I have three different set top boxes in my house thanks to three different pay TV operators in the UAE who cannot agree to coordinate and collaborate with each other, and enrich the viewing experience of their patrons. I hear if, in the future, I did want to view some free-to-air HD channels, I […]
I have three different set top boxes in my house thanks to three different pay TV operators in the UAE who cannot agree to coordinate and collaborate with each other, and enrich the viewing experience of their patrons.
I hear if, in the future, I did want to view some free-to-air HD channels, I may have to buy yet another set top box.
Of course, as the building I live in has a central dish, I have had to choose two bouquets and discard the notion of investing in any further subscriptions.
Initially, we had a subscription to Orbit Showtime Network (OSN) and Pehla, and were a bit miffed when we had to switch between the OSN box and Pehla when we wanted to toggle between the two platforms. Then mid last year, OSN came up with a cam facility on its new HD box that enabled us to insert the Pehla card into it as well. The cam allowed us to surf between channels on both platforms without having to switch off one box and switch on the other everytime we want to surf between the offerings of the two pay TV networks. When the World Cup began, Al Jazeera could have offered their card on OSN but decided on a different solution. In the meantime, the English Premier League could only be accessed only via Abu Dhabi Media Companys new Humax HD box that came with Irdetos newest conditional access technology.
Accommodating a second box meant having to call the technician to install a bit of middleware to switch between the Humax and the OSN box depending on which content we wanted to watch each time. It was still fine to juggle. Last month, when the ICC Cricket World Cup began, Pehla, which has the broadcast rights to the games for the Middle East, announced that the game would only be made available on special boxes with Viaccess cards, thereby, rendering the cam facility we had invested in a few months ago useless.
Switching between OSN, the EPL and cricket was far too complicated and would spoil my entertainment rather than enrich it. Moreover, for half an hour of TV a day, if we could manage it, that kind of juggling would be a deterrent to watching any television at all.
Reason prevailed and we decided to switch one box off permanently. We would have liked to watch movies, cricket, football and anything else that caught our fancy just with the switch of a button as networks constantly tell us.
Now, if all of these pay TV operators and broadcasters would jointly invest their efforts and money into developing one secure platform rather than adding to environmental waste and simultaneously, ruining our viewing experience, the world would indeed be a better place.
