PLDT to launch satellite TV service

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), through its wholly-owned subsidiary Mediascape, is finalizing preparations for the launch of its direct-to-home (DTH) satellite television service.

Company officials earlier said PLDT is investing an initial P700 million into the project.

Mediascape president Orlando Vea told The STAR that “we are finalizing preparations but the precise date for the launch is still under discussion.”

When asked when the exact date of the launch will be, Vea, who is also chief wireless adviser for Smart Communications, said the precise launch date cannot be disclosed for commercial reasons but hinted it will be soon.

The company has reportedly finished setting up the network, which will include the head-end, downlinks and uplinks. The head-end station, which is now located in Angeles City, will be transferred to Metro Manila.

PLDT’s DTH business will put it directly in competition with Dream Broadcasting, currently the country’s only DTH service provider, as well as with the cable TV industry.

The country’s largest telecommunications company will likewise be competing in an industry currently dominated by cable television. PLDT used to own Home Cable until it sold the latter’s assets to Lopez-owned Sky Cable in exchange for shares of stocks. As a result, PLDT is now a minor shareholder in the merged Sky-Home business.

PLDT chairman Manuel Pangilinan earlier said that with their entry into the business, DTH service will now be more affordable and more pervasive.

The PLDT group is set to commercially launch three new businesses that will put the company in the forefront of multiplay or the provision of different services such as voice, video, and data using either the fixed or wireless network or both.

These new services include DTH, mobile television and Internet Protocol television (IPTV), which according to initial company plans, will be launched within the year.

IPTV is a digital TV service whereby television content is delivered to the viewer, not through traditional broadcast and cable formats, but through the technologies used for computer networks such as IP.

For residential users, IPTV is often provided in conjunction with video on demand and may be bundled with Internet services such as Web access and VoIP (Voice over IP).

Residential IPTV is expected to grow at a brisk pace, with broadband access worldwide expected to increase from more than 200 million households worldwide in 2005 to 400 million by the year 2010.

As for mobile TV which is currently being provided to Smart subscribers for free on a trial basis, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has yet to issue the rules that will govern the provision of the service.

There is still an ongoing debate on whether mobile TV can be considered broadcasting or telecommunications. If it is categorized by the NTC as a broadcasting service, then only entities that have broadcasting franchises, such as another PLDT unit NBC, can offer it – whether alone or in partnership with a telecommunications company.

Vea earlier said the PLDT Group plans not only to tie up with content providers but also to produce its own content as well.