A Blog contributor & new arrival on Lamma just asked me about the cable/satellite TV options.
As I always try to be extremely nice to Blog contributors, I put together a small list. How much of it is correct, what's wrong & incomplete and are there any more options I'm missing?
Summary of cable/Broadband/satellite TV options on Lamma<ol compact><li>No Cable TV on Lamma at all, not even by satellite or microwave yet. I might be wrong on this one?
There's also rumour about a satellite or microwave dish option to receive standard Cable TV, but does anybody actually have that yet on Lamma?
<li>No Broadband TV on Lamma at all, because the bandwidth from Lamma is not high enough to support TV. PCCW is not going to upgrade it anytime soon as there are only 1,200 Broadband accounts on all of Lamma, not worthwhile for them to make the investment. Their salespeople have promised it for ages, but it won't happen. As the Broadband infrastructure cannot support TV yet, no other company can offer Broadband TV either.
<li>A few individual channels are available via websites, for example BBC, CNN (?), but in internet-streaming-video-quality only. OK for news, but maybe not for movies or documentaries.
<li>Satellite: the only way for now and there are several options:
<ol compact>
<li>Thai satellite: best, but also most expensive option. Most channels, big setup cost ($5,000+, I believe) and considerable monthly charges ($300). Large satellite dish. See last message for more details from somebody actually using the Thai satellite).
<li>Philippine satellite: Sham Shui Po is selling Dream Systems from Pinoy Land for about $2,000 plus installation. AXN, Discovery, ... You will need their receiver and card and dish.
<li>exTV: Galaxy TV & TVB. new and eager to promote themselves on Lamma. Just a few good channels so far, low setup and monthly costs, around $200/month, I think.<li>There are a few "illegal" options which are widely used, affordable and are probably your best bet. Setup costs starting at $2,000, no monthly costs.
<li>A few local guys are very knowledgeable and reliable in setting this up, especially Parksy, the soundman of most local concerts.
Some bars (depending on satellite TV for their business) are also quite knowledgeable, especially Malcolm in Diesel's, Kim in Fountainhead and Dan in Aroy Thai.</ol></ol>
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Last edited by Lamma-Gung on Fri Mar 11, 2005 6:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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