Comet Cable Forum: 2007

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

We like to take this opportunity to wish our Bloggers, the Management and Staff of Comet Cable "A Very Merry Christmas" and "A Happy New Year 2008".

We hope that Comet Digital becomes a reality at least in 2008. Please keep us updated on the latest on Comet Cable as the days progress and into the new year.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Comet Cable crashing?

Comet subscribers are being greatly inconvenienced by the sudden removal of further channels from their lineup. The subscribers are being robbed of their hard earned money by the removal of many top notch channels and replacing them with some lower quality channels but are still paying the same rental for lower quality channels.

Ten Sports is off air on Comet Cable and it seems that Comet Cable is saying that there is a problem with Ten Sports transmission but there are no problems with the reception on either Dialog TV/LBN.
Cartoon Network went off air and has been replaced with Nick.
Star Sports has been replaced with some low quality channel.
Ten Sports replaced with DD Sports.
ESPN has been taken off air.
Animal Planet is also off air.

We hope that the management of Comet Cable will take steps to rectify the problems. We urge Comet subscribers to group together and approach the company without letting them rip off subscribers on such a huge scale. One or two channels going down can be excused but not an entire group of top notch channels.

Please keep us updated on the latest on Dialog TV as the days progress.

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Comet in trouble?

According to information being received by us Comet Cable has removed all Sports Channels from its lineup. It all started with the replacement of Ten Sports with Star Cricket and now all Sports Channels are gone. According to information when Customer Care is contacted they say that none of the sports channels will return during the course of this month. Information also suggests that the sale of Comet Cable to the Indian management failed due to the present legal battles that the company is involved in.

The digital plan that was announced via the website has now become stale news and many are now questioning the real motive behind this announcement. The opinion is that Comet Cable has made this announcement in order to prevent the loss of subscribers to Dialog TV/LBN Digital.

Confusion reigns among the subscribers with channels going off air and the announcement of Comet Digital. We hope Comet Cable management will take immediate steps to rectify the problems.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Comet Digital/Dreams

It is now two months since the latest round of "Comet Digital" rumors started and well nothing has happened so far. We are having doubts whether this was all started by Comet Cable to prevent the loss of subscribers to either Dialog TV/LBN/Dish TV or some small cable operator in your area which has more channels than Comet Cable for a lesser cost.

There has been no official communication from Comet Cable regarding this. Nothing regarding the new owners. Everyones in the dark, even their employees probably don't know what is going on. Several years ago a rumor like this started and the website was updated with digital plans but nothing materialized. Will it be the same this time, well only time will tell? To be fair we should also take into account that deploying a digital network and getting it up and running is no simple task however with no visible progress things don't seem to be that good.

We hope that Comet Management will reveal who they are first and then officially unveil their digital plans with a time frame so that subscribers who are frustrated and want to make a switch would be retained.

Please keep us updated on the latest on Comet Cable as the days progress.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Digital testing to commence today?

According to unconfirmed reports it seems that Comet Cable is commencing Digital testing from today September 19th 2007. The announcement is said to have been scrolled during the Australia vs Pakistan Twenty20 match last night.

We hope that anyone who is able to confirm this information would comment here. At the time of posting this article there is no information on the Comet Cable website regarding this digital testing.

Initial reports did indicate that Comet Digital will be launching by September/October however no official announcement has been made yet.

Thursday, September 06, 2007

Will it be this month?

Comet subscribers are eagerly expecting the launch of Comet Digital which was initially rumored for this month. Comet Management has not made any official announcement regarding the launch dates as yet however we are lead to believe that they may be carrying out testing which is probably resulting in some channels being taken off air from Comet Cable.

There may be chances that the launch may be postponed to October but in any case the launch will not be a commercial one initially, since they will first concentrate on converting their existing subscribers to digital.

We hope that Comet management will make an official announcement regarding their digital plans and would officially release the names of the channels that will be on the new platform.

We take this opportunity to request our fellow bloggers to strictly adhere to the rules set out for comments that are listed at the bottom of the right hand column under the title "Commenting Rules". In addition we have also disabled Anonymous commenting which means that anyone who wants to post a comment will require to get a Blogger Account.

Please keep us updated on the latest on Comet Cable as the days progress.

Friday, August 31, 2007

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Comet Digital Officially announced on website

Comet Cable have officially announced the launch of Comet Digital on their website http://www.cometcable.com/ plus some of the things we can expect from "Comet Digital". Rumors indicate that the soft launch of Comet Digital will take place in September. Initially the existing subscribers are expected to be converted onto the digital platform before promoting it to attract new subscribers. According to sources Comet will actively promote Comet Digital to attract new subscribers from December onwards but if all goes well they may do this earlier.

Comet Digital is expected to contain the following features

60 Channels.
Free Digital Decoder
Same Antenna
No Change in Subscription
Razor Sharp Pictures
Lifelike Surround Sounds

Comet is also planning to include an Electronic Programme Guide as well as increase the number of channels to above 60 as they roll out their digital system. What is interesting is that the present antenna will be retained but the decoder will be changed free of charge for existing subscribers. The subscription will also not be increased at the moment. Certain Comet Subscribers would certainly like to reduce the height of their existing antenna since it is very high, we hope that Comet will take steps to reduce the height of the existing antenna once the digital system is in place. However if line of sight is a must then this may not be possible. Comet should also take steps to increase the coverage of Comet to cover more regions in Sri Lanka.

The launch of Comet Digital will certainly add value and increase competition in the pay television industry which is at present limited to Dialog TV and LBN.

Please keep us updated on the latest on Comet Cable as the days progress.

Friday, August 24, 2007

September is close at hand

So with only a few days to go for the month of September it seems that many subscribers are looking forward to the launch of Comet Digital. At the moment there is no publicity is being carried out regarding the launch of Comet Digital. There is some information that suggests that the digital launch has been delayed but we are unable to confirm this and this time it looks like Comet is on track for the digital launch. However anything is possible since this has not been publicized as yet.

According to information received last it seems that Discovery Channel has gone off air on Comet Cable for the second time this year, but we are not sure whether it has returned and we hope that our readers will be able to shed some light on this.

We hope that Comet will publicize its plans for the digital launch and announce the official launch date soon. Hopefully Discovery Channel went off air due to some upgrading being done in relation to the digital launch and not some petty payment issue.

Please keep us updated on the latest regarding Comet Cable as the days progress.

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

What can we expect when digital comes

And if it does come and when it comes, then Comet subscribers will get a much better service than they are getting now, which is stating the obvious.

By going through the comments on the blog it seems that subscribers are raising questions about the new digital service.

Will a Dish replace the tall antenna?
Highly unlikely since Comet we believe would opt for DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcasting - Terrestrial) instead of DVB-S (Digital Video Broadcasting - Satellite presently used by Dialog TV). We are not sure whether the antenna will need to be at the present height though but since DVB-T also needs line of sight the height may remain the same. You may not have to use the same antenna and they might change it to a new one but if the antenna is kept the change over to digital from analog will be cheaper.

Will their be a limitation in capacity?
Yes, since they are operating on a wireless frequency they will be having limited capacity and will be able to carry only a certain number of channels per frequency but this can be overcome by adding other frequencies to expand. This is not only for Comet the same limitation exists with Dialog TV too since they can only add a limited number of channels per transponder and they also expand by adding new transponders and adding channels to the other frequencies. The operator who has the highest bandwidth at the moment and can expand without adding anything is LBN since they are operating on DVB-C (Digital Video Broadcasting - Cable). We are not sure how the limitations works for digital services over copper cables and we hope that someone can enlighten us on this.

What are the new features?
Electronic programme guides, Internet Access, Movie on Demand, Pay per view and a whole host of others. These are the general features but it depends on what Comet decides to implement and what not to not to implement but according to a website they had earlier for Comet Digital some of these services were listed.

Will there be rain fade?
Not sure but it is highly unlikely

The above is from the information that we gathered from external sources and it was not supplied by Comet Cable. We are not technicians and not experts in DVB-S, DVB-C, DVB-T and if there are any factual errors please highlight them to us.

Comet Digital according to the rumors is expected to launch in September 2007 and we would like our fellow bloggers to keep us updated on the latest on Comet as the days progress.

Monday, August 06, 2007

Star Cricket introduced

Comet Cable became the second pay television operator behind LBN to introduce Star Cricket on their platform according to unconfirmed sources. The introduction was carried out during the weekend at the expense of removing VH1/MTV. We believe that the channel that was replaced will return to Comet once they launch digital operations.

Star Cricket which is part of the ESPN Star Sports package is a dedicated 24 hour cricket channel which has the rights for some of the major ICC cricket tournaments over the next 11 years. The addition of Star Cricket is welcomed by many Comet Cable subscribers.

We are receiving conflicting reports regarding Comet Digital and we hope that the management of Comet Cable will make an official statement regarding the launch of Comet Digital. We hope that the Comet Digital campaign is not being carried out in order to retain subscribers from switching over to LBN or Dialog TV since they have an impressive lineup of channels and Dialog TV have launched the Star Package and are expected to launch Star Cricket within the next few days.

Please keep us updated on the latest developments regarding Comet Cable as the days progress.

Thursday, August 02, 2007

More on Comet Digital Plans

Rumors indicate that Comet will be launching Digital Services by September 2007. Comet is not giving any information regarding the new channels or subscription rates and connection rates but it seems that after several years of being delayed Comet Digital will be a reality soon. We also received a scanned copy of the Comet Newsletter and we are publishing it below for your reference. We hope that will also not get stretched like any of the previous announcements. If this becomes a reality, there will be three companies (Dialog TV, LBN and Comet Digital) vying for the spot of leading cable television operator in Sri Lanka and soon they will be joined by SLT IPTV. All this will mean that the subscriber will reap the benefits from the competitive offers.

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Comet unveils digital plans?

According to unconfirmed sources it has come to our notice that Comet Cable has revealed their digital plans along with their August schedule. We are however unable to confirm this and we request any Comet Subscriber to scan the information and email it to tvradiosrilanka@yahoo.com as soon as possible.

If this is true then it is great news for Comet subscribers and also for subscribers of other operators since increased competition would mean a better deal for the subscriber.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Discovery Channel, Animal Planet return

Discovery Channel and Animal Planet have returned to Comet Cable according to unconfirmed sources. We believe that this was a payment problem and it seems that they have sorted it out. We hope that this does not happen again and all the renegotiation and payment are made before the contract expires. We are unable to confirm who the new owners of Comet Cable are. As soon as we have the information we will update this blog with it.

Comet is facing some severe competition from the likes of LBN and Dialog TV and soon competition will come from SLT IPTV. Comet should upgrade their broadcasting technology and provide their subscribers with a better choice.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Discovery Channel, Animal Planet now off air

It seems that Discovery Channel and Animal Planet are now off air on Comet Cable. According to reports received it seems that Customer Service is saying that they are in process of negotiating with Discovery Communications and the problem will be solved in about two days.

We hope that Comet stream lines their renegotiating process so that the channels are not taken off air during the negotiations. It looks like Comet has not paid their dues to Discovery either which is why the channels have been taken off air otherwise there is no need to take the channels off air to negotiate. We hope this is solved soon.

Please update us on this latest development on Comet Cable.

Friday, July 06, 2007

Star Package Back? Reason for disconnection - non payment

Unconfirmed reports say that the Star Package has returned to Comet Cable from last night. We hope that some of our bloggers will be able to confirm this to us.

Anyway the reason Comet Cable lost the Star Package is confirmed as non-payment of dues. According to information obtained from a source who wanted to remain anonymous, we are able to confirm this. The emails forwarded to us by this source out of which we have copied one below without revealing the names and email addresses, gives us the whole story. According to the email received last afternoon the discussions are continuing but it seems that things have worked out by last night. This is indeed great relief to the subscribers of Comet Cable.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: XXXXXXX (STAR India) < XXXXXXX@in.startv.com>

Date: 05-Jul-2007 14:54
Subject: RE: FW: STAR distribution
To: XXXX <XXXX@gmail.com>

Dear Mr. XXXX,

We are close to finalizing the deal with Dialog TV and STAR services would be on shortly.

With regard to Comet Cable, we have deactivated our services to them on account of large outstanding and non-payment of our dues. We are in discussion with them and hopefully the same would be resolved shortly.

Regards,
XXXXXXX

Thursday, July 05, 2007

Comet Cable please clarify

It is being several weeks since Star Plus, Star World and Star Movies was taken off air from Comet Cable. Assurances were made that the channels will return on June 2nd but as of now nothing has happened.

Several subscribers may not pay their subscription this month and many are contemplating a move to either LBN or Dialog TV. The Star Package and Ten Sports is what kept many existing subscribers from making the move, but Dialog TV have already acquired Ten Sports and will be introducing the Star Package during the course of this month or next. LBN too have the Star Package but no Ten Sports and it is not that Comet Subscribers have no choice. So if Comet does not reintroduce the channels then we may see the end of this company.

OR has the end already begun with the disappearance of Star Movies, Star Plus and Star World. We hope that Comet Cable Management will take immediate steps to rectify the situation.

Friday, June 29, 2007

First Star Movies, Star Plus and now Star World off air

Comet Cable the pioneer pay television company in Sri Lanka which is now in the hands of new owners who have not being identified as yet, has lost Star World on their lineup.

Initially a few days ago, Star Plus, Star Movies and Star World were taken off air and reports suggest that they were disconnected due to non payment. However on the same day Star World returned and rumors were that this channel was being telecast illegally via a Tata SKY connection that is owned by Comet Cable. However on Wednesday June 27th 2007 Star World was also taken off air and has not returned as yet. Many subscribers who had called the company had been told that Star World will return by last evening and according to reports reaching us, as of this moment the article is being posted Star World and the other two Star channels are not available.

We urge the new management of Comet Cable to carry out a press release regarding this situation and take immediate steps to bring relief to the subscribers of Comet Cable.

Monday, June 25, 2007

What is happening no Star Movies, Star Plus yet?

We are receiving reports that Star Movies and Star Plus are still not yet available after they went off air on June 21st. According to initial reports Star World is being telecast via Tata SKY which is not legal but we wonder why they do not do the same with Star Movies and Star Plus. One reason could be because the Star Movies that Comet Cable shows is the East Asia feed but Star Movies on Tata SKY is the Indian feed. Maybe the same reason applies for Star Plus. Hopefully a Comet Subscriber could enlighten us whether they were receiving the Indian feed of Star Plus or some other feed. Star World would not have been a problem for Comet Cable since the feed they telecasted is the same Indian feed that is being carried by Tata SKY.

Comet Cable had promised its subscribers that the problem will be sorted out within the day but so far nothing has happened. At the moment they seem to be telecasting some DD Hindi channels as a replacement.

Comet Cable has to get its act together soon since rival pay television provider Dialog TV have signed up with Star and will be providing their channels by the end of this month. For Comet to survive Comet Digital is a must or else they will be fighting a loosing battle since more competition is in the horizon from SLT IPTV and a probable expansion of LBN Digital services.

Friday, June 22, 2007

Star Movies, Star Plus off air?

From yesterday we are receiving news reports that the Star TV channels are not operational on Comet Cable anymore. It seems that initially Star Movies, Star World and Star Plus were taken off air but then Star World returned but Star Movies and Star Plus did not return.

According to unconfirmed information seems that due to non payment of dues the channels have been disconnected and it seems that Star World is being telecast via a Tata SKY connection that is owned by Comet Cable. Customer Service says that due to a technical problem the channels Star Movies and Star Plus have been taken off air.

We are unable to ascertain the true cause and the above is from unconfirmed sources. We hope that our fellow bloggers will be able to update us via comments on the true cause of the channels being taken off air.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Comet Cable shares sold

According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald of June 12th 2007 it is said that Ultrapay Limited has sold its share in Multivision that is owned indirectly by its subsidiary Chalmway.

The proceeds of the sale, a profit of nearly Aus $ 1.2 Million have been received by Ultrapay/Chalmway. There is no indication on who the buyer is. It is surprising that no Sri Lankan business report carried this information.

Please read the links given below.

Please update us the latest regarding Comet Cable such as who the buyer is and other related information as the days progress.

About Ultrapay - http://finance.google.com/finance?q=ASX:ULT
Announcement - Ultrapay sells share

PDF Document Detailing the Sale - Download Page

For those who cannot download, the PDF document reads as follows

UltraPay today announces that it has sold its share in the Sri Lankan Pay TV business indirectly held by its subsidiary Chalmway Pty Ltd. The sale will result in a A$1.2m profit on the transaction in the current half year. The sale terms were unconditional and sale proceeds have been received. The profit received on the sale of the Chalmway business was at the top end of our expectations. It is a pleasing outcome given the considerable uncertainty surrounding the sale and the difficult environment of Sri Lanka, Michael Boyd, Chairman of UltraPay Limited stated. The funds from this sale will provide the capital required for the London taxi mobile payments rollout and allow us to focus on the growth of this business The technical and commercial pilots have progressed extremely well, and we expect to be able to rollout in volume from October he added. The Company is also making progress toward the sale of the remaining holding in its other non-core business Telcogames. The anticipated cash return from this sale
should be in excess of $1.5m. Strong interest in the Companys mobile payments system from a number of European, Asian and South American countries provides further good growth opportunities for the Company.

Monday, June 04, 2007

Comet still continues........

Comet is still live and kicking, and is great news for those who thought that Comet may loose some of its frequencies on June 1st but as of now everything seems good and hopefully it will stay that way. Even we were under the impression that on June 1st something may happen since Comet was not replying to our emails either.

Now since the day has passed without any incident it is best for Comet Cable to get their digital transmissions off the ground and start competing with the rest of the pay television operators in Sri Lanka.

We hope Comet Cable management will confirm to us the date of their digital launch.

We hope that Comet Subscribers will make use of this forum to exchange ideas instead of concentrating on accusing and fooling other pay television operators and hopefully subscribers of other pay television operators will stay away from this forum.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Mixed information flowing in

With the deadline of June 1st for releasing some of its frequencies for Wimax services fast approaching, we are getting mixed information about the future of Comet Cable. Comet Cable has not taken any steps to reply our emails regarding their future plans or what the future holds for their subscribers.

Some reports indicated that a message was flashed across the Star Package on channels such as Star World, Star Movies, Star Plus on Comet Cable saying "THIS CABLE NETWORK HAS LARGE PAYMENT DUE AND LIABLE FOR DISCONNECTION" on May 7th/8th. We are unable to verify the accuracy of the said message.

Subscribers have informed us that they have received the programme guides for the month of May. What we understand is that Comet Cable will have to release a certain segment of its frequencies for the Wimax services and have therefore been asked to convert to digital to continue serving customers. What Comet may do is release those frequencies and drop some channels and continue on the remaining frequencies until they convert to digital. We are not sure whether this possible and a knowledgeable person in this field is welcome to give his/her thoughts.

Anyone with a better knowledge on this subject of the Wimax frequencies and the Comet frequencies is welcome to email us or make a comment regarding this matter.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Comet Cable's silence is suspicious

Comet Cable has not answered any of our questions on the questionnaire (see post on March 9th 2007) that we emailed them. We were able to get replies from LBN and Dialog TV for some questions that we emailed them and they were posted in their respective blogs several weeks ago but Comet has been keeping quiet and the excuse given by Mr. Harold is that relevant management personnel have been forwarded the questions and that the reply has not been received as yet from them.

One of the contentious issues that we raised is regarding the June 1st deadline by the TRC and the future of Comet Cable.

According to the present situation we are forced to come to the conclusion that June 1st may indeed be the end for Comet Cable. If that were not so then we do not see a need for Comet Cable to delay answering our questions.

Friday, March 16, 2007

Comet Cable telecasted SET Max illegally?

We are getting unconfirmed reports that Comet Cable actually started telecasting the match between Sri Lanka and Bermuda only to abruptly stop it later on. The live telecast is supposed to have been broadcast using a SET Max feed obtained from Indian DTH service Tata SKY. According to reports a crawler on the screen inserted by Tata SKY appeared warning against unauthorized rebroadcasting of the feed which was apparently censored by Comet Cable sometime later. Several customers had called Comet Cable regarding the censorship and after about an hour later the live telecast was stopped and VH1 was back on instead of the match.

We hope Comet will not resort to practices such as illegal rebroadcasting but will legally try to obtain rights and telecast the matches live. Illegal broadcasting will only result in Comet Cable falling into a further financial mess with all the legal action that can be brought against them in addition to the unstable financial situation of the company.

It should be noted that not only is the live telecast illegal but Comet is also possessing an illegal Tata SKY connection.

The claimed Press Briefing

Comments have been appearing on this blog claiming that Comet Cable carried out a press briefing to announce the launch of their DTH service in September and also announce the acquisition of the exclusive broadcast rights to the Rugby World Cup.

We have been checking on this claim since the first comment appeared and we state that we have not been able to obtain any confirmation from any source leading us to believe that no press briefing of this nature took place and that the comment was placed to mislead the Comet Subscribers. Even today's newspapers did not carry any reference to any press briefing of this nature.

If any press briefing took place we will definitely report it and if anyone has independant confirmation of the press briefing we would like them to email the press release to us on "tvradiosrilanka@yahoo.com" so that we can make a post based on it.

Certain bloggers have raised concern why Comet did not telecast the match yesterday. The reason is that Comet will only telecast the matches broadcast by DD and a schedule of the matches to be broadcast by DD can be obtained on the post below this one.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

The telecast and no telecast of the World Cup

It has been reported that Comet Cable carried broadcasts of the ICC World Cup match between West Indies and Pakistan on the 13th and we believe that this broadcast was done via DD Sports. We have also got reports that yesterdays matches were not telecast over Comet Cable which maybe because DD Sports did not telecast the match.

For a list of all matches being telecast by DD Sports please click here.

All Comet subscribers would be able to watch the matches that are listed in the above link but most of the matches are mainly involving India and a few involving non Indian matches.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Special request to Comet Bloggers

We would like to request all Comet Bloggers to keep their discussions focused on Comet Cable and on how it can improve itself. This is not a blog for commenting about other pay television providers and insulting them.

We also request bloggers from the other forums not to post unnecessary comments here.

Please note that if this continues further we may be forced to remove the commenting option which will eventually mean that bloggers will not be able to share any information on this blog.

We would also like to urge the management of Comet Cable to reply to the email that we have sent them.

Thank You
Admin

Friday, March 09, 2007

Awaiting Comet Feedback.......

On the same basis of the interviews that we carried out with LBN and Dialog TV we sent an email to Comet Cable requesting to reply to a couple of questions that we raised with them. The email was sent on Wednesday 28th February and on a subsequent reminder on 5th March we received a reply from Mr. Harold on 7th March saying that the questions have been passed on to the relevant authorities for clarifications and as soon as the reply is received we will get the answers for our questions. We hope that we receive the reply soon since it is now over one week since we submitted these questions.

Given below are the questions that we forwarded to Comet Cable.

1) On Dec 15th 2006 the SDA published a notice citing non payment of dues by Comet Cable. They also said that they will not allow the transfer of Comet Cable shares and also withdraw the license if the outstanding is not settled. Has this matter been settled.

2) On June 1st 2007 the TRC wants some of the frequencies allocated to Comet to be released. What is the status of this.

We believe that the TRC wants the frequencies released to implement Wimax services in colombo and the suburbs. Has Comet been allocated alternative frequencies?

3) Sir, were there plans to start a satellite DTH service in partnership with Srilakvahini whose holding company is Futuresat or any other company?

Comet has been promising to go digital for the last few years and every year in the beginning they say that it will take place at the middle of the year and then change that to the end of the year when the middle of the year comes.

In the new look website the digitisation plans have not even been mentioned (this was available for some time in the old website).

4) Does this mean that the plans have been dropped?
If not then when is Comet definitely going digital. An exact time period is
appreciated?

Customers are in doubt whether services will continue or not after June due to the TRC deadline and we hear that many have moved over to competitors. We have noticed that overselves since many houses that we have seen which were having Comet antenna's have now got other connections.

5) Some customers are complaining of a drop in signal quality even without obstructions coming up. Has Comet reduced it's broadcasting power? We wish to state that we are unable to verify this claim that has been made.

6) What assurance can you give to your customers regarding the future of Comet or do they have to start looking for an alternative?

7) Will Comet be broadcasting the ICC World Cup Live? Dialog TV is said to have obtained exclusive rights for this event on the pay television platform.

Monday, February 26, 2007

Give customers the true picture please

Things don't seem to be going Comet's way these days. The June 1st deadline is now fast approaching and there seems to be no response from Comet management regarding the status of their future. Comet will have to switch over by June 1st in order for Dialog Broadband and SLT to launch Wimax services in Colombo and the suburbs.

We are not getting any response from Comet management and we hope that the subscribers are not left in the lurch with an antenna and decoder that does not have any transmissions to receive and only gathers dust.

We hope that Comet will put its subscribers out of their misery by informing them of whether Comet will pursue digital technology or ask subscribers to look for an alternative pay television provider and arrange for some sort of compensation to subscribers. The redesign of the website done earlier is welcome but is not enough to improve subscriber confidence.

At the moment many Comet Subscribers are moving from Comet Cable to Dialog TV or LBN due to the superior picture quality, programming and pricing.

The only good news is that even though "Dialog TV" have been awarded exclusive rights to broadcast the ICC Cricket World Cup it seems that other operators such as Comet Cable are also in with a chance to carry to out the broadcast. Please read "Will the Dialog TV broadcast of the ICC World Cup really be exclusive" for more on this subject.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

The Switching Game continues......

Comet Cable is now playing the switching game at a much faster pace. This time Al Jazeera has been replaced by NDTV again.

Lets take a look at one of the switching saga's history.

Fashion Tv switches to NDTV
NDTV switches to Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera switches to NDTV once again

It also seems that some Comet Cable customers have put up their connections for sale on the internet. Comet has to act fast or else it could be the beginning of the end for the pioneer pay television company in Sri Lanka.

Disclaimer : The above was the information that we received last and due to the nature of the switching game, at the point of posting there is a high probability that NDTV may have been switched with another channel.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Highly unlikely to meet TRC deadline

According to the way things are progressing now it is highly unlikely that Comet Cable will be able to convert their broadcasting systems to Digital before the deadline lapses on June 2007. If they are unable to carry out the conversion it is highly likely that they will be unable to continue broadcasting after June.

Comet has been planning their digital crossover for a period of several years and due to their inability to carry out plans it will be very sad if it is the subscriber who will be affected by it.

It is still not too late for Comet but they are not taking any positive steps to convert into digital. For Comet to survive in the market and take themselves higher than the existing operators LBN and Dialog TV will take nothing short of a miracle. Dialog TV introducing corporate packages will only make things more difficult.

Their woes are even made worse due to the problems that they have with the Southern Development Authority which is preventing Comet Cable shares being sold to another party.

At present Comet Cable subscribers are in a dilemma regarding the status of their connections since they may not continue to get the service from the company that they have subscribed to. Many subscribers are contemplating a move to either LBN or Dialog TV.

It is high time for the pioneer pay television provider to wake up and take some positive steps to make sure that subscribers continue to get the service. It is not only enough to continue to provide the service but they should also improve their service and attract more subscribers otherwise the inevitable will happen sooner or later. At the moment it looks like it will happen sooner.

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

NDTV replaced by Al Jazeera

It seems that Comet Cable is unable to find a proper replacement for Fashion Tv and initially Fashion TV was replaced by NDTV and now it seems that NDTV has given way to Al Jazeera International.

It would be excellent if Comet Cable can find a permanent and proper replacement. It is also said that a scrolling message is saying that it is a test transmission and is asking for comments regarding the replacement.

Comet Cable could introduce SET Max since the ICC World Cup will be broadcast on that channel. We hope that Comet Cable will carry out a survey among its existing customers and introduce a channel that the subscribers want instead of carrying out trial and error testing such as this. Steps should be taken by Comet Cable to telecast the ICC Cricket World Cup to its subscribers who have remained loyal to the company. In addition it is interesting to note that several subscribers are complaining of a drop in the quality of reception in certain areas.

We are awaiting the launch of Comet Digital since the deadline set by the TRC is fast approaching.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Comet Cable has to get its act together

Comet Cable the pioneer pay television network in Sri Lanka has to get its act together and face the competition that it will encounter as this year progresses. With LBN and CBNsat back on air and SLT also due to launch it's IPTV network it seems that the present strategy will not work. It is only a matter of time till loyal Comet Cable customers who see the expansion on other pay television networks will be drawn towards them in order to get quality entertainment.

If that happens it will be the end of Comet Cable as we know it.

Therefore the only option left for Comet is to go digital within a few months and then to sell operations to another firm that is keen in running a pay television operation.

Hopefully the management of Comet Cable will take a decision after taking into consideration their loyal customers and staff. The infighting with in Comet Cable has had serious repercussions on the operations of the company and their strategy to convert into digital which has been anticipated for the past five years.

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Struggling for Survival

In the recently revamped Comet Cable website their Digital Plans which were included under the "Whats New" section in their old website is not their anymore.

We wonder whether this means that Comet Cable has shelved plans for the roll out of their digital network and is waiting till some other organization acquires their operations.

It is really sad to see the country's pioneer pay television provider just dragging it's feet and struggling for survival. It is better for them to digitize transmission technology soon since the full scale relaunch of CBNsat and LBN is around the corner and also the launch of SLT's IPTV network will take place later during the year so unless they get their act together this may just spell the end of Comet Cable.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

On Media Ministry Announcement

A reply to another blogs concern on whether the Media Ministry announcement recently is a threat to the probable transfer of ownership of Comet Cable.

Refer Link "On Media Ministry Announcement"