MediaQuest rolls out first HD TV in Cebu

CEBU, Philippines - The country’s largest multimedia company, MediaQuest Holdings Inc. has brought in the first high-definition (HD) TV viewing in Cebu, with the introduction of Cignal Digital TV, a direct-to-home service.

 Through MediaQuest’s subsidiary company-- MediaScape, Inc., the company pioneers the offering of HD TV in Cebu allowing television viewers to fully enjoy home entertainment packages.

 “Cignal TV is giving Cebuanos the HD entertainment they deserve as it becomes the first, and so far the only, satellite pay TV broadcast to offer the service nationwide,” said Anna Isabel V. Bengzon, MediaScape chief financial officer (CFO) in a press conference yesterday to introduce the service to Cebuanos.

The service, which as formally launched last July of this year, has already gained at least 25,000 subscribers nationwide, and is expected to close the year with over 30,000 subscribers.

Backed by the telecommunication and multimedia expertise of its mother company Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), Cignal was introduced to offer high quality TV viewing to un-served market in the Philippines, especially those in the far-flung areas.

Bengzon said the company has already spent P900 million to offer this service to Filipinos, to give Filipinos opportunity to enjoy TV viewing experience, although “we are late entrants in the market.”

Working on Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) technology, Cignal has partnered with NDS, a pioneer in developing digital TV solutions for some of the most successful satellite broadcasters around the world.

For its satellite partner, Cignal has tapped SES World Skies allowing for reliable, high quality TV distribution to some 14 million TV households.

To date, there are a total of 2 million to 2.5 million households across the country that has not been served by any cable TV provider. According to Bengzon these are one of the target markets of Cignal, as the technology can reach to the remotest part in the country.

Considering that Cebu is the number one market in terms of LCD or HD capable TV sets based on Samsung’s figure, Bengzon said the company hopes to capture a good number of potential subscribers here.

Besides, HD is already the new norm for TV home viewing, leaving the analog technology “a thing in the past”.

While majority of the TV users in the Philippines are still in the Standard Definition (SD) technology, the company is also offering the same services to those households are not yet using HD capable TV.

As of now, Cignal offers a total of 30 channels, of which eight are in HD format. These are, HBO, Star Movie, National Geographic and the History Channel, along with digitally-enhanced formats of Playhouse Disney, ESPN, Star Sports, and Sony Entertainment.

In Cebu, Cignal is partnering with Akromont, offering affordable packages ranging from P390 to P1,290 a month.

MediaQuest Holdings, a wholly-owned investee company of the PLDT Group of companies recently acquired the UHF channel ABC5, has a minority interest in BusinessWorld and has also ventured into radio via National Broadcasting Corporation’s 92.3 xfm.— Ehda M. Dagooc