MiTV anyone?

Finally, after 9 months of delay, MiTV will be live from tomorrow onwards. The paid TV service will initially be broadcasted in the Klang Valley, with a full rollout across Malaysia in the next few quarters.

A statement issued at MiTV's launch yesterday said the decoder, which is called an Interactive Multimedia Terminal Setop Box (STB), is priced at RM1,188. This does not include the cost of installing an ultra-high frequency (UHF) antenna if the subscriber does not have one. I wonder how MiTV justifies itself with this huge price tag on its decoder when ASTRO subscribers could get an ASTRO decoder for a mere RM199. The high entry cost will probably deter many from signing up, especially those from the lower income group.

The monthly subscription for the service, which will be on a prepaid basis, is RM68. MiTV is waiving four months’ subscription for those who sign up before Dec 31. Hmm... Why not MiTV charge RM999 for the decoder and give one or two month less of subscription? This seems to be a more marketable offer to me. High initial start up cost could put off many potential subscribers.

I've managed to take a brief look at the MiTV website.

To my shock, I was welcomed by this message upon accessing http://www.mitv.com.my.

Announcement: The MiTV website is experiencing high congestion due to the very high numbers of visitors accessing the site. As a result the page loads may be slow. We sincerely apologise for this inconvenience. Please try the alternative mirror pages below to access the site.

C'mon MiTV. Don't tell me you only have the bandwidth to accomodate 10 persons at one time. Web hosting is so cheap nowadays that you could afford big bandwith at very low cost. I seriously hope this does not reflect on the service that MiTV is planning to provide. Probably there won't be enough bandwidth to accomodate all the subscribers as well, as MiTV only anticipated 1,000.



I clicked on one of the mirror site in order to access. To my horror the website looks so amateurish. The quality of the graphics is really low, as though the web designer only have a lousy graphic software to work with. Next I tried to find my way around the website. Not much of info on the site really, not enough to attract me as a subscriber. MiTV currently offers 39 channels. It will increase the number of channels to 50 soon. This compared to more than 100 channels offered by ASTRO. I also noticed that there are no dedicated sports channels! This will certainly put off a significant number of football and F1 fans! Furthermore, many of the channels offered definitely do not ring a bell in me.

MiTV also offers other services on top of paid TV, namely Mail Zone, Chat Zone, Fun Zone, World Wide Web and Web Garden. To be frank I can't be bothered to check out these services as I would prefer to do everything online through my PC.

In the months leading up to the launch of MiTV, many had speculated that MiTV will pose a threat to ASTRO. But after my brief assessment of MiTV, I doubt that MiTV will stand a chance against ASTRO. There might be some who will get MiTV in addition to ASTRO, but definitely not switching from ASTRO to MiTV!

Anyway, these are only my comments based on the information I could gather from the press and MiTV website. First impression is important, isn't it? Hopefully the real MiTV is better than this. We will find out in months to come. All the best Tan Sri Vincent Tan!