Goodbye Starhub?

It has been coming. First to go, Italian soccer. Then UEFA Champions League from this season. And now, EPL from next season onwards. After watching EPL games on Starhub cable since my late mother subscribed to it when I was staying in Joo Seng in my primary school days, it has finally comes to the end. I dare to say that it is just a matter of time Singtel will outbid Starhub for its Spanish La Liga rights, I personally think La Liga is of the higher standard than Serie A, just that its timing is very late for a viewer in Singapore - kickoff like 3am in the morning. But given Ronaldo, Kaka are now playing for Real Madrid, the demand and market is there.

Being a soccer fan for most of my life, I am already feeling a bit weird without live UEFA Champions League, I cannot imagine days without live EPL games.

So it's more or less that I will get myself subscribed to mio TV, just that whether I am going to do this while still in Ghim Moh or after I moved to Bedok South next year?

And another decision is whether I am going to give up on Starhub together? I think the defining moment is the announcement on the broadcast rights for the upcoming Fifa World Cup 2010 in South Africa...

I personally feel that it could be dicey. Given Starhub has lose the EPL broadcast rights, it should have more money to bid for the World Cup 2010. And if they lose to Singtel for the World Cup rights, they should be expecting a backlash of many soccer fans switching to mio tv all together. It is a situation they would like to avoid and a saving grace for them at least for the time being if they secure the broadcast rights. So I think they will go all out to secure the World Cup 2010.

Singtel. World Cup 2010 could be a knock out punch to Starhub in terms of subscribers market. So I am sure that they would go for it too.

Let's hope that the bidding war will not results in too high a cost through.