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now TV (now 寬頻電視) is a 24-hour Pay-TV service provider in Hong Kong SAR . Launched in September 2003, it is operated by the leading Hong Kong fixed-line telecom operator Pacific Century Cyberworks Limited ( PCCW ) (電訊盈科) throught its subsidiary, PCCW VOD Limited. The word "now" is abbreviated from "Network Of the World". now TV is at present the second largest pay-TV operators in Hong Kong, after Cable TV (香港有線電視), which operate by I-CABLE Communications Limited (有線寬頻通訊有限公司). HISTORY AND ESTABLISHMENT Launched in March 1998, PCCW's Interactive TV ( ITV 互動電視) pay- TV services included a wide range of information and entertainment, such as news, Video-on-demand (VOD) , music videos, home-shopping, home-banking and educational content. iTV was serving 67,000 subscribers at the end of 2000. Due to the Liberalization of the pay-TV market by the HKSAR government in early July 2000, the then existing duopolists iTV and i-Cable were confronted with ferocious competitions. With fewer subscribers and hence the decline in the revenue generated from iTV, the interactive television operation was terminated in the last quarter of 2002. now Broadband pay-TV service was officially launched in September 2003 with 23 channels under the same umbrella company PCCW; iTV is thus commonly viewed as the predecessor of now TV. In relation to the ownership, now TV is owned by PCCW, which is one of Asia 's leading integrated communications companies. It provides a wide range of communications services including local telephony and broadband services. Chronology March 1998 PCCW commercially launched iTV July 2000 Liberalisation of the pay-TV market Last quarter of 2002 Termination of iTV August 2003 now TV was unvieled September 2003 now TV was officially launched SERVICES PROVIDED now TV uses the pricing model of pay-per-channel basis instead of charging a monthly fee which offers customers choices and flexibility in channel selection. It is a new form of family entertainment providing 24-hour TV channels ranging from music and movies to sports and cartoons. To protect the privacy of the customers, a Personal Identification Number (PIN) is given to each subscriber and they can change it at anytime. In addition, since it offers adult channels, a service called "Parental Control" is also launched to give control to parents over the choice of channels of their children.
now TV offers Business package for businessmen to enjoy up-to-date world news, financial news analysis, world perspective and a variety of channels in their offices. More channels such as 24-hour ATV news, Bloomberg TV , Sky News and sports programmes can be enjoyed by paying an additional monthly fee. Charge schemes The charge schemes adopted by now TV are different from other pay-TV operators as it charges its customers on a pay-per-channel basis. Under the pay-channel scheme, it allows flexibility among the subscribers to choose the channels they are interested in and enjoy their own combinations of channels. They only have to pay for the channels they choose with no extra monthly fees. Alternatively, customers may choose channel packages at discounted prices (e.g. $138 for all Chinese Channels, $12 per month for the channel of BBC World 12-month package while the original price is $20). Since each household has to install a special Decoder to view the channels, there is an extra deposit and installation for the decoder. However, these charges are waived for Netvigator Broadband subscribers. Channels At the beginning of the business, now TV only operated 23 channels. However, the number of channels has already exceeded 70 in June 2005. At present, now TV offers 15 free channels and 57 pay channels. One of the pay channels offers another 15 audio channels. Channels are categorized into four groups, namely sports, entertainment, movies and news and Infotainment . For the adult channels, programmes are only delivered on demand. now TV provides some free channels to non-subscribers. On the other hand, it offers some exclusive channels for its subscribers such as Star Sports, Mei Ah Asian Drama Channel etc. now TV has moved from a new born stage to a commercial stage. And now, it is developing into a mass-market service. Channels Highlight now TV has been developing gradually. At the beginning, it only operated several channels which lacked diversity. However, as witnessing more competition in the same industry, it has added several brand new channels, such as the Korean Drama channel and also the ESPN sports channel, to provide more diversity in their service. now TV catogorises the free 15 channels and the 57 pay channels into 9 groups:
Channels Digest
''Movie'' There are in total 12 movie channels. Classic world known movie channels include MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer), Hallmark Channel and Turner Classic Movies . HBO Signature, HBO, HBO Hits, HBO Family, Cinemax and STAR MOVIES mainly show Hollywood movies. Chinese and Hong Kong local movies are shown in China Movie Channel, Mei Ah Movie Channel and Star Chinese Movies, of which Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese and Chinese productions are found occasionally in Mei Ah Movie Channel. ''Music'' The 5 music channels provide a variety of the latest popular music. Music Videos and MTV are found in Soundtrack Channel, MTV Southeast Asia and Channel International; CHANNEL V China mainly shows the latest Chinese music; while DMX Music offers large range of digital music. ''News''
''Infotainment''
''Entertainment''
''Sports''
''Kids''
''Adult'' The 4 adult AV -on-Demand channels are Ice Fire, Blue Dream, Channel Adult and Playboy TV . ''Indian'' Hindi entertainment programmes are shown in STAR Plus , Indian news in STAR NEWS and Hindi music videos in CHANNEL V Indian. For further details of different channels provided by now TV, you can visit the homepage of now TV Languages of channels provided Its programmes are mainly broadcast in
and a few of them are in
There are Chinese sub-titles for most of the non-Chinese programmes. BUSINESS PERFORMANCE AND DEVELOPMENT now TV service was launched with 23 channels in September 2003 but was soon expanded to exceed 30 with the addition of sports-related channels and BBC World and the Animax channel, as well as the Cantonese Star Chinese Movies and Xing Kong channels. With less than four months of launch, now TV had attracted more than 200,000 customers at the year end of 2003. Although now TV mainly targets at the high-income group, its number of subscribers has been under substantial growth. According to the Annual Reports issued by PCCW, at the end of December 2005, the number of paying subscribers to now TV reached 549,000 (in which approximately 61% is paid subscribers and 31% is free subscribers); compared with the figures at the end of December 2004 and June 2004, which are 361,000 and 269,000 respectively. It has been experiencing constant growth in business and hence profits. Not only is it available at home, but also in hotel rooms, offices, sports bars, etc. Recently, the number of subscribers has exceeded 450,000 as reported by Ming Pao Finance on 5 October 2005. Despite the growth, now TV is still operating at a loss in 2005. Competition In early July 2000, the HKSAR government awarded five new pay-TV licences. The new entrants were all relatively seasoned broadcasting companies including Galaxy Satellite Broadcasting, Hong Kong DTV Company, a British broadcaster Elmsdsale, Hong Kong Network TV and Pacific Digital Media HK. The considerable opening of the market sparked intense competition for programming and viewer share, which can be seen by the extensive use of advertising. To avoid direct competition with the two local digital terrrestrial televisions - Television Broadcasts Limited ( TVB ) and Asia Television Limited ( ATV ), now TV builds up and secures its local pay-TV position by signing long-term contracts with a variety of existing channels around the world. In fact, I-Cable has recently adopted an alternative pricing model for its subscribers. It allows subscribers to choose and pay for their own channels, which is equivalent to the pay-by-channel pricing scheme adopted by now Broandband TV. Moreover, from Asia Media in October 2005, now TV claimed that they will not follow i-Cable to minimize monthly charges since they have added new channels and improved the delivery standard, in order to maintain competitiveness. Awards At the 2004 Convention of CASBAA (Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia), now TV was awarded "The Chairman's Award". CASBAA, representing 120 corporations serving more than 3 billion viewers, acknowledged now TV for its "innovative and proactive marketing of a secure and advanced pay-TV platform and for growing its interactive capability, resulting in a stellar subscriber take-up" on 31 October 2004. Future plans In December 2005, now TV will improve its services by introducing a technology with connection speed up to 12 Megabits Per Second (Mbit/s). Concerning the transmission speed, at least 75% of the area will be offered up to 8 Mbit/s for the speed. Besides, the resolution will also be four times higher than ordinary televisions with the technology of high-definition television ( HDTV ). In addition, Video-On-Demand services will also be launched in December 2005. CNN International was added to the lineup on January 10, 2006. HBO Family and HBO Hits is expected to be launched on NOW later in 2006. In addition to the existing 24-hour movie channel, Star Chinese Movies was enhanced with a Video on Demand (VOD) service in January 2006. Through the interactive VOD service, subscribers of Star Chinese Movies can pick any movie they want at their convenience. On February 21, 2006, PCCW and Galaxy Satellite Broadcasting Limited ("'''''Galaxy'''''") announced that they have entered into an agreement under which Galaxy's TVB Pay Vision ("'''''TVBPV'''''") service will be carried on the PCCW platform. The TVBPV service to be carried by Now TV will include 8 TVB-produced channels and a selection of Asian and international channels with the opportunity to include more new and exciting TVB channels in the future. Both PCCW and Galaxy will cooperate in the marketing and distribution of this package. The 8 TVB-produced channels are: TVBN - Leading 24-hour news channel TVB Drama - Trendy local and Asian drama channel TVB Kids - Children's channel TVBM - The first local music channel TVB Classic - TVB classic drama channel TVB Health - Local interactive health channel TVBS Asia - Leading Taiwan entertainment channel TVBS News - Leading Taiwan news channel With the additional channel line-up, Now TV subscribers will have access to over 110 channels. RELATED SERVICES
now.com.hk internet content services was launched by PCCW in June 2000 for trial purposes. The website, " Now.com.hk " is Hong Kong's premier broadband service, offering a spectrum of locally relevant content, including news, movies, music, online games, and more. Members can enjoy a large variety of media when accessing the service. In general, PCCW aims at providing experience of broadband home entertainment, with now.com.hk for Personal Computer users and now TV for television viewers, in which the latter tailor-makes content for young people. EXTERNAL LINKS
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