StarHub TV is a
pay television service provided by
StarHub
StarHub Limited, most commonly known as just Starhub, is a Singaporean multinational telecommunications conglomerate and one of the major telcos operating in the country. Founded in 1998, it is listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX).
History ...
in
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
. It has been a subsidiary of StarHub Limited since StarHub acquired Singapore Cable Vision (SCV) in 2001, and was the sole pay-TV operator in the country until 2007 when
mio TV
Singtel TV (formerly known as Singtel IPTV and mio TV) is a pay television service provided by Singtel in Singapore. It is transmitted through Singtel's broadband network via an IPTV platform which uses Ericsson Mediaroom (originally develop ...
(now
Singtel TV
Singtel TV (formerly known as Singtel IPTV and mio TV) is a pay television service provided by Singtel in Singapore. It is transmitted through Singtel's broadband network via an IPTV platform which uses Ericsson Mediaroom (originally develop ...
), an
IPTV
Internet Protocol television (IPTV) is the delivery of television content over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. This is in contrast to delivery through traditional terrestrial, satellite, and cable television formats. Unlike downloaded media, ...
service from its competitor,
Singtel
Singapore Telecommunications Limited, commonly known as Singtel, is a Singaporean telecommunications conglomerate and one of the four major telcos operating in the country. The company is the largest mobile network operator in Singapore with ...
, was launched.
The company offers
IPTV
Internet Protocol television (IPTV) is the delivery of television content over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. This is in contrast to delivery through traditional terrestrial, satellite, and cable television formats. Unlike downloaded media, ...
services via the
optical fibre
An optical fiber, or optical fibre in Commonwealth English, is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often as a means to ...
network. It also provides this service via a wireless network, the
Digital Terrestrial Television
Digital terrestrial television (DTTV or DTT, or DTTB with "broadcasting") is a technology for terrestrial television in which land-based (terrestrial) television stations broadcast television content by radio waves to televisions in consumers' ...
(DTTV) system.
Company history
The history of cable TV in Singapore started on 11 July 1991 when the then Singapore Cable Vision (SCV) was licensed to establish a nationwide broadband cable network to provide pay-TV services. SCTV also had the unprecedented responsibility of delivering terrestrial free-to-air (FTA) channels to Singapore households via its cable points, free-of-charge to viewers.
In 1999, SCV completed the construction of its S$600 million network, and in recognition of its nationwide cabling effort, SCV was granted exclusivity in the provision of pay-TV services until 2002. As the nation developed, Singaporeans began to embrace pay-TV as an additional source of lifestyle entertainment, in addition to other entertainment sources such as cinemas, the internet, and DVD/VCD purchases/rentals.
In 2002, StarHub completed its merger with Singapore Cable Vision and has adopted its name until in 2007, where StarHub Cable Television was renamed to StarHub TV, its current name.
On 17 February 2009, StarHub announced that their television will be converted to digital and analogue set-top boxes will be terminated by 30 June 2009, beginning a phase of
digital television transition
The digital television transition, also called the digital switchover (DSO), the analogue switch/sign-off (ASO), the digital migration, or the analogue shutdown, is the process in which older analogue television broadcasting technology is conv ...
in Singapore.
On 30 April 2010, channel numbers for StarHub TV were overhauled into a three-digit numbering system, allowing easier recall for subscribers. The channels were also classified into eight categories based on their genre and first number.
On 1 August 2010, StarHub TV will cease broadcasting the Barclays English Premier League for the 2010/11, 2011/12 and 2012/13 seasons as it did not procure the rights to do so. Its carriage of Goal TV 1, Goal TV 2,
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
,
STAR Sports Star Sports refers to several current or former Asian sports networks owned by The Walt Disney Company:
* Star Sports (East Asian TV channel)
* Star Sports (Indian TV network)
* Fox Sports (Southeast Asian TV network)
Fox Sports (formerly ESPN ...
and
STAR Cricket
Star Sports (formerly ESPN Star Sports) is a group of Indian multinational pay television sports channels owned by Disney Star (formerly ''Star India''), a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company India. Previously a part of ESPN Star Sports wit ...
will also cease at the same time. The ESS channels were unavailable on StarHub's platform for three years until in December 2012, it was announced that ESPN, STAR Sports and
STAR Cricket
Star Sports (formerly ESPN Star Sports) is a group of Indian multinational pay television sports channels owned by Disney Star (formerly ''Star India''), a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company India. Previously a part of ESPN Star Sports wit ...
will return to StarHub on 14 December on a non-exclusive basis. The channel was revived after StarHub TV acquired its rights to broadcast the
2018-19 season of
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
.
Rediffusion Singapore
Rediffusion Singapore (Chinese: 丽的呼声), started in 1949, was the first cable-transmitted radio station in Singapore. It was a Singapore subsidiary of the Broadcast Relay Services (Overseas) Ltd. It was also Singapore's only subscription r ...
was added to StarHub TV in October 2010 as RediGold, the first FM channel to be broadcast on cable television; however, both Rediffusion and RediGold ceased transmission on 1 May 2012 due to a decline in listenership.
Rediffusion
Rediffusion was a business that distributed radio and TV signals through wired relay networks. The business gave rise to a number of other companies, including Associated-Rediffusion, later known as Rediffusion London, the first ITV (commercia ...
resumed its transmission on 11 November 2013, but through internet.
Since 2010, many channels were made for free-viewing for a brief period of time to commemorate a holiday. Its first free preview was held between 28 May to 13 June due to a school holiday. Since then, a weeklong free previewing of channels were held on other major
public holidays
A public holiday, national holiday, or legal holiday is a holiday generally established by law and is usually a non-working day during the year.
Sovereign nations and territories observe holidays based on events of significance to their history, ...
.
On 31 May 2011, StarHub TV's Preview Channel (Channel 101) became ScreenSingapore Channel for a duration from 1 to 19 June, before reverting to Preview Channel.
Many channels had, over time, ceased broadcast on StarHub TV to make way for newer channels, such as
JimJam
''Jimjam'' (stylised as ''jimjam'') is a 2000 recording by UK jazz-funk guitarist Jim Mullen, featuring fellow-Scot Hamish Stuart on rhythm guitar, Pino Palladino on bass and Ian Thomas on drums. The professional collaboration between Mullen and ...
,
JET TV
Japan Entertainment Television, or JET TV, is a television station in Taiwan that broadcasts programs relating to aspects of Japanese culture. JET TV was founded in Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sove ...
,
NEO Cricket
NEO Sports was an Indian television channel, owned and operated by Nimbus Communications. Launched on 8 November 2006, it covers virtually all prime events in almost all popular sports like Golf, Football, Basketball, Tennis, Table Tennis, Mot ...
,
TTV World
TTV World () was a television channel operated by Taiwan Television (TTV) in Taiwan, launched on 22 July 2005, but was only broadcast abroad.
Broadcast platform
*North America--Cloud Tech Media
*Australia-----FetchTV (Australia)
*Malaysia------AB ...
and
MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...
. On 15 February 2012, Playin' TV, a television-gaming service channel, was also ceased.
On 1 October 2012, StarHub TV ceased two of three cricket channels for Cricket Extra and
NEO Cricket
NEO Sports was an Indian television channel, owned and operated by Nimbus Communications. Launched on 8 November 2006, it covers virtually all prime events in almost all popular sports like Golf, Football, Basketball, Tennis, Table Tennis, Mot ...
; the remaining channel,
TEN Cricket
Sony Sports Network, formerly Sony Pictures Sports Network, and also known as Sony TEN, is a group of Indian pay television sports channels owned by Culver Max Entertainment (formerly Sony Pictures Networks India).
The original TEN Sports chan ...
was still purchasable as an add-on channel ($32.10/month) until
STAR Cricket
Star Sports (formerly ESPN Star Sports) is a group of Indian multinational pay television sports channels owned by Disney Star (formerly ''Star India''), a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company India. Previously a part of ESPN Star Sports wit ...
was added.
In February 2012 and January 2013, StarHub launched two new channels (Channel 114 and Channel 873, respectively) that were made temporarily for the first time, which were coincidentally right next to the two
KBS World
KBS World is the Korean Broadcasting System's international broadcasting service. It consists of KBS World Radio, KBS World television channel and KBS Korea.
History
The foreign-language radio broadcast from KBS (before its restructure into a ...
channels to inform subscribers about when the channels have their last-day free-to-air and which groups they will be in respectively. Channel 110, the former ''Sunsilk Academy Fantasia'' channel, had remained unused since October 2012.
On 18 March 2013, StarHub launched its first
fibre-optic
An optical fiber, or optical fibre in Commonwealth English, is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often as a means to ...
IPTV
Internet Protocol television (IPTV) is the delivery of television content over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. This is in contrast to delivery through traditional terrestrial, satellite, and cable television formats. Unlike downloaded media, ...
television, beginning another transition of cable television. The IPTV was rolled out to residential customers on 8 April 2015.
In an announcement made on 1 November 2018, cable television will cease transmission by 30 June 2019. However, StarHub followed up with another announcement on 24 June 2018, saying that cable services will end on 30 September 2019 instead, giving consumers until 31 August 2019 to switch to fibre. StarHub completed the move to fibre networks on 30 September 2019.
References
Other websites
StarHub TV official website
{{CATV Africa, Asia, and Oceania
Broadcasting in Singapore
Mass media companies established in 1991
Telecommunications companies established in 1991
Television channels and stations established in 1991