Dating My TV #13

See "Dating My TV #12".

In Oct this year, there was a big hoo-haa after a local Telco, SingTel, won the rights to broadcast EPL matches for three years from August 2010. This has shocked many as rival telco, Starhub has reigned this turf for the last 12 years.


There was immediately a huge outrage among the football fans here in Singapore. An avalanche of comments soon poured in by the Netizens and most of them were upset with the switch.

This episode illustrates at least one thing - the football fans community in Singapore takes the broadcasting of major football games very seriously.


I am not a football fan. Naturally, I am the least attracted to the football channels on Starhub's "TV on Mobile". Currently, there are three of such channels - "Football Channel", "Goal TV1" and "Goal TV2".

When I first used "TV on Mobile", I was skeptical about anyone ever wanting to watch football matches on mobile phones. I argued that the tiny screen size on mobile phones would have killed the joy of watching such programs. Nonetheless, I tried watching it once or twice. Even though I was not sure about what was going on, I could imagine the thrill of a die-hard fan watching his favorite match on the go.


According to the Starhub website:

"The Football Channel is all about football, with three of the top four leagues in the world- The Barclays Premier League, the Spanish Primera Liga and the German Bundesliga. It also offers viewers Asian and South American football, with the J-League and the Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana."; and

"Goal TV is a dedicated football network with distribution across 14 countries since the launched in 2004. GOAL TV 1 and GOAL TV 2 are two 24-hour channels featuring comprehensive coverage of top clubs Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Barcelona FC and Bayern Munich, and live games from major European leagues. "

I would have to leave it to football fans to comment on the quality of the coverage.

See earlier "Dating My TV" posts.