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It is not just the coming hike in fees that StarHub Cable Vision (SCV) subscribers are up in arms over, but also the penalties they will have to pay if they cancel their contracts — as a few are considering doing.
A day after the pay-TV operator said it would raise its basic subscription fees by $4 from next month, and its sports package price by $10 from October, the Consumers' Association of Singapore (Case) reacted to subscriber disquiet by joining the fray.
Executive director Seah Seng Choon told TODAY it was sending StarHub a letter on Wednesday, asking the operator to waive the penalty charge for customers who wished to discontinue as a result of the price hike, but were still caught in the lock-in period.
"This is because they had signed the contract based on the old rate. It would be good of StarHub to provide this option," he said.
StarHub, however, is standing firm.
In response to queries on Tuesday, senior vice-president of cable, fixed and IP services, Mr Thomas Ee, said there "will be options" for subscribers who want to cancel their contracts, but "an amount of early termination charge will be imposed in return".
Asked if it was fair that consumers had to accept the price hike or be penalised, he said that as was industry practice, StarHub had stated its right to revise the terms and conditions — including pricing plans — "at its discretion without prior notice".
But Mr Ee was quick to assure subscribers that they could expect "more content without additional charges", even as he reiterated that the price revision was "inevitable" given the rising high costs of content.
This did little to mollify sports fans in particular, who have to swallow a double hike.
Mr Akhtar Mohd Said, who was considering signing up for StarHub's sports package this month, has now decided against it. "Maybe we should be allowed to sign up with a foreign pay-TV network and gain access to a wider selection of cable channels that are priced competitively," he said.
Case's Mr Seah — noting StarHub's "dominant position in the pay-TV industry" and the need for more competition — called on the Media Development Authority (MDA) to "explain its rationale" for allowing the increase.
Had StarHub consulted the MDA before going ahead? Mr Ee said it "did what is required by our licence".
Asked if the operator had any plans to alleviate the initial burden of the fee increases, Mr Ee said that this was why it had delayed the sports price hike until October — after the new English Premier League season kicks off — even though it meant "bearing the increased sports costs ourselves for a few more months".
He added that fans could look forward to more discounts for the sports package soon. As for those who have already signed up for its promotional sports package, StarHub will honour the promised discounts off the current $15 fee for now, and off the $25 revised fee from October.
But one subscriber, Mrs Kwan — who had signed a two-year contract for the sports group package last week as it entitled her to a 10-per-cent discount and a free digital video recorder — complained: "It's not fair, you sign up and then the price is hiked by more than 50 per cent within a week."
Sports fan Neville Chew suggested offering less content for a lower price. "What you're paying for is the frills — the pre-match show, the half-time talk, post-match highlights. I would prefer to just watch the match."
But Mr Mohd Din has other sources to turn to. He said: "ESPN offers free sports content via peer-to-peer television on its website. Rather than pay $25 a month, I'd rather get my adrenaline rush online."
- TODAY/so
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