{ 2007 12 02 }

Die Skycable! Die!

In one of the best kept secrets since Clark Kent’s secret identity, cable provider SkyCable can be treating its thousands of subscribers to a surprises that none of them are expecting. The prank’s magnitude is so vast that it’s going to be akin to a grand April Fools’ Day joke. The only difference is that a) it’s not funny and b) it’s never a good thing to start the year on a sour note.

Starting January 1, 2008, SkyCable will no longer carry BTV, Solar Sports, ETC, 2nd Avenue, Crime/Suspense and JackTV. Yes. Isn’t it crazy that with just less than a month to go before a drastic change in their channel roster, a lot of people are still in the dark regarding this inevitability?

Let’s put this into perspective. Clearly, people (like me) who are basketball crazy would lose their minds on the prospect of not having Basketball TV. BTV shows NBA games on a daily basis. No matter what time of day it is, you will see something basketball-related.

If you’re into pro-boxing, billiards or other sports, not having Solar Sports would be disastrous. Solar Sports holds the exclusive rights in showing all of Manny Pacquiao’s matches and they have also recently won the right to show the 2008 Beijing Summer Games, 2010 Vancouver Winter Games and 2012 London Summer Games. Could you imagine watching these events on Youtube due to the lack other networks that would be allowed to legally show them.

Without ETC and 2nd Ave, one wouldn’t be able to watch the latest episodes of Conan, Leno and the various hit series and reality shows that both channels carry. Crime/Suspense was the first channel to bring breakthrough series like Heroes, Prisonbreak and THE SOPRANOS (!) to Philippine TV and with efforts to synchronize the programming schedule (i.e. watching the same episodes being shown in the US), the potential of this relatively young channel is looking up.

JackTV features a lot of quality programming too. This was the channel that was brave enough to show South Park, Family Guy and American Dad to a very conservative viewers base.

Imagine losing all those channels in one fell swoop. If your imagination isn’t that good, you don’t really have to think that hard. You’ll be experiencing it if you survive the New Year’s Eve merriment.

As for Skycable’s side of the issue, they said this:

This new channel line-up was developed as a result of consumer feedback, ratings and commercial consideration, and designed to ultimately benefit SkyCable subscribers. With the entry of these new channels in January 2008, SkyCable will no longer carry the following channels: Basketball TV, Solar Sports, Jack TV, ETC, 2nd Avenue, and Crime/Suspense.

I have no idea if there are actual idiots who would petition to remove the Solar channels from the roster and the internet has been a breeding ground for a lot of hypothesis-generating and conspiracy theories regarding the reason for Skycable’s bonehead decision (the Pacquiao issue being the most popular angle), but it’s really immaterial and moot at this point. The bottom line is that you’ll be saying goodbye to a lot of shows.

If you’ve seen new channels on Sky lately, congratulations, you have now been acquainted to the “substitute” channels that Sky will push for after Solar shifts out. Enjoy watching  cricket on Balls, I Want To Be A Hilton on Velvet and a host of other shows we all love on Maxxx. Ok, that just about fulfills my sarcasm quota for the next two weeks.

So if you’re a Skycable subscriber, it’s time to take action! Move out and send a strong message to the management of Skycable!

Other people have spoken up (will be regularly updated):

Skycable Ka Ng Ina Mo

Bookmark at:
StumbleUpon | Digg | Del.icio.us | Dzone | Newsvine | Spurl | Simpy | Furl | Reddit | Yahoo! MyWeb

Views Counter v.0.10 Viewed 8494 times by 3455 viewers

Posted by benj on Sunday, December 2nd, 2007, at 11:54 pm, and filed under TV.

Follow any responses to this entry with the RSS 2.0 feed.

You can post a comment, or trackback from your site.