Singtel/ Starhub

Telcos: MDA has ordered SingTel to share all BPL matches over the next 3 years with rival Starhub. Starhub customers will be able to watch the BPL games via their Starhub set-top boxes and don't need to subscribe to a SingTel box just for this content alone. But for this content, the Starhub customer will have a direct billing relationship with SingTel (and SingTel collects the ARPU). There will be a carriage-fee that SingTel would need to pay Starhub, that is close to the actual cost of transmission. This would be positive for Starhub, as its Pay-TV ARPU and market share has always been of concern for investors. Singtel, on the other hand, may see some subscriber churn after its pay-TV subs increased from 200k to 400k during the period which it has the exclusive rights to BPL in the 2010-2012 period. Alongside the increase in pay-TV subs, its pay-TV market share has also increased from 22% in Dec 2009 to 43% in Dec 2012. SingTel has stated that it will appeal this decision and seek legal recourse if necessary.