Since the advent of satellite television, a new scramble has emerged for content and content suppliers. The television station owners too are not left behind and this has become a big business with Ted turner setting up CNN and turning it into a worldwide business magnet, pay per view Television (that has raked in millions for Mayweather) also came in handy, the emergence of BskyB in 1990 headed by Rupert Murdoch also created a revolution in the industry with a customer base of over 10 million in the UK.
As the industry started developing, obviously a lot of people were left out. Not everyone could afford the 18 pounds charged by Sky, and not everyone enjoyed paying the statutory TV license either, so as the likes of Sky and other satellite providers like Multichoice maintained their high end client, other innovators started scheming for ways to beat the system. Hence the TV box was invented.
These are boxes that give the flexibility of android software and access to jailbreak channels as long as you have steady internet and you pay the one-off fee. These systems are carefully programmed to have all the channels and the type I have seen people use in England have over 200 Channels. This could range from BT sport to Bein to Fox for sports, etc as long as the one-off fee is paid. The programmer of the jailbreak channels holds the ace here as he sets all the stations.
Hence; when I saw the TSTV in Nigeria trend, marketed as Pay As You Consume, I restrained from commenting because I sensed from miles away it was another well packed TV box which is why potential customers are promised internet data of 200GB to start up the system. This would probably be made by an OEM somewhere and sold as a TV solution. Run a check and you will probably find that the sports stations are the ones their provider can jailbreak. I guarantee once the internet connection is faulty, you might not get the best of your TV programming. This all seems to be another over flogged western idea sold to us in Nigeria because what the hype won’t tell you is that you can even order your TV box on amazon for $75 and you won’t need to pay for anything else.
Off record: TSTV launches on October 1 after an initial launch for July 25th failed. Their social media handles haven’t been updated since then.
The Fidelity of stream is another factor to consider. There is a more efficient transducer system in decoders than in TV boxes. The quality of a TV box stream might not be of high fidelity compared to Dstv because of downtimes experienced with internet connectivity and stream cuts. There are a lot of TV boxes with one-off options rather than the subscription system on them. TV boxes like Bomix have shown high level of durability.
Another concern is memory storage. Some boxes might not have as much memory storage as the decoder.
I put it forward that while TSTVs product is not a novel idea, TV boxes in effect are the future because of their flexibility and disposition aided by the operating system which aids processing speed. It however has to be said that in viable climes where you have worthy internet connectivity, they can be a delight – but once the internet can’t be trusted, then it becomes a frying pan to fire situation. In the end, the channels might still scramble, just like CTL back in the day.
That said, find more information about the providers here.