SINGAPORE: SingTel has apologised to its
mio TV customers for the patchy coverage of Sunday night’s English
Premier League (EPL) matches.
CEO for SingTel’s consumer division in
Singapore, Yuen Kuan Moon, said some customers “experienced
intermittent viewing difficulties” on May 13, between approximately
10pm and midnight.
This was due to an unprecedented number of viewers tuning in for
the season finale.
At its peak, there were ten matches playing concurrently.
SingTel said the close links between two of the main matches saw
a high number of customers switching repeatedly between channels at
unusually high frequency.
The switching volumes were five times higher than usual, and the
surge caused the system to slow.
Its engineers took immediate action to rectify the problem.
SingTel said it was moving urgently to enhance its switching
system to ensure future peaks are accommodated.
mio TV customers located around Ang Mo Kio, Toa Payoh, Tampines,
Bukit Panjang and Central areas were potentially affected.
mio TV subscribers had complained of repeated interruptions
during the “live” telecast of the matches between Manchester City
and Queens Park Rangers and simultaneous coverage of the match
between Sunderland and Manchester United.
It was the last 10 minutes of the important matches that
infuriated many.
Instead of the two late winning goals by EPL champions Manchester City, all fans saw were frozen
frames of the finale.
Subscribers to mio TV’s online package, however, were not
affected.
Upset mio TV customers raged online, with some demanding
compensation.
Viewers also said a purple screen appeared many times during the
season, while past coverage of the FA Cup and Carling Cup was also
interrupted.
They said poor transmission has been a consistent problem with
mio TV.
Matthew Soh lamented that the match he was watching was muted
all the way.
To make matters worse, Manchester United fan Lucas Karl Xavier
said that he dialled SingTel’s customer hotline, only to hang up
after he was put on hold for 20 minutes.
- CNA/wm
cant stop laughing when i read this.
