The two pay television services who were shutdown last year under controversial circumstances are now making giant strides in the pay television market. Dialog TV backed by Dialog Telekom is presently in the process of expanding their channels to include those of Star and have already included Ten Sports, Hallmark, Neo, God TV etc. They are also testing HDTV services.
LBN is also on an expansion drive and will be adding channels such as BBC World, Animax, etc and have already added channels such as Star Cricket, Discovery Network and they too are testing HDTV services and will also be introducing cable based internet services soon.
So it looks like the pay television war is now hotting up with LBN taking on Dialog TV and not wanting to play second fiddle to the larger competitor. Apart from coverage LBN is clearly on a level playing field as Dialog TV.
LBN are also on a coverage expansion drive by expanding services out of colombo to wattala by acquiring a pay television operator in the area. (Please read... LBN launches services in Wattala).
However it is sad to note that Comet Cable is let lagging behind and may eventually have to do a complete overhaul or face the consequences. SLT IPTV will add to this competition and clearly the public is set to benefit greatly from this competition.
Pay television has been a service that was fairly restricted due to the pricing and affordability but now with competition things will begin to change very soon.