Looks like we might have a new Cable TV provider on
the horizon.
DISL (Digital Interactive Services Limited) plans to
launch a wireless Cable service in Jamaica called ReadyTV as reported in “Dehring
promises cheaper cable ReadyTV executive says primary target is inner-city
communities”, published Sunday, May 08, 2016 by Balford Henry, The Jamaica Observer.
The company lists the following as Directors of
their board as noted in the article “Chris
Dehring Presents ReadyTV”, published Friday April 8, 2016 by Barbara
Ellington, The Jamaica Gleaner:
1. Christopher
Dehring
2. Orville
“Shaggy” Burrell
3. David
Cassanova
4. Magnus
Johansson
5. Gerard
Borely
The company's product, ReadyTV, which has the
tagline, “TV when YOU Ready”, intends to deliver reliable and affordable
television and radio content via a hybrid wired and wireless network.
Surprisingly, among the Directors and possibly VC (Venture
Capital) for the company is Orville “Shaggy” Burrell, a locale Reggae Artiste
who has the financial muscle to fund such a venture as noted in the article “Shaggy’s
Loyalty To Jamaica On Show With Ready TV”, Published Sunday May 1, 2016, by
Leighton Levy, The Jamaica Gleaner.
They plan to be up and running by the First Quarter
of 2017 as they'll be doing some testing to see how resilient their network
delivery is, to quote DISL Chairman and CEO, Christopher Dehring: “We are going
to be launched by the first quarter of 2017. Obviously, we are going to have a
trial period to iron out the kinks. But, by the first quarter of 2017, our
service will be up and running”.
They hope to deliver some 200 entertainment,
informational and educational channels islandwide packaged in such a way that
customers not served by the 50 cable operators in operation would be able to
use their services to quote DISL Chairman and CEO, Christopher Dehring: “We
will try to introduce a new and a more innovative way of accessing programmes,
that will make it more affordable in terms of the packaging. Some of the
challenges we are facing is in terms of the standard way the packages are sold.
It really leaves out any consumer who can’t afford it in that sort of monthly
post-paid way. So we will be pricing the packages in a way that Jamaican cable
consumers can appreciate”.
This underserved community represents 1/3 of the
market, the main target of ReadyTV as pointed out by DISL Chairman and CEO,
Christopher Dehring, quote: “At least a third of households don’t have cable
services, while another third only have analog, the quality of which is still
very basic. So, there is still a sizeable market for digital-quality cable
service”.
So what would be so special about ReadyTV that would
make it cheaper than conventional Cable TV?
ReadyTv
focus on Community Television - Putting Local Jamaican in the Spotlight
I suspect based on the comments of Mr. Dehring, their
plan is to tap into the local Content providers to provide content that
features regular Jamaicans. After all, the 1/3 that cannot afford Cable TV
would not still be able to afford regular Cable, despite the use of a DTT
(Digital Terrestrial Television) platform.
This may be the reason why they're delayed till 2017
as noted in the article “Dehring
To Launch New Cable Company Next Year”, Published Sunday March 27, 2016, by
Tameka Gordon, The Jamaica Gleaner.
This as if it was hybrid wireless and wired DTT
Network, he could have launched by December 2016. All you need is a CPE
(Customer Premesis Equiptment) using White Space Spectrum that Microsoft is
already experimenting with at Park Hall Primary and Infant School in Clarendon
as explained in my blog article
entitled “How
White Space Testing by Microsoft at Park Hall Primary and Infant School heralds
80 MBps Competition in Jamaica”.
He could then build out the wired, possibly Fiber
Optic Network to support business customers while using the Wireless Network to
provide the DTT Service to customers, thereby making money from his Cable
Infrastructure.
By paying content provider for making quality
content, he hopes to have content that probably will mimic reality Television,
only featuring regular Jamaicans, quote: “And we believe that out of that a
cottage industry can be developed. We certainly will be the largest platform in
Jamaica and we will provide the coverage area, covering more households than
any other cable service provider. We believe that we can be the platform that
allows local content developers to showcase and generate income from their
content. So we are going to be reaching out to content developers across
Jamaica, to develop content and showcase local talent and earn revenue”.
It'll be interesting to see what kind of tech DISL
will use to deploy ReadyTV and if this may also include Telephony and Wireless
Internet, as done by Telecom Provider FLOW Jamaica and Digicel Play as noted in
my Geezam blog article entitled “Digicel
Play’s 20,000 customers in March 2016 means 60,000 by December 2016”.
So get ready for ReadyTV in 2017!
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