No Free World Cup over RTM TV1 for Singapore Starhub viewer

Starhub has clarified that Radio Television Malaysia's (RTM) TV1 channel had been provided free as an 'act of goodwill' to subscribers here. There are therefore no plans to resume airing the channel here.

Starhub customers recently found that they were unable to receive Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) TV1 programming, as RTM had had the signal encrypted.

The withdrawal of RTM TV1 sparked strong reactions from Starhub subscribers. In particular, STOMPer kenmoo said that Singaporean service providers should encrypt their signals also, to prevent Malaysians from watching our channels free. Read the full article here.

A spokesperson for Starhub told STOMP:

"We refer to the online posting and comments on STOMP (June 12, 2010) regarding the availability of TV1 on StarHub TV.

"StarHub understands from Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) that it has received instructions from FIFA to encrypt its satellite signal source from June 11, 2010 so that only viewers in Malaysia are able to receive access to the 2010 FIFA World Cup matches on TV1. As the satellite signal source for TV1 is unavailable to StarHub, we are unable to offer the channel to viewers during this period.

"TV1 is a Malaysian Free-To-Air channel. Even though StarHub is under no commercial or regulatory obligation to offer TV1, we have been carrying the channel free-of-charge over our cable network to households in Singapore as a goodwill gesture.

"To clarify, StarHub does not receive any portion of TV licence fees. StarHub is one of the few pay-TV operators in the world that carries Free-To-Air channels on its network at no cost to TV audiences islandwide."

http://club.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/what_bugs_me/393514/if_rtm_malaysia_can_encrypt_tv_signal_singapore_should_too.html