Friday 9 August 2013

English Premier League: Starhub Vs SingTel

The match between Starhub and SingTel has kicked off.  This is the first year that EPL is available on both SingTel mioTV and its rival Starhub.

SingTel announced that the EPL, which kicks off on Aug 17, will cost $59.90 a month by itself (stand-alone fee).  This will be available to both SingTel's mioTV and Starhub subscribers.

MioTV customers will also be able to buy a bundle of football programmes, including the EPL, the Champions League and Spanish La Liga, plus entertainment programming, for $64.90.  Last year, SingTel sold a sports bundle which included EPL for $34.90.  Therefore, the cost almost double for SingTel mioTV subscribers for the new season.

Starhub subsequently announced their prices for the new cross-carriage Barclays Premier League on cable TV.

Customers who sign up for the EPL will now receive up to $30 off their bills per month up to a maximum total of $600 over the next two seasons.

This applies to all Starhub TV customers, both new and existing.  For existing customers, this monthly rebate applies to whatever current packages they are on.  The offer is also contract-free, and customers have until 30 September 2013 to sign up.

However, new and existing Starhub customers still have to pay the S$59.90 (cross-carried EPL package) stand-alone fee announced by rights owners SingTel.

If the Starhub TV bill amounts to less than $30 per month, it will be waived fully.  So technically if a brand new Starhub customer signs up for its promotional HD pack of $22.47, after discounting the S$30 monthly rebate, he could end up paying simply just S$59.90 to watch the EPL on the telco's platform.

Competition is supposed to bring benefits to consumers, by offer more choices and supposedly at lower cost.  However, this is not the case for EPL.  The consumers are the casualties in the telco companies bidding war for broadcasting rights.

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