(7 November 2009 5:00 pm)

MUMBAI: In a bid to lure and retain its subscribers, Star Hub and mioTV have announced new sports promotions after it was decided to move Barclays Premier League action from StarHub to IPTV service mioTV next year.

StarHub lost the rights of English Premier League (EPL) to mioTV in the bidding war as well as carriage of the ESPN Star Sports (ESS) channels that are also moving to SingTel's IPTV service.

StarHub is planning a new 24-hour sports channel that will be available for free to its entire cable TV base from January 2010. From July 2010, meanwhile, the platform will deliver Eurosportnews, which is presently offered as part of StarHub's Sports Group as a basic service to all subscribers.

Comments StarHub's VP of home solutions Ong Bee Lian, "With the addition of the two sports channels to our complimentary lineup, StarHub TV customers can enjoy as many as 26 channels at entry level. This works out to less than a dollar per month for each channel."

Meanwhile, the cable platform is dropping the price of its Sports Group package by more than 50 per cent in July, ahead of the new EPL season.

From July 2010, the Sports Group will comprise Football Channel, SuperSports, SuperSports Plus, Sports HD, Goal TV 1, Goal TV 2, Golf Channel, Eurosport, La Liga on-demand and WWE on demand.

SingTel's mioTV is already looking to attract fans of EPL with new early bird specials. For a limited period, customers who sign up for either the Barclays Premier League 2010/11 season or Barclays Premier League 2010/11 with ESPN Star Sports Channels on a 12-month subscription basis will receive the Football Frenzy Pack (worth S$15.90 per month) for free till 31 July.

This includes UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League matches, live and on demand, over TV, mobile phone and online, as well as the Italian Serie A matches.
The promotional offer also includes a 30-day preview of all mio TV programmes (excluding movies and video-on-demand content), free installation, a high-definition set-top box and an ADSL2+ modem. Customers who sign up for the sports pack will also gain access to ESPN Star Sports channels-ESPN, Star Sports and ESPNews as and when they become available.