Stupid Move - swapping Ten Sports for Ten Cricket

In senseless move DTV have temporarily decided to swap Ten Sports with Ten Cricket during the "live" cricket matches commencing today.

Ten Sports shows a majority of live non cricketing content & wrestling, etc. The better option would have been to swap Ten Action (which has less live content) with Ten Cricket for the "live" cricket.

Taking the best option does not seem to be part of DTV culture, they seem to be relying their business strategies on stupid options.

Hopefully the HIGH & MIGHTY decision makers at DTV would take notice of what we have highlighted and do something proper. DTV seems to be making a habit of replacing channels instead of adding new ones.

Over to the HIGH & MIGHTY at DTV, hopefully before the end of the day, some sense would have got into them.

Please keep us updated on what the HIGH & MIGHTY'S at DTV are upto in the days to ahead.

ETV replaces Max TV

ETV has replaced Max TV on the Dialog TV channel lineup as of last night. This is actually a good move since Prime TV which was the only Local English Language Television channel and it has not lived upto expectations ever since its launch last year.

Many of us were under the impression that Max TV went blank in order for Dialog TV to add Ten Cricket but now it is interesting to see which channel will be removed to make way for Ten Cricket. Hopefully it will be one of the crappy Hindi channels which are available on Dialog TV.

Dialog TV could also get rid of Prime TV or TH TV in order to add Ten Cricket. In addition Dialog is having problems with Aarti TV and should remove the channel and add a Hindu channel from India.

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

New Software update

Well people it looks like a brand new software update is now available for Dialog TV STB's. The notable changes are apparently

1. The volume control has moved to Top Left Hand Corner of the screen.
2. Current & Next Programme EPG on Channel Preview Screen.
3. New Dialog Logo at bottom right.
4. Faster loading of EPG.

You can either wait for Dialog to automatically update the software or if you are impatient then you can always do the following.

1. Press "Menu".
2. Select "Info".
3. Select "Software Upgrade".
   
4. Press "Ok".

Whatever you do, please do not switch off the decoder until the software has been updated. On some channels scrolling messages can be seen indicating the availability of the software upgrade.

In addition to the scroll we believe Dialog TV should have sent a message via their mailing system directly to the decoders.

On a positive note Dialog TV is at least updating channel names faster than before. Hallmark rebranded as DIVA Universal on Sunday & by monday morning Dialog TV had updated their channel lineup as well as website.

We hope Ten Cricket is added soon & the new Fox Family Movies channel is added which is expected to compliment Star Movies.

May Dialog TV Rest In Peace

Well it has been several weeks after the launch of Ten Cricket and their is still no sign of Ten Cricket on Dialog TV. LBN launched Ten Cricket first and for a company that carries the motto "The Future Today", Dialog TV certainly has never lived up to its expectations.

Well now it looks like Hallmark Channel will become Diva Universal from September 19th and Zee Sports will launch off as Ten Action soon. We hope Dialog TV updates the screen names on the exact launch dates.

Well with the increasing migration of subscribers to Indian DTH operators. We can confirm that Dialog TV is taking the path of pioneer pay television operator "Comet Cable". May All of them Rest In Peace.

We hope the management of Dialog TV of Dialog TV take steps to rectify the situation otherwise their monthly paychecks will also RIP.

DTV abandons MPEG4 conversion

A couple of years ago Dialog TV promised MPEG4 to its subscribers for better clarity & also the ability to increase the number of channels per transponder which would mean more channels at comparatively lower rentals. This was carried out with Dialog TV teams visiting residences and replacing decoders with the new MPEG4 compatible ones. Many decoders were replaced and now almost 2 or 3 years the project has been abandoned. We are receiving reports that older defective MPEG4 decoders are being replaced with new MPEG2 decoders effectively indicating the death of MPEG4 conversion project.

This would mean that new channels additions would take place at the expense of existing channels or new transponders which would increase Dialog TV overheads. HD channels could be accommodated into MPEG2 but would cost more in terms of transponder space.

There was a time advertising was carried out with indicators that the Dialog TV platform was MPEG4 but that was stopped after we highlighted the false information on this blog.

It is sad to note that Dialog TV has decided to follow the steps taken by Comet Cable. the result for Comet Cable was its ultimate death. We are yet to see if Dialog TV would end up having the same result. It is not too late since Dialog Management can turn things around and make this into a more successful customer oriented operation. There are no indications of that happening at the moment but hopefully, it does happen eventually.

Discovery Science & Turbo launched

After about 4 months of so called testing finally Discovery Science & Discovery Turbo channels have been launched by Dialog TV. Discovery Turbo will occupy Channel No. 1 slot and Discovery Science will occupy the slot which contained the Zing Channel. Discovery Science has been added at the expense of Zing, which is now also been telecast by FTA channel Siyatha TV during the day time.

The channels are overpriced at Rs 199 + taxes per channel. Initial information suggested that Discovery Science will be added free for the Emerald, Gold packages & Discovery Turbo will be added to the Gold package but it looks like both channels are free only for the Gold package and all else will have to pay additional to activate the channel.

Dialog should reduce the rates for these channels & and renegotiate pricing with Discovery Networks. We urge subscribers in lower packages to refrain from activating these channels at the extra cost thereby forcing Dialog TV into a position to reduce the pricing and add at least both or one of these channels FOC for a few other packages.

The next step Dialog TV should take is to drop another low profile Hindi Channel and add Ten Cricket since all cricket content owned by Ten Sports is to move into Ten Cricket.

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

Work properly Dialog TV & replace staff who are slacking in their job

Dialog TV needs a serious wake up call, in addition to the constant complains of severe pixelation & low quality transmissions that are being carried out. They cannot seem to be able to carry out updating their channel list if a channel is re branded. Looks like the CEO downwards are sleeping on the job.

History Channel became "Fox History & Entertainment" ages ago. But Dialog still carries channel list name as "History". Now it is understandable that the name is crazily long, so the least they can do is change the name to "Fox History".

CCTV9 became CCTV News a couple of months ago, but the channel list shows as "CCTV9". It is high time they updated the name to "CCTV News".

On September 1st "Discovery Travel & Living" will become "TLC", carry out the updation on the correct day.

On September 19th "Hallmark" will become "DIVA Universal", hopefully that too is updated on the correct day.

These are just the minor problems in addition to the major ones such as severe transmission pixelation, slow addition of channels, greedy price revisions. We can at this moment confirm that several subscribers have left Dialog TV and moved on to Indian DTH operators & many are to follow suit. The subscriber migration has worsened after the addition of new HD channels by Indian DTH operators at no extra cost. As a famous blogger mentioned on this site, when Dialog TV adds HD channels they will charge additionally Rs 1000/= per channel.

Whether or not Dialog TV likes to admit it, they are facing competition from Indian DTH operators also, local PEO TV & LBN are just pus competition. At the moment Dialog TV does not have to worry about local pay operators but they will be undone by Indian DTH operators and the undoing has already begun with this migration of subscribers.

It is very very sad that DTV does not know that their undoing has begun, it leaves us with the impression that the people are not familiar with what they are doing & are hoodwinking their superiors. It is time for management to take urgent steps and make some progress or HR to replace staff members even if it means to sack the CEO & replace him, if he is not doing his job properly. At the moment he is not doing his job and the staff are following him by not doing their job.

It is time for Dr Hans to check on activities within Dialog TV & make sure everyone from the CEO of Dialog TV downwards are fulfilling their duties properly. Over to Dialog Axiata & Axiata Group of Malaysia.