Sports channels want Olympic Signals from DD

Some sports channels such as ESPN & Zee Sports have approached Doordharshan India for sharing their feed for the 2008 Olympic Games in this subcontinent region. Many more sports channels such as Neo are also expected to request for a feed share.

This will enable a much better coverage of the event where at least one of the channels telecast the events making sure that no one misses out on the action. This will also benefit Sri Lankan viewers who have so far mainly relied on SLRC for Olympic coverage. Last time around the Athens games was telecast by Sirasa TV but it looks like this around it will be SLRC channels Rupavahini, Channel Eye/Nethra TV who will be covering the event.

Hopefully this feed sharing agreement between DD & the other sports channels will come through enabling this region to view the Olympic games without any interruption or bias towards certain events.

SLT to launch IPTV

Sri Lanka Telecom will be launching IPTV on June 17th according to sources. From June 15th to 17th a demonstration of the IPTV systems will be held at the BMICH. Two websites are available at the moment one being http://www.tomorrowyou.tv and Sri Lanka Telecom IPTV, the latter which would probably be the official website.

SLT is promising a whole set of features such as time shift television, Video on Demand, etc and hopefully they are all delivered as promised. It is not clear whether a prospective IPTV subscriber should already be a ADSL subscriber in order to be given a connection but according to sources a 2MB connection is required for IPTV.

With the broadcasting exhibition also in the corner it seems that Sri Lanka is seriously looking at moving into digital transmission mediums and with the entrance of SLT IPTV the competition between the pay television operators is poised to increase. All this only means that the subscribers get a better deal for their money.

The subscriber/equipment prices have not been released as yet. In addition the channel lineup has not been released yet however we believe that BBC World, NDTV Imagine, B4U Music and VH1 are already on board. We hope that the nagging problems of IPTV such as packet drops due to noise in cables and channel switching delays due to IP delays are not an issue with this service.

SLT IPTV Teasers

SLT IPTV is now running teasers over radio, television and the print media about the impending launch of their subscription service. The teasers run as "What about tomorrow - wait for a better option than satellite tv" and several variations of that.

SLT IPTV can be expected to launch this month or next since the promotions have already started. A new pay television service is indeed good for the country since it will lead to more competition and reduced rates (hopefully).

We will launch our SLT IPTV blog soon and till then stay tuned to this blog for more information about SLT IPTV on this blog. Anyone who knows information on a probable launch date as well as the channels that will be available initially is welcome to comment on this blog with the information.

Lost Season 4 to premiere on AXN Beyond

Season 4 of television series Lost will be premiering on AXN Beyond on June 10th. The unfortunate situation is that AXN Beyond is not available on any pay television operator in Sri Lanka unlike AXN. Many pay television subscribers followed this ever popular programme on AXN for the past three seasons and now the shift to AXN Beyond deprives many Sri Lankans the opportunity to view this programme.

SPE Networks has not taken into account the availability of AXN Beyond before deciding to premiere this programme on the channel.

We hope a repeat of this programme is at least carried on AXN or the programme should be shown simultaneously on both channels. If not AXN should offer AXN Beyond to all Sri Lankan pay television operators immediately and steps should be taken by June 10th by SPE Networks so that Sri Lankan viewers will not miss this programme.