Late last year the contractors were stringing new cable lines across our subdivision. I wasn’t sure what it was all about as there was already Davao Light for electricity, and PLDT and Globe for phone/internet. Come to find out that SKYcable was coming into our area as well.
SKYcable provides cable internet, so we now have three hardwired options for internet. They also provide cable television. On the TV side they will compete with Cignal, which is a dish satellite offering (similar to DirectTV in the US).
I’ve followed the offerings from both Cignal and SKY for quite some time. They have side by side booths at NCCC Mall. I researched them on occasion but wasn’t excited about adding another bill to my monthly expenses. Since Cignal was the only option until SKY came into my area, there wasn’t much reason to be serious about SKY, other than to see how they compared it cost and service to Cignal. Mainly just for curiosity sake.
When I first paid any attention it seemed to me that Cignal had the better offerings. There was one BIG disadvantage to them though, at least in my opinion. They put their logo on each and every channel. Not only do you get the channel logo, and whatever other nonsense they put up, but you get the red Cignal logo, too. Now if I’m paying for Cignal I’m pretty sure I know it, and I don’t need to be reminded of it every time I choose to watch a show or movie. That is a turn off to me.
Over time it appears that SKYcable has caught up with, and maybe surpassed, Cignal with their HD offerings in particular. They seem to have been adding new channels weekly. In either case the pricing is very affordable. That’s the thing that finally made me decide to take the plunge. The value was really too good to pass up, even though I don’t watch much TV.
The plan I went with was the cheapest they provided with HD channels (DUAL•DEF). For P499/month ($11.00 approximately) I get 11 HD channels and 65+ standard def channels. The HD channels in my plan are: CNN, HBO, Fox Movies Premium, History, National Geographic, Warner TV, RTL-CBS, Lifetime, Star World, Balls and Fox Sports Plus. Plans go up form there. The next one up is P999 with 9 more HD channels, and a bunch more standard def.
The contract is for one year, which is about as good as it gets here. I had to pay P1999 for the HD box and install. The install went quickly once they got the right day, box and time.
One really nice feature that they don’t advertise much is the ability to record. The cable box has a USB port that you can attach a drive to, regular or flash, and you can record shows for later viewing. I’m pleased to say it works well even if the box is in standby mode. You are only limited by the size of your drive.
SKYcable SELECT allows the ability to add a single channel or package to your plan. For instance I could add Fox Sports Bundle for P150/month or Turner Classic Movies for P20. Unfortunately ASN, which shows a lot of NFL stuff, is P450/month for the HD channel alone. I won’t be adding that, but it’s nice to have the option.
They also have some channels available online, if you register your account. So far I’ve been unable to do that, but I’m not that interested anyway so I’ve not pursued the issue.
To date I’ve been impressed with the service. There have been a couple of times when the signal breaks up, and once where I seemed to have lost all the HD channels for a while. But overall I think this is a great value and really happy we’ve subscribed.
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Feb 16, 2014 @ 20:59:31
Good article Randy, very interesting to learn what’s available there.
Does Skycable also implant there logo constantly, somewhere on the screen. I had hoped for a long time, that people here in US would complain enough about all the crap they stick in all the corners here, and they would disappear, but it appears that’s not going to happen, if anything they seem to get progressively worse, and are getting bigger and more prevalent than ever, here anyway. All the crap they advertise constantly, is just soooooo annoying to me. Some channels here have even started putting a big countdown display in the bottom corner to remind us its just 30 more days til Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving, etc, etc., as soon as that holiday arrives, then they start the countdown to the next one. I have a calender, I even know how to read it, so why do I need to be reminded constantly of the next holiday that arrives, I just dont get it, but it appears they are not going to go away, just keep adding more and more distractions instead.
If anyone wants to become instantly rich, they should invent a little devise, that can get rid of the corner advertisements, and let us have our picture back, unobstructed. They are particularly annoying, when a movie has dialogue that’s must be read, because its a foreign language, and you cant read whats being said, because of the advertisements being constantly present . To me, it seems since most all channels are now pay channels, why must we pay to see obstructed channels at all times, except of course when a commercial some on, then they go away.
OK, that’s my rant for the day I guess.
Feb 16, 2014 @ 21:13:53
No SKYCable doesn’t display their logo, which is a significant reason why I chose them.
Unfortunately we get all the same nonsense you do that the channels themselves provide.
Some have more than others. The channel we are watching at the moment has the channel logo in the upper right corner & the show title/episode in the upper left. At some point they’ll add what’s coming up next.
I’m with you but I don’t think it’s going to reverse any time soon.
Feb 18, 2014 @ 02:31:41
Whoops. My father-in-law JUST arrived last week to retire in Davao after 3 decades living in the US and was choosing between both cable providers.
Apparently, being the one local Filipino without zero interest in tv entertainment, I couldn’t give him any helpful advice and just said Cignal may be better because of the HD and dish offerings. I got the sense from watching years back that SkyCable offered more channels but many where just junk fillers like religious/church channels or non-english Korean/Japanese language fare.
Early this afternoon, the Cignal guy came in and installed the cable. And then I read this. Just the logo on each channel would annoy the hell out of me. Oops?
Feb 18, 2014 @ 06:37:46
Possibly Cignal offers something SKYcable doesn’t? For me the logo was the clincher. I also prefer not to have the dish on the house, but that wouldn’t keep me from subscribing.
One thing I just noticed is that Cignal has a 2 year lock in (3 for standard def), while SKYcable is just one year.
As far as I can tell SKYcable has the better value at this time, but they are both constantly adjusting channels/price so that could change.
It’s good for all that there are alternatives. I’m happy with SKYcable, but like you I don’t watch a lot of TV. More since I’ve added the cable though