and we hope that our fellow bloggers will be able to provide us with more information. We are also made to understand that Dialog TV is contemplating replacing the channel Animax with another one. We hope that this replacement does not occur since Animax is an English Language Channel and has some good programmes. If Dialog TV wants to replace some channels then they should do so by replacing the existing Hindi channels. We hope that NO new Hindi channels are introduced.

Please keep us updated on the latest regarding Dialog TV as the days progress.

Friday, September 14, 2007

Replacement of SET SAB should be seriously considered

SET SAB the Hindi sister channel of the Hindi channel SET should be replaced by Dialog TV. This is a channel that has been having problems from day one. It is also the least watched channel on Dialog TV even among those who watch Hindi programming. SAB shows Hindi programming that is of very low quality in comparison with what is shown on other Hindi channels. The line up includes dubbed versions of Lost, Alias, AFV, ect. For the last few days this channel has been off air since they have not been able to correct reception problems on this channel.

According to unconfirmed sources Dialog TV is contemplating replacing this channel. We hope that it is replaced with either an English channel or a Tamil channel but NOT WITH another Hindi channel.

According to information being received from a few bloggers, there seems to have been a failure on Transponder 2 and 3 at sometime last night. Australia Network seems to be carrying sound on the left sound channel only and the Nat Geo EPG is not working. We hope that steps are taken to activate the EPG for this channel and also improve the time taken for the EPG to load.

Here is some information that we hope will benefit Dialog TV and their Tamil speaking subscribers. Neo Sports Plus will be carrying multiple language feeds of the Australia tour of India that starts on September 29th. The feeds will be in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil. Neo Sports will be carrying the match along with the English Language feed. During the cricket match Dialog should change the language feed on Neo Sports Plus to Tamil instead of the Hindi feed which will probably be the default during the match. Since there is no point in having the Hindi feed in Sri Lanka the Tamil feed would benefit the Tamil speaking subscribers of Dialog TV.

Dialog TV should upgrade equipment and add features that will enable subscribers to select the language feed of their choice by broadcasting all language feeds relevant to Sri Lanka whenever available. For example some cartoons on Cartoon Network are available in English, Telugu, Hindi and Tamil so if they make the English feed the default and the Tamil feed as the option then the Tamil speaking people can select the Tamil feed. Cartoon Network is just an example there are other channels that also do this, so multiple language options on Dialog TV is a must.

Please keep us updated on the latest on Dialog TV as the days progress.

Link : Neo Sports to offer multi-language feeds for Indo-Australia series

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Official Set Plan Information

We have given below the Official information regarding Set Plans. We would like to thank Terry for providing us with the information.

Please keep us updated on the latest on Dialog TV as the days progress.

Set Plan 1 - Rs 50/=

Z-Studio, Z-Cafe, Australia Network, Vijay TV
Set Plan 2 - Rs 50/=
Z-Cafe, Z-Studio, Nick, MTV
Set Plan 3 - Rs 150
CNN, Cartoon Network, AXN, Zone Reality
Set Plan 4 - Rs 200/=
History, Animal Planet, Discovery, National Geographic Channel
Set Plan 5 - Rs 100/=
Z-Trendz, VH1
Set Plan 6 - Rs 100/=
Star World, Set Sab
Set Plan 7 - Rs 150
SRTV, Set Max, Star Plus
Set Plan 8 - Rs 150/=
Discovery Travel & Living, National Geographic Adventure, Star Sports
Set Plan 9 - Rs 150/=
Animax, Set, BBC
Set Plan 10 - Rs 200/=
Neo Sports, Hallmark, Cinemax
Set Plan 11 - Rs 200/=
Pogo, Star Movies, Ten Sports
Set Plan 12 - Rs 200/=
Neo Sports Plus, ESPN, Star Cricket
Set Plan 13 - Rs 400/=
HBO, HBO Family, HBO Signature, HBO Hits

Terms :
1) Monthly rental remains same, irrespective of customers base rental.
2) Minimum base rental to be Lite 100 to be eligible for Set Plan.
3) Minimum activation is for 01 month.

Additional Information :
4) Month is taken as 30 days.
5) Once activate, cannot refund the money for that particular month.
6) Can take any amount of plans.
7) Can request for any number of months.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Zone Reality back to Asian Feed

Zone Reality has had its second feed change on Dialog TV and has now being reverted to the Asian feed once again. Initially it was the Asian feed that was being broadcast while it was under the previous management and after the takeover by Dialog the feed was changed to the South African DSTV feed. After a few days of being off air the channel has returned once again and has been reverted back to the Asian feed. This feed has been mistakenly referred to as the Indian feed but there is no Indian feed for Zone Reality and there is one Asian feed and the same programmes are broadcast to Singapore, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and the rest of Asia.

According to unconfirmed sources this feed change is due to Zone Reality declaring the South African DSTV feed as not applicable to the Asian region thereby causing Dialog TV to make the shift.

In other news it seems a new decoder has been introduced by Dialog TV. Those who are purchasing the connections now are able to get this new decoder which has more additional features compared to the previous one. We are not sure whether any existing subscribers can purchase this new decoder by trading in their old one. We will keep you updated with information regarding this new decoder as we get more information.

According to todays Daily Mirror (11 Sept 07) the Consumer Affairs Authority Chairman has been charged with contempt of court with regards to petitions filed by Laugfs Gas and Dialog TV. He has also been asked to resign within two weeks and has fainted in court on hearing this. It has to be said that the CAA did not take any action on behalf of Dialog TV subscribers who were been affected by the sealing of the company under the previous management. So much for dancing to the tune of the "vested interests". Let this serve as a lesson to anyone who tries to mess around with any company or individual just to satisfy their political masters.

Please keep us updated on the latest on Dialog TV as the days progress.

Zone Reality Asia Website : http://www.realitytv.co.uk/?sf=2

Friday, September 7, 2007

Work progressing to solve problems

Well it looks like the Dialog TV engineers are hard at work sorting out the pixelation problems that plagued the viewers over the course of the last weekend. It looks like they have solved the problems to a great extent with many subscribers speaking of an improvement in the quality.

Some channels were taken off air to improve the quality over the last few days and according to the information received last, Zone Reality is still off air owing to work being done on improving quality. We hope that it is restored soon since the weekend is almost upon us and many would be hoping to watch the channels over the next two days. It would be better if the quality improvement work would be completed today so that viewers can catch their favorite programmes without any interruption and no pixelation problems.

The problem of sound on one channel being higher than the other seems very evident on "Australia Network" and we hope that steps are taken to solve it. Neo Sports Plus according to some reports has experienced some pixelation yesterday. We are not sure whether this is a one off incident and if it is not then we hope it is solved before the first match of the Rugby World Cup commencing tonight.

It also seems that the older Rs 850/= Dialog TV subscribers who moved to the Rs 900/= package with ESPN and POGO are unable to subscribe to SET Plans. According to initial reports it seemed like a policy decision and now it seems that Dialog TV have reviewed their decision and are carrying out a software modification to enable SET Plans to these subscribers too. We hope that this is done soon and if there was a policy decision that prevented these subscribers from activating SET Plans then it has to be said that it would have been a very bad decision that would have had severe repercussions on this company by way of loss of subscriber loyalty. Many existing subscribers have recommended Dialog TV to many of their friends and this decision would have meant a loss of this method of acquiring connections.

We hope that all our fellow bloggers will stick to the new rules listed under the title "Commenting Rules" that appear at the bottom of the right hand column on the main page of this blog.

Please keep us updated on the latest on Dialog TV as the days progress.

Monday, September 3, 2007

Pixelated days

These last few days it looks like Dialog TV have been having some trouble resulting in fast moving and close up images that are broadcast over Dialog TV becoming pixelated. Subscribers who called up customer care have been told to carry out a restore of system settings by the customer care officers but for many the problem still exists.

Some have also been told that this is due to the rain clouds and the bad weather that prevailed over the last few days. We hope that steps are taken and the issue is corrected so that this does not become a problem for subscribers again. We are also told that the Dialog TV engineers are working on solving this problem and hopefully the problem is corrected as soon as possible.

In other news it seems that the Zone Reality EPG which showed the wrong information over all these months has been finally taken off and hopefully the correct one will be added soon. It looks like the EPG for the current month has not been updated fully for all channels and we hope that Dialog TV will make sure that the EPG is loaded for all channels on the first day of a month. The problem of the 7 day EPG taking several minutes to load in certain channels should be rectified immediately.

Please read the post on the TV & Radio Sri Lanka Blog titled "Website to check the ratings of programmes watched by your children" for information on a website that gives information about the foreign programmes available over FTA and pay television, which we hope that parents find helpful.

Please keep us updated on the latest on Dialog TV as the days progress.