[James (Jim) Hillier]

Here in Oz there are just two Pay TV providers; Foxtel services the larger, more densely populated areas via a mix of cable and satellite, Austar services the smaller, rural areas via satellite only.....and never the twain shall meet. Both services offer pretty much identical channels, terms and conditions.

This means that no matter where you live, you have no choice of providers, there is no competition. Where I am, in rural Queensland, I can have either Austar or Austar.

I've had the Austar service for may years now, almost from when it first began operations. In those days it was pretty reasonably priced and the number of ads was absolutely minimal. Today, that price has almost trebled and the number of ads is bordering on free-to-air TV proportions.

Subscriber numbers have increased substantially since those early days, the number of ads has increased astronomically, which all exponentially increases the provider's income YET the cost to the consumer has risen by 300%....it does not compute!!

We are also stuck with 'packages'; similar channels are grouped together and sold to consumers as a package deal. Packages usually consist of 5 to 7 channels and generally cost between $13 and $16 each. A lot of the packages will contain just one desired channel and the remainder are all rubbish, yet to get that one channel you have to pay for all the unwanted channels as well.....what a rip off!!!

I do not see why they cannot provide a channel by channel service where the consumer would pay, say $2 or $3, per individual channel. That way we would get just the channels we wanted and also save a bundle of money.

The last straw: Austar has always been terrific for its customer service, I don't know who trained their staff but whoever it was deserves a medal. They were always prompt, polite and efficient. NOW we have to endure the dreaded recorded voice and automated menu system, and it's a bl**dy nightmare...........so much for "service"!!!

So, why don't I just cancel the whole thing? Well, because I love my sport. Sport on free-to-air is practically non-existent here now, it has got to the stage where if you haven't got Pay TV you haven't got sport; and that's the only reason I keep the service going. I have cut it back to the quick; no more movies, no more extraneous packages [excepting Sport of course].

I saved roughly $40 per month by doing that and have no regrets, if not for the sports channels I would cancel the whole shebang right now!!!!!

I've addressed all these issues with Austar, they remain stoically indifferent. And with very good reason; a monopoly suffers zero competition, there is nowhere else to go so they can do pretty much whatever they like. I am a mere drop in the ocean in their eyes and of no significance to them whatsoever.

Extremely disgruntled Pay TV customer......Jim

[marko]

To be honest Jimbo, I think we're the same in the UK, OK we may have a few more channels but terrestrial TV only consists of 5 channels, and we have a great system here whereby you pay £150 per year for 2 of those channels, BBC1 and BBC2 - now the thing is, even if you don't want those 2 channels you still have to pay for and receive them, you can't just buy a TV and watch the other 3 channels or subscribe to a cable service (like we do), the minute you buy a TV you HAVE to pay for a license for BBC1 and BBC2 ... and now even if you don't own a TV you STILL have to buy a license if you watch TV online!!!.

We pay for our cable service which gives us a whole host of channels which basically show repeats, now and again we get a few new shows which are worth watching but for the main it's bull!. If it weren't for the wife wanting to watch the soap opera's I'd personally get rid of it. That said, talking about adverts, well, here in the UK we're lucky to get something like 6-7 minutes into the start of a program and the ads are on, double the volume and all whilst the BBC send their host's on round-the-world trips for holiday review programs at our FORCED expense - nice work if you can get it I reckon