[Photo: SingTel and StarHub should give consumers something worth cheering about by offering exciting new digital content instead of still being stuck in the EPL saga.]

By Sherwin Loh

SO WE are still at it: fighting over who gets to put a set-top box in our living rooms and whether we will end up with one box or two.

The latest episode in the drama between pay-TV operators SingTel and StarHub over the screening of English Premier League (EPL) matches now has StarHub offering the use of its set-top box to channel SingTel's EPL broadcast next August.

Nestled in StarHub's offer to host EPL services for mio TV is also an option for SingTel to channel StarHub's cable TV shows on its mio TV platform.

Yawn.

Surely the EPL saga is insignificant when seen against the backdrop of the march of technology and changes in viewing patterns around the world?

I mean, in the United States, the fight is in deciding how to get digital content to consumers to combat dwindling DVD sales with the rise of online movie rental services like Netflix.

In fact, the hot news last week was about American electronics retailer Best Buy partnering Roxio CinemaNow to offer movie downloads to - get this - all of the chain store's electronic gear from TVs to computers to phones.

In fact, viewers in Britain and the US are no longer slaves to prime-time viewing hours. They have devices that can be set to record new episodes for the season, which they can watch comfortably at a later date.

While SingTel and StarHub have these devices, there is no way to buy them off the shelf if you are not a subscriber.

Web entertainment portal Hulu, meanwhile, also hosts new episodes of US TV shows after the TV broadcast.

For consumers in those countries, these changes mean greater choice and flexibility. Have movies and games any time, all the time, be it in your living room or on the move? Wow. I want that too.

But in Singapore, instead of exploring digital content and new means of distribution, retailers are still stuck on trying to peddle VCDs and DVDs.

However, as many movie collectors know, high-definition Blu-ray discs are now the rage, with falling prices and a growing market share.

Alas, content owners here - I am talking about broadcasters, music label owners and video distributors - have yet to dazzle us with concrete new digital services.

They make claims about technology and who is better at delivering them but fail to support this with offerings of digital content.

In fact, what we are seeing are new offerings from non-content owners.

Phone manufacturers kicked things off, with Nokia and Sony Ericsson offering music download services for their phones.

And when HMV opens its new flagship store at 313@Somerset next month, consumers will have the option of buying the digital songs they want from digital kiosks instead of paying full price for a CD containing just a few songs they want.

As a consumer, I am still waiting for my wishes to come true.

Top on my list are e-book readers. There has been much talk recently about these electronic devices in the market, with the Amazon Kindle being sold in over 100 countries - but not Singapore.

How long would it take for one of the telcos to wise up and snag an exclusive deal with Amazon? After all, it is a tool that drives data traffic, spurs sales of books and magazines and instils the good habit of reading.

As a gamer, I am also keen on video-on-demand services via game consoles.

Both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles have been touted as entertainment devices, with video-on-demand services available in the US and parts of Europe.

But here, the devices merely play games and movies from discs. There have been industry rumours for years of a Microsoft and SingTel mio TV tie-up to deliver demand TV via the Xbox 360 but this seems to be languishing in development hell.

The bottom line is: content owners here have long dropped the game ball.

Can you blame me then for looking elsewhere - think online purchases and downloads - for my entertainment fix?

sherwinl@sph.com.sg

This story was first published in The Straits Times Digital Life.

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