Thursday, October 1, 2009

Dialog TV adding Radio channels again and what is happening to MPEG4

According to reports reaching us Dialog TV have begun adding Radio channels onto their platform once again. So far the following channels are available

1) SLBC City Fm
2) SLBC Commercial Service
3) SLBC English
4) SLBC Threndal

These channels are said to be encrypted at the moment. The last time radio channels were taken off air citing bandwidth issues and we hope that this problem will not come up again. If radio channels come aboard Dialog TV it is a good move because presently the FM channels are so cluttered that is a nightmare to tune even with a digital tuner.

We hope that picture and sound quality on the television channels will not be compromised as a result of this. In addition Dialog should move from MPEG2 to MPEG4 soon as HBO is moving to HD platform from Oct 2nd (See article HBO Asia to go HD from Oct 2nd), in addition three new sports channels are in the offing with Ten Sports launching a Golf Channel and Ten Sports 2 as well as ESPN Star launching a Sports News Channel (See article New Sports channels from Ten Sports and ESPN Star in the offing).

In addition to this the happening channels AXN Beyond and SET English are yet to be added to Dialog TV. We reiterate that the MPEG2 to MPEG4 conversion should be carried out immediately or Dialog should secure another transponder to added these channels. The 7 channels in 7 weeks was a good thing by Dialog TV but not good enough. Dialog cannot hide behind marketing mumbo jumbo like that and ignore the rest of the channels that are made available which carry good programming. We would say that AXN Beyond and SET English carry better programming that FOX Crime and FX Asia.

So lets not wait for another year for another 7 channels in 7 weeks Dialog should get cracking immediately and add these channels.

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