Cartoon Network is nice, but HGTV is a little bit unexpected.

Actually, Cartoonito is a branded slot from Cartoon Network (based on what's happening in the US). The closure of Disney Junior brings the channel a new opportunity to fill in the demand from parents who rely on linear channels for their younger kids. Also, the recent merger between Warner Bros. and Discovery has shifted its animation focus solely on Cartoon Network since it's the only worldly-recognized brand owned by them. If you look at the Cartoonito ads on Unifi TV website, you can see that the channel is being distributed by Cartoon Network (listed next to Cartoonito because it's a "branched out" channel).

Well, "HGTV ranks as the No. 1 non-news cable network in Total Day among W25-54 to date in 2022, according to Nielsen and the network." Deadline.

HGTV is a channel focusing on homes (from the budgeted designs to the luxurious ones). Malaysians love it a lot. Since its launch on Astro, it has a steady viewership (around 1.3M to 1.5M). Bear in mind, this channel is being offered as part of Variety Pack, which means the viewers are willingly paying more to access this channel.

Here's my observation when it comes to licensing Warner Bros. Discovery channels.

Bundle 1: HBO channels (all 5 channels, including Cinemax and probably HBO GO / MAX)
Bundle 2: Discovery "main channels" - Discovery, Animal Planet + (Discovery Science and/or Discovery Asia)
Bundle 3: Discovery "lifestyle channels" - TLC, AFN and Food Network

Ala-carte: Warner TV, Cartoon Network, Cartoonito (probably needs to have Cartoon Network before getting it), CNN, DMAX, Eurosport, HGTV, Travel Channel.

No. Only TV providers like Unifi TV can decide that. After that, Unifi TV can group their licensed channels into preferred packages.

Cartoon Network HD (CH 556) and HGTV HD (CH 511) will be made available tomorrow (1st August 2023) on Unifi TV. However, these two channels are only included for Ultimate Pack and its variants' (Ultimate Pack - RM 49.90 & RM 59.90, Ultimate Plus and Ultimate MAX) subscribers only.

Imagine Unifi TV launches HBO channels with English, Malay, Mandarin and Cantonese audio tracks (since the APAC feed has these audio tracks just like Cartoon Network Asia)... But there's also a possibility that Warner TV will be ceased at the same time. Also, I think more upcoming premium channels will included in Ultimate Pack and its variants regardless of which tier you pay for (because those tiers' differences are the inclusion of different amount of OTT apps).

Thoughts?

You do know that HBO Go's previous linear channels had multiple audio tracks, right? And Astro is too cheapskate by only getting both English and BM audio tracks while making the Mandarin one CNY exclusive.

Warner TV rarely airs new shows/episodes these days. Most of the shows like Pennyworth premieres on HBO GO instead of Warner TV. So, there's a risk that Warner TV will be dropped, or Warner Bro. Discovery Asia may eventually cease the channel.

"For your information, please be informed that we do not have a specific channel for the 2023 Rugby World Cup, but, however, the Bein Connect (streaming app) offers a direct subscription via pass at RM99 for the whole tournament." - Unifi via Messenger

I wouldn't mind that if they're able to bring in HBO and Discovery linear channels while saving costs on that. Unifi TV isn't really the type that spends money on everything recklessly. They actually do extensive research before they acquire anything.

Plus, there could be a chance that the upcoming Chinese channel on Unifi TV could be Golden Chinese Drama Channel - a channel showcases fan-favourite and award-winning from the 90s to the recent titles. The channel is owned by MyTV Super under TVB while being distributed by Rock Entertainment globally. This channel could be an alternative to previously ceased Now Chinese Drama, but the viewership can be questionable as some viewers prefer only latest titles while others prefer nostalgia.

This post has been edited by UnifiTVFan: Aug 18 2023, 03:20 AM

If I'm not wrong, the old Ultimate Pack and both new Ultimate Packs (Plus & Max) will include HBO linear channels, but there's a chance that the old Ultimate Pack won't include the upcoming MAX app.

Actually, Astro announced that they'll include it for all Sports Pack susbscribers, but you can't compare Astro with Unifi TV when it comes to pricing.

I think the HBO channels will be included in all Ultimate Packs because the Ultimate Packs promise access to all linear channels, so what differs should be the number of OTT apps included.

But aren't there 5 HBO channels instead of 4? Are they excluding HBO Signature like what Astro did?

This post has been edited by UnifiTVFan: Aug 25 2023, 01:32 AM

"Unifi TV is excited to launch four (4) new movie channels starting
1st September 2023 as below :

ChannelName / Channel No.
HBO : 401
HBO Hits : 402
HBO Family : 403
Cinemax : 405"

From Unifi - Messenger

I just received this info from the team. Seems like doubleM2 is correct about the censorship thing. If I'm not wrong, Now TV HK once carried HBO Signature +1 (one hour delay feed) with everything uncensored, which means HBO Signature could be a "raw" feed, like every title being aired is directly sourced from the uncensored version from the HBO GO app. But it's still very interesting how Unifi TV purposely left out the channel number - 404. Maybe they're reserving it for something else.

No app being mentioned at the moment. Possibly after the free preview period or they're just waiting to bring in MAX next year instead.

It seems like they're discontinuing Ultimate Pack by the end of this month, like what they did with the original Aneka Pack, Ruby Pack, Varnam Pack and Ultimate Lite Pack. If you're asking them about Ultimate Pack (RM 60) or any discontinued pack, the staffs will act "blur-blur" about it and suggest you to look at the current offered packs instead.

HBO Pak will be offered to Plus Packs and discontinued packs' subscribers, which gives access to all 4 HBO channels and the HBO GO app.

With more channels coming to the Ultimate Plus and Ultimate MAX packs soon, you should consider an upgrade before the end of this month. If you don't like to be tied with 24 months just for Unifi TV, you can also consider switching your Home Internet package to the newly priced ones. They're cheaper and more valuable compared to the previously offered ones.

I plan to switch my current 800Mbps plan to the new 500Mbps one with Netflix Standard as my speed never passes 300 Mbps before. Just hope the connection is stable after the change.

I hear that they're going to introduce lower prices soon. Fyi, my current package (800 Mbps) is the Gobind day's one around RM 380. Since they no longer offer the 800 Mbps plan to the new subscribers, it's either going for lower speed or the Gbps plans. But my current speed is a concern too. Seems like my area is stuck at 300Mbps max. Never go beyond that before.

My current one is 800 Mbps with Ultimate Pack (RM 60). I do add-on TVB Anywhere+ (VOD Zone) for my family. I want to change both Internet speed and TV pack to 500 Mbps (like I said the speed cap thing in my area) with Ultimate MAX because I don't want to pay for the HBO Pak or any upcoming new channel as ala-carte. That'll be hella expensive. My guess for the price of HBO Pak will be around RM 15 to RM 20. That's quite expensive to be considered as add-on for the old Ultimate Pack since the Ultimate Plus only costs RM 70. But the plan I want to subscribe (aka 500 Mbps with Ultimate MAX) can save me around RM 80, I think. The Unifi plans page is down now, so I can't really see the exact price.

Well, MAX is coming next year replacing both HBO GO and Discovery+ (already ceased operation in Asia). Don't know why their survey team doesn't get the latest info or they're just teasing (like most people don't know what MAX is, but they know Discovery+ because of its name).

Also, they should list Paramount+ in the list. Need it to watch South Park uncensored.

This post has been edited by UnifiTVFan: Sep 5 2023, 01:32 PM

It's confirmed that Ultimate Plus and Ultimate MAX will get the HBO Pak (HBO linear channels + HBO GO).

Speaking of mini packs, I did suggest them to launch some vernacular packs at affordable prices, like TVB Pack and Sun TV Pack, but it's still uncertain whether they'll do it. So far, I know that it's quite impossible to get TVB Jade as part of Ruby Plus (RM 30) because the channel alone costs around RM 15. But it's possible to have TVB Xing He as part of the pack. Regardless of what they're doing, I hope the TVB Pack will consist of TVB Jade linear channel plus access to TVB Anywhere+ (VOD Zone) like what Singapore's Starhub TV is doing. (Still, I'm not working for them, but they love my ideas and use them many times, so I hope these two can become real. Last time, I did suggest them to have higher tiers or variants instead of just the old Ultimate Pack because there's no way to cover the cost of HBO and any new channel. RM 60 is maxed out for anything at the moment. If they really launch more mini packs, the old Ultimate Pack will not include any of them).

I highly doubt whether they'll have Discovery Pack though. Also, there's a possibility that the old Ultimate Pack may include the upcoming Discovery channels because HBO Pak is a different deal. Can't really disrupt the "market value" to offer HBO at RM 60. Then, the whole Asia market needs to follow suit.

Well, Tonton is an OTT platform while Unifi TV is operated as a pay-TV provider. You know the rules - all Pay TV providers should monitor and ensure that their output content is complied to the censorship board.

Plus, Animax has adult-oriented titles like "Rent A Girlfriend"; therefore, they need that delay because they don't have that many staffs working in the censorship department. For your info, shortly after they launched Netflix on their platform, they're actually posting "digital flyers" stating that they're hiring people to the censorship job during the weekend. It gave away that facts that HBO will eventually come to Unifi TV, and it happened.

If you're really concerned about that, try to also comment on tvN Movies' 1h 10 min delay. The feed has already been a +1 feed, but Unifi TV insists to delay for another 10 min while Astro only does it with another 5 minutes.

Anyway, HBO (CH 401) has 4 min delay even the TV guide doesn't state that.

At this point, as long as Unifi TV is willing to provide the channels with affordable prices and additional features (like 7 days catch-up, 2 hours playback, multiple subtitles and language audio tracks and VOD services), I'm okay with that.

Plus, I'm hoping that they can launch more Indian channels in conjuction with Deepavali in November. Right now, there's only one Tamil GE channel, one Tamil movie channel, one Hindi movie channel, and one Tamil kids channel. We need a second Tamil GE channel and at least one Hindi GE channel. I've suggested this to the team via Messenger recently.

Also, I'm kinda curious what kind of Chinese GE channel will they actually bring in to the platform.

Does anyone have any issue accessing Unifi TV website? I either got "The provided host name is not valid for this server." or redirected to Unifi website with the "IT SEEMS THAT THE PAGE IS NOT FOUND OR DOES NOT EXIST. ERROR CODE: 404" message. The team said that it's working on their side. No idea what is going on.

Well, you do know Unifi TV actually delays all KC Global Media's channels for 10 minutes, right? Unlike Rock Entertainment channels, KC Global Media's channels (AXN, ONE, GEM and Animax) actually have more new titles, which can be difficult to monitor, and just like you said "replacing channel's promos with the Unifi TV ones". Most TV providers do this all the time. Like I said, Unifi TV has a limited number of staffs working on this. That's why the delay is longer.

And the website I refer to is unifi.com.my/tv.