What’s on the box?
With increasing numbers of satellite and cable operators throwing their hats in the arena, there has never been so much on TV. But who offers what and how much does it cost?
Television…
Some are addicted, watching it for hours every day while others claim never to switch it on. But whatever side of the fence you sit on, one fact remains: every year, more and more channels are springing up with an endless supply of sport, films, news, documentaries and music, along with a plethora of specialist subjects.
For those that love ‘the box’, the ever-increasing choice has even been known to come between love, with the man wanting to watch the footie, while the woman tries to wrestle the remote control to switch over to her favourite show.
But it wasn’t always this way, especially in Cyprus.
Fifteen years ago, there was only one channel. You either watched the semi-government Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) for a few hours when it came on or you didn’t.
But you could forget about morning talk shows and lunchtime news bulletins. People wanting to watch TV had to wait until five pm, and even then, it was children that got excited, with the schedule beginning with one hour of cartoons.
It was then time to find out what was happening in the world, sorry in Cyprus, with the news in Greek, Turkish and English followed by what seemed like an hour of non-stop commercials. Next was either a film or a discussion programme or a documentary.
Things couldn’t stay the same though and change was forced not by the television viewers but a band of priests. During the early nineties, the Church decided that they wanted to get involved in the television business and created Cyprus’ second TV channel: ‘O Logos’ [The word]. The response was huge and despite heavily censoring films and broadcasting hours and hours of horseracing, they overtook their semi-government rival.
CyBC went on the counterattack though with the launching of CyBC2 a year later.
Looking back now, the aim seemed to be to attract viewers, especially housewives, earlier by airing South American dramas and American soaps such as The Bold and The Beautiful, which is still being showed today.
It wasn’t long before Cyprus ANT-1 emerged, and then came Sigma, bringing the number of terrestrial channels to five.
Greek station MEGA bought out Logos and then the idea of a private television station offering the latest movies, comprehensive sports coverage and a bit of pornography surfaced in the shape of LTV.
Today everybody seems to want a piece of the pie. The government with CyBC, the church is still involved with MEGA, radio stations and newspapers with Sigma, Frederick College with Nicosia-based FRED TV and The Cyprus Electricity Authority with Cablenet and the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority with MiVision.
But is the overpowering choice of television packages going too far? A Broadcasting Authority Director said that although it is a case of, “the more, the merrier”, he is still unsure about the long-term prospects of so much TV.
“I believe that the more choice the Cypriot viewer has the better. However, it is still too early to determine whether all these packages in the market are healthy. Only time will tell,” Neophytos Epaminondas said.
For English-speaking people, the choice on terrestrial TV is poor, with countless Cypriot and Greek sit-coms and game shows that they have no interest in watching.
There are English-language films on an almost daily basis, but these are inexplicably broadcast very late at night. Do the schedulers not realise people need to get up early to go to work?
In the end, if you want greater choice, it comes down to what you prefer, how much you can afford to pay and of course, if it’s worth it. Here’s what’s currently on offer.
Cablenet (cable television)
Price: £20 installation charge with a monthly subscription of £11.50 Yearly subscriptions give two months free viewing.
What’s it got: Offers the main local channels of CyBC 1, CyBC 2, MEGA, ANT1, Sigma and ERT SAT plus
Films: TCM, Star Movies, Star World
Sports: Eurosport Cyprus, Eurosport News, ESPN
Documentaries: Reality TV, Discovery Channel, Discovery Science, Civilisation and Travel, UKTV
News: CNN, BBC World, Euronews, Bloomberg Europe
Music: MCM Pop / Europe, Rage TV, Countdown, Mezzo, Cable TV channel
Adult: Gold, XXL / Zag
Fashion: Fashion TV, Moda, BBC Prime
European: Orti, VOX, Italia 1, TV5 Europe, TVE International
Free-to-air: Parliament TV, Magic TV, Extra 3
Contact: Tel: 22 399399, website: www.cablenet.com.cy, email:[email protected]
MiVision (cable television)
Price: £50 for installation, with free installation currently offered for a limited period. I-Choice subscribers pay an extra £10 per month, with non I-Choice subscribers paying £17 per month.
What’s it got: Five regular local channels plus Limassol-based Extra TV and
Films: TCM, Mifilm, one LTV-produced film channel
Sport: Eurosport, ESPN Classic, two LTV-produced sport channels, plus the facility for MUTV and Chelsea TV
Documentaries: Discovery Channel, Discovery Travel, Adventure, Science and Civilisation
Children’s: Cartoon Network
News: CNN, BBC World, Bloomberg
Miscellaneous: E! Entertainment, Fashion TV
Music: Music Box, MCM Top
Adult: Private Gold (£2 extra per month)
Viewers of MiVision can also select films from the Video on Demand gallery for either £1 or £1.50
Contact: Tel: 132, website: www.mivision.com.cy, email: [email protected]
PrimeTel (cable television)
Currently on a pilot programme, the service was due to be launched last week at the State Fair. Installation and subscription details have yet to be announced.
There will be 20 to 25 thematic channels on offer, a selection of free to air channels and video on demand. In addition, viewers will be able to pause and rewind live TV.
The service is a part of PrimeHome Package, which includes Telephony, Broadband Internet and Digital TV channels.
Contact: Tel: 22 102210, website: www.primehome.com e-mail: [email protected]
Nova Cyprus (satellite television)
Price: Free installation for existing LTV subscribers or £40 for non-subscribers. This includes the receiver, satellite dish and card. Monthly fee of £27.65.
What’s it got:
Films: LTV, MGM, TCM
Sports: LTV, Alfa, Eurosport, Eurosport 2, Motors TV
Documentaries: Discovery Channel, National Geographic, Animal Planet, History Channel, Travel Channel, Hunting & Fishing
Music: MTV, VH1, MAD, Mezzo
News: CNN International, BBC World, Euronews, GBC, Bloomberg, CNBC Europe
Adult: Hustler TV, Private Gold
Miscellanous: Cartoon Network, Jetix, Fame Story, ANT1 Gold, FashionTV, World Fashion, TV5, ERT Sat, Parliament TV
Also includes an additional 80 free television channels and 80 free radio stations
Contact: Tel: 22 00 22 00, website: www.novacyprus.com, email: [email protected]
Athina Sat (satellite television)
price: Installation and subscription depends on the package chosen. A three-month subscription means an installation charge of £77 plus monthly payments of £19.95. A yearly subscription offers free installation with payments of £20.98 per month.
What’s it got:
Films: Cine Greek, All Movies, TCM
Sports: Eurosport, Eurosport 2, ESPN Classic
Documentaries: Globe Documentaries
News CNN, BBC World
Music: Music 24
Children: Cartoon Network, Kidz Channel
Local: My Channel
Adult: Spice Platinum (£1.90 per month)
Contact: Tel: 77772455, website: www.athinasat.com, email: [email protected]
What is cable television?
Cable television is a system of providing tel
evision, FM radio programming and other services to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted directly to people’s televisions through fixed optical fibres or coaxial cables as opposed to the over-the-air method used in traditional television broadcasting (via radio waves) in which a television antenna is required.
Technically, cable TV involves distributing a number of television channels collected at a central location to subscribers within a community by means of a network.
As in the case of radio broadcasting, the use of different frequencies allows many channels to be distributed through the same cable, without separate wires for each. The tuner of the TV, VCR or radio selects one channel from this mixed signal.
What is satellite television?
Satellite television is television delivered by way of communications satellites, as compared to conventional terrestrial television and cable television. In many areas of the world satellite television services supplement older terrestrial signals, providing a wider range of channels and services, including subscription-only services.
Satellite television, like other communications relayed by satellite, starts with a transmitting antenna located at an uplink facility. Uplink satellite dishes are very large, as much as 9 to 12 metres in diameter. The increased diameter results in more accurate aiming and increased signal strength at the satellite. The uplink dish is pointed toward a specific satellite and the uplinked signals are transmitted within a specific frequency range, so as to be received by one of the transponders tuned to that frequency range aboard that satellite. The transponder ‘retransmits’ the signals back to Earth but at a different frequency band (to avoid interference with the uplink signal).
Free calls from the UK
The Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (CyTA) has expanded its business abroad, setting up shop in the UK and offering free phone calls to land lines here for British subscribers.
“This is an endeavour with the aim of fulfilling CyTA’s commitment in serving the people of Cyprus wherever they might be. We plan to be part of the life of every Cypriot in the UK. The company has a highly developed sense of social responsibility and is seeking to find ways of communicating with Cypriots in Cyprus and abroad. We will extend our commitment and continue our efforts to provide total quality solutions at the best possible prices and always for the benefit of our customers,” CyTA UK chairman, Doros Ktorides, said.
Ktorides added that it was all possible “due to CyTA having the strength, resources, people and technology. Our aim is to penetrate the UK market by offering products and services that will be available to everybody.”
The telecommunications giant presented cyta.talk, which includes a range of competitive packages for fixed national and international telephony and internet access services.
Cyta.talk offers free phone calls to ‘favourite destination (either Greece or Cyprus)’ and UK landlines, the option to keep the same phone number,
CyTA believes its liberalisation of the telecommunications sector in Cyprus has created a competitive environment that will affect its market share and reserve.
In response to these challenges, and taking into account the fact that CyTA is the owner or co-owner of significant capacities of international cable systems, CyTA took the decision to establish a presence in the international telecommunications arena, in an attempt to provide alternative sources of income for the organisation.
www.cytauk.com
