try to fight off the ADD long enough (@)

Recently, there has been a flap in Singapore over the winning of the rights to the English Premier League (football) television broadcast rights by SingTel, which is the other big cable TV company in Singapore (the first being Starhub, which has had rights for the past... 10 years?). Starhub's last bid, about 3 years ago, was rumoured to be about US$150 million (S$240 million), while some rumours place SingTel's latest bid at about US$400 million (S$550 million). This is almost 2.3 times the previous bid, and is frankly a preposterous number for a (wealthy) market with only 1 million subscribers.

As a result of the ever more astronomical bids placed, the price of watching EPL has risen from about $10 / mth ten years ago to about $27 / mth today (as an add on above your regular cable subscription. SingTel has promised not to raise households' prevailing rates to view the EPL, but as a good gahmen official I know full well the scope of prevarication available ;)

If the original intent of the media regulatory authorities in Singapore was to promote competition (which according to proper economic theory results in lower prices and better results for all), this surely must be egg in their faces. My view is that what actually occurred was that the establishment of competition in the form of SingTel, did nothing to challenge the actually monopoly of the EPL in selling its rights. In fact, this was likely a form of wasteful competition, which ends up pushing up prices and making overpaid football players even more overpaid from excess TV money than before.

Due to the high costs of entry and small Singapore market, SingTel and Starhub already enjoy a nice monopoly in Singapore. An idea would be for them (with a little bit of "encouragement" by their majority shareholder, the government) to form a monopsony with regards to EPL rights. I am not sure about the way the bidding process works, but could they not submit a joint bid? The EPL would definitely want the incremental revenue from a place like Singapore, so they would pretty much have to accept any (reasonable) bid from a market like this. Less money for fat cat footballers and agents means more surplus for the consumer.

try to fight off the ADD long enough (!)

ok, so today was one of those days where i did a mini-screwjob on someone else. i hope he wasn't too affected by the fact i smoked out.

and poetic justice being poetic justice, later in the day someone turns around and does a similar screwjob on me.

i think part of the melancholy stems from the fact that next week, my best friend will officially leave me for a woman, and being a dutiful person, i will stand behind him, cheer him on, take the shit work on the wedding day, speak in foreign languages, make flowery speeches, all the while wearing a suit possibly 2 sizes too small (since the HUGE weight gain episode). not to mention smile too.

you're a different man now, brudders no more. au revoir, doctor! enjoy your new life! don't forget your company who stand this side of the river!

*light bulb*

i realised today i am thoroughly unchurched. is that a good thing or not... hmmm?

REMINDER to self to send emails to visited usa peeps.