Watch TV on the Internet
24th April 2007 (The Star)
By Steven Patrick KUALA LUMPUR: A new service that offers television via an Internet connection has been switched on. Subscribers will be able to watch programmes from Indonesia and China, as well as local channels. Viewers will need to log onto the worldip.tv website with a broadband-enabled personal computer or a 3G (third-generation) cellphone in order to get the live streaming and video-on-demand programmes. The IPTV (Internet Protocol TV) service is being offered by Broadway Digital Media (BDM) Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of music company Broadway Entertainment (M) Sdn Bhd. Local channels available are TV3, ntv7, 8TV and TV9 while the foreign channels are Indonesia's Metro TV and China's Dragon TV. The service is free until June, after which BDM would charge local customers RM10 a month while overseas subscribers will have to pay US$5 (RM17), BDM chairman Aziz Bakar said. "With this service, you'll never have to rush home to catch Bulletin Utama (or any other favourite TV show). You have the next 24 hours to watch it on our service," he added. Besides professionals who are always on the move, BDM is also targeting Malaysian students and expatriates. "CNN would not normally show you news of floods (in the country). So if you are overseas, you can watch it on our portal. You can also get news about your hometown, from wherever you are," said BDM chief executive officer Boon Tan. BDM hopes to sign up Indonesian and Chinese expatriates and students who are in the country. "There are 40,000 Indonesian students here, for example. They would want to stay abreast of events back home," said Aziz, who is also a co-founder of budget airline AirAsia Bhd. According to him, BDM would be adding more foreign channels to its services over the next few months. "We are targeting 50,000 subscribers in the first year (of operation) and a 40% to 50% growth rate each year to hit at least 250,000 by our fifth year," he added. This is not the first IPTV service to be offered in the country. Two years ago, MiTV Corporation Sdn Bhd launched a similar service with 50 channels, which required a set-top box connected to a TV. |
