Days without traditional TV have started to blend into each other and alternatives are becoming the new default. Scarey how quickly it happens.
My news is now euronews and web-based BBC World Service radio streaming. My entertainment is a mix of Granada TV (fabulous drama and will be even better when they get the names of the shows on the electronic programme guide), a bit of Sony Entertainment Television (good strong female leads and a brave woman who cooks with bell sleeves), some online browsing (and weeeeping that I can’t access the U.S. sites for catch up), loads and loads and loads of on-demand in various packages, and, of course, a very willing overdose of DVDs.
If my DVR hadn’t gone wrong, there’s no way in the world I would have gone on a hunt for alternatives. At least not so actively. But it did, and I did and I found loads and I haven’t decided how much going back there is.
I’m very likely to turn on the digital cable box again, but am I getting the DVR back? Maybe not. And am I getting the multiple boxes installed again. Definitely not, especially not when the regular digital box is half the price.
Where does that leave me on the StarHub value chain? At the bottom with all the other downsizers… and I’m good with that. But if they don’t have the box in my house, how are they going to up-sell me with value adds? Clearly not my problem.
I don’t for a minute think that anyone is going to follow me down the path of “what happens if i give up cable” for no good reason. Cable is varied and it’s pretty good value for money and there really is no real TV alternative yet in the tiny-weeny Singapore market. But if cable becomes a problem, it’s easier now to give it up than it used to be when there were zero alternatives. And that, if anything, is where StarHub’s challenge lies….
And, by the way, i STILL don’t know what went wrong with my box and it must be three weeks at least. How long does it take?
