The Singapore Identity
~ Journey to Finding our Roots ~
Since the inception of SCV in 2002, Channel 5 faced stiff competition from the International shows. As the ‘staple’ channel, with the second highest viewership amongst all Mediacorp Channels, Channel 5 constantly attempts to change dynamically to retain its viewers. Starhub Cable TV provides a multitude of channels across all the genres, from movies to drama to reality. As a terrestrial TV viewer, there is more freedom of choice when choosing which show to view at a point of time, due to the availability of multiple channels airing different genres and types of shows. Channel 5, in response to cable TV, attempts to air as many different types of genres of shows with the limited airtime. For instance, based on the TV schedule of 25th Oct 2014, there are cooking show(Better Show) and talk shows (Dr Oz, Ellen Degeneres) in the morning, local drama (Code of Law) and foreign reality series (America Got Talent) in the afternoon, followed by blockbuster movies on Monday, Saturday and Sunday (Hellboy) and primetime news (9:30pm News). Thus, Channel 5 aims to compete with the variety of shows that the Cable TV offers to Singaporeans. Not only Channel 5 tries to match the popular genres offered by Cable TV, it also tries to have ‘live’ telecast for sports events(Olympics, SEA Games) and reality series (Amazing Race, Survivor) to attract the viewers who have already subscribed to Cable TV. However, most of the time same day telecast or ‘live’ is not possible due to copyright and airing issues, plus in the recent years of the newly introduced ‘Playback’ option that Cable TV now offers, Singaporeans are still willing to pay to catch up with the latest episodes of the shows.
Challenges of Cable TV
A closer look at...
On average, more than 300,000 viewers tune in weekly to Channel 5 for a dose of The Noose. The success of the show masks a deep problem on Channel 5: The viewers are on a decline. According to a survey by data company Nielsen, the daily viewership figure for Channel 5 decreased from 1.038 million, in 2010, to 998,000, last year. This is a drop of 3.8 per cent. In 2006 and 2007, the number was 1.29 million and 1.075 million. One reason for the decrease in Channel 5's viewership numbers could be due to the fact that there are simply more platforms available to access content nowadays. As at the end of last year, there were 545,000 subscribers to StarHub's pay TV service and 353,000 subscribers to SingTel's mio TV. This meant that more Singaporeans have the choice to watch more than 300 different channels other than Channel 5 or other free-to-air channels.
In recent years, instead of competing with one another, Channel 5 has joined hands with Starhub Cable TV to provide better services to the viewers. In July 2008, Starhub offers a free HD channel for Channel 5, for any viewers with a Starhub HD set-up box. There were also cooperation in the sports scene. During the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, Starhub opened up a couple of exclusive channels to screen the ‘live’ action from Beijing and London at no extra cost, complementing Channel 5 as the official broadcasters. This is synergized by Channel 5 airing Olympic-related documentaries before the Games, which improves the overall viewing experience.
