now TV
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For the television station in Surrey, British Columbia that formally used the on-air brand "NOWTV", see CHNU-TV
now TV (traditional Chinese: now 寬頻電視; pinyin: Kuānpín Diànshì) is a 24-hour pay-TV service provider in Hong Kong SAR. It is transmitted through the company's Netvigator broadband network via an IPTV service. Launched in September 2003, the service is operated by the leading Hong Kong fixed-line telecom operator Pacific Century Cyberworks Limited (PCCW), through its subsidiary, PCCW VOD Limited. The word "now" is abbreviated from "Network Of the World". now TV is currently the second largest pay-TV operator in Hong Kong.
History and EstablishmentLaunched in March 1998, PCCW's Interactive TV (iTV 互動電視 Pinyin: Hùdòng Diànshì) pay- TV services included a wide range of information and entertainment, such as news, video-on-demand (VOD) , music videos, home-shopping, home-banking and educational content. iTV had some 67,000 subscribers at the end of 2000. Due to the liberalization of the pay-TV market by the HKSAR government in early July 2000, the then existing duopolists, iTV and i-Cable, were confronted with ferocious competition. With fewer subscribers and hence the decline in the revenue generated from iTV, the interactive television operation was terminated in the final quarter of 2002. now Broadband pay-TV service was officially launched in September 2003 with 23 channels under the same umbrella company PCCW; iTV is thus commonly viewed as the predecessor of now TV. now TV is owned by PCCW. In December 2005, now TV introduced a technology with connection speed up to 18 megabits per second (Mbit/s). At least 75% of the service area will be offered a service running up to 8Mbit/s. In addition, Video-On-Demand services were launched in January 2006. Now TV subscribers currently have access to 136 channels. Chronology
Charging schemesSince each household has to install a special decoder to view the channels, there is an extra deposit and installation for the decoder. However, these charges are waived for Netvigator broadband subscribers. With the decoder, households are able to watch approximately 20 free channels. For the subscription channels, now uses the pricing model of pay-per-channel basis. There are bundle offers in existence, for given bouquet of channels, but these are less comprehensive than those offered by rivals. now TV offers a business package (in which there are fewer channels for subscription than household customers) for businesses at a higher price than household subscribers. With effect 1st September, NOW TV no longer offers STAR Sports or ESPN as stand-alone packages, preferring instead to bundle them in to a single multi-sport package. This has caused wide-spread distress amongst many viewers who view this move as a breach of their commitment contracts that stipulates that upon expiry of channel contracts, contracts are automatically renewed. The company, to date, has refused to comment on this issue. Channel HighlightsIn the beginning, now TV only operated 23 channels, most of which were in English. In response to competition, it has expanded its repertoire of new channels, adding programming such as the Disney Channel and ESPN. By June 2005, the number of channels grew to more than 70, with an increased number of Cantonese channels. In 2006, now TV outbid i-Cable for the rights to broadcast English Premier League football in Hong Kong, starting with the 2007-08 season. now TV currently has the most channels of any pav TV provider in Hong Kong. At present, it offers 21 free channels and 103 pay channels, including 15 audio channels. The total number of channels exceeds 130. now TV catogorizes the 21 free channels (denoted by asterix*), and the 103 pay channels into 9 groups:
On 10 May 2006, now TV re-arranged the channel numbers into a category format, where the first digit of the three-digit channel numbers indicates the programme category. Languages of channels providedThe majority of its programming is in English, Cantonese or Putonghua, though some programming in Hindi (STAR One), and French (TV5MONDE), is available. Business Performance and Developmentnow TV service was launched with 23 channels in September 2003 but was soon expanded to exceed 30 with the addition of sports-related channels and BBC World and the Animax channel, as well as the Cantonese-language Star Chinese Movies and Xing Kong channels. Within four months of launch, now TV had attracted more than 200,000 customers by end-2003. Although now TV mainly targets high-income viewers, its subscriber numbers have grown sharply. As well as home viewership, the service has been extended to hotel rooms, offices, sports bars and hotels. According to a report in Ming Pao Finance on 5 October, 2005, the number of subscribers to now TV exceeded 450,000. Per annual reports issued by PCCW, at the end of December 2005 the number of paying subscribers to now TV stood at 549,000 (approximately 61% were paid subscribers, with 31% being free subscribers). These figures compare with totals of 361,000 at end-December 2004 and 269,000 at end-June 2004. Despite the growth in subscribers, now TV was operating at a loss in 2005. By August 2006, now TV had in excess of 654,000 subscribers. Although NOW TV can claim consistent growth in subscriber numbers, quality of service remains 'average' at best. Many viewers report 'jerky' TV reception, slow refresh times when changing channels, and picture freezing extending over several minutes at multiple instances during single programming. StrategyIn early July 2000, the HKSAR government awarded five new pay-TV licences. The new entrants were all relatively seasoned broadcasting companies including Galaxy Satellite Broadcasting, Hong Kong DTV Company, a British broadcaster Elmsdsale, Hong Kong Network TV and Pacific Digital Media HK. The considerable opening of the market sparked intense competition for programming and viewer share, which can be seen by the extensive use of advertising. To avoid direct competition with the two local digital terrestrial channels - Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) and Asia Television Limited (ATV) - now TV has sought to build up and secure its local pay-TV position by signing long-term contracts with a variety of channels from around the world. Exclusivity
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