Pay-TV fans in for a rude telco discovery

IT MUST have been an upset for local Food Network and HGTV fans when cable content provider Discovery last week said that its 11 channels here could be dropped from pay-TV offerings. (see amendment note)

The move - which came on a carriage-fee disagreement - was perhaps also a shock to shareholders of telco StarHub, which was Discovery's jilted partner in the deal.

It is true that last week's price drop came on the cusp of MSCI's June 1 review, which moved StarHub from the MSCI Singapore Index to the MSCI Singapore Small Cap Index - a possible prompt for fund outflows.

But the telco has also made much of its "hubbing" brand identity, with a business model that allows it to bundle broadband and television services together. Such…