M1 ditches plan to be cross-carrier of content

M1 has left the bruising pitch of the cross-carriage game. The telco is shelving its plans to be a receiver of cross-carriage content through its MiBox Internet TV service, having withdrawn its application for a nationwide TV licence, it told The Business Times on Thursday.

Its spokesman said: "We weighed the cost and benefits of a nation-wide TV licence - a pre-requisite for applying to cross-carry exclusive content - in view of developments in the content market and have decided to reconsider our national TV application."

In the wake of the cross-carriage rule, pay-TV incumbents StarHub and SingTel's mio TV have been going toe-to-toe on pricing, especially with English Premier League (EPL) content. Exclusive rights-holder mio TV and cross-carrier of EPL content StarHub had slugged it out with big rebates last year to entice subscribers.