Qns to ponder:
01. How did Infront Sports & Media AG, the company in Munich,
knows that RTM is being broadcasted to Singapore? Did RTM has to
declare it or did some company (ahem) "bao toh" them.
02. Why did Starhub have to use Satellite x-mission to receive RTM
signals when the cheaper alternative is just across the causeway?
Which should be the way we received RTM signals before Starhub's
cable points.
03. What is the TOR for RTM's satellite transmission? Is it only
for in-country transmission (i.e for east and west Msia). If it is,
then why is Starhub allowed to "tap" the Signals? If it is for
world wide transmission, then what right has Infront to get RTM to
scramble their digital signals, effectively disrupting other shows
on the channel.
04. Why is the "analogue signal" that SCV receive so bad when my
$13 home antenna can receive indonesia's SCTV clearly? Did they
receive the Signal with an $8 antenna bought from Sim Lim? :p
Ref Article - LOST IN TRANSMISSION - The New
Paper: 10 June 2006
TUNE in to RTM1 (StarHub Ch 39) today and you will see a shaky,
grainy picture with a crawler apologising for the distortion (see
below).
The crawler is by Singapore cable-TV provider StarHub. The shaky
pictures are from Radio Television Malaysia 1 (RTM 1).
This started happening just three days before the start of the
World Cup last night.
Click to see larger image
When StarHub sends the signal to its subscribers over Ch39, the
unscrambled code makes the image flicker. The quality of picture is
poor and grainy.--Pictures:Kelvin Chng
Coincidence? No.
Singapore viewers cried foul, complaining on Internet forums of
'kelong'. They felt they were being robbed of watching World Cup
matches for free.
RTM1 is broadcasting 25 live and delayed matches on its channel,
which is received free-to-air here.
The more suspicious viewers thought the signals were deliberately
being scrambled by StarHub so that people would have no choice but
to pay for its special World Cup coverage over five channels.
StarHub bought the rights to telecast all 64 matches live over five
channels reportedly for about $15 million. (See report on page
4.)
But it is charging a $16 to $26 premium, depending on whether the
viewer already subscribes to its sports channels. The RTM1
telecasts would have let viewers watch some of the matches for
free.
MediaCorp's Channel 5 is showing only four matches live: The
opening match, the two semi-finals and the final.
Now the mystery has been solved: StarHub is innocent.
The instruction to scramble signals to Singapore came from Munich,
home of Infront Sports & Media AG, media rights distributor for
the 2006 Fifa World Cup.
It is not known how much RTM1 paid Infront Sports & Media AG
for the telecast rights.
PUZZLED
When The New Paper first asked StarHub to explain the mystery on
Thursday, it said it was also puzzled.
StarHub first realised on Wednesday that the digital satellite
signal feed for RTM1 had gone awry.
It resorted to using images from a conventional analog antenna and
is continuing to fine-tune the images received by the
antenna.
Pressed further by The New Paper yesterday, StarHub finally
discovered that the scrambling is being done by RTM1.
Ms Jeannie Ong, head of corporate communications and investor
relations at StarHub, said: 'The deterioration in the signal
quality of RTM1 since 7 Jun was caused when Radio Television
Malaysia began scrambling the satellite signal source that StarHub
has been relying upon.
'We have just confirmed that RTM has received instructions from
Infront Sports & Media AG, the sports and media rights
distributor for the 2006 Fifa World Cup, to encrypt its satellite
source so that only viewers in Malaysia are able to receive access
to the World Cup matches on RTM1.'
In a faxed letter that StarHub's senior vice-president Sandie Lee
received yesterday, RTM's senior sports producer Albert Khoo wrote:
'It is with regret that RTM has been encrypting its signal since
the past two days.'
Mr Khoo added that the signal scramble had to do with 'rights
infringement' and 'RTM's obligation on World Cup is to contain
within its territory'.
Then came a twist.
Yesterday, RTM's director of programming Norliza Ali told The New
Paper over the phone that all RTM signals were as per normal, and
that 'nothing has been changed'.
But Mr Khoo said in his letter that the signal would be back to
normal only after the World Cup.
Ms Ong clarified that StarHub does not change the quality of
signals it receives.
'StarHub had to revert to an antenna signal, which is the next best
signal feed available to us.
'Although we have been carrying the channel free-of-charge via our
cable network to households in Singapore, we do not control the
quality of the RTM1 signals received.'
We contacted Mr Jeorg Polzer, director of communications at Infront
Sports & Media AG, in Munich. He confirmed that his company had
told RTM to encrypt its signal so that only Malaysian viewers could
watch the channel.
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