My Thoughts on Technology and Jamaica: Broadcasters, LIME TV and IPTV - Kill and Kill Again and the London 2012 Olympics

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Broadcasters, LIME TV and IPTV - Kill and Kill Again and the London 2012 Olympics

And Noah he often said to his wife when he sat down to dine,
“I don’t care where the water goes if it doesn’t get into the wine”

G.K. Chesterton, The Flying Inn

According to a friend of mine who works at Huawei, LIME TV, quote, “a shot” as evidenced from the article “Thousands watch Buju on LIME Mobile TV”, published Wednesday, January 19, 2011, The Jamaica Gleaner. 

Buju Banton's Before the Dawn Concert provided the catalyst for its “successful” launch as chronicled in the article “Hundreds line up for LIME Mobile TV to watch Buju”, published Friday, January 14, 2011, The Jamaica Gleaner, with people happily chucking in their old phones for new ones, Aladdin (1992) style!

I also share my Huawei friend’s enthusiasm, as this may be my first blog post where I actually wield a double-edged sword at the now nascent technology that is LIME TV – and its incredible success, which despite the lateness of this article has not gone unnoticed. Administrator Kirk of the Geezam Blog struck blogger gold. 

This occurred when Horace Cunningham's, a member of our freelance stable of writers at the Geezam Blog , got an exclusive. Telecom Provider LIME gave him a LIME TV, specifically the ZTE-G N290/Aeon to try out and as such, he was able to utilize and rate the device as per his article on the Geezam Blog entitled “LIME Jamaica Mobile TV Review”. Unlike TechJamaica, no one can accuse Geezam Blog Freelancers Writers of bias; we are Telecom Provider agnostic!

“Successful” in quotes, as its success is still hampered by the usual problems that traditionally plague Telecom Provider Networks – congestion, my prediction in my blog article entitled “Broadcasting and Digital Switch Over - Back to the Future to compete with LIME TV”.

Techies on TechJamaica reported problems with the device, albeit it is good to note that the original poster codenamed “Tammi” has a bias, being allegedly a Telecom Provider Digicel employee as asserted by other posters in the forum thread entitled “LIME TV - Not so good!! (pity)”, posted January 18 2011, by Tammi, TechJamaica.

Hopefully, this “Tammi” is not Tami Chynn, otherwise it would appear that she is also living a double life akin to Carletta Deleon aka the Pet Tales Chick aka “Dilly” of Smile Jamaica on Television Jamaica fame. Now for the sharp side of the double-edged sword……

“Tammi” of TechJamaica fame much gloried experience is in line with my predictions, as I knew that congestion would have gotten the better of the service. Had I been able to find further evidence of congestion on LIME’s 3G Network, it would have lent credence to my earlier theory.

For despite being advertised as a DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcast – Handheld) service, LIME TV is actually a rare type of VAS (Value Added Service) within a VAS as predicted by my blog article entitled “LIME and LIME TV - Lara Croft Tomb Raider”. For their credit, here is LIME TV’s assertion of DVB-H – “LIME TV | How it Works”, viewed Saturday January 22 2011, It’s on LIME TV. Tomatoes to customers, who got their Buju Fix that weekend of January 15th 2011.

Media obfuscation at its best! Better than the article Edward Taylor sponsored piece entitled article “The people and ideas behind Mobile TV”, published Friday, November 12, 2010 BY EDWARD TAYLOR, The Jamaica Observer as it is on Telecom Provider LIME’s website!

Still, a fly persist in the ointment aside from the obvious problems that the service has with congestion. This problem is one which I much opined in my blog article entitled “LIME TV vs Digicel's Samsung Galaxy Tablet - Call of Duty Black Ops”: The competition is better – and may be packing the 3D HDTV heat if CES (Consumer Electronics Show) 2011 is anything to go by.

Telecom Provider Digicel’s Samsung Galaxy P1000 Tablet is packing the heat, as NetFlix and Hulu streaming are very much possible on the device for sub US$9.99 on a thirty (30) day contract.

Heck, the Samsung Galaxy Tablet can, along with other Tablets and eReader such as the Amazon Kindle conceivably replace newspapers or even help to rebuild Jamaica’s flagging subscription market as suggested in my blog article entitled “Digicel, Samsung Galaxy Tablets and Newspapers - Tomorrow Never Dies and the Paper Man”.

Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) is set for a major expansion by 2012, as free-to-air broadcasters are effectively “cyber squatting” on valuable spectrum desired by Telecom Providers and Broadcasters, a windfall of “White” Space frequencies and much desired lower frequency spectrum much coveted by Telecom Provider for Data Services as per my blog article entitled “Telecom Providers, 100MBps Broadband and the Broadcasting Commission - Redemption Song

Add to this melting pot the two (2) month old company straight out of Barbados named Net2Vu that provides streaming IPTV Services (blog review article coming on this product soon!!!) and we are talking competition that will take advantage of the expansion of the Wired and Wireless Broadband in Jamaica! Affordable IPTV Services are here!

Net2Vu providing up to one hundred and fifty (150) streamed cable channel as stated in the article “Net2Vu - Subscription Plans”, viewed Saturday January 22 2011, Net2Vu – with prices that are competitive to LIME TV as stated in the article “LIME TV | Pricing & Plans”, viewed Saturday January 22 2011, It’s on LIME TV. Not to mention pack more channels than LIME TV as per the article “LIME TV | Channels”, viewed Saturday January 22 2011, It’s on LIME TV.

This fits exactly with my prediction of people “cutting the cord” of their Cable Providers and opting to stream content over the Internet as opined by CNET News Reporter, Marguerite Reardon in the article “With Internet TV, Cable wins even if it loses”, published October 29, 2010 4:00 AM PDT by Marguerite Reardon, CNET News - Signal Strength and predicted in my blog article entitled “Broadcasting and Digital Switch Over - Back to the Future to compete with LIME TV”.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs “hobby”, the much adored iOS stepchild, the Apple iTV and the number one (1) IPTV device, namely the Roku Box, will not be far behind in making a beachhead in Jamaica, as Wired and Wireless Internet access improves as stated in my blog article on Administrator Kirk Geezam Blog entitled “3D HDTV - Next Big Thing or Next Big Niche”.

This article I gave glasses free and Universal Glasses 3D HDTV the thumbs up – just in time for London Olympics 2012!

So in addition to Streaming IPTV Services coming to box bread out of Television Jamaica and CVM TV mouth, future improvements to these Platforms may be packing the Big Guns in the form of support for 3D HDTV.

Certainly explains the sudden launch of LIME TV, Net2Vu and the International expansion NetFlix as stated in my blog article entitled “JDX and PayLess - First Dove of a Coming Recovery”; their outlook is long term, indicating that this was apparently all well planned. More coincidences with the conversation about the future with the so-called Shurpower Engineers in April 2009! Fascinating!

Makes the coming of DSO (Digital Switch Over) to HDTV among the Local Big Three (3) Broadcasters by 2012 AD look all the more likely than the much bandied about 2015 AD date as stated in the article “Timeline set for digital switchover; Broadcasting Commission, media group disagree on pace”, published Sunday November 21, 2010 by Mark Titus, Business Reporter, The Jamaica Gleaner.

Thus, folks take my foolish advice! Future proof yourself and buy a 3D HDTV as stated in the article “TV purchase alert: In the Digital Age, HD is king, says regulator”, published Sunday November 21, 2010 The Jamaica Gleaner.

It seems EVERYONE is apparently giddy and gearing up for London Olympics 2012, which if the viewership numbers and Internet Traffic for World Cup 2010 was anything to go by, will  Kill and Kill Again (1981) …and again, the traditional Big Three (3) Broadcasters in Jamaica! Amusingly, Carlette Deleon aka the Pet Tales Chick aka “Dilly” of Smile Jamaica on Television Jamaica fame, would be the perfect face for Net2Vu or NetFlix as most likely she streams their service on her Apple iPad!

Stay tuned as this story develops!

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