EchoStar Corp, one of the top satellite TV service providers in the US, made its first Asian foray by launching its satellite TV service in Taiwan yesterday.
Dubbed “DishHD,” the service will offer 36 high-definition (HD) channels — a figure that it said is more than double those offered by local TV service providers.
PHOTO: CNA
QUALITY
“Taiwan has more than 100 channels, but the quality of these programs is behind those in other countries,” said Jared Zimmer, marketing manager of DishHD, a Taiwan division under EchoStar. “A lot of households here have a flat-panel TV, but they can’t enjoy good programs that come with HD resolution.”
Zimmer has been based in Taiwan for more than two years to oversee the DishHD project.
There are more than 200 HD channel operators in the US, but only two in Taiwan — VideoLand Inc (緯來) and HiHD service under Public Television Service (公視), he said.
HD TV refers to video that offers substantially higher resolution than conventional television systems, or so-called standard-definition TVs. HD has 1 million or 2 million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD. Today’s HD TV is broadcast digitally instead of in analog mode.
DishHD is also wooing other Taiwanese channel operators to launch services on its platform. It aims to increase its number of channels to 50 by the end of the year, Zimmer said.
COMPETITION
TiVo Inc, a leading US digital video recording service provider, ventured into Taiwan a few years ago but failed to replicate its success here.
Zimmer brushed off the competition, saying TiVo’s offerings are designed to allow users to record, replay, rewind or fast forward TV programs through the set-top box, while DishHD offers not only those technologies, but also serves as a TV content provider.
DishHD channels include HBO Hits, HBO Family, Channel News Asia, Bloomberg, Nickelodeon, Star World HD and NBA TV.
Information on DishHD services is available at its local dealers and hypermarket Costco branches. An upfront payment of NT$14,000 (US$433) is needed for the installation fee, the purchase of a set-top box and the satellite dish.
Subscription is NT$1,000 per month till the end of December and NT$1,200 after that.
Zimmer said there are plans to bring DishHD to other markets in Asia, but declined to elaborate. Neither did he reveal the firm’s target subscriber numbers, only saying that the service is aimed at a middle to high-end audience on the lookout for the best in international sports, entertainment and kids programs.
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