HUIXIAN

FROM next year, expect to pay more if you want to watch the likes of Wayne Rooney, Didier Drogba and Steven Gerrard live on TV over the weekend.

StarHub announced last night that it had won exclusive rights for the next three seasons of the English Premier League (EPL), starting with the 2007-2008 season, and immediately made clear that a price increase was inevitable.

In explaining why charges are set to go up, Mr Mike Reynolds, StarHub's head (Integrated Products and Marketing), said: 'The costs of securing the EPL telecast rights for the next three years certainly did not come cheap.

'This is driven partly by the escalating costs of sports rights.

'Nevertheless, StarHub will do everything possible to minimise the increased costs for consumers.'

The race for exclusive rights to the EPL, by far the most popular soccer league in Singapore and the world, was reportedly run between StarHub, SingTel and ESPN Star Sports (ESS), which held the rights for the past three seasons.

It is not known how much more StarHub will charge. Viewers now pay $15 a month for the sports channels.

When asked about this last night, a StarHub spokesman said: 'We just received news of our successful bid, so it's premature to talk about fees and other details.'

Broadcasting arrangements have not been decided. The Straits Times understands that StarHub could still sell these rights to ESS so that the games will continue to be shown on Channels 23 and 24. StarHub could also decide to screen the matches on its own sports channels.

In addition to hitting the pockets of soccer fans, the StarHub win also means bad news for SingTel, which is planning to offer a mass-market pay TV service - for which EPL games would have been, in the words of analysts, the 'crown jewel'.

SingTel has applied for a full licence to offer Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) services, and is currently running a technical trial.

This service beams programmes in high-definition format to viewers' television sets via a modem and set-top box.

Mr Nirgunan Tiruchelvam, an ABN Amro analyst, noted that the EPL is widely seen as the 'anchor' for any pay TV offering - well over half of StarHub's cable subscribers tune in to the sports channel.

Added Mr Bryan Wang, director for Asia-Pacific at research house In-Stat: 'Without the EPL, it will be quite difficult for SingTel to bring something else to the table that will persuade customers to subscribe to its new IPTV service.'

The analysts noted that the cost-conscious SingTel had probably submitted too low a bid for the EPL, and may now have to re-double its efforts to bid for alternative key content for its IPTV offering.

Indeed, Hong Kong's PCCW, whose successful service Now Broadband is the global poster-boy for IPTV, started off without the EPL.

However, it did have two other key offerings, MTV and Discovery Channel. Both channels are currently offered by StarHub.

SingTel may gun for more Chinese-language content to reach out to subscribers in the HDB heartland, as StarHub is perceived to be slow in offering appealing content to this segment, noted ABN Amro's Mr Tiruchelvam.

When contacted yesterday by The Straits Times, the telco put up a brave front.

Mr Allen Lew, its chief executive for Singapore operations, said yesterday: 'Our plan for offering Internet Protocol TV is unchanged, subject to getting the licence from the Media Development Authority.'

What next for SingTel?

Despite Mr Lew's insistence that the EPL is 'only one type of content', In-Stat's Mr Wang said the setback will likely cause a delay in SingTel's IPTV roll-out.

'SingTel cannot afford to start badly,' he said.

'It has to get its content portfolio right with a strong line-up of programmes, so that it can get at least 30,000 to 50,000 customers within the first two to three months of the official launch in Singapore.

'Otherwise it will be very difficult for SingTel to offer IPTV in the regional market - which is its ultimate goal,' he added.