Posted by
doeymccabe
16 yrs ago
My husband is inquiring about how these things work in HK? Is there a service for TV that would get us American and French channels? Also, we are moving with our iPhones...will those be easily switched over and still work there?
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I am pretty certain that your iphones will need to be unlocked, so they can work with a sim from a local HK operator. You can get that done here pretty easily. There is another thread about this too.
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The Now TV contract is 2 years before you can change. So as madtown says, don't be sucked in. The website has the program listings, so you can check those before you buy.
I wouldn't say they are con artists. They're good salesmen. ;)
Some operators in North America and Europe will unlock your phone for free if you give them proof you are leaving the country. But by no means all. In any case the phones can be unlocked rather easily in HK.
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I'll grant you that customer service is poor, but the two year contract is a fact of life. It's not a con because they're not hiding it. If you don't like their business practices, there's no need to sign up.
As for "low overhead", let's not forget the cost of purchasing the broadcast rights. That's no petty cash and they can't just turn that on and off. They have to know they will make those payments, and those on the overhead (all those repair and installation guys, plus the sales guys, aren't free). Locking you in assures a known revenue stream.
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I'm in the same camp as Dipper.
When I hadn't turned on the TV box for about a year, I decided that I wouldn't renew. TV shows, documentaries and movies on DVD + Internet TV are what we watch.
Lots of people I know simply have Apple TV plus a DVD player and that's it.
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Ed
16 yrs ago
Devil's advocate here... service providers need to be able to project their revenues in order to determine their business plans for the year...
If they don't maintain minimum sign up periods then what will likely happen is the overall cost per month will increase and the long term subscribers will be subsidizing those who cancel the service after a short period of usage...
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Ed
16 yrs ago
I suspect you are right on that... I have long thought the cable tv model is ultimately doomed... content providers will be king and they will no doubt join forces and create their own online network... you click the channels you want to subscribe to - get instant feeds - and you pay a fraction of what the cable companies charge...
Just a matter of when this happens... hard to imagine this not happening before the end of this decade...
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Ed
16 yrs ago
Many reasons but here are a couple...
Lets say they decide to bid on the rights to the Premier League...they determine what they can afford to bid by how many subscribers they have over a specific period... if they bid based on x amount of subscribers... win the bid... and 20% of their subscribers cancel... they are bankrupt...
There are many other expenses that they need to incur and they need to have a handle on long term revenues to ensure they meet budgets.
In any event, as someone has already said, they tell all subscribers up front that they are locked in for a specific period... so there is no scam happening here...
In fact I got stung by this because I gave up an apartment after 6 months and moved into a serviced apt that had service already... I had to pay the remaining part of the contract :(
Perhaps what they could do is offer shorter contracts with significantly higher monthly fees... or have a cancellation fee...
Of course they also want to make a profit... that's why they started the business though...
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Of course they do it for money. They're not a charity.
I agree with Ed. They could allow shorter contract times. But this would lead to higher fees.
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Let's face it the only real reason anyone signs up for the local TV services is for the sport and as broadcasting rights normally last for a few years it makes sense to align the subscription periods accordingly.
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Well there are always a few exceptions, but they need to accept that they have to fall in line with the customers that drive the revenue stream.
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Ed
16 yrs ago
Madtown... of course, at the end of the day its about money and companies will generally try to strike a balance between that gets them the greatest profit... we've seen just a few miles north what happens when you try to run a non-profit enterprise...
Ultimately it comes down to this - if people feel they are being gouged or treated unfairly they will not subscribe the service... and the company goes bankrupt...
From your numbers it would appear that they have the right formula/price points...
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