MDA moves to protect consumers from unfavourable changes in pay TV packages

The days of telcos and pay-TV service providers unilaterally making changes to terms of service and forcing subscribers to upgrade unrelated services before being able to subscribe to certain channels may come to an end.
 
Singapore’s Media Development Authority (MDA) on Monday announced a move to modify existing rules that would better protect consumers and pay TV subscribers.

Among its recommendations, it said that subscribers should be able to exit contracts without penalties if the terms or prices are altered to their disadvantage.
 
The agency also said that service providers should be banned from forcing subscribers to upgrade their non-pay TV-related services in order to make changes to their existing pay TV service.
 
“These upgrades were typically not necessary to support the changes in the pay-TV services,” said Minister of Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim, who announced this in parliament on Monday.
 
Consumers have over the years complained about service providers making unilateral changes to existing terms and conditions, increasing prices and changing channels and content offered while leaving subscribers with only two options: suck it up and pay more, or pay hundreds of dollars in penalty fees to terminate their contracts.
 
An example of this occurred in late 2012, when users who paid for SingTel’s mioTV “Ultimate Sports Package” as part of contracts signed in as early as 2011 found out to their displeasure that they could only watch the first three matches of the then ongoing UEFA Champions League.
 
The subscribers were then told they would have to fork out more money for a separate package in order to continue watching the Champions League matches, because a “preview” period for them had lapsed.
 
“I had signed a contract for a comprehensive sports package, which meant that I had paid for the best football package mioTV was offering,” wrote an irate consumer in a complaint letter to the ST Forum back in November 2012. “Yet, SingTel now wants me to pay more for the same content. Even if the terms change along the way, shouldn’t SingTel honour what it had originally promoted and promised to deliver for the current season?"
 
Following this, MDA’s proposed new rule plans to allow subscribers who are tied down to pay-TV contracts to terminate them without incurring penalties in the event of an increase in price, a removal of a channel or the removal of an important programme.
 
Beyond these two measures, the MDA also plans to require pay-TV service providers to disclose more information with regard to key contractual terms, in particular the expiry of promotional prices and complimentary content.
 
MDA says it will seek public feedback on its recommendations from April this year onwards.