Twin

10 years living in the Sukhumvit Ghetto...

You learn 2 things to avoid trouble.

1) When trouble starts, walk away.

2) WALK AWAY !

Are these matches televised here in Thailand?

Looks like Setanta does not have this contract. Odd.

Nothing on TrueVisions, but Astro in Malaysia is carrying the matches.

http://www.astro.com.my/content_epg/articles/art_639.html

Astro has announced they will show the World Cup. And in HD as well!

Although there are no details, I'll bet every game is available live on one of their Pay Per View packages on Astro Box Office Sports.

http://www.astro.com.my/mypackages/articles/art_5157.html

Any bar that has Astro will certainly pay for this package.

So far, True has not announced any plans to cover this.

As you will all be aware, Supersports from South Africa has ceased on cable within Thailand. Coverage of S14 was great but now all we will get is some games on Australia Network.

I want to subscribe to a live streaming service for S15, and probably RWC as well. so I would like to know of any that are available, without using a proxy. Foxtel in Aus had one last season, but was restricted to within Australia.

Any other alternatives?

Astro just added Super 15 games games to its SuperSport schedule...

There will be no coverage on Australia Network this year

http://www.astro.com.my/content_epg/articles/art_639.html

Or you can subscribe online via Setanta Asia.

http://www.setanta.com/asia/

Based on the 6 Nations broadcasts last week and this week on Astro, and the Super 15 schedule just released on Astro's web site, it appears Setanta is sub licensing some of its content to Astro, in lieu of carrying the channel.

At least for now...

http://www.astro.com.my/content_epg/articles/art_639.html

^^^^^

Yes I was also flicking through last night and noticed the Fox Channel, channel 57 on my set, don't know how long it's been there and, as you say, there is nothing in their magazine.

I check this web site once a week or so to see if there is anything new.

http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/truevisions_chno.html

Check the "Sourde Updated" column on the far right for "colored" entries. Good info, although it does not say what package the new channels are in.

Fox came up on 30 December, and Siam Sport Channel appeared on 2 January.

True still has made no announcement about the addition of Fox anywhere on their web site.

I've searched the internet and see 4 different opening and closing times for Fortune Town.

Does any know what time they actually open and close?

Cheers.

@ Twin

You were right. Found the shop and yes, they had them in.............however, they were also doing a promo on Shure SE 420's..........50% off! Hard to refuse so I bought them at 7,490 baht.

Great stuff and thanks for your help.

New headphones-------and a Hammers win !!!!!

Now that's a great weekend.

Cheers

As of last year, there was a shop in the Emporium that carried them.

It's on the 3rd floor, called "Classik", if I remember correctly.

Can't remember the price, but it was very close to what I paid for mine in the States.

I love them, but be sure to get some of each of the available tips, as it took me 3 different ones to get the most comfortable fit.

If you've not heard them, you are in for a treat.

Coincidentally, I'm a long suffering Hammers supporter as well! Oh, for a point v. Spurs this weekend!

Here's why I disagree with you. Although I don't recall the exact terms they use, True advertises itself as being of world class quality. I guess that's "third world class quality".

Thanks for that value added comment on the subject.

You could ask yourself why Astro are so much more successful with their market penetration. Malaysia only have a third of the population of Thailand, yet they have managed to sell 3 times more subscriptions. Food for though.

Good point, although English is taught, used, and understood by a much greater percentage of the Malay population. And satellite television is geared more toward an English speaking audience.

Although all the unhappy farangs here will jump on this, I think True's biggest failing has been it's inability to attract Thai customers. Most of the Thai channels they carry - that Thais watch - are free to air. Any antenna will receive those channels.

With a preponderence of "Pay channels" being English speaking, the penetration rate here will never reach that of Malaysia.

It is far behind...

Astro has 5 out of the 6 available HD channels (no ASN), and for less extra fees (300 Baht/month) then what true charges for 2 HD channels, HBO and their own sports channel mainly with old content (399/month for Gold subscribers)...

Astro had 2,650,000 customers as of January, 2009.

TrueVision had 800,000 customers at the end of 2008.

Satellites, transmission equipment, broadcast centers, downlink and uplink equipment all cost the same.

So if Astro has 3 times the number of customers, they can 2 things True cannot:

1) Be more advanced technologically and / or

2) Sell its services for less.

I'm not thrilled with True either, but trying to make any direct comparisons with Astro are at best, naive.

For what it's worth, True can only show channels that are made available to them.

Currently, the only available channels offering an HD feed in SE Asia are:

HBO

History

Discovery

Nat Geo

ASN

ESPN

Live sporting events like the EPL, World Cup, etc. also offer HD feeds to the operators that carry them.

Finally, the roll out of HD channels is completely dependent on the availablity of transponders on the satellite serving True Visions, ThaiCom 5.

So, based on the roll out of HD in other SE Asian countries, True is not that far behind.

UBC cutting corners again, providing their service as cheaply as they can while charging as much as they can get away with.

There is not a television channel or network anywhere in the world delivering their service in 1080p.

720P and 1080i are the 2 recognized HD standards.

This is not a TrueVisions issue or problem.

BlueRay is the only way to view 1080P material.

You can pick on TrueVisions for many things, but not this

According to a letter I received in the mail this weekend, the introduction of the Korean channel tvN is at the expense of NatGeo Adventure, which goes away Thursday.

Also, I guess it was far too complicated for them to position TrueSport 6 at Channel 106, directly after TrueSport 1 through 5.

My letter says TS6 will be a "24 hour quality football and world class sport telecast channel".

Dare we dream of rugby and cricket?

Hopefully, this is the start of a general migration to the pricing policies of other cable / satellite operators, like Astro.

They make it easy to buy what YOU want, not what THEY want. Check here.

http://www.astro.com.my/getastro/packages/...ages_lineup.asp

In the long run, True's revenue would increase substantially. The average subscriber's monthly revenue may decrease, but they would have thousands of additional new subs who don't currently subscribe because the current packages are not attractive. An Astro like offering would allow users to choose - and pay for - exactly what they want.

With many new channels including HD on the way, here's hoping the OP's note is a wave of the future.

Al Jazeera is FTA on Intelsat 7/10 (Same as DSTV/Multichoice)

The Al Jazeera channel on IS 10 is free to air, not encrypted. It is not part of the DSTV bouquet of services.

It is also Al Jazeera's news channel, from their studios in Doha.

It carries no live sports programming.

To Mobi.

With all due respect, it is myopic to think DSTV's decision to terminate the C Band signal has much, if anything at all to do with Thailand or True Visions.

There are 3 specific reasons I've learned for the cancellation of this service at this time.

1) FIFA made it a requirement before awarding SuperSport the rights to televise the 2010 World Cup. There were massive complaints from the cable companies in counties with high percentages of English speaking population. during the last World Cup. Hence the termination of the signal a week before the World Cup begins.

See the IS10 satellite's C Band coverage map here.

http://www.lyngsat-maps.com/maps/intel10_c.html

2) Indian and Pakistani Cable companies on a regular basis pirate the DSTV signal and offer them in their package of services to their subscribers. This is financially painful to the operators and content providers who have paid enormous sums for the rights to cricket.

Those countries have no dominant national operator like TruVision, so piracy is much more lucrative and more difficult to police.

3) With the launch of the W7 Ku band satellite, DSTV now enjoys complete coverage of the African continent, with "spot beams" only visible in Africa.

When IS 10 was deployed, it was the only satellite capable of beaming the DSTV throughout Africa. The use of the spilled over signal by other countries was not anticpated at all.

Oddly, DSTV stands to lose a certain amount of revenue when this signal is turned off. There must be thousands of subscribers, like me, throughout the signal's coverage area who have "legitimate" cards with "real" accounts back in Africa.

LyngSat now also has the 2 channels the OP mentioned in their channel lineup.

http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/truevisions_chno.html

Scroll down to channels 111 and 112.

This does NOT mean they are available yet. It does mean the channel slots have been allocated and the testing has begun.

Remember, when the HD signals do become availale, we will all need new HD decoders, and perfahps, a new LNB.

At least there is movement here.

True's March monthly magazine advertised 2 new HD channels "coming soon", one for movies and one for sports.

The only other HD channels currently available in Asia are ASN, HBO, NatGeo, ESPN, and History.

Rumor has it the EPL will be "mostly" available in HD beginning in the 2010 - 2011 season. True's ability to carry these HD games is not yet clear.

You have a window of 7 days to report. If Chaeng Watana is closed they will take that into consideration.

After having my 90 day report rejected last week at the one stop office in Chamchuri Tower, i took a taxi today at 1:15 from Sukhumvit Soi 6 out to Chaeng Wattana.

No traffic on the tollroad and when I arrived, the driver asked if I wanted him to wait, as he wanted to be back on Sukhumvit.

Perfect.

Walked in and got a queue number only 20 above the number being served. The wait to be called was exactly 15 minutes.

Since my last arrival stamp was dated 14 December, I was now on day 96, and I held my breath as I smiled and said hello to the girl behind the counter. She could not have been any nicer, with a big smile, and a "How are you today" in English.

She looked at my paperwork and said, "No problems for you". I asked how long it would take to get the receipt, as I wanted to let the taxi driver know how much longer it would be, and she said 10 minutes.

I walked out and told the driver, then headed back into the 90 day room. The girl saw me, pointed a finger at me and beckoned me back to the window. She said, "You have big problem". My heart sunk.

Then she said, "You forgot to sign the form!" and broke into a big grin. I said "How much will that cost" and, still smiling, she replied "Ten million baht!"

I signed the form, and we both laughed as she handed me the receipt.

The taxi driver dropped me back on Sukhimvit at exactly 2:45.

90 minutes out and back.

The cab fare may be a bit more, but I'll take Chaeng Wattana over Suan Phlu any day of the week.

I think you mean SmartCard.

SIM cards are for mobile phones, and are not the same.

Thank you, Astral, for correcting my horrible technological terminology.

Thanks also for adding absolutely nothing to the discussion on what is facing people in Thailand who have been spoiled with the DStv signal for so many years.

Cheers.

"I'm sure they must be under contract to DSTV ".

What, you mean the cable providers in Thailand? I can assure you the majority of them are getting it in the exact same way as you and I; either through card sharing or through having purchased (illegally, as it can not legally be sold to Thailand) a card from them.

I'm not sure you are right... cuz if you are they surely would be showing premiership soccer... and they don't.. because True visions have the rights to English Prem and not allowed to show..If they were card sharing they would definitely wouldn't care about True Visions.

Phil Conners is 100% correct.

The sale of DSTV services anywhere outside of Africa is, and always has been illegal.

There has been a gray market for the SIM cards only because their C Band signal reaches Thailand.

Anyone who has a SIM card, whether it's an apartment complex, a bar, or an individual, has purchased the card form a reseller here in Thailand, unless they travelled to Africa and legally subscribed themselves.

SS 3 and SS 7 show between 5 and 7 of the 10 EPL games live every weekend, so that argument is incorrect.

http://www.supersport.com/content.aspx?id=...t&view=full

From what I've been learning, DSTV is contacting their C Band SIM card holders in Africa through direct mail and email to alert them they need to switch to a Ku band dish and decoder. Obviously, I would not get that information directly as my card was purchased in Africa and sold to a reseller here.

Our only hope is that the termination of the C Band signal is delayed for technology reasons that have nothing to do with subscribers outside Africa. I'm not counting on it.

Here's a stupid question.

I'm due to make a 90 day report at Chaeng Wattana before Thursday. No time left to report by post.

By taxi, I ususally take the toll road from Sukhumvit.

Any idea if the protests have

A ) Caused any disruptons at Chaeng Wattana

B ) Caused traffic messes making it difficult to get there.

Thanks in advance.