STAR-TV first went to air in 1990-04 (forget the exact date), with actual programming on a single channel starting shortly after that.
It was available across all of Asia at that point, to anyone able to receive it from Asiasat-1.
Making it available on distribution systems within residential buildings here was complicated by legislation requiring licensed companies to install & operate anything that received telly by satellite. And how those companies sold that to building owners/management companies, etc.
The service itself was free-to-air at the beginning, but the satellite master antenna TV system regulation regime concocted by our telecom authority was an opportunity to charge quite a bit to install & continue to operate such systems. So when any particular building added STAR to its distribution system depended on the property developer involved, whether that property developer was also in this new SMATV business, whether or not occupants had any say in the matter... and, of course, cost.
Birth of Something Television Always Reruns
STAR-TV first went to air in 1990-04 (forget the exact date), with actual programming on a single channel starting shortly after that.
It was available across all of Asia at that point, to anyone able to receive it from Asiasat-1.
Making it available on distribution systems within residential buildings here was complicated by legislation requiring licensed companies to install & operate anything that received telly by satellite. And how those companies sold that to building owners/management companies, etc.
The service itself was free-to-air at the beginning, but the satellite master antenna TV system regulation regime concocted by our telecom authority was an opportunity to charge quite a bit to install & continue to operate such systems. So when any particular building added STAR to its distribution system depended on the property developer involved, whether that property developer was also in this new SMATV business, whether or not occupants had any say in the matter... and, of course, cost.
-kpl.
Thank you!
Thanks for this insight!