It looks like this thread was spliced from two originals and there is some good satellite info but nothing on cable providers.
What you guys think about the local cable providers? I’d like to find one with a DVR option and scheduling (an actual working program guide <gasp!>). Any suggestions? I don’t want a slingbox or a computer tuner and I can’t hang a satellite dish off the side of the building. I just want a system that works when I come home at the end of the day and I dont have to think about fixing all the time or troubleshooting.
Well I have had Taiwansatellite service from 2003 onward. Been really good. I would recommend it.
Shame that he is closing his Taipei office at the end of September 2013. He has been there since 2007.
I just got back from a year break overseas and resumed my service but don’t know what others are going to do. I heard there will be no more English Premiere League on Espnstar or FoxSports from next season.
So guess everyone will have to go cold turkey on English Premier league if they don’t have Satellite.
I read the thread but didn’t quite get it. The company offers you streaming from satellite channels? Why not put the satellite dish up yourself and get a receiver?
I think he used to do that too. Would not know today. If I watched TV, which I do not, then I would prefer to have it streamed, the MOD I under protest have got installed in order to avoid the kids and the better half leaving me, runs over the internet as well, it seems.
I went with my GF to visit Satellite TV’s ground station in Alishan. We stayed one night in his homestay. Still in business after all these years and has a large office building he bought. I saw the facility and chatted about his ongoing business. He showed me his fiber exchange from Hinet and runs several GB lines.
He does not supply to anyone in Taiwan anymore but provides IPTV and sports to sports betting industry in other countries.
I went to see him about renouncing and resuming my Australian citizenship for getting Taiwan citizenship.
People never understood his real business and why his clones are no longer around. Companies like MOD need to buy source content from elsewhere. Sports betting companies buy stadium feeds from his business. US companies source their Asian language channels for rebroadcast in America.
Streaming is the business he now sells and only to commercial customers not end users.
Where do you think the content for the MOD streams come from?
Google about in play live sports betting… the sports books buy content from providers. Lets say you watch MOD for badminton, a stadium feed given to a sport book can be 15 seconds faster than what you see from a broadcaster… so for live betting knowing the live result before other people means you win bets.
Lets say you are EU UK based but need sports from Asia who do you get that from? Some company with a ground station in Asia. How about an an Asian based sports book that needs Asian content or European or US sports events.
MOD is just a carrier. They pay for different suppliers to supply their channels. These come from different base stations similar to the ones that Satellite TV in Alishan provides. (To be clear… he DOES NOT supply to MOD but similar companies like him do.)
Imagine if you could be a broadcast partner for a major sports event? How much do you think these events to commercial customers cost?
So if a sports betting company buys the rights to UFC Stadium feeds they will get the content through a UFC Broadcast partner, someone with both fiber and a ground station.
Seems there are still many other businesses streaming stuff from Taiwan. Even US takes note.
US does not fool around when it comes to copyright like Megaupload - Wikipedia case shows.
Recently there was a boom of Russian streaming services, because many countries banned official Russian channels distribution due to sanctions.
We actually stayed in a guesthouse with one of those boxes. Hundreds of channels rebroadcasting from all over the world. It was decidedly odd … I wondered how it was legal at the time. Seems it might not have been.
True. My US client is FCC licensed and has a contract with the Thai government to provide Thai and other channels for broadcast in the USA. I also get inspected by the NCC Taiwan to ensure I do not do any multicasting from my operation. I’ve been doing IPTV services since 2008 and am a known provider. If I was doing anything illegal I would have been shut down by now lol. Hinet engineers sometimes visit my place when they need to replace or upgrade their hardware in my data center. That hardware belongs to them.
I also provide content to media rights holders. This is one such client… we provide them with their Japanese sports content which they resell to their clients. Also some WTA content as they are the sole rights holder for WTA Tennis. The services I provide cannot be accessed in Taiwan and it is not streamed to any app or device from our side. Our Clients do have apps for live sports streams for their clients.
When you have contracts with companies to provide content to rights holders you don’t get sued for copyright violation. lol
Lots of bars showing sports use these boxes, easy to buy then just scan for a supplier. They often get shut down then its onto another stream supplier. Lots of foreigners use them as well to get sports and other TV shows they cannot get here.
My company works with content rights holders no need to get into piracy when you can have large legal clients that pay for services.
This is only partially their fault. A lot of content providers have exclusive contracts with other cable services, and CHT can’t get in unless e.g. a new format is released that isn’t covered by the contract. Or at least, that’s how it was ten years ago when I was there.
It’s probably why Netflix is so crap here, too – because Catchplay buys most of the rights.
