Own Goal

Welcome to the world of SingHub; an amalgam of two separate telcos who in the process of vying for the Soccer World Cup rights, managed to alienate most fans and FIFA.

The upshot thus far is that most of soccer-mad Singaporeans will not be able to see the World Cup.

Enter the government with a new set of rules to try and avoid this type of situation ever happening again. The new law means that even if one of the telcos will have to carry exclusive content purchased by another player.

The forces of the open market have not been in the best consumer interest so it will be interesting to see what impact this law has. At the very least it will mean one less box on top of the TV.

Not that any of the above is much interest to me, as I have studiously avoided subscribing to any cable offering, either in New Zealand or here in Singapore.

I hold out for free to air television although the entertainment fare here in Singapore is very patchy and the acting pool severely limited.

Chilly In HK

These past two days I have been revisiting Hong Kong. After the very hot and dry weather in Singapore it has come as quite a shock (and a thermal shock at that) to experience an unseasonal cold snap here.

Hong Kong Grey Day - Roger Smith March 2010

Regrettably I came little prepared for this eventuality and according to a gleeful cabbie, tomorrow will be even colder. The prediction is a minimum of 8 degrees and a maximum of 14.

This is entry has been made in the comfort of my hotel room, with the airconditioning gauge set at a balmy 26 degrees to thaw out my outer extremities.

A drop of 25 degrees in the ambient temperature between the two countries sure puts a dampener on things.