PETALING JAYA: Nilamas Corp Bhd is set to showcase a team that will take on giant Astro All Asia Networks plc in the battle for eyeballs in the local pay-TV market.
The market will be demanding answers from Nilamas as to how it can take on Astro when other players in the past have failed to do so.
Astro may also not be the only player that Nilamas has to slug it out with, as content is now even pushed through by traditional telecom companies, which also are owners of fibre optic and wireless networks, and Internet protocol television (IPTV) players. These include Telekom Malaysia Bhd ™, RedTone International Bhd and Maxis Bhd, which expects to launch its IPTV offering soon.
Sreedhar Subramaniam.
Tomorrow, Nilamas is expected to unveil at an event the details of its plan to offer an interactive digital cable-TV service, providing entertainment and interactive educational services to the Malaysian market.
At the same event, the company is expected to launch its brand and announce the name of the new entity, said to be Asian Broadcasting Network (M) Sdn Bhd, that is projected to drive the digital cable TV business.
Sources added that Sreedhar Subramaniam had been appointed chief executive officer and director of the digital cable TV network. They said he and his team had to make sure the targeted service launch date of second quarter 2012 would be kept. Sreedhar was formerly CEO and co-founder of Malaysian Insider and prior to that, he was chief operating officer at NTV7.
Thus far Nilamas had hired about 20 people and that included some technical experts from India, the sources said.
Along with Sreedhar, it is believed that Anne Edwards has also been appointed producer for economic news and Michael Chan senior vice-president for sales. Chan was formerly with Maxis and prior to that, ntv7 and Astro.
Nilamas has secured all the requisite licences from the Government to offer digital cable TV service. Under its various licences, it is allowed to offer broadcasting services for a fee. The licences are valid for five years.
The set-up cost for the cable network offering is expected to be RM2bil over five years, according to sources, and Nilamas may be looking at a 40:60 equity-debt combination to finance its venture.
The broadcasting centre will be in Puchong, Selangor, and its directors and shareholders are Tan Sri Mohd Anwar Mohd Nor, Tan Sri Mohamad Noor Abdul Rahim and Datuk Nik Mohd Amin.
It intends to offer a variety of content, both entertainment and educational, and will create its own content besides buying from abroad.
The question is how will the company be able to offer content that is exclusive to Astro?
Nilamas has been talking to many content providers and it would only begin signing contracts for content purchases after launching its brand.
The company intends to use fibre optics for its backhaul which will be leased from network operators such as TM, Time dotCom Bhd, Tenaga Nasional Bhd, Fiberail and Fibercom.
Nilamas may consider rolling out its own last-mile fibre optic cables to reach homes.
Added on November 14, 2011, 4:28 pmQUOTE(Qash-M @ Nov 13 2011, 12:11 AM)
Well, there's not enough rumors about new (permanant) HD channel coming next month.
someone in wiki said
starworld hd in december !!!
Added on November 14, 2011, 4:32 pmLooks like we can expect somethings new from astro soon, cos astro has to rise to face the music,its days in comfort are gone,so I guess next month may see new channels.
This post has been edited by smileguy: Nov 14 2011, 04:32 PM 
Nov 11 2011, 03:23 AM
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