End of Road for Comet Cable?

This topic has been going round for ages, but now we are reaching the climax of the situation. Will Comet Cable (Ruhuna Multivision 2001) manage to solve its current problems? Will Comet ever go Digital? Will Comet subcribers ever know the truth about whats going on?

June 2007 is drawing nearer. Much too fast. Comet Cable subscribers (or at least who are left of them) are anxious to know what will happen. Last year, the TRC sent a letter to Comet Cable requesting to them to switch to a Satellite system or some other technology apart from Microwave broadcasting. This was because Comet's bandwidths are needed for SLT's WiMAX wireless internet system. The TRC threatened to take away Comet's license to broadcast if they would not switch by June 2007. This could have been done if there were not so many problems...

• Internal fights for leadership - these are now over, but have left scars on the face of the company
• Low customer base (and dropping further each day)
• Low finances
• Need to pay royalties to Southern Development Authority
• And therefore, the inability to transfer shares till royalties are payed
• Heavy competition from Dialog TV and LBN, for they all have better channel lineups
• Limited coverage of 50km aroung JAIC tower, Colombo (10km for best reception)
• Interference from other signals and even Microwave Ovens due to low quality "BBQ" grill
• Lasy useless staff in higher positions, and poor helpless customer service having to tell lies and get scolded
• Liers in higher positions of the company, trying to get the maximum out of whats left rather then keep going

How Comet will ever face these problems is a mighty question. Especially when nobody seems to be doing anything about it. The customers are helpless in this case, and this should not be the way of a proper service. Surely if Comet was doing something it would have leaked out by now. But all we get are false alerts from "Harrold" (real name should be Harold) and Scoobie.

At least the real Harold was nice enough to tell TV Radio Sri Lanka that he did not send those false messages. But E-Mails regarding other problems were not replied to.

So therefore, with Comet not revealing anything to its subscribers, we can come to a conclusion that this is the End of the Road for Comet Cable. The higher staff is just waiting to grab the money and escape. They are even asking for more ads on the channels to earn more. Its like a time-limited shopping spree. Get as much as you can before June 2007. Of course, the lower staff suffers and ultimately lose their jobs.

I express my deepest sorrow about this, and confess that throughout its lifetime, it was the pioneer of Sri Lankan Pay Television. It was also, so far, the only Pay TV operation to work non-stop, even though times of trouble, without any disturbances to the main broadcast. I guess they must have got used to it after a while. I hope that the customers go for alternatives LBN and Dialog TV and do not hold on for dear life on a sinking ship. Unless Comet springs up again...

SLT IPTV

SLT IPTV (Television over Internet Protocol) is planned to be launched within another 6 months. SLT is currently awaiting its license to broacast, as well as the stoppage of Comet Cable MMDS services to allow WiMAX services. The service will be avialble through WiMAX (when launched) and ADSL. Pricing of the service is yet unknown. The service is unlikely to be provided free of charge as the pricing of channels will be too high. The IPTV charge and ADSL charges may mix to make an unhealthy mixture.

Hope that SLT will soon give us an idea of the pricing, as current ADSL prices will be too high for the ordinary user, especially with the extra TV charges. Also, customers would need at least a 2 Mbps connection to get TV at a reasonable speed.

Norton 360 Coming Soon

Norton 260, Symantec's latest security software suite, is planned to be released in March this year. The suite will offer a Full Circle of Protection with features such as anti-virus, anti-spyware, back-up, firewall, encryption and much more. The suite will be introduced as an alternative to Microsoft Windows Live OneCare and McAfee Total Protection 2007. Norton 360 will be priced at $79.99, thats Rs. 7,900. Windows OneCare will still be the cheapest at $49.95.

But the options for Sri Lankan will be Norton or McAfee. We will also get to choose whether we buy a pirate copy, download it illegally, or buy the original.

Office 2007 Sales Excellent

The Microsoft Office 2007 suite was released together with Microsoft Windows Vista on January 30th 2007. In Sri Lanka too, there was a special launch event on 15th February. Sales reports indicate that Office 2007 is selling twice the amount Office 2003 sold during the launch week. With almost no advertising before its launch, Office 2007's high sales have surprised both analysts and customers. The average selling price too has risen by 23%, indicating that Microsoft's decision to sell multiple product versions was not a waste.

Apple TV - Is it worth?

The new Apple TV gadget is able to obtain downloaded movies, TV shows, music and other media from iTunes and show it on your TV. It sounds cool, but is it really worth it? Apple TV requires a Widescreen HDTV. Most people who have such a screen use it with their computers at anyrate. Isn't it better if Apple let us leaglly burn iTunes movies to DVD-Videos so we could watch our favourite films with our existing DVD players. Its not worth the price tag.

Anyway, this product is probably not coming to Sri Lanka in the near future. Why can't Apple make something good for us in developing countries. There is a good new market starting here with plenty of opportunity for Apple.

At least, credit goes to Microsoft for catering for our South Asian blooming markets. Once again, Microsoft will win if Apple does not do anything.

AutoPatcher

Here is a solution to all our problems about updating Windows. AutoPatcher comes with most latest Windows Updates, plug-ins such as Adobe Flash and Shockwave, Java, Internet Explorer 7, WMP 11, and much more. You just download the latest version (matching your operating system) and burn to a cd. When you reformat and install Windows again, insert the disk and give the latest updates for your computer. No more wasting time downloading plug-ins and updates. The software is all free and legal.

AutoPatcher Website: http://www.autopatcher.com/
About AutoPatcher: http://www.autopatcher.com/whatsautopatcher/

Thanks to Lightning Struck Tower for the information.

Anonymous Comments

Anonymous comments are now allowed in this blog. However, I recommend you to at least include your name or nickname on your comments. You can do so without registering to Blogger.

To comment with your Name:-
Type in your comment in the large text box. Press the "Other" option button and type in your Name/Nickname where indicated. If you have a website, you can type in its URL too. Type in the word verification if necessary and press the "Publish Comment" button. If you are not sure of how your comment looks, Preview it first.

Strict rules guard the commenting of this blog. Even the smallest filth will not be tolerated. It is better if commenting is done in English. Also, do not have fights and debates in this blog if it is out of the subject. I hope that all bloggers will help in this matter.

Adobe Flash, Shockwave and Blogger problems

Why are Adobe Flash and Shockwave are not pre-installed on Windows XP and Windows Vista? I thought it used to be there before. I'm really getting tired of reinstalling Flash every time I reformat my computer.

Also, I cannot type a new post for this blog on Opera 9.10. Once I go to the Create Post page, I click on the text box but cannot type in it. Very odd. Hope Blogger does something about it soon. Meanwhile, its back to the good old Internet Explorer.

Windows Vista in Sri Lanka

Microsoft Windows Vista was launched in Sri Lanka at a special event in BMICH. The launch event included traditional dances and a speech by the General Manager Windows Client Group Asia, Kenneth Lundin. Kenneth Lundin later gave an interview to the Sunday Observer about competition in Sri Lanka and the rest of Asia.

Lundin said that Linux and Mac OS X did not pose any competition to Windows Vista, but the main competition comes from pirate copies. In Sri Lanka itself, places like Majestic City are filled with pirate copies of well known software. Are the Sri Lankan authorities going to take steps to stop software piracy, like they do sometimes for Hindi films? Probably not immediately. Even if they do (like when raiding shops for pirate copies of Hindi films), the next day you will see pirate copies galore once again. Most shops will escape.

The original versions of Windows Vista will be available at leading IT stores like PC House and ABC Computers. The price of Vista Ultimate will be around Rs 40,000 or higher. Hopefully they will reduce prices of Vista Starter edition and other basic editions for the Asian markets (thats what they said they will do).

Dialog TV

I am currently a subscriber of Dialog TV.

Currently, these are the subjects that Dialog TV should address to make their service a better one:-

1. Add more premium channels
2. Solve the duplicate channels problem on the technical side
3. Increase signal power
4. Increase quality of local channels
5. Solve picture freezing on SET (maybe a problem with SET's own signal)
6. Do something about the picture freezing on CH01 DialogTV (get a faster computer or something to speed up the video)
7. Add more local radio channels (including Neth FM, Dialog's own radio network)

Wish Dialog TV best of luck in the Future.

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